Thursday, October 16, 2014

What I like about Superman: Red Son

Recently after getting my Superman: Red Son t-shirt, I pondered my fandom towards him and possibly other Elseworlds, new directions for certain brands in different realities.
Superman: Red Son is very interesting. It doesn't feel super patriotic of the US considering that they mainly use Superman villains and keep them that way to fight Superman.
You have to realize Superman's super white washed background, fighting enemies nobody likes in Hitler, and probably a soviet here and there, much like in a campy 80s Hulk Hogan vs Nikolai Volkoff-Iron Sheik manner. It's ignorant, unphilosophical, racist fanaticism and nationalism that really looked down on the rest of Earth's humans, in times where Eastern Europeans were looked down upon. Not to say that Superman: Red Son was a good guy, or worked for an idealistic non-opportunistic uncorrupt government.
But he definitely had a human quality to him that made him relatable. In a time of New Yorkers, treating every southerner like W., Clark Kent's Midwestern roots were still shown in wherever he was in Red Son: he was honorable and had beliefs. He had this bit of Char Aznable to him and had to make a lot more difficult choices that he seemed to do with ease as Superman, because of how he grew up in the Eastern bloc.

No comments:

Post a Comment