Notes of a Native Son of Krypton
For a break from my reading on Sunday I went to a library or bookstore, and there read an Elseworlds from DC Comics (that's their imprint for "what if" or sometimes "what about" books): Red Son asks the question, what if Superman fell on Russia instead of Kansas. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who wants to read it, but the ending does bear commenting.
The whole story involves S. dealing with his usual issue of "how much of an interventionist god should I be?" As usual, he feels that people should somehow get along without him, because, as an alien, he has no rights on Earth. At least, no right to govern. So, in the ending, it's revealed that Superman is, in this possibility, actually a descendant of Lex Luthor and Lois Lane: not Kal-El, but Kal L, that the red sun that destroys his old planet is the Earth's old Sol grown old and bloated. My first response was to think that the red sun tied up the package -- rather than show how that alternate would turn out more or less the same, they made that alternate a perfect circle, with no way for other worlds to interfere. But then I realized that, in fact, Superman was human, or as human as a descendant of Lex could be. How does that change the story?
And, around about this time, I wondered what it would be like if Superman was black. Can't you just picture Jonathan and Martha Kent going up to the crashed ship, and out walking a little black boy. So, what happens then? (And, on that note, what usually happens with black people in comic books?)
The whole story involves S. dealing with his usual issue of "how much of an interventionist god should I be?" As usual, he feels that people should somehow get along without him, because, as an alien, he has no rights on Earth. At least, no right to govern. So, in the ending, it's revealed that Superman is, in this possibility, actually a descendant of Lex Luthor and Lois Lane: not Kal-El, but Kal L, that the red sun that destroys his old planet is the Earth's old Sol grown old and bloated. My first response was to think that the red sun tied up the package -- rather than show how that alternate would turn out more or less the same, they made that alternate a perfect circle, with no way for other worlds to interfere. But then I realized that, in fact, Superman was human, or as human as a descendant of Lex could be. How does that change the story?
And, around about this time, I wondered what it would be like if Superman was black. Can't you just picture Jonathan and Martha Kent going up to the crashed ship, and out walking a little black boy. So, what happens then? (And, on that note, what usually happens with black people in comic books?)