"He Is Content."

[numeronone]

"And we go:
Who are these shadows in my way?
Who are these shadows in my way?"

― Alan Moore

Comments

[dan_ingram]

Having read this story in reprints, I still don't get how Superman was supposed to be content under the black mercy.

His Dad was a dick, his cousin was attacked and nearly killed by a mob, and a few other things I can't remember.

Unlike the cartoon version, I don't understand why he'd be upset about waking up

[numeronone]

It's because it was still tempting, despite everything. In a weird Twilight Zone way, one has to ask oneself - would you rather live in a world where your entire birth planet - not family, country, or race - was destroyed forever? Or one where it was still around but things are just as complicated and not-ideal as they are in your adopted civilisation?

Then again, my personal theory has always been that Superman's subconscious *knows* something is up and purposely introduces flaws to try and wake him up. Little details like the fact that he's still working on the problem of Kandor, or the fact that the refrain throughout the story is "He is content", contrasting with Mongul's mistaken belief that the Black Mercy fantasy makes someone "happy".

[laughing_tree]

I'm pretty sure there's a panel where Batman outright says Superman's subconsciously resisting, hence the fantasy starting to fall apart.

I also like Tom King's observation: Superman's ideal is not some sort of Donna Reed version of life where everything is perfect and wonderful. His ideal is to live a human life, to live a life that's a little bit messy, where other people are free. Superman doesn't want to live amongst robots.

[numeronone]

Funny you should use that quote. I specifically posted this because I was appalled at King's take in that Superman story published this week - i.e. "Kal dreams of a life where Darkseid is committing countless atrocities around the galaxy and he has no support to put a stop to it, resulting in an easily-broken truce with the God of Evil...but at least he gets to see his son grow up!...except that results in the truce being broken, his son being traumatised and essentially enlisting-in-all-but-name to go and fight and inevitably come home broken and traumatised."

[laughing_tree]

That's where the story's effectiveness comes from, for me. Rather than doing the hoary obvious "villain traps hero in a perfect fantasy world where all is right" stock plot that lots of other writers go for (and who wants to bet a few of the other one shots will be just that), he does the Tom King thing and delivers something with more texture and nuance.

[numeronone]

Let’s agree to disagree. I found it way too stealth-recruitment-y to be enjoyable on its own merits, especially when the US armed forces are making desperate pushes to try and shore up the dwindling numbers of voluntary recruits.

[laughing_tree]

Considering Kirby's inspirations for Darkseid and what the character's meant to represent, I think a certain amount of idealizing soldiers is baked into stories where he's the baddie.

[numeronone]

I just don’t think now’s the right time.

[laughing_tree]

That's fair.

[huntleyhaverstock]

I absolutely get your point here. I'd just like to offer a counterpoint: The military isn't inherently bad in and of itself; the question is how it's run and how it's used.

I grew up as a military brat. My dad was a career fighter pilot. He never craved the power to kill. He sincerely wanted to protect -- protect vulnerable people and protect the very idea of democracy. That he happened to do so behind the stick of a plane with a Gatling gun that could peel open enemy tanks like Kleenex boxes never diminished the sincerity of that desire to protect. When others got sent to combat and he was ordered to stay home, he was disappointed not because he wasn't getting to kill, but because his friends and colleagues were facing danger and he wasn't there to help them, to do what he'd been trained to do.

My dad's one of the best people I've ever known. He has never to my knowledge raised a hand in anger to another human being. He consistently showed respect and kindness to the people he served with without regard for race, age, gender, or rank. And he taught me and my brother an eyes-open, hearts-open, minds-active form of patriotism that I still cherish.

People within the military can sincerely view what they do as valuable and necessary and even positive. And if they portray it that way, they're not necessarily serving some larger, legitimately nefarious warmongering purpose -- at least, that's not necessarily their intent.

I say this as someone fiercely opposed to governments, including my own, who spend the very dear coin of people who've pledged their lives for their country on aggression, greed, saber-rattling, or sloppily planned fiascoes. I am well aware of and have neither tolerance nor forgiveness for the U.S. military's widespread and abominable record of sexual assault against its own members. And I'm beyond horrified and disgusted by the previous U.S. administration's attempt to reclassify vicious war criminals as heroes. (As is my dad.)

I absolutely get why you or anyone else would have no taste for rah-rah militaristic propaganda, intended or perceived. I'm right there with you. Just please keep in mind that the military is made of people, and that those who've served can have legitimate reasons for seeing the positive side of the institution, and may not necessarily be all, "Yes, yessssss, more blood for the gaping maw of imperialism."

[numeronone]

Thank you for sharing this.

Let me say that I respect and appreciate you and your father, and that you and I are in agreement. I'm definitely not objecting to the individuals in the military, but to the gigantic machine of propaganda and industry driving it. Warner Bros and so many other film schools are complicit, and comics companies have been complicit for a long while as well.

My objection to this comic is based on both the writer being a former CIA goon and the tone of it being unsubtly, unflinchingly jingoistic - portraying "the enemy" as mindless and sadistic and violent retaliation as the sanest and most reasonable answer.

(That and the toxic masculinity inherent to it. Particularly stinging is the scene where Con, being held by his mother, begs Clark to come back to his room because "I don't want to be alone".)

I feel that there's no reason our two points of view can't coincide. I appreciate the people who got into the military to save lives. I object to people who push and manipulate others into the military so they can make a buck.

[laughing_tree]

Open, emotional support between two males, without shame or stigma, is the opposite of toxic masculinity.

[lego_joker]

It's not a pleasant thing, but you could headcanon he's actually upset that Mongul/the Mercy forced him to realize (wonder if?) Krypton Actually Kinda Sucked even before it went Boom.

But - I do think this story would've benefitted from a few more moments of actual, pure joy. Surely Moore could've thought up some funny, fancy Kryptonian toy for us to ooh and aah over?

There was a big debate on the Toonzone forums back when the JLU ep first aired - I think it might still be up - where one holdout insisted that Timm and co. had made an In Name Only adaptation of the comic, at least where the themes were concerned. The older I get, the more I wonder if they didn't have a point...

(To a degree, I think real-life historic context also matters here. Someone who'd been reading comics regularly throughout the '60s and '70s would've been used to dozens of what-if-Krypton-survived Imaginary Stories - hell, some of them even had "Prime" Superman as a witness. So what Moore does here would've felt sharper and more subversive; in contrast, today Krypton is pretty much only remembered as Superman's Tragic Backstory, so going "Hey, what if it sucked?" doesn't have quite the same punch.)

[laughing_tree]

"There was a big debate on the Toonzone forums back when the JLU ep first aired - I think it might still be up - where one holdout insisted that Timm and co. had made an In Name Only adaptation of the comic, at least where the themes were concerned. The older I get, the more I wonder if they didn't have a point..."

I'm curious, what was their argument?

[lego_joker]

IIRC, that the original comic's complexity came from its being a fable criticizing nostalgia (especially for a time you never actually personally experienced), which was Real Damn Relevant in the Reagan era. And that in contrast, Timm and co. had flattened it to "Superman is Real Sad he can't stay with his Imaginary family anymore, everybody say Awwwwwww".

[scorntx]

It's not just that Krypton is largely the Tragic Backstory, it's that by-and-large modern depictions of Krypton just before everything went boom are that it kind of sucked anyway.
Which really lessens the actual tragedy.
"What if...? Krypton Sucked" loses the sting after several decades of it being a sterile, joyless hole filled with gaping assholes that was no big loss, as opposed to the strange and fantastical Silver Age Krypton.

[thanekos]

" If the rose didn't come off, I was going to filk a ballad for him - ' The Green Rose o-of Krypton '.. "

[nyadnar17]

Did realize it was Jason Todd that got the finishing blow. Thats an awesome touch

[jkcarrier]

Really, this should be Jason's standard response anytime anyone in the Bat-family gives him grief: "Ok, show of hands. Who here has defeated Mongul single-handedly? Just me then? Huh. Imagine that."

[numeronone]

AND it was a battle of wits that led to a semi-permanent solution!

[blues32]

Wow, Jason was useful for something. Must be the only time he was worth something beside dying.

[tpsreports]

He also saved Batman’s ass in The Cult. Pre-crisis Jason was ok.

[mazway_75]

I remember some Batman writer saying fans were okay with Jason when he was basically a copy of Dick but when they tried to give him more a rebellious persona and such they turned on him.

[starwolf_oakley]

Some have said it was Jim Starlin who had the grudge.

[starwolf_oakley]

I've said a few times the final TNG episode "All Good Things" should have made a quick reference to "The Inner Light."

Picard: So, now what? I wake up in my quarters and wonder if it was all a dream?
Q: You don't wake up from a dream knowing how to play the flute.

[icon_uk]

"Look, I'm having a hard enough time remembering the names of my own senior staff right now. Since from my point of view I haven't seen them, or even stood on a starship, for more than fifty years. Cut me some damn slack about the flute playing!!"