I think that my main problem is that I have a vision of what Superman is about and who he is but the stories that the writers/producers/directors put out every week do not look to me as if they would ultimately produce the Superman I have in mind.

Superman for me is someone who knows right and wrong better than anyone. What I mean is that he may occasionally struggle with what to do and the ambiguity that we all do but he struggles less, much less than anyone else.

Superman for me is also someone never gives up on doing what he feels is right. This is of course the definition of hero. The comic’s story of Doomsday is a good way (not especially a great story) of showing this. He knows he has to stop this creature or the world’s people are literally in danger. Even though this creature is hurting him like he’s never been hurt before, he doesn’t give up trying and ultimately pays the price to stop this monster.

Superman’s roots are from real solid people (Ma/Pa Kent) that give him the basis for understanding right and wrong. Ma/Pa Kent give him the focus to know he can’t give up in doing the right thing. They even give him the heart that motivates him.

In Smallville, which is at it’s heart the story of how Superman becomes Superman forgets these things all the time or has never really accepted these elements of Superman being Superman.

With regards to right and wrong, he is very ambiguous. Perhaps they are trying to show him growing into this mindset but I would argue that a 20 year old man is more sure of himself (almost always) than the 30 year old man. If it were showing “real” attitudes then we would not see him wrestle with the decisions but rather him make some mistakes (and hopefully learning from them).

As to never giving up, this is one of the elements the show does pretty well. I have little to complain about this.

As to Superman’s roots and what gave him the reasons to do what he does, the story in Smallville is all about his destiny rather than his earth parents giving him the drive to do what he does. The destiny story that is driven by his Krypton father, Jor-el, is the part of Smallville that bothers me most.

There are little things that bother me too but I usually forgive them. An example is his use of his powers. Someone who grows up developing abilities like Superman are going to use them as an extension of himself. For instance, Clark (Superman’s “real” name) can move faster than people can see (or think) and he can see through anything. If you grew up being able to do these things (I don’t mean from birth but developed these abilities in the course of growing up), then you would not be surprised by someone holding Kryptonite and as someone opened up Kryptonite, then he would be able to run away before it affected him. My other little nit is that Clark sometimes holds out pretty well against Kryptonite and other times immediately collapses. Wouldn’t he be developing some sort of minor resistance to it (at least compared to his cousin)? My last big nit is that the show has used Kryptonite “infection” as the reason for most peoples super powers – this is just week story telling.

I’ll still watch the show even with all these issues because Superman is my favorite story about superheroes but it is sure frustrating to see this very poor interpretation of him.

Post from: Glenn's Daily Script (c)2007 Glenn Thompson. For Downloads, Pictures, and other great content go to Glenn's Daily Script. See Glenn's Daily Script Legal Information Page for Disclosure, Fair Use, Copyright, Creative Commons notices.

Smallville/Superman

We also went to Pike’s Place Market and did a bit of shopping.

My big highlight of the shopping was a comic shop. I gave up comics when I quit working. I took this as an opportunity to get a few graphic novels on some stories that I have heard about though. I got some Ultimates (Marvel), Civil War (Marvel), 52 (DC).

Comics are fun and at times I miss collecting them but not enough to resume it. I’m glad to have picked up these books though.

Post from: Glenn's Daily Script (c)2007 Glenn Thompson. For Downloads, Pictures, and other great content go to Glenn's Daily Script. See Glenn's Daily Script Legal Information Page for Disclosure, Fair Use, Copyright, Creative Commons notices.

Graphic Novels