tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4650928693565504625.post957756429633669328..comments2024-03-23T07:11:39.729-07:00Comments on Odin's Ravens: The Day I Watched Superman DieDan Hagenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577238849397958248noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4650928693565504625.post-16097890043038603122016-07-20T09:07:30.293-07:002016-07-20T09:07:30.293-07:00My eloquent friend Paul Zuckerman remarked: I was ...My eloquent friend Paul Zuckerman remarked: I was nine when the Death of Superman came out. It was my birthday, and my sister took me to see the Parent Trap and I got that comic. It was easily the most heart-breaking comic that I ever read, even though it was an imaginary story, and it still breaks me up. Especially when I read it to my son. It was hard to read without a crack in my voice.<br /><br />I wonder if, as Dan alludes to, the story was a reaction to George Reeve's death. That had been two years before, and I knew of it (I still recall the headline of the New York Post--Syperman Kills Self!--but it probably did not resonant for me at age nine. It was just the story.<br /><br />And, of course, I was not familiar with Siegel's tribulations. This was truly a story that must have reflected his own conflicted feelings to the character and it also showcased a more mature writing style then his earlier work. It was a shame that he did not sustain it, and ended up writing some pretty poor campish stories. There was one shining glory period for him in the early 60s, and then there was no longer a place for him in comics. Sad.<br /><br />it is interesting that you point out that Superman's trust in others was his undoing. He was always willing to give Luthor another chance. In this story, we don't see the conflicted, ambiguous Luthor that was to emerge in the mid 60s for a while. This is just an evil Luthor who finally gets his wish to kill Superman. Today, Superman would go out with a fight. Here, he was betrayed. Much like another beloved character in a recent movie, who wants to believe the best in his son. In the end, isn't that a more satisfying end for the character then to think that our hero can be defeated in battle?<br /><br />To me, the real chiller of the story was the end trial in Kandor. Luthor is kept in a plexi-glass cage, to keep him safe partially, but it also serves to isolate him. That cage had dual meaning in the world of 1961, because Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann had recently been captured by the Israelis and put on trial, kept in a similar cage. That visual was very much on everyone's mind and identifying Luthor with Eichmann elevated the horror and evilness of his act. (The point was hammered home when the judge compares Luthor to Eichmann.) There was no execution allowed then in comics, but the scene of Luthor being projected into the Phantom Zone to spend a lifetime as an incorporeal entity showed a far worse punishment.<br /><br />And, how can one conclude, without mentioning Swan's artwork. In Swan's hands, Superman was a real person. His death becomes all the more poignant because of that. Swan could depict emotion in a way that many other comic artists couldn't. There was nothing that he couldn't draw and draw it well. Nothing flashy, and always in the service of the story, but also, something more, which is why we are all still admiring is work so many years later.Dan Hagenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16577238849397958248noreply@blogger.com