I've already mention ths many times before when this discussion has come up but the first conclusion any thinking person would come to after reading some Supermans is that here is the universe's biggest underachiever. A man with the power to survive a nuke, lift ocean liners, and fly to the sun and back in a matter of minutes and he spends his time f!ucking with bank robbers and burst dams and s!hit. That's bogus. It would seem that anyone who wastes their abilities like that is a moron.
The foremost principle in Superman's mind is that of self determination. And I think an understanding of the slippery slope that leads from the use of power to the abuse of power. Superman could have us on the road to Anarcho-Syndicalism, Parecon, World Governement, whatevah in a matter of decades. But he fears that the utopia he builds would be the same as every other utopia that's ever been built and the utopia that destroyed his homeworld, leaving him isolated in a way that even his closest human relationships can never fully make up for.
So in reality he's not actually this dim boyscout character that everyone thinks he is. He's knows what he could be doing, but he abstains out of an austere sort of compassion for human life. With the power to do almost anything, his most "super" feat was to limit himself to being a toy. A kind of garish and cartoonish symbol. A very legible embodiment of what humanity should like to become. So by sticking to mostly useless, but flashy, large scale save the kitty from the tree type stuff, he sacrifices what's essentially his birthright in order to pass it on to humanity.
That's the only way you can look at a Superman comic and not be sickened by it. | 
08-26-2008, 04:06 PM
