I hope you all (few that there are) haven’t gotten tired of comics that discuss race and society, because I have another one: Superman Smashes the Klan! A graphic novel written by Gene Luen Yang and drawn by Gurihiru. Although it’s not directly about black people, who can't resist reading a comic about Superman beating up the most notorious, dangerous, and disgusting terrorist groups in the United States? Admittedly the title alone piqued my interest in the short graphic novel. In a time of extreme protest for black liberation and the justice of those killed within a racist system, reading this book felt a little more necessary than usual.
Superman Smashes the Klan is based on an old story from the Superman radio show of the 1940s and ’50s. The Superman radio program starring Bud Collyer as Superman/Clark Kent and Joan Alexander as Lois Lane introduced several essential things in the Superman mythos such as Jimmy Olson, Perry White, Superman’s most famous weakness Kryptonite, and Superman’s ability to fly. The graphic novel is mainly from a Chinese family's perspective. Tommy and Roberta Lee move into the Metropolis city to live in a mostly white populated neighborhood. Roberta takes center stage as she struggles to fit in with her new white friends, while her brother Tommy has no problems socializing and even joins a kids’ baseball team called the Unity House of Metropolis.
Meanwhile, Chuck Riggs gets jealous of Tommy taking his position in the baseball game and tells his racists Uncle Matthew Riggs about it. Naturally being a racist, Matthew Riggs takes his nephew into an organization known as the “Clan of the Fiery cross,” where they plan to terrorize and scare the Lee family out of their neighborhood. Based on the name, one could probably guess that the “Clan of the Fiery Cross” is the book’s stand-in for Ku Klux Klan; and although they’re fictional, they’re not too far off from the real thing. Hell, the only difference is that they wear green sheets instead of white. Changing the klan's names was a story move from Bob Maxwell, the head of Superman Inc, and Stetson Kennedy, one of the many Superman radio writers. Stenson and Maxwell didn’t want to get sued by the organization or receive any threats from them, so they changed their names. Nevertheless, in the words of a Key & Peele skit, “I think we all know who we’re talking about.”
Naturally, a story about Superman fighting the Klan doesn’t seem all that exciting because, with all the powers he has, Superman could take out the entire Klan in less than 5 minutes. However, I love this story because superman is depowered to his essential abilities: super-strength, invulnerability, and the ability to jump and leap at great heights. When Superman was first created in 1939, the character wasn’t as powerful as he would later become in comics' silver age. Setting the story in the ’40s, Gene Yang adheres to Superman’s comics history by depowering him. A depowered Superman makes for good story-telling, and it should be a note to all writers who plan on writing Superman stories; Superman does not have to be a God.
Superman, although smashes the Klan reasonably quickly, is wrestling with an internal struggle of acceptance of his nature. While Roberta struggles to fit in with her new surroundings, Superman has been fighting back dreams of communicating with two green aliens. At this point in the story, Superman isn’t aware of his alien origins, and neither is the public. Like Roberta and like most people Superman wants to be accepted as a fellow human being like the ones he dedicates to protect. Clark and Roberta’s struggle to find acceptance in a society so easily offended or fearful is at the heart of this story.
However, Roberta learns to embrace everything that makes her different from her new friends to gain confidence in herself and her capabilities. That’s why Roberta can help cub reporter Jimmy Olson track down the actions of the Clan; she’s a good detective and reporter, but she wouldn’t have come to such a self-discovery if she was afraid to be her full self. Superman, on the other hand, is worried, and while he’s able to stop many of the clan members from killing many lives, he knows deep down that if he were to tap into his alien background, he would be able to access his full powers. For example, Superman smashes into the Unity House building to find a bomb that the clan had planted in the middle of the story. Struggling to find the bomb, superman realizes he has to use his X-Ray vision, but to do that has to think about the two aliens communicating with him. Earlier in the story, as superman is leaping with Roberta in his arms, Clark notices the alien creatures that have been telepathically communicating with him and a body submerged in a dark lake. Clark realizes that he’s seeing right through the lake and jumps in to rescue Roberta’s brother Tommy.
Now Superman is another situation where his x-ray vision would come in handy. Still, a few scenes earlier, Superman rejected the aliens communicating to him in his head, and they went away. Unable to find the bombs in time, Superman takes the remaining clan members and jumps out of the Unity building before it explodes. Not being an alien is holding Superman back; not embracing his origins, Clark can’t be the best Superman. It’s only through digging up a Kryptonian artifact and learning from it that he knows about where he comes from, who his biological parents were, that he could access his full powers.
Other great things about this graphic novel are some of the supporting characters. Aiding Superman in his war against the clan, inspector Henderson also helps to save the Lee family from Clan as well. As an African American and a decent human being, Inspector Henderson sympathizes with the Lee family’s plight as they are way too familiar with the “clan” tactics. Inspector Henderson even gets some of his friends and neighbors to aid in putting out the fiery cross on the Lee family's lawn. In keeping with the theme of race and prejudice, the graphic novel makes it explicitly known as some of the issues with racist philosophy and rhetoric. Towards the end, we find out that the “Grand Imperial Mogul” (the big daddy racist) only made the Klan to make money and profit. When Mathew Riggs finds this out and is outraged, the Grand Imperial Mogul (The KKK hierarchy have incredibly silly names) points the Kryptonite laser gun at him and screams:
“You stupid fool! You think the world is divided by race, but really, it’s divided by power. I have power! And you do not! Our skin may be the same color, but you and I are nothing alike. You are an insect! I am a God!”
It’s a text that believes that the real conflicts between races come from power and wealth, and people who hold that power abusing it; it’s what makes characters like Superman great. Having privilege doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but it’s what you do with privilege that makes all the difference. Superman acknowledges that he has a tremendous amount of power but uses it to help less fortunate than we do; that’s why Superman has been the blueprint for every superhero that came after him; he fights for the little people and helps them grow.
I would also love to mention the small essay in the back by Gene Luen Yang titled “Superman and Me.” It’s a beautiful personal narrative about the history of racism towards Japanese and Chinese during World War II, the rise of the KKK and how the writers of the Superman radio show went about fighting them, and Yang’s personal feelings towards relating to Superman as the ultimate immigrant.
Overall I know that Superman is often criticized as being a boring character. He’s too powerful, so it’s hard to create challenges for him and that he’s a “conservative” superhero, but to me, this comic tackles why all of those criticisms should be put to rest. Like any character, Superman can be tedious in incompetent writing and lack of passion for the character, but Yang clearly shows a love for this character. Yang shows that Superman isn’t your typical Ronald Regan conservative superhero, he’s just a simple man from Kansas who likes helping people. Superman is also the ultimate immigrant. Not only because of Superman's status as an alien, but also because the two creators Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster intended for the character to fight for marginalized groups such as Jewish people, black people, poor whites, and the LGBTQ community and anyone else receiving injustice. In a year where black people are constantly reminded of how much America hates our skin color, I think this is an essential and entertaining graphic novel for kids.
For a little more information on the famous superman raido show and their fight against the KKK, here's a drunk history video about the journalist that infiltrated it for research: