Things I'll Love Forever: Superman

I've always been one to miss a bandwagon. Yesterday was apparently the 75th anniversary of the publication of Action Comics #1, and thus it was also the birthday of Superman. As I've gotten older, I've gotten more and more disillusioned with superheroes as a medium - mainly because the characters who filled the stories I loved as a child now exist in forms I'd never want my own children to witness. Now, sometimes the more mature takes on superhero storytelling are indisputably awesome, but I still find myself longing for the clean, four-color adventures I grew up with, when heroes were heroes and villains wore impractical costumes and wanted to "take over the world." And, in recent months, Superman has come to embody that quiet optimism for me.

• The classic Superman look - blue tights with red cape and shorts - is undeniably goofy, but somehow endearing at the same time. In real life, someone dressed in a Superman costume looks silly. Period. In a comic book, though, in that brilliant four-color world, the Superman costume looks downright inspiring.
• I have to admit that Superman's concept is a little silly, but sometimes silly is good. A confluence of silly things can come together to make an outrageous yet profoundly meaningful story. Sure, Superman's secret identity is a little hard to swallow (glasses?), and his powers are all over the place (he has the ability to shoot a midget version of himself out of his hands. Seriously), but those silly ideas simply build up a world where anything can happen, and when it does happen, it turns out for the best. You can't beat that kind of optimism.
• There's a beautiful metaphor at the heart of Superman's character. He's an alien, an outsider... yet he chooses to be a part of society. He has the power to be whatever he wants... and he chooses to be a hero. Tell me that's not what every parent wants for their struggling teen.
• I've heard a lot of people complain that Superman is "too powerful" to be relatable. With all due respect to those people, who are of course entitled to their own opinions, their the wrongest wronglings to ever be wrong about anything. In a Superman story (well, a good one, at any rate), the conflict of the story isn't settled through violent confrontation, except maybe as metaphor. The stakes are never life and death - they're deeper. Superman, a literal embodiment of selflessness and heroism, battles against Lex Luthor, who represents greed, vanity, and all the worst aspects of human nature. And Superman wins every time. That's some &@$%in' good stuff, mate!

Okay, I've rambled a bit, but I still don't think I've made my point. Let me close with the words of Grant Morrison, writer of All-Star Superman (with art by the inimitable Frank Quitely, whose pictures I've used here). Morrison probably expressed in a couple dozen words the sentiment I've failed to capture in however many paragraphs:

"Somewhere, in our darkest night, we made up the story of a man who will never let us down."

And THAT'S why I'll love him forever.

BONUS: I stumbled across this video a few days ago. Check it out: Superman from the days of Merry Melodies. It's an animation classic and quite possibly my favorite Superman story I've seen in a long time.