Detroit-
We’re at a moment in time when Superman is needed once again to
fight the Ku Klux Klan. The immigrant son of Krypton - any decent, sentient
being, for that matter - understands that there are not “very fine people on
both sides.”
The activist Stetson Kennedy knew this point all too well. World
War II had ended and Klan membership was rising. Kennedy infiltrated the Georgia Klan in 1947, acquiring valuable plans that he brought to local
authorities. They rebuffed him, of course, since some of these officials were
undoubtedly Klan members themselves.
Stetson took his case to higher authorities, if you will; the
folks who knew a little bit about looking up in the air to see a bird, a plane,
no, it’s Superman. The writers of the popular radio serial, The Adventures of
Superman were looking for other villains to crush. Supes had just successfully fought the
German and Japanese Fascist cousins of the Klan during the war, both in comics
and on the radio. The ensuing 16-part series revealed Klan codes and rituals,
humiliating the hate-filled bigots and severely stunting their growth and
effectiveness.
So here we go again. The racism, antisemitism, ignorance, and
cowardice the Klan and other hate-mongers represent was invited back onto the
national stage several years ago. It never went away, of course, but it knew
its proper place in the dark, shameful recesses of public discourse.
It is in this context that DC Comics has just published the
first of a three-part comic entitled, Superman Smashes the Klan. In 2019, no
less! Set in the 1940s but with contemporary twists, the work is produced by
Chinese-American author and MacArthur Fellowship recipient Gene Luen Yang and
penciled and inked by Gurihiru, a women-owned Japanese illustration studio.
Interestingly, Gurihiru’s work blends the look of the famous 1940s' Fleischer
cartoons with a touch of manga.
The new work teaches us - at least it taught me - of real-world
evil in San Francisco of the ‘40s where, for example, 16 Chinese-Americans were
lynched by the Klan.
Hatred and ignorance remain the enemy today. Right now, that enemy is
being aided and abetted by craven figures in our national leadership. Even when
these real-life, comic-book villains leave the national stage, however, it’s going
be very hard to stuff this enemy back down its sewer. We can thank DC Comics and Gene Luen Yang for evoking the spirit
of Stetson Kennedy and being unafraid to try. I think that’s called leadership.
Image courtesy of DC Comics.