How Did Superman Become The Icon He Is Today?

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Who doesn't love Superman? The crime fighting superhero has been a staple of Americanpop culture for 75 years. In Superman: The High-Flying History of America's MostEnduring Hero, Larry Tye explains the backstory of America’s first and greatestsuperhero. Here's an excerpt from the book, which hits stores June 12th.So how has Superman managed to thrive for nearly seventy-five years?Itstarts with the intrinsic simplicity of his story. Little Orphan Annie and Oliver Twistremind us how compelling a foundling’s tale can be, and Superman, the sole survivorof a doomed planet, is a super- foundling. The love triangle connecting Clark Kent, LoisLane, and Superman has a side for everyone, whether you are the boy who can’t getthe girl, the girl pursued by the wrong boy, or the conflicted hero. His secret identitymight have been annoying if we hadn’t been let in on the joke, and if wedidn’t each have a hero hidden within ourselves. He was not just any hero, but onewith the very powers we would like to have: the strength to lift boulders and planets, thespeed to outrun a locomotive or a bullet, and, coolest on anyone’s fantasy list, thegift of flight.Superpowers are just half the equation. More essential isknowing what to do with them, and nobody has a more instinctual sense than Superman ofright and wrong. He is an archetype of mankind at its pinnacle. Like John Wayne, he sweepsin to solve our problems. No thank-you needed. Like Jesus Christ, he descended from theheavens to help us discover our humanity. He is neither cynical, like Batman, nor fraught,like Spider- Man. For the religious, he can reinforcewhatever faith they profess;for nonbelievers, he is a secular messiah.The more jaded the era, themore we have been lured back to his clunky familiarity. The outcome of his adventures maybe as predictable as those of Sherlock Holmes—the good guy never loses—butthat too is reassuring. So is his uniform. His tights and cape, in radiant primarycolors, make Superman as instantly recognizable as Santa Claus—and as comforting.That familiarity helped his handlers move him from the printed page to theairwaves, then from the small screen to the big. No need to explain who he was; everyoneknew as soon as they saw him. A costume could also be electrifying, the more so when itdidn’t come with a mask. Just ask Robin Hood and Elvis Presley.That doesnot mean he hasn’t changed with the times. Superman has evolved more than the fruitfly. In the 1930s he was just the crime fighter we needed to take on Al Capone and therobber barons. In the 1940s he defended the home front while brave GIs battled overseas.Early in the Cold War he stood taller than ever for his adopted country, while in itswaning days he tried single-handedly to eliminate nuclear stockpiles. For each era hezeroed in on the threats that scared us most, using powers that grew or diminisheddepending on the need. So did his spectacles, hairstyle, even his job title. Eachgeneration got the Superman it needed and deserved. Each change offered a Rorschach testof that time and its dreams. Superman, always a beacon of light, was a work inprogress.Over the years, comics, too, have been transformed—fromchildhood entertainment to art form to mythology—and Superman helped drive thattransformation. The comic book and its leading man could only have taken root in America.What could be more U.S.A. than an orphaned outsider who arrives in this land ofimmigrants, reinvents himself, and reminds us that we can reach for the sky? Yet todaythis flying Uncle Sam is global in his reach, having written himself into the nationalfolklore from Beirut to BuenosAires. It is that constancy and purity—knowingthat he is not merely the oldest of our superheroes but the most transcendent—thathas reeled back aging devotees like me and drawn in new ones like my stepdaughter andnephew. It is what makes the Man of Tomorrow timeless as well as ageless.Excerpted from Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most EnduringHero by Larry Tye. Copyright © 2012 by Larry Tye. Excerpted by permissionof Random House. All rights reserved. Continue Reading

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