Superman Renounces American Citizenship

            This month has easily been my most lax month of the year as I only published ten posts including this one and two of which were only short announcements.  Why is this?  Well, I honestly don't think you care so let’s just movie on.  So how am I going to end this slack month?  Well, I think I'll do something different and there are two things I have avoided throughout my blog.  The first is comic books, as I don't read them and the second is politics as I tend to be a bit cynical and indecisive when it comes to them.  And believe it or not, I actually found something that involves both subjects and I feel it's something I have to give my thoughts on.

            On Thursday, April 28^th, Action Comics released their record-breaking, 900^th issue of Superman.    In it, Superman makes the decision to renounce his American citizenship, citing that he is tired of having his actions interpreted as US policy and that his old motto of truth, justice and the American way just isn't enough anymore.  The writers' decision to do this has instantly sparked controversy among fans and critics.  Some believing that this was a good choice as Superman's choices were always bigger then America while others thinks it shows blunt lack of patriotism and makes him a metaphor for the country's current economic and political status the county holds on the global scale.  That may be looking a little too deeply into it but I can see how someone can interpret that way.

            So what are my thoughts on this?  Well, more power to the writers for one thing.  Anyone who can take such a big step outside of the box has my respect.  As far as the decision itself goes, it's not like they can't undo it in the next issue.  The point of it, however, was to have Superman put a global focus on his never ending battles; to make the world his main focus rather than just America.  My biggest problem with this is that it seems a little redundant.  He's always already defending the Earth against intergalactic invaders like Brainiac and Darkseid, so doesn’t that imply that he is already Earth's guardian rather than just America's?  Maybe this was just meant to cement the fact but I still felt it was redundant for the character to flat out say it. 

            As far as the people who say it makes Superman a metaphor on America's recent decline I say again that they're looking too deeply into it.  The ideas that the writers had the character renounce his citizenship because they think America is a sinking ship is just stupid.  To me, it's about the same as saying a man is socialist for putting the needs of a whole community over the needs of a single neighborhood. 

            Putting the needs of the world as a whole, rather than a single country, is something that I can't help but admire and I support the writers' decision to permanently take Superman in this direction.  Maybe having him renounce his U.S. citizenship was taking it a little too far but it was still a great way to etch his new world wide policy in stone.  And those are my thoughts on Superman renouncing his U.S. Citizenship.