#1980s superman

[vertigoartgore]

Superman above Metropolis by artist José Luis Garcia-Lopéz (circa 1987).

[lk8843]

[emeraldlupin]

Two Wonderful Quotes About (and From) Superman

Here are a couple of really great quotes about the Man of Steel. Both of them come from the same issue, that being Adventures of Superman (1987) #432 (September 1987), Gangwar Part 1. It was written by Marv Wolfman.

Here's the first. A tenement is burning in Suicide Slums.

Sadly, it is not unusual for the nights in Suicide Slum to be shattered by klaxon horns and wailing sirens. A night without agony , a single night without an unnecessary, unplanned death, is unheard of here, miles north of Metropolis' millionaire row. A robbery isn't even investigated here. A murder is looked into briefly, then filed away. A fire--well, a tenement fire is simply a way of life. Life in Suicide Slum.

Lois and Jimmy are there on the scene of this fire. The fire department isn't there yet, and there are children up in that burning structure. There are two other fires within half a mile, and no other engines.

Both Lois Lane and local man Jose Delgado rush into the fire to rescue the children, and Lois tells Jimmy to press the button on his signal watch to summon Superman. Lois almost falls to her death from a ruptured gas line, but then, the Man of Steel arrives.

And we get to quote #1, delivered to us in the narration boxes.

The newspapers have called him 'a strange visitor from another world with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.' But the last son of Krypton is no unfathomable alien visitor. He is a man who deeply cares for his fellow men. A man unselfish. A man whose very reason to be is to help those who need his help. He is a man...and perhaps something more--he is a Superman. And we can all learn by his deeds.

Isn't that great?

The next quote is from the Big Blue Boy Scout himself. Superman has just stopped a bunch of armed teen gang members from robbing an entire subway train in motion. One of the kids on the train was Jerry White, the son of Perry White, who has run away from home. He was on the scene of the slum fire and he's been wearing gang colors.

Superman: This isn't taking candy from some corner store, Jerry--this is armed robbery! Don't you know this will kill your father? Why, Jerry--why?

Jerry: Maybe I like funerals! Go ahead, Supes, read me my rights. Let's get this garbage over with! 'Sides, my dad will get some high-priced lawyer and I'll be out! I mean, I was only riding the train. I wasn't involved, and no way you can prove I was!

And as Jerry is lead away by the cops with the rest of the gang, Clark has this monologue in his thought balloons:

"The world isn't as clean or as simple as I'd like it. My biggest battles aren't against monsters or super-powered foes. They're against perverted ideals, and I don't know what I can do about that. You can't punch out an idea like you can some space mummy."

Now aren't those the truth? Well-written, Mr. Wolfman.