Discover Top Posts Tagged with #the 30s

Supermay II Finale!: Superman Smashes the Klan Review!: We All Share the Same Tomorrow

Hello all you happy people and welcome to the grand finale of Supermay II: The Sequel You Knew Was Coming. Previously in supermay I looked at the adventures of superman serial clan of the firey cross and Kev is paying me to finish the duology looking at it's 2019 Adaptation, the three part masterpiece Superman Smashes the Klan.

Superman Smashes the Klan was written by Gene Luen Yang, an acomplished comics writer who won a macarthur genius grant and was at this far longer than I realized with his breakout work, American Born Chinese coming in 2006. He also wrote the comic level up about a med student who wants to be a pro gamer, which I ran into in a campus library back in college and is now seemingly out of print. He made a career doing graphic novels like the Shadow hero, the Boxers/Saints Duology, and wrote the first 5 avatar the last airbender sequel graphic novel trilogies, which i've read and while it gets off to a bumpy start with the promise, the rest is a solid continuation.

This rose his star enough he landed at DC, just in time for rebirth and created New Super-Man, starring arrogant bully Kong Kenan as he grew into the role with the help of the rest of the chinese justice league. He'd have other ongoing works with Batman/Superman, The Terrifics and his wonderful reinvention of Shang-Chi that didn't get the love it deserved.

Doing such a good job with NSM and a brief new 52 stint on superman lead to him getting Smashes the Klan. Smashes the Klan is a deeeply personaly work: in an interview Yang stated that he based the Lees off diffrent periods of himself and diffrent ways he tried to assimilate and did research into the time and into the klan itself to prevent the villians from just being 2 dimensionals monsters, fleshing them out into fully realized monsters. This is a labor of love.. and one that's paid off winning a Harvey, a Mike Wierngo Spirit Award and Two Eisners, and stands proud as one of the most well loved Superman stories of the last decade. I'll be upfront: I love this comic. IT's a masterpiece and it's reputation is deserved and it only read better on a second read. I only haven't because it can be hard to read at times: it pulls no punches on the isolation and pain it's two leads feel and while not as out and out frightneing as the radio show, is still unsettling. It's a masterful work, made posible by Gurhuru, the japanese duo of Chifuyu Sasaki and Naoko Kawano with a style that nicely blends manga and american comics together. They've done a ton of work for Marvel, doing art for Uneblivible Gwenpool, Unstoppable Wasp, the 2004 Power Pack revivial and many more and had worked with Yang on all 5 of his avatar comics. Smashes the Klan is a wonderful well built journey of self discovery, standing up to hate, and acceptance of who you are and i'm gonna show ya'll why.

We begin our tale as most great tales do.. with Superman punching a nazi.

The Atom Man is a nod to another Adventures of Superman Serial as he spent most of the war fighting Nazi's in the radio. In the comics they danced around it a bit while the newspaper comics gave a shockingly simple explanation: he failed the eye test due to his x ray vision kicking in accidentally. Later comics set on Earth 2, where superman aged normally and was rocking that reed richards pepper, established hitler just had a magical spear that could brainwash superhumans so the heroes couldn't just swoop in and end the war, an explanation that was kept when earth 2 was merged with the main earth.

This is a fun cold open that helps set things up: Superman has his Golden Age power set pre-flight, meaning he can leap tall buildings in a single bound, is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, you get it. I also like that being copy Lois has written.

As a VERY nice change from the serial, Lois.. is an active part of the plot. She shows up here fearlessly asking the nazi in the iron mask a few questions, a running gag as people are baffled she just.. has no fear. Yang gets the superman cast down pat and does a fantastic job with them. He was a fan, having warmed up to him with age after his mom tried to force superman on him as a kid instead of marvel comics and seen just how important to Superheroes he is and how great a character he is, and it shows, with tons of love for these characters.

Superman easily smashes the Nazi, breaking his jetpack when he tries to fly away with a pitch.. but finds the Nazi's power source makes him sick, a weird green rock. Superman has just met Kryptonite.. again. This origin's been told a few different times as how Superman found his greatest weakness is fascinating, and it works here as the Catalyst for Superman's arc. Thankfully though he gets a hand up from Inspector Henderson. The good inspector was in the original serial.. as the cop who constantly told Clark Kent "Dont' worry about the fanatic he won't try to say shoot up a baseball stadium". Henderson was sadly realistic, a cop who just can't buy that a person would go on a racist rampage, but a frustrating character.

Here he's instead a black cop who wears a badass Trenchcoat and is one of the sharpest characters in the story and works hard on his investigation into the Klan when that starts up.

Superman shrugs it off as possibly getting sick and waves off Lois questions about who he is, running as fast as he can across telegraph wires, how superman got around before his flight was added in the comics.

We then cut to our deutragonist, Roberta , aka Lai Shin as her and her family the Lees move into the wider part of metropolis from Chinatown. This was common at the time: Chinese-Americans were one of the few people of color that got to integrate with white neighborhoods after the war and unlike Black americans weren't barred from using the GI Bill to get houses. It's why a chinese family was chosen for Clan of the Firey Cross.

The Lees are given way more focus here. In the serial, they were a prop: Tommy Lee was called racist shit by his teamate Chuck, accidently beaned him, the Klan of the Firey Cross used that as a thin justification to do hate crimes, then Tommy got his arm broken and spent the rest of the serial in the father. His father Dr Lee showed up once or twice and his sister and mother were only mentioned.

Here the whole family is fleshed out and we see that on the car ride over: Tommy is now a brash young kid, a bit of a hot head who likes to tease his sister but still clearly loves her, Dr. Lee is trying hard to assimilate , forcing his wife who can barely speak english to speak english and trying to angelize everyone's name, and his wife is a kind thoughtful woman whose stymied by the fact she cant' speak english and her husband is kind of an asshole. He'll grow as a person but it is hard to watch him constantly tell his wife "English Dear". It gets a great payoff later. It fits the times but still feels super uncomfortable.

At the planet Clark is feeling real woozy and ducks out on Lois and Perry White entering his office.. and sees himself in the mirror .. as an alien. The Kryptonite has stuck with him and is causing him to see things... and as we'll see being seen as an alien is his greatest fear.

For now we get back with the Lees. Lan Shin thows up on her jacket and her dad just.. callously throws it away, says they can buy one and subtly implies a more Americanized one. Yeah this is part of why it's a hard read... Lan-Shin is having a rough go of it early on.

Dr. Lee's collegues visit, Dr Wilson and Dr Jennings. Wilson looks like Teddy Rosevlent and Jennings.. is an obvious creep, joking that the pie is apple not "dog". Lan-Shin nervously says "no hankshake throw up " and her dad.. berates her for.. being nervous. Yeah as a nervous autistic man fuck off dude. The story does well to make Dr. Lee naunced.. but he can be a LOT as most of his early scenes are urges to assimilate and being a dick to his wife and child without meaning to.

Thankfully Lan-Shin has Tommy who throws her a paper airplane to apologize for mocking her in the car. She lets him have top bunk and through it Tommy sees superman speed past. The two then meet Jimmy who true to this period of comics is a cool teen.. and to show that takes Roberta's no handshake throw up in stride. As for why she keeps saying this Roberta has motion sickness, a neat character trait. I thankfully wasn't cursed with that but I relate to being a shy kid with a disablity who tends to sit in the background, though mines mental rather than physical.

Jimmy invites the two to Unity House which in the original.. was never explained at all. It was just.. something Jimmy went to to play baseball and it was never elaborated on.

Thankfully the comic.. actually explains what Unity House is

Tommy is an instant hit all the kids impressed by his arm and warming up to him.. while Lan-Shin sits in the back, unsure how to approach them and missing her old life and her old jacket.

Everyone's happy to invite Tommy to join the team.. except Chuck Riggs, the soon to be former star player whose jelaous of tommy, just a bit racist and crowding the plate. The incident is almost 1:1 for the radio show.. except Tommy clearly stops carring about beaning Chuck for being too close after he's a racist little shit and Chuck is more openly racist here.

Chuck gets hit bad and Tommy does genuinely feel sorry for doing it. Lan-Shin just notices his red boots. Chuck.. refuses to apologizes, keeps throughing out racist insults and eventually throws out the CC slur. Tommy prepares to understandably beat Chuck up but Lan-Shin intervenes, and it's shown while she struggles with english she CAN speak it.. she just needs a second first, telling Chuck he'll have to go through him first.

Chuck storms off, practice resumes and we cut to chucks home. It's here we meet our villian, Matt. Matt Riggs in the original was an abusive monster who terrified his family. Here he's intimidating, wandering why Chuck threw away his uniform and telling him to go back and apologize.. only to turn when Matt talks about being replaced.. and once he mentions Lee well Matt turns a shade darker, getting into "Their replacing us " Shit and deciding to take Chuck to a meeting.

Back with the Lees, Tommy is in typical boy of the time fashion pissed his sister stood up for him... only for Lan-Shin to make it clear WHY she did: She knew if Tommy got into a fight he'd get kicked off the team too and loose all his new friends, with her admitting that Tommy fits in so easily he dosen't understand what it's like not to. Realizing his mistake Tommy apologizes and laughs about Chuck's anger at being upstaged by Lan-Shin.

Back with Chuck.. he is lead by his uncle Matt. Turns out Chuck has heard of the Klan as Matt gets him some robes the textbooks calling them bigots.. which feels off to me in a work this historically accurate that any textbook in the 50's would portray the Klan as the monsters they are, in part because they were still at full strength and very litigious, and part because a lot of america didn't see them as an actual problem because that problem was... over there.

We cut back to Clark whose having his own issues... dreaming of his parents.. but their aliens..a nd speaking in a familiar language. We flash back to little clark kent, as Jonathan has fixed a box for him... a radio.. from Krypton Martha takes him aside and asks what the hell and dosen't want Jonathan to tell Clark.. who can hear them.

Clark asks his alien parents what's going on and they tell him he's remembering.

On that note we cut to something truly sweet: Mama Lee comforting Lan-Shin, pointing out that she felt out of place when she first got to metropolis but found the secrets that made it special: the best day for egg tarts, the wooden bench at the park was the best place for a sunset and the tea lady who seemed grumpy is entirely sweet once you get to know her. A place becomes home the more secrets you know, a sentence that feels warm and very true.

Sadly some monsters are determined to make sure this isn't home, burning a massive firey cross into the lawn.

The Clan gives their racist spiel and their motto "One Race, One Color, one Religion". Despite this..

Damn straight. You.. can't reason with someone THIS bigoted. And they try to use the same tactic.. but it's the truth. They NEED help and instead he just wants to cowtow while Tommy decides to go out with a bat and take care of buisness.

Matt forces Chuck to throw an explosive.. but Chuck misses on purpose because he's not a monster and dosne't like.. well anyo f this. He blames the hood and they skedaddle and some kind black men show up to help.... only for Mr Lee to scream NO THIS IS GETTING WORSE and shoo them away

I get Gene is trying to write him as a nuanced character I do. Mr. Lee's racisim is internalized: He wants BADLY to fit in to pass as white.. but dosen't recognize no amount of clothes, americanized names or being racist to people just trying to help him like his white neighbors would is going to make bigots magically accept him. I don't have the answer for how a person of color should acclimate to a white environment because i'm white and there's no easy answer. There's no one universal fit that magically fixes racisim or bigotry in general. It's why I like all the perspectives of the lees: all the diffrent ways they try to fit in.

The day after Clark arrives with Perry having not told him he was covering the Klan which yeah.. maybe include that. Clark hasn't slept but snaps into action and comforts Lan-Shin. It's a perfect Clark reaction: Clark's first reactoin is to comfort a scared child, one ready to leave as is her mother. Her father.. is still convinced he can show them they were just mistaken and that their wrong

But enough of that, Clark comforts Roberta, making it clear that her leaving like she wants.. is what the bigots wants that she's welcome here and their on her side, something Lois confirms in a nice moment. Lan takes to both of them easily, and even slightly suspects clark seems familiar. Like the boots it's a nice indicator she has talent. She bravely decides to stay.

Whlie typing up her story her words, "I always kinda expected I dont' belong" trigger a memory in clark.. a deeply unplesant one. He was reading comics with Pete Ross. Pete is a recurring superman supporting character from his smallville days, his best friend before he left. His importants flucuates wildly and unlike Lana he's not brought back nearly as often.

Some bullies come by rip up pete's comics then prepare to beat him up and clark snaps.. and awakens something inside him

This scares the bullies.. but also pete. Who I could be harder on.. but he's a child. He has no idea how to process this nor is aware this was an accident. He should've came back, trusted hisf riendship with clark, but i'm easier on a child. Especially since his adult self signed on with Luthor as his VP fully thinking he could control him and was not a children when he did. IT's very hard to be the worst pete ross.

I love clark's backstory here, that he has a reason to fear his powers.. when their a part of him. This was a simple accident brought on by a noble impulse.. but it scares him because he has no way to grapple with this. Superman is the ONLY superhero and rather than spend his teen years in the future, he spends them alone after some deeply traumatic incidents. And that's plural, as this incident isn't the end of it.

For now the Siblings have an argument: the next day at Unity house Tommy postures about the incident.. and also makes a joke about frying up us wontons, making Lan-Shin seethe as she sees it as fake, playing into people's racisim to fit in and calls him on it. He responds with saying if she wasn't so concerned about judging people she could actually make friends and then is a dick when she cries about it. He isn't wrong that with her anxiety she puts up barriers between her and everyone else... but he put it in the most dickish way possible and is SUPRISED when it makes her cry.

Matt wakes up chuck and just.. always looks unsettling.. but forgives Chuck when he apologzies for "Missing". Chuck is HOPEFUL and hints that maybe that was enough.. but no it's clear Matt isn't done. And he proves it.. by pulling up to tommy luring him and kidnapping him.

Lan-Shin senses SOMETHING is wrong after he dosen't come back for an hour or two, and her instincts are right.. but she unfortuantely goes to the worst possible person for help

This scene is a gut punch.. very hard to read every time... because it's all too real. AN officer ignoring someone for help.. because their in a group the officer dosen't care about writing off their valad concerns or being well aware somethings wrong but doing nothing. The police CAN have good people, Henderson shows that.. but the system props up guy like this prick who do nothing.

I went back on forth over wether to write this next part. I did not want to be seen as profiting off a tragedy in a paid review.. .but getting that image hurt even more... as just the day before, Jonathan Joss, voice actor on king of the hill and actor on parks and rec, was shot dead in what his husband says, and I belivie is a hate crime. The couple had dealt with frequent harassment cumilating in some homophobes burning down their house and leaving the remains of one of their dogs that died in the fire at where it stood. The two were understandbly greving and sobbing.. when a neighbor showed up the two had an argument and shot joss. While the Police found it as murder.. they also claimed it wasn't a hate crime. That nothing of the sort happened. Because they just.. do not care. Despite trying to go to the polcie before all this.. the police only showed up to carry away the body and say "it wasn't what it was, this guy just did a murder he isn't a bigot too come onnn". It's why this hurts. Because shit like this happens every day and while there are a few good officers trying.. most will gladly ignore those who need protecting most because of their own bigotry, a bigotry built into their system.

Thankfully Lan-Shin DOES have actual allies in the city, and goes to the planet. She found out Jimmy was a cub reporter and as her only friend in town, she turns to him. He belivies her and she has him take her to Chucks. Jimmy isn't sure Chuck is that evil, and he's right, but Lan-Shin's suspcions are on the money. Thankfully for both of them Clark naturally follows and dosen't even have to make an excuse: the two kids bolting out of there is supsscious enough for Clark to understandably follow.

Mercifully unlike the Radio show clark.. isn't a shy about turning into superman. He has other issues, but waiting till it's dramatically convient isn't one. He gets this works faster.

Back with the kidnapping, it's a truly unerving scene as Matt describes what will happen to poor tommy just for sick kicks then says he "dosen't have an ounce of hate in his heart. China is just in his mind a crime den.

Not only is the hate part VERY innacurate, if how bigots put it.. .the kind of thing he describes is real racist propoganda put out to try to discourage chinese americans from moving into white neighborhoods. Yang did his home work, even watching modern bigots to get inside their heads, to try and flesh it out.. and it works. Matt here is as zealous as before.. but unlike the serial he's not treated as a one dimensonal madman. He genuinely loves chuck and dosen't once think of harming him, and while he's tough on the boy, he isn't abusive and genuinely wants to be a good father figure... but is still a racist monster who can't see how poison his own rhetoric is. How what he wants is not okay and is harming people... best shown when he chases Tommy after Tommy upercuts the son of a bitch and escapes... and ends up in the river, leaving the boy to die and laughing it off.

Jimmy and Lan-Shin's talk with Chuck goes as poorly as you'd expect: he denies it and when she tells him her proof, his red boots he goes nuts and swings a bat around. It's clear the kid is just scared, dosen't want to hurt his uncle, more on that later, and when he thinks he's hit her he's genuinely horrified. Thankfully he instead broke his bat on Superman who arrived just in time.

In a nice bit of irony added here.. Chuck is a big superman fan. We dont' get the long drawn out trying to hide who he is thing, more him trying to cover for Matt while still doing the right thing. Still superman easily gets to him: If you can do the right thing you should. So he grabs both kids, with Lan naturalyl insiting to come along and Jimmy scootering off to go fetch the good inspector. I also love that as it should be Jimmy knows superman, is already his pal and the two work in perfect synch. Clark just trusts his pal to go get help while running off with the kids. Roberta gets sick as part one ends.

Superman lands with Chuck having told him where the "Bigots in bedsheets" as Lan calls them are meeting... and once they land the poor girl throws up. I love that superman not only notices but after this makes note of her motion sickness. Clark is the only person in the story who not only gets it's a thing but actually adjusts to it, a nice subtle touch.

Clark once again see his parents.. and quickly finds out no one else does though in a clever way where the two are too distracted looking for chuck to realize Clark isn't talking about him. They urge him to look harder... and kick in his x-ray vision. He saves Tommy whose trapped under the river and wraps his cape around him.. but refuses his parents sugestion to use the vision on his bone, refusing to acknowldge the aliens. He does however speed by , having henderson take the kids home.

Roberta reflects on things.. and realizes , only now since she was a bit too gurgly to earlier, that Superman's landing was off.. like he's defying gravity and you can't bring him down. Jimmy digs in on Chuck who refuses and Henderson breaks it up.. he gets Chuck is a suspect.. but is only going to keep tensing up.

Clark gets Tommy to help but has other problems as his parents are here and talk to him admitting that's what they are. Their Jor-El and Lara... he just won't acknowledge them and wont' belivie it. Jor-El pierces through him with a gutting question; Why do you use some of your powers and not others?

We get a flashback to answer that: The mom of the bullies is accusing clark of being possesd by satan. SHockingly for the 30's whent his woul dlikely take place, the Cop does not buy it. Clark's mom assures him that night he's fine, he's their boy and that if he did do what they said.. the boys had it coming. Still he's curious and grabs the kryptonian radio.. and overhears his parents arguging about him... and their way of talking about him being normala nd the most perfectly normal boy.. is something that hurts him.. and when he accidently activates it he hucks the radio away and vows to be normal

It's another heartbreaking scene; Clark rejects part of who he is.. because he badly wants to fit in, somewhere i'm sure we've all been.. because he's AFRAID of it when he never shoudl've be and his parents rather than help him through it.. just ignore it became it's convient. THeir not malicous, not horrible, they love him and a later scene makes it clear they didn't care.. their just scared someone worse than a bunch of easily dismissed assholes will find out and take him away and cut him up.

The Lee parents show up and Dr. Lee is , wait for an asshole. To his credit.. this is the last time.. and it's a plot important time as hearing superman was involved he starts ranting about his good citzen act.. till roberta steps in and vocuhes for TOmmy: Superman saved him and is a hero.. and that breaks something inside the doctor. He's.. suprised Superman is willing to help. More on that later. Lan-Shinreturns the cape... and Superman gives it to her, his mom having made him extra and makes a good impression on the Lee Parents. Tommy also lies about the incident and has Lan-Shin cover for him. As Roberta later makes clear she gets it: Tommy didn't want to get forced out of metropolis by his fearful parents.. it's worth staying and there are things worth fighting for.

That night Lan's mom takes the cape which is adorable enough being used as a blanket.. and makes her daughter a new jacket. It's a truly sweet gesture, getting her a jacket that's both where she came from, something beautiful made by her mom.. and where she is... something from metropolis.. something from superman. It's beautiful

At the planet Perry calls clark in. He's fine with the story.. he's just pissed at the Klan doing this in his backyard and sets out the reward. In the serial Clarks initial idea was to draw Chuck out as Chuck had called him annomously.. but thankfully that whole thing is cut. It never felt right Superman was publicly shaming a child who had every reason to be afraid.

Chuck is unerved byt his but finds FAR WORSE in the garage.. Matt is seething about the police, superman the bounty Perry's put out.. everything.. and plans to strike back at Unity house.. and Warns Chuck. Chuck makes up a story about going scouting.. but really he just wants to save everyone.

Before he arrives though Tommy is doing his normal thing.. but for once Lan also gets attention and in a nice move, Tommy is the one to cast it on her bringing up her sweet new jacket. Jimmy also hypes her up.. and says it dosen't look bad on her. An dI like the little mutual crush the two have on each other. Nothing major comes of it.. but their both like.. 12-13. It's fine. It's not the focus but it is precious

Chuck runs in and tries to get everyone out... after a few failed attempts he convinces everyone to go see a movie and gets everyone out.. just as the Klan arrives with the bomb.

Meanwhile Lois looks into the department of health. Dr. Lee is starting to have doubts though.. and it's here we get a big pivot from the serial that was hinted at before, one I love that adds to superman's stories and spices up the climax. Last issue we caught sight of a mysterious lab montoring the nazi from the opening.. and Lois finds it in the department of health, monitorning both hima nd the kryptonite. Lois is ushered out by the racist from Earlier, Dr Jennings... but it's clear something is up there and she knows it. She also interviews him without an ounce of fear as you'd expect.

Both our heroes take a hit to the stomach emotoinally: At the movies Lan-Shin encounters her old friends from Chinatown.. only to find out they never liked her, finding her stuck up and thinking like her father she thinks she's too good for chinatown.. when really she's just motion sick and didn't want to car ride to the movies. It makes the poor girl realize she's held people at a distance and dosen't know how to stop it.

Meanwhile Lois unfairly assumes clark is starring at some random lady and huffs off, and he sadly notes why would he stare at ANYONE else when she's there. Instead it's his parents who he meets on a rooftop for privacy, simplier times and they once again ask why be half of who you are. Time for our penultimate flashback. Clark is being bullied by the idiots who want him to show everyone he's a demon. This is where this Clark meets Lana Lang. Lana was Clark's childhood sweetheart, which for various reasons never quite works out, but the two remain friends in adulthood. The mainline one recently married John Henry Irons aka Steel after a years long relationship, a pairing I really love. She'd previously married Pete Ross but that marriage fell apart with time and than god for that. She deserved better and got it.

As she gets the fuckers to back off Clark once again feels the anger in him.. but begs it to just GO AWAY GO AWAY. It's a hearwrenching scene but works and his powers are set at his golden age set: super speed, can jump good, invunerablity and super strength. He'd get x-ray soon into it too, but that's smartly kept. Everything he can do is thorughly human and it's a smart reconteculization of his powers. The ones that would mark him as not human.. are the ones he's locked away and he tells his parents to leave that he's too scared of loosing his precious little life to accept his heritage. He buries who he was.

Back in the theater Lan-Shin isn't enjoying the movie, Captain Desmo Vs Genghis Akhim, whose every bit as sterotypical as you'd expect and is actually a pull from DC's history, even living on earth 2 and was in Adventure Comics, which would eventually be taken over by Superboy then the Legion of Super Heroes. Yang has a history of taknig obscure racist parts of dc history and refitting them, using the Yellow Peril villian from the cover of Detective Comics #1 as a representatoin of yellow peril a villian is using to make a point and same villian showing Kenan Slam Bradly's racist rampages from early detective comics complete with caracture.. before having said caractures turn into regular asian people showing just how horrific that'd really be and showing the real point of such horrible shit.

Lan-Shin reflects on being alone, on her isolation, on the movies.. then realizes this whole scenario of being ushered out was suspcious. Chuck and Tommy are outside having buried the hatchet. It's intresting to see Chuck's evolution here as it's way more subdued than the serial. See halfway though Clan of the Firey Cross.. Tommy became a non entity. He was still mentioned once or twice, but the plot was focused on Perry's crusade against the Cross with Matt targeting Perry, Jimmy and Chuck. It's one of the serial's big weaknesses: while it gets a LOT right, it marganlizes it's chinese characters once it's done with them being a prop, pushing them aside for the white people.

Here Chuck is kept vital to the story and still gets followed up on.. but it's rightly not his story and having him interact with the Lee children more helps flesh him out. Instead of not being bigoted to begin with and seeing his uncle was evil Chuck is scared by his uncle but is pulled between his love for the man and the reality of what Matt is. It's a take many people are all too familiar with: you love someone.. but the views they've taken on or always had are just.. horrible. Truly vile. That disonance between the person you care about and how they think of others who their punching down against. It makes for a much better story that Chuck instead learns slowly: He backs off the racist side of things after seeing the depths of hate.. but he's just scared, torn between doing the right thing and loosing an uncle who genuinely loves him. Matt isn't a frothing abusive monster.. but a stern loving father figure who likely still provides finacially given the times. Loosing him may also hurt his mom. He has a lot to loose but also knows what Matt's doing is truly horrific and you feel for the kid.

I also like Tommy teaching chuck his fast ball.. that while Chuck is welcomed back now he's not being a racist sorehead, Tommy is genuinely helping him in the game. I like the two forming a friendship, something that allows Chuck to grow.

It also allows Tommy to read between the lines. Lan once again digs into Chuck... and Chuck admits to tommy he was at the house.. but really did miss on purpose. And Tommy.. instantly belivies him. His less walled off nature means he gets it and he has a valid point: Chuck's a fantastic pitcher and their house is a giant target. If he wanted to hit the house he would've. Matt belivies it because he loves his nephew and the mask thing is a good excuse. But Tommy knows better and Chuck geninely apologizes. He never wanted to hurt anyone.. but Lan once again spots the thread: Chuck mentions unity house and not wanting to hurt it.. and she gets something's up and puts it all together. He admits to ushering them out to keep them all safe.. but we find out he forgot something: The Reverend, Minister and Rabi, whose offices he didn't check.

So the kids spring into action with Jimmy who shows up just in time to hear everything.

I love JImmy's characterization here: It's one of my faviorites, along with My Adventures: he's brave, smart and despite being a teen here just as compitent as his mentors: he decides to pull a lois, Keep the bigots destracted long enough and hope superman hears them, while Tommy and Chuck each call the planet or the police, getting both here. This is a smart call as Clark overhears and jumps into action.. and while he does that INspector Henderson has arrived PISSED about Perry's bounty. We'll find out why soon. For now as Roberta fearlessly does her best lois one of the Klansman grabs her.. and we get one of the best pages in the whole comic

So damn cool. Superman takes one with him and leaves one in a tree., going to find the bomb.. but made a mistake. The one he choose is a fanatic just like Matt and would rather die than help. Superman finds the tied up holy men.. but can't find the bomb and while he tries to invoke his kryptonian side he can't. Superman realizes too late as he runs that his fears.. are holding him back. That not accepting where he comes from could've gotten people killed.

Henderson explains why he's pissed and makes a valid point: While Perry is right to want to fight bigotry as a private citzen.. this COULD have made his suspect, Matt, run aground. That more heat might of lead the Klan to back off. It didn't, but Perry realizes he fucked up... just in time for the Klan to prove Henderson wrong.

I love Henderson's inclusion here: A black officer who does his best, genuienly sticks up for those who need him and instead of assuming the Klan won't do shit makes a logical deduction the Klan MIGHT not do shit. Instead of just blindly assuming Matt won't do anything, there's some logic to it.

Lois naturally asks for an interview.. and gets the same response as she did with Jennings tipping her off, while a Klansman tries to get henderson to take off his badge. He refuses and another threatens his life.

Superman is stunned by his failure and we get a quick good dose of black comedy

And some truly wholesome ship tease as Jimmy tells Roberta, who blames herself for this that it's not her fault and if that she'd never come to metropolis he never woul'dve got to meet her. Awww. Shit gets real though.. he realizes if the Planet hasn't responded something BAD is happening. He's right, issue 2 closing on the firey cross being lit on the planet's globe.

We open on our last flashback, and for once one that dosen't involve any childhood Trauma for Clark. Clark is at the fair with Lana as a young man, the Kents teasing them about being a couple though unlike most versions we never find out WHY that never panned out.

The two get their tickets from a scarred bald ticket taker.. who Clark recognizes later as a strong man despite carrying himself diffrently. The strongman, Sampson leaps into actoin when the tent is struck by lightning and catches fire but is narrowly saved by clark. The two share a pop afterwords and Samson gives Clark some key advice

This origin to Clark's costume and how he hides himself here is clever: learning to use stagecraft ala Superman birthright but with a twist for the times.. a twist ripped straight from the creation of superman. Siegel and Schuster based Superman off circus strongmen and it's nice ot see that come back. Ma sews superman a costume with the symbol from Krypton.. which is also a nice little nod that despite their worries.. they really don't care.

Back in the present day for good, Superman puts out the firey cross but finds the Klan has taken Henderson, Lois and Perry. Lan-Shin once again proves her chops, thinking what would lois do: Leave a clue, a WJ written in lipstick.. and Jennigs racist dog joke bites him in the ass as Roberta remembers that and Jimmy looks him up.

Chuck and Tommy walk back from the destroyed unity house... and Chuck asks would it really be so bad if all the races were seperate? Tommy of course points out all the holes and how he never got to be on a team before now and Chuck blurts hout a heartbreaking line

It's an all to common problem in breaking away from bigotry.. wnating to know the people who cared about you aren't bad... but the hard truth is Matt is. His mom isn't but Matt's a monster, and while I lined out the consequences before.. it's not so easy. The two part not great with Chuck clearly not confident in any of this.

At Jennings house the Klan threatens their hostages but like Jimmy and Perry in the serial, where this plot was a lot more drawn out for time reasons and Jimmy was there instead of Lois and/or henderson, the trio mock their captors instead. Lois gets the best dig as she points out the "ancestral sword" matt plans to murder them with was 3 dollars which even back then is terribly cheap for a sword and was a real thing the KKK sold to make money. More ont hat later. For now Superman arrives like the kool aid man and easily cleans house. Said house burns down and when HEnderson tries to help put jennings out after he catches on fire he treis to burn him. .and gets a left hook instead. Man I love this guy. Though Jennings is worried as his badge was dinged up and while Perry makes it clear the badge makes the man Jennings makes it clear.. he knows that but several racist don't quite agree. We saw it at the Lee house earlier: the badge is sadly necessary.

Superman confronts Matt.. but Matt gets to him on two levels: the first is that Superman, while not going to kill him becuase of course he's not, can't just punch every member of the Klan. Their an idea and you can't kill an idea and Racisim is rooted deep into our nations history and institutions. The more chilling thing.. is pointing out that he looks up to superman and why he THINKS chuck does

IT's a truly disturbing thing.. and sadly real as a creation of two jewish men was probably thought of as some superior race bullshit at some point as bigots.. tend to miss the point a lot.

Superman flies them to the police station. In the original serial matt just.. escaped somehow, but I like Yang's solution better: The racist asshole officer from earlier? He's in the Klan and vows to get them out. While it's a revoltin development I like it on a story level: the Klan really was commonly stocked by police and policing came out of white hate groups. While as Henderson shows not every officer is bad or corrupt, the instution itself is rotted and needs refitting.

The final straw for Superman's self hatred comes from Roberta, who confronts him.. and makes it clear she knows he can likely fly.. but is holding himself back. That he's scared of himself. And while Clark tries to deflect she makes it clear she understands, that some would hate and fear him for being different... but that he can't afford to hold back. People could've died and while he saved the day, he could've done so faster if he could fly.

Superman zooms off and while Roberta worries she offended him.. she didn't. It was the last push he needed. Struggling thrice with the powers he had, being looked up to by a bigot.. Clark finally realizes that no matter what might happen no might the risk.. he needs to be his whole self. To keep people safe.. and to inspire them properly. To show them he dosen't just represent some ideal of a supermen but all men. He checks in with ma and pa one last time

And dives into the lake where the box has formed into the fortress of solitude.. and Jor El and Lara wait inside, now not seen as bug eyed monsters.. but as themselves.

A deshelved Matt heads to the head of the Klan... the head of the health department. Who is ... shall we say less than pleased with Matt's actions

More on this in a moment as we're with the Lees again that same morning. Mrs. Lee has prepared a chinese breakfast.. and Mr. Lee has quit, deciding he didn't agree with what the department was doing anymore. Their staying, he's just going to find another job. It's a clear change in him no longer trying to fit in or consider himself "better" but accept he's chinese and can fit in as he is. His wife always had but no longer has to tolerate that bullshit.

Lois shows up and gives Lan a pen, and offers her a job as a cub reporter, something sh'es glad to accept esepcially if the family needs the income.. and Lois encourages her to follow the lead of her dad abrubtly leaving.

Back with the head of the health department Matt finds out just what the Klan really was

This is, as I pointed out in the review of firey cross, almost verbatim from the actual serial and one of the few parts adapted 1:1. It's one of it's most impactful as the Klan REALLY was a pyramid scheme. Or if you prefer a Trapazoid but either way you put it it's a clear scam used to get bigots to buy tons of merchandise. I like that it's included here and had no idea this really was what the klan was about when I first read this comic.

The second part, is all Yang but it's a clever recontexulization of the Klan as it's still using the money for hate and fear: the Klan is using the money.. to research how to kill superman.

Back to Clark he finds out his origin: Sent from a dying world all too similar to ours in a rocket as a last hope.. but we finally find out what the radio was.. a box with a message telling him that they love him and that "we all share one tommorow" and while Jor el and Lara, as usual are dead... their messsage left behind can tell Clark something he badly needed to hear

I never noticed before how this hug parallels the one with his adopted parents... that he's thorughly human.. but he's throughly kryptonian. A child of both worlds.

So back with the racists, and Lan-Shin as she investigates her dad's journals and finds out what he was doing. Wilson is paranoid superman will someday exchange his cape for a crown. He's still a racist piece of shit, accepting dr lee as "he knows his place", bleugh, but not superman as he breaks out of it. So he's been trying to get a piece of something the Nazi's found: Der Greunstein, aka Kryptonite. The nazi's infused the Atom Man with kryptonite in his blood

And upon seenig Superman get weak from it, Wilson had the rock and the atom man transfered and hes been in a bacta tank in the middle of the department because they've been using his blood to create more kryptonite.. and a kryptonite gun to use against superman. Lan Shin meanwhile finds a weird orb her dad brought home.. containing kryptonite as both the gun and the orb naturally are lead coated.

Wilson.. then prepares to kill Matt as he's outlived his usefulness and "You are an insect but I am a god".. a god who quickly gets strangled by one of his own racist footsoliders because, like his radio counterpart he BADLY underestimated the zeal of a true bigot, not a grifter using bigotry for his own power and influence, a lesson that was sadly both timeless and prophetic given what happened with January 6th shortly after.

It's now game time. Roberta drug Tommy out there, but has her own reasons for coming to the game.

So adorable. Roberta also realizes that even if her and the Unity house girls don't become besties.. they can still be friends, opening up a bit.

Dr. Lee also opens up, running into Henderson whose with his friends from the other night.. and apologizing for being an ass. I may not like Dr. Lee for 2/3 of this story.. but I do like his growth as a person, admitting Henderson was "Just being a good neighbor"

Sadly the good times can't lass. Lan-Shin had another reason for coming besides her mutual crush: Lois, who she dosen't reach.. as Matt kidnaps her.

Matt marches out onto the field. In the original he was trying to snipe Jimmy, Perry and Chuck as they were all witnesses. He was not a rational man and still isn't deciding to just... shoot everyone he dosen't agree with, but in a more presceint way, carrying a gun and clearly ready to kill everyone. It dosen't matte rif he lives or dies, as long as his message is cemeented. Chuck is horrified and any illusions about his uncle not being evil are shattered. And when given a bat by Jimmy just as Matt is about to shoot Tommy for understandbly trying to save his sister, Chuck swings away.

God that felt good. It dosen't last long as Matt prepares to shoot the children, as you'd expect.. but a hero arrives as superman gently floats above the stadium. The reaction is as he feared.. except for one he never expected to be remotely afraid of him

IT's so adorable. Perfectly captures why these two work. Also if your wondering why this last half is so image heavy, the climax of this story is just that good. So many moments so many great panels and it's taking a lot not to show them all. What happens next though is important.

The kids stand by superman.. but everyone else bettrays him, giving into fear and hate instead of accepting Superman has always defended them.. been there.. and Matt gives the people what they want and opens fire. Superman naturally dosen't take it too well.. but luckily intersectionality exists and Lan-Shin brought the orb to show lois.. and thus tosses it to Superman which allows him to block the Kryptonite gun and jam it destroying it and restoring his strength.

If your wondering where Henderson was, the racist asshole from earlier pulled a gun on him.. and is distracted long enough for Henderson to punch him in the face.

Matt came with a plan b: a bunch of bombs strapped to his chest planning to just kill everyone.. thankfully Superman.. easily dispatches him with his new powers, flying him up up and away and then using freeze breath, freshly descovered to make the dynamite useless. We then get the best exchange of the comic as Matt tries to lay down his bullshit.. but superman responds as only superman could

It's a beautiful message.... and a true one. We all have diffrent histories, come from diffrent places and even when we come from the same place.. we're all diffrent.. but we can all make a better future, help make one free of hate and bigotry. It may never happen.. but it's something worth strivnig for, dreaming toward.. a tommorow that can always be better and better.

Matt of course.. rejects this and tries to stab him but the fact Clark tried to redeem even someone this monsterous shows who he is.. a hero, a kind man who is there for everyone but will not tolerate bigotry. He stands for truth, justice.. and a tommorow we can all live with.

Superman flies off and we get a sweet button for the unity house team. The game will obviously be rescheduled so the stadium can be rebuilt and such, but the two teams, the other from Gotham instead of also metropolis like the radio, decide to have a pickup game and Jimmy invites Lan as she has a hell of an arm.

So the next Day lois has broken the story, gotten her interview with superman and Clark of course feigns having missed the excitment. We get a final update on the rest of the Lee's: Mr Lee got a job, Mrs. Lee is taking classes at the university and Tommy is helping prepare for the rematch.

Roberta is here to give back the pen as it's expensive.. but Lois insists. She was serious about the position, Roberta having shown more than enough talent gladly takes it.. but questions that it has her intitals. Except it's not Lois'... Lois looked her up. And as is superman tradition... Lan-Shin is also an LL.. and takes her original name that I used the whole time out of respect back. We end with Superman flying ahead as Lois, Jimmy and Lan Shin all prepapre for the same tommorow.

Smashes the Klan is the rare story that is simply perfect. No question about it. It takes the best of the original serial and throws out the time wasting, updates it to fit the modern superman mythos and pays homage after homage to the characters rich history. It tells the best story of superman coming to terms with his roots, with My Adventures With Superman a close second, another one of superman's best modern stories and one I feel defintely takes some notes from this one as future adaptations all should. It's an instant classic, one that gets to the heart of the character, how racisim works and the immigrant story. Lan-Shin is a wonderful character and a wonderful addition to the cast and one I hope we see again someday. Smashes the Klan is possibly my faviorite superman story and one I recommend you read as soon as possible.

Thanks for visiting me this supermay that extended into June. Thanks for reading and remember i'm pulling for ya... we all share the same tommorow.

#the 30s

Trending Tags

Recently Viewed Tags

#the 30s