I'm warming up to Supes to a degree, but only because I'm seeing flaws in his character. Take this really unfortunate lapse from Superman #174:
Okay, it was Superman's idea. Everyone get that?
Yeah, it doesn't take long for Superman to decide he'd rather have a guy be a menace than be competition for public adoration:
Yeah. That's pretty much the case, Mxyzptlk. Superman doesn't like it when he isn't the most awesome guy in the room.
See? Why is this? For no other reason than because he's stealing some of the spotlight from Superman. Mxyzptlk has no ulterior motive or sinister scheme. He's just doing good things and Superman doesn't like to share the spotlight. Petty, petty.
And this is the point where I start thinking Mxyzptlk should take over Superman Comics altogether, the way Archie Andrews took over Pep Comics:
See? That's a lot more fun than:
I love the expression on prepubescent Dennis the Menace's face: Oh. It's YOU.
But this is a DC Comics publication, soooooo...
"Magical Mischief"' defined as "good deeds done by someone other than me throughout this story."
And no, Superman didn't arrange that statue. Bizarro did. But Superman is quite happy that there's one less hero in Metropolis because it inconvenienced him.
Yeah, even if he didn't cause it, Supes still looks pretty happy about how this turned out.
See? Metropolis could have had another great hero, but Superman was sure glad that didn't happen.
Not your proudest moment, Supes.
See you tomorrow.
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1 comment:
This Jerry Siegel tale is very much of a piece with the one where he rewrote Lex Luthor's origins in the late 1950s. There too it's suggested that when young Luthor comes to Smallville, his inventions may steal some of Superboy's thunder. In that story, too, a coincidental-- and convenient-- accident derails Luthor's career as a do-gooder.
By that time, maybe Siegel covertly enjoyed making Superman look like a sap, now that it was no longer his character-- though he did make another stab at regaining ownership in the mid-60s.
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