If you know me, you probably know that I'm a big Superman fan. If we could somehow make a pie chart of the types of knowledge in my head, I think Superman knowledge would be the second or third largest slice. When I want to unwind at the end of the day I read Superman comics. I've blogged in the past about being a member of the Superman Homepage, and I check the headlines there daily.
I think most people I know find my enthusiasm for all things Superman to be a bit strange. Tess rolls her eyes at me once in a while, but she's generally pretty supportive or at least tolerant. My mom is still hoping I'll grow out of this someday. Others just give me the "it's-not-for-me-but-whatever-floats-your-boat" vibe.
So this week I'd like to try to explain why I love Superman. (I don't really like to use the word "love" here, but I think it gets the point across to most people.) I could talk about a lot of things here: how cool it is that Superman can fly, how much I enjoy that Superman is consistently and unapologetically a force for good, how great it is that Superman is a symbol of protecting the weak and fighting against discrimination and prejudice, how interesting I find Superman's dual human-alien nature as an (admittedly quite imperfect) imitation of Christ's human and divine natures, how Superman's twin concerns for truth and justice echo much of what God is concerned about in the Old Testament prophets.
But this is already getting sort of long, so I'll focus on one thing that I think might be the main thing: I love Superman because Superman stories are about adventure. At the risk of stating the obvious, Superman can do pretty much anything. That's what I enjoy about the character. Superman can bust small-time crooks and take down criminal organizations. He can battle supervillains and fight alien invaders. That kind of stuff is interesting and fun, but Superman does other things, too. He can rescue people from natural disasters and help individuals with everyday problems. He can travel through space and time to encounter an endless amount of creative situations and characters. I would argue that you could write loads of great Superman stories without ever truly having a villain. I would read hundreds of pages of Superman just discovering cool new things. I would watch a full-length movie that was nothing but Superman flying around and pulling people out of floods and fires and falls. When I was a little kid I wanted adventure. I found great enjoyment in closing my eyes and imagining the craziest and coolest and most fun things I could. I love Superman because he has adventure, because he does the craziest and coolest and most fun things I could think of (and quite a few things I wouldn't come up with on my own). And if that's strange, I'm okay with that.
Grace and peace,
BMH
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