Finally, some good news in the world of comic book super heroes. In a shockingly rare moment of clarity and humility, James Gunn, writer and director of the forthcoming Superman movie, has stated that the Superman motto will change back to “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”
Superman fans older than five will remember that, in 2021, DC dropped Superman’s long-standing motto which dates back to World War II, in favor of “Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow.” The American Way was, apparently, not good enough any more and had to be sacrificed at the ambiguous altar of inclusiveness.
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but that was stupid.
Superman is as American a hero as you can get. He sprang from the thoroughly American minds of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (born in Canada, yes, but immigrated to the US with his family when he was nine), who grew up together in Cleveland, Ohio. Both were the children of European immigrants who came to the Americas to find opportunity and escape anti-semitism. Members of the greatest generation, Siegel served in the military in WWII. He never saw combat, but served honorably. Together, they developed Superman, and sold him to what was then Detective Comics (a forerunner of DC), where they worked on and off, enjoying fabulous success in spite of a number of legal challenges, together earning what would amount to over six-and-a-half million dollars in today’s money, realizing the American dream in a way that few do. To this day, they are remembered as the creators of one of the greatest comic book heroes ever created.
Siegel and Shuster were American as apple pie, and they infused Superman with their love of their homeland.
As written by Siegel and Shuster, Superman crash-landed in Kansas, the heartland of America, as a baby to be adopted and raised by the childless John and Martha Kent. Sweet, decent, hard-working, self-reliant, and loving, the Kents believed in the power of truth, the importance of justice, and the inherent goodness of the American way. They passed all of these virtues down to their adopted son who took their lessons to heart and never departed from them, becoming the embodiment of all that is good and decent in mankind.
Possessed of incredible power, he never uses it to his own advantage, but to protect others. Superman could easily enrich himself materially, but he prefers to make an honest living as Clark Kent, the mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet. He could just as easily defeat the combined armies of the world and install himself as a tyrannical ruler over its people. Instead, he stays out of global, and even local politics, allowing the peoples of each nation to choose their own path, intervening only when it’s necessary to save lives. He, like his parents before him, believes that the American form of self-government is superior to other forms, but will not force others to adopt that system. “Truth, justice, and the American way” perfectly encapsulates all that is Superman.
It should go without saying that “truth, justice, and the American way” implies a better tomorrow. No other nation is as generous with her wealth as America. No one gives more away to the less fortunate, nor does more to help others help themselves. No other nation is as generous with her military might as America. We send our sons and daughters across the globe on missions of mercy to help those who cannot help themselves and protect them from those who would oppress and exploit them. No other nation does as much as America to help others experience a better tomorrow. Yet the imbecilic leaders at DC no longer believe that such things make America great. She must be punished for her imagined sins. It is time that she be humbled and receive recompense for those sins. “America is not great,” they believe, and so she must be set aside in the pursuit of a better tomorrow, as though America had not always strived for a better tomorrow.
Fortunately, James Gunn appears to understand that, or at least a part of that, which is a wonderful thing in this day of capitulation to the politically correct minority that seeks to crush all dissent under its jackbooted heels. And so, in opposition to those forces, he has restored a great motto to one of the greatest superheroes. May this mark a return to sanity across the larger world of comic books.
Of course, we at BAM! believe that America is the greatest nation on the face of the Earth, and our comics will always reflect that truth. So while everyone else waits on DC and Marvel to get their heads out of their collective *s, come on over to BAM and enjoy our titles. You won’t be disappointed.