Comic Review: Superman Smashes the Klan #1

Superman Smashes The Klan #1

DC Comics

Writer: Gene Luen Yang

Artist: Gurihiru

Superman Smashes the Klan #1 is easily the best Superman I’ve read in at least a decade. I went into this book unfamiliar with the writer so I didn’t really have any expectations. All I was really expecting from my purchase was a decent, bare bones story with an anti-racism message. Despite this, Gene Luen Yang blew me away with part one of his three-part adaptation of “Clan of the fiery cross”.

Our story gets right into the action with Superman saving the Metropolis dam from a supervillain obsessed with referring to himself in the third person. I loved this. Not only because of the humour but because we get the best Lois Lane since the animated show. You can literally hear Dana Delany in every line she says within this book. It’s spot on and if you loved her in that classic cartoon you’ll love Lois in this. This is followed by the man of steel having his first encounter with kryptonite which leaves him feeling alienated from humanity.

I know, we’ve seen this done before in Superman comics but its effect here can’t be understated. The book focuses on a Chinese-American family moving to Metropolis and being victimized by racists as they try to fit in. A lot of white people simply don’t know what it’s like to feel different because of their race. Certainly not to the same degree as other races do. An iconic white character like Superman being shown experiencing something similar to this family will no doubt allow people to emphasise with this who wouldn’t have otherwise. At the end of the day, that’s the purpose of a book like this. Not just to entertain but to educate and promote understanding.

The family I mentioned is called the Lee’s. There’s Roberta(the lead character), her brother Tommy and their parents. Yang is the perfect writer for this project. Throughout these pages his handling of the social anxieties a situation like this can trigger is perfect. I love the way Roberta’s old jacket is used to symbolise her attachment to her old home. The other members of her family each have their own ways of handling the change and it’s incredibly realistic. Yang does the situation so much justice here and I can’t recommend Superman smashes the klan enough due to it. Even the villains we’re introduced to are shown realistically. They’re not just one-note villains and we see their hypocrisy on full display throughout as they repeatedly try to justify their hatred to themselves and others.

You might recognise the artwork from series’ like The Last Airbender, Unbeatable Gwenpool, and Unstoppable Wasp. You’d have good reason to since like them the art here is handled wonderfully by Gurihiru. It definitely has that lovely manga look to it but at the same time, it still feels like a classic, western Superman comic. This is brilliant since it’ll expose new readers to the manga artstyle and hopefully help widen their horizons and make them more accepting of other cultures in general.

Overall, I think you’ll love this series. It really is the best Superman title I’ve read in the last decade. It does a fantastic job adapting the historic radio drama that helped destroy the reputation of the Ku Klux Klan in America and it’s as heartfelt and entertaining as a comic can really be.

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