Action Comics #900 controversy sparks Superman sales
Oklahoma shops report “Action Comics” #900 is selling briskly.
In “Action Comics” No. 900, Superman announces his plans to renounce his U.S. citizenship.
In the issue, after appearing in support of protesters in the Middle East, Superman finds himself at odds with the U.S. president. Superman’s appearance has been construed as an official move by the U.S. government.
Superman thus plans to renounce his American citizenship at the United Nations the next day, and to work as a more global superhero.
The iconic nature of the hero has people discussing the announcement on the Internet and in comic shops. Stores across the Oklahoma City metro area reported strong sales, with many selling out of the issue.
“I can see him wanting to be more global, not have people think that he’s pursuing a U.S. agenda,” said Eric Neal of Second Chance Books in Warr Acres.
It’s not the first time a comic character has been fed up with being seen as part of U.S. policy.
In the 1970s, Marvel Comics’ Captain America — aka Steve Rogers — gave up his famed suit and shield and adopted the identity Nomad around the time the Watergate scandal began heating up.
DC Comics says the story is not about criticizing the U.S. In fact, the publisher says, the Man of Steel remains as American as apple pie, baseball and small-town life.
“Superman is a visitor from a distant planet who has long embraced American values,” DC’s co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio said Thursday in a statement. “As a character and an icon, he embodies the best of the American Way.”
And, they added, Superman, like his U.S. citizen alter-ego, Clark Kent, remains, “as always, committed to his adopted home and his roots as a Kansas farm boy from Smallville.”
Neal points out that Superman simply announces his intentions, but doesn’t actually renounce his citizenship in the issue. So the story might play out differently than people expect.
