Superman renounces his citizenship, hilarity ensues

“Truth, justice, and the American way”

For decades, that was the tagline that accompanied Superman, arguably the most recognizable and iconic comic book character in the history of ever. From the first days of “Action Comics” to the days of the Max Fleischer cartoons and the George Reeves-starring TV serial, Superman isn’t only a comic book icon, but an American icon as well. He may be nothing more than “the big blue boy scout” and interest in him usually wanes by the time you turn 7, but you can’t deny that Superman is represents so much on so many different levels, and maybe he always will.

At least, as long as he remains an American citizen.

Flash forward to today and here we have a little bit of comic book history in the making. Issue number 900 of “Action Comics” isn’t just historic because it’s the longest running comic book ever, but because it finds Superman renouncing his American citizenship. Now personally, I haven’t read a Superman comic in ages, so I can’t comment on what role this development plays in an ongoing storyarc, or how much of it plays into drawing new readership (because let’s be honest, who really reads “Superman” in the first place these days), but what I can say is that the surprising amount of media hoopla and commentary from fans is nothing short of hilarious.

I’m Facebook friends with artist Ethan Van Sciver, who has drawn best-selling titles for DC Comics such as “Green Lantern: Rebirth”, “The Sinestro Corps War”, and “Flash: Rebirth” as well. Ethan is one of the best artists in the business today, as well as being a die-hard conservative as well. He’s in the camp of Superman staying an American icon only, while others have been a little more open-minded about the while storyarc. You know, like the fact that Superman is a fucking alien in the first goddamn place!

Superman may have crash-landed in the middle of Bible-belt, small town America and called it home ever since, but does that truly make him an American citizen? (Fanboy correcting me by telling me a story where Supes gets his citizenship coming in 3…2…1…) The real problem that some people, most of them of the older, more conservative crowd, seem to have with Superman renouncing his citizenship is that they are so used to seeing him as part of American propaganda that the idea of Superman not waving an American flag constantly is actually upsetting. Like I said before, the guy’s an alien. Even if he grew up in America, he’s a protector and citizen of the universe first and foremost, get the fuck over it.

For the next America-breaking comic book icon-shaking event, Batman takes a shit and wipes his ass with the Constitution. You heard it here first folks.

See y’all in the funny-books.