Yeah, this story is all over the place and it is so stupid. Yes, Superman is gay. The newest Superman, Jon Kent, the son of Clark and Lois is homosexual. This is a good thing for the LGBTQ community and this should have been a minor news story celebrating that fact, but instead it is turning into one of those outrage stories that pits everyone against each other. Ughhhh.
Not going to lie, I almost fell for it. I saw the headline and I was annoyed. Clark Kent??? Why would DC do this? It makes no sense. Lois Lane is the love of his life! I was getting angry!!!! And then I read the story and learned it was his kid. Okay, neat.
But something bothered me. The fact that every news story had to sensationalize this with a headline like the one I chose for my title. Warner Brothers could have issued press releases that were very clear that this is a new Superman and not Clark Kent, but they did not. They wanted these headlines. They wanted to rile up fans and get everyone discussing Superman again. They hope it will drive sales. Where did they get that idea?
Superman #75. Back in 1992 when DC announced it was going to kill Superman, the media latched onto this story (it was a slow news day) and made a huge deal about it. #75 ended up selling over 6,000,000 copies. Everyone had to buy a copy of it because they wanted a little part of history. Any comic book fan back in 1992 would read that story and roll their eyes and go “oh, he’ll be back, superheroes die all the time.” The average person? Did not know that and thought it was a HUGE DEAL!
DC and WB have been trying to recapture that buzz ever since. A few years later they did a story line where Superman got new powers and a whole new look (Superman Blue!). They tried to make it into a big event, but the news did not bite. DC then tried with the whole New 52 to make characters different, remember the big deal about Green Lantern being gay? I do not think that story drummed up sales either. So now, here they are trying again.
Do not get me wrong, I think Tom Taylor will do a great job writing the series and craft a character that is interesting and someone that can be an inspiration. But I am tired of the media companies using this method (the outrage machine) to try and pump up their bottom line. And we all need to stop falling for it! Read the article before sharing it and getting angry. If you know nothing of comic books, ask someone like me about it before you post it to Facebook with some comment like “libs are trying to ruin everything!”
