I guess there’s no better way to start of a week of Superman related reviews and commentaries than by going over just why Superman is my favorite superhero. Between comics, television, and movies there are plenty of superheroes to go around and with the internet and video games even more original super-powered and costumes crimefighters are coming around all of the time. Everybody is going to have their favorite superhero, from the famous to the obscure. Popularity should have nothing to do with why you like or don’t like a superhero or the genre as a whole. I will admit that exposure does play a part, but it’s not the only reason he’s my favorite superhero. So what is?

There’s no one answer, so let me break it down into a number of reasons.

Superpowers (the obvious one)

When Superman debuted he only had a few powers: superstrength, the ability to leap amazing heights, and a more limited form of invulnerability. Over time his strength and invulnerability grew to near godlike proportions, and he gained X-Ray vision, heat vision (which started as simply the heat emitted by his X-Ray vision) and full-on flight. We’re just going to ignore all the temp powers and I never understood how his super breath could freeze things and personally I never wanted that one or heat vision. (I’d swap them for telekinesis or something.) As a kid I probably would have been more interested in Captain Marvel if he had gotten more exposure than the one live-action and one animated show that didn’t last nearly as long as Superman’s shows. Plus he was a kid who could do all of the cool things adults get to do but still get to do all the cool stuff kids get to do. What’s not to like about Captain Marvel?

So of course Superman’s powers look cool to a kid, and this was during a time where Superman had SOME limits on his powers as well as the usual Kryptonite and magic weaknesses.  Most of my Superman viewing came from Adventures of Superman reruns and Super Friends, so he wasn’t as godlike as he would become in the comics. TV and movies have done a better job of keeping his powers within some form of limits, giving Superman a real challenge despite his great abilities.

The Supporting Cast

As both Superman and Clark Kent, Kal-El also has some great friends, some of which he shares in both identities. Lois, Jimmy, and Perry are his closest friends, although unaware of Superman’s double identity. It was these friends that helped make Superman “relatable”, not making him brooding and isolated. There are some good heroes like that, but this has never been Superman’s MO.

Lois is the only character who debuted with Clark/Superman in that first issue of Action Comics and while their romance has been handled both correctly and incorrectly over the years (usually to Lois’s being poorly portrayed but occasionally Supes has done some things to answer for) it’s a strong bond that the New 52 has tried to do away with in favor of genetics (Wonder Woman) and I find that a shame. Still, they maintain a strong friendship because you can’t completely undo 75 years of multiversal continuity.

Jimmy has had his own bizarre adventures as well as being the closest thing Superman has to a sidekick. There’s not much to say about Jimmy (unless your Chris Sims, in which case you probably have a lot you can say) but although he wasn’t introduced until the radio dramas it would feel wrong to have a Superman series now without him.

Perry, for those who are new to all of this, is a kinder J. Jonah Jameson. He can be tough, but more compassionate and not afraid to openly treat his friends like his friends. He no-nonsense in his news approach and is the heart and soul of the Daily Planet news team, even if he does need to keep up with the times on occasion. He’ll get on your case when you screw up, but unlike Jonah is willing to congratulate you on a success or be there if you have a problem. He’s the perfect boss, really.

With the addition of Superboy, the adventures of Superman as a boy, we met Clark’s adoptive parents, John and Martha. So loved were these characters that when Superman’s teenage exploits were removed from continuity his parents were allowed to live. I have said more than once that I like a superhero having a non-superhero support base, friends or family who aren’t superheroes but can aid the hero either in decision-making or in maintaining his secret identity. They’re the reminder that Superman isn’t less human when he removes his glasses.

Clark Kent

It has been said that Superman isn’t someone we relate to but someone we aspire to become. I agree with the latter but the former is wrong. We CAN relate to Superman…through Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper. I give Lois & Clark a lot of ribbing, mostly for the later  seasons as I actually liked the early episodes, but there’s one line that Clark says that sticks with me when it comes to the character. To paraphrase: Superman is what he does, but Clark Kent is who he is. I point you back to DC Comics Presents #50, where it was demonstrated that Clark is Superman’s conscience and morality to a degree. Superman wanted to help people, but Clark kept him connected with his humanity, his soul, and his friends.

In some ways, Clark is as much an inspiration as Superman. One of my favorite Superman Clark Kent stories is an issue of Superman Adventures, the tie-in to the cartoon, where it was Clark’s skills as an investigative reporter that uncovered a potential threat thanks to a poorly constructed railway. And although Clark is “mild-mannered” and tends to blend into the background (which is why he maintains the identity as he does and probably had a lot of practice growing up, hiding his powers) he has a lot of friends at the Planet, including some I didn’t mention. People who know him like or at least respect him as a reporter. He’s easy to get along with and is as willing to help in his way as Superman is. What makes our hero a hero shines through in both identities and even without powers I’d rather be like Clark Kent than Peter Parker.

His Many (and varied) Adventures

One of the best things about Superman’s stories is how many different kinds you can have without feeling out-of-place or changing the core dynamics of Superman and his cast. From street crime to giant monsters, from crime drama to science fiction, Superman has done them all without any changes to himself. While Batman as a character can be done from many different directions and styles, Superman has a similar style throughout, just some stories are more lighthearted than others, while on occasion some are downright dark. Yet through it all Superman can be a beacon of light and will overcome any obstacle, either by himself or with help from friends in and out of costume.

To help, his rogues gallery is just as diverse. While Batman seems to be shoehorned (at least lately) with criminals who only have a major psychological issue (and the occasional crime boss and his underlings), Superman has crime bosses, criminal geniuses, villains with a wild assortment of abilities, aliens, fifth-dimensional imps, and various evil duplicates that provide a wide possibility to the kinds of stories presented, from funny to very serious. There may be limits on how to properly write these characters, but not the adventures they can be caught up in, giving a lot more leeway as to how he can be done and different approaches to explain what he means to a certain writer without changing anything about the concept or core dynamics. It’s a more malleable world to write in and I hope to create something like it.

So that’s why when I see Man of Steel or Scott Lobdell’s approach I get annoyed. They’re changing the nature of the characters to make a more “relatable” Superman or set it in a “real world” scenario. They don’t have to make any changes. Superman and his cast are great the way they are and altering them alters what makes Superman as a series so good and Superman as a character my favorite superhero. At least I still have the older stories to remind me why I love Superman and superheroes in general so much.