‘Superman decides to go before the United Nations and renounce his US citizenship.’ (Dixon and Richove 1) Chuck Dixon and Paul Rivoche are the writers within the comic book world who wrote a piece called ‘How Liberalism Became Kryptonite for Superman.’ Within this essay, they address their concerns for the way the comic book industry is changing. They are conservatives who believe that superheroes are going the wrong way. Liberalism is a problem. Superheroes are supposed to be parotic and true American’s. People like Dixon and Rivoche fear are the comic book world.
The purpose of Superman was to create a superhero who is a patriotic symbol of America. Superman became a symbol of what a true American looks like. Especially the patriotic acts he does such as, ‘battled Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan during World War 2.’ (Dixon and Rivoche 501) Superman was ‘good, just wonderfully American.’ (Dixon and Rivoche 501) Superman’s purpose was to help Americans find their way. To show their readers right from wrong. Dixon and Rivoche want superheroes to become what they were. When Superman renounced his citizenship that when they felt comic book world needs and must change.
The comic industry isn’t the problem. What’s needs to be changed is people like Dixon and Rivoches mindset. They are living in the past and refuse to embrace what the comic book world has become today. Janelle Asselin is a freelance writer who read Dixon and Rivoche essay and wrote her perspective on the topic, ‘Superhuman Error: What Dixon and Rivoche Get Wrong.’ She states, ‘the author’s use of rose-colored glasses of nostalgia and political fallacies may help them sell books.’ (Asselin 18) Asselin says within her essay that the only reason Dixon and Rivoche wrote this essay was so people buy their upcoming book.
The comic book world has changed for the better. The comic book industry has been changing superheroes as the years go on the fit with their current readers. They are making them more relatable by their audience. One of the big changes within the industry is diversity. When the comic book industry first started superheroes were mainly white American males. In today’s world there are superheroes who are white, black, male, female, straight, gay and whatever else you can think of. GeekWrapped took a survey about races and ethnicities within superheroes today. ‘77.2% of Baby Boomers want more diversity in superheroes, while that increases to 87.8% for Generation X. It rises again amongst millennials to 91.6%.”(Mueller 2) It seems that most of the fans want diversity because they feel represents them and who they are? The point of Superman was to show Americans their way by bringing in a symbol that they can look up too. For the fans to see a black Captain America or Latino SpiderMan is important. Its fans feel like they can relate to these superheroes.
Dixon and Richove wrote an essay about how liberalism is destroying the comic book world but, it’s helping readers relate more to these superheroes. Superman was created to help Americans find their way and that hasn’t changed. The comic book world is evolving the same way that its readers are. They want readers to feel more connected. The only thing within the comic book world that needs changing is Dixon and Rivoches mindset. All they want is to restore superheroes from their former glory but what they can’t see that superheroes are better than ever.
Works Cited
- ComicBook. “New Study Reveals Fans Want to See More Diverse Superheroes on Screen.” Marvel, ComicBook.com, 3 July 2018, comicbook.com/marvel/2018/06/30/study-reveals-fans-want-diverse-superheroes-on-screen/.
- Dixon, Chuck, and Paul Rivoche. The Bedford Reader. thirteenth ed., 2016
- Janelle Asselin. The Bedford Reader. thirteenth ed., 2016
