Action Comics #775

Action Comics #775

Originally released in 2001

Written by Joe Kelly

Art by Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo

"What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?" is a story written in response to anti-heroes of the 90s and early 2000s, such as X-Force and especially the Authority.  It asks a question that comes up a lot as media lasts long enough - are the protagonist's ways old fashioned, and do they need to change as society changes?

In this longer-than-normal issue, this question is raised by the Elite, a group of cynical superhumans who aim to change the world by doing what Superman and company won't, which mostly involves a lot of murder and little care for the loss of innocent life.

The team's leader, Manchester Black, gets the most focus of the four of them by far.  A send-up of the Authority's Jenny Sparks (by my understanding, DC bought out the company that made/published the Authority later, in a bit of irony), Manchester is a powerful psychic who views the world in a rather negative light.

After stopping a terrorist attack that involved a giant cyborg gorilla, the Elite's popularity steadily climbs among the general public.  Lex Luthor is the president of the US at this point, though surprisingly, he has nothing to do with these events, only commenting on it. (On one hand, creating a group of superhumans to make Superman look less effective seems entirely up his alley, but on the other hand, he'd make sure that he got powers first)

Hearing the public (particularly the children) start to lean in favour of the Elite causes Superman to question himself, leading to him going to Pa Kent and Lois Lane for advice.  Seeing these remarks drives home how strange the DC universe can be sometimes.

The talks with Pa and Lois are good ones, and do a good job at emphasizing Clark's emotional struggle. It also shows how far he might be willing to go in order to prove his ideals.

It culminates in a battle on Jupiter's moon Io, where Superman demonstrates what he would be capable of if he stopped holding back and started acting like the Elite.  It's terrifying to watch.

It's all a ruse on Superman's part, but an effective one.  It doesn't really address the point that the Elite were making, though given how much death and destruction the Elite caused with their actions, they didn't seem to have much of a point to begin with.

The criticism is a little heavy-handed at times, veering into Superman leaning on the fourth wall by talking about deconstruction (the idea of breaking something down in order to criticize it, like what Watchmen did for superhero comics), but Superman's final speech is an effective one after Manchester Black accuses him of living in a dream world.

The Elite feel kind of shallow at times, but the issue was well-written and well-drawn. I can see why it's a highlight when it comes to Superman stories, though I haven't read a ton of modern Superman issues to compare it to. (Then again, it's not exactly modern itself, being over twenty years old at this point)