And So Begins a Startling Adventure

Abstract

Rounding off the first part of the book’s argument, this chapter begins its analysis of the early Superman comics, focusing exclusively on their retellings of his origin story. These comic stories are juxtaposed with recent claims that Superman should be regarded as an immigrant, a Moses figure, and a refugee from Nazism. Each of these Judeocentric readings is shown to be problematic and to have unintended, and sometimes troubling, consequences, when their logic is fully unpacked.