I give Denny a lot of crap, mostly because he deserves it. I mean, remember that issue where a race of aliens gave eternal life to Aaron Burr so he can save their civilization? What next? A Jim Aparo BRAVE AND THE BOLD where Batman teams up with Gore Vidal?
What happened to the utterly awesome comics
Wunderkind that wrote such mindblowingly cool and fun books like HAWKMAN AND THE ATOM and the JUSTICE LEAGUE where they fight living suns? Denny O'Neil is the Danny Bonaduce of comic books: a cute little child actor that grows up to be a snaggletoothed drug addict.
But there is something of value to be taken from every single period, something important that we can learn from even the worst comics ages.
The lesson that Superman can learn from the Denny O'Neil years?
Kryptonite turning to iron and Superman's reduced power level aside for the moment, Dennis O'Neil asked a totally correct question that deserves an answer. He was not wrong in asking why does Superman matter? Why is he relevant?
The answer hit me when watching THE COOLER, a terrific movie about William H. Macy as Bernie, a loser that is so unlucky that casinos use him to knock down high rollers by having Bernie be near them. His unluckiness changes, however, when an attractive but down on her luck girl played by Maria Bello starts to warm up to him.
There was a scene where casino boss played by Alec Baldwin threatens Maria:
ALEC: I can make you disappear like THAT! And not one f***ing person would miss you!
MARIA: BERNIE WOULD![/list]
THAT, friends, is what Denny can teach Superman, how Superman can be "relevant:" his belief that every single person has value.
I'm not advocating Denny O'Neil type stories where Superman saves a homeless man from a mugger or comes to the rescue of hookers from their pimps. Superman is fundamentally a science fiction adventure character. He is an alien, he has weird powers, there's a sort of vague 1930s esque art deco futurism about the concept, and heck, even his "costume" was just meant to be something that looked futuristic and FLASH GORDON-esque. Superman is a cosmic character, the universe is his backyard. You can't have him fight Rupert Thorne and the Tobacconists' Club and have it make sense. At the same time, what Dennis was looking for is something future writers ought to look for as well.
So, to answer Denny's question: why is Superman relevant? THIS is why: because when Alec Baldwin mentions that nobody in the world cares, Maria Bello can say that Superman DOES.
Why does it bother people when Superman behaves badly as Clark Kent did in that SMALLVIlLLE story where he chooses someone to die to save his girl Lana? The reason is because 1) it conflicts with Superman's characterization, but 2) also because there is something fundamentally inclusive about Superman. Something that triggers a strong sense of identification.
Siegel and Schuster discovered the adventure character equivalent of the formula for Coca-Cola. It isn't that Superman has incredible power. It isn't that Superman cares about everybody in the world. It's because of BOTH THESE THINGS TOGETHER. Mark Waid "got" the character in his "Identity Crisis" when someone says to Superman in the body of a boy that "I wish you WERE Superman. Then those guys wouldn't treat us this way." This is a much more powerful statement perhaps than Mark Waid intended.
This is why STAR TREK has such an unreal fandom among undersocialized teenagers: the characters in TREK are friends and like each other. There was a situation of warmth that existed on the Enterprise. Fry in FUTURAMA once defined it best in this nakedly honest confession where he explains why he likes STAR TREK:
FRY: "When I was young, I felt like I didn't have any friends. Star Trek made me feel like I did." [/list]