Book Review: Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang

Superman Smashes the Klan
by Gene Luen Yang (YA PB (Graphic Novel) Yang)

Acclaimed Asian-American graphic novelist (American Born Chinese) Yang provides his take on one of the giants of the comic-book industry — Superman. Yang took the plot of an early 1940s-era 16-episode Superman radio serial, “The Klan of the Fiery Cross”, and beefed it up with additional subplots and a stronger sense of social justice.

 

This storyline is set in the early days of Superman’s existence — it is a late 1930s setting, and Superman as a hero has only recently begun his exploits. In fact, he still hasn’t fully realized the full range of his own powers — he can’t fly, use heat beams or x-ray vision from his eyes, or exhale frost breath.

 

The story of Superman Smashes the Klan focuses on the Lee family, who are moving from Chinatown into Metropolis proper, and who begin to face both outright and subtle racial discrimination. One of the fellow baseball team members of the “Unity House” baseball team that a Lee teenager joins, turns out to be the nephew of the Grand Dragon of the local branch of the Klan of the Fiery Cross (a thinly veiled version of the KKK). The plot involves the Lee family getting further and further involved in a disturbing battle against racists, and Superman learning about his own true alien nature and the abilities he’s never been aware that he had.

 

I anticipated not liking this, but exactly the opposite was true — the storytelling and artwork here were superb, and Yang’s extensive afterword notes helped to explain a lot of the time-period-sensitive references in the story. This isn’t really a “superhero” story — it’s more a story illustrating how anyone can stand up to racism and fascism. I enjoyed this one so much after reading the library copy, I went out and bought a copy for my own collection.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try American Born Chinese also by Gene Luen Yang.]

[ DC Comics’ Superman Smashes the Klan web page ] | [ official Gene Luen Yang web site ]

 

Fan of superheroes? Check out our If You Like Superheroes on Film and TV list on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Fast Color

Fast Color
(DVD Fast)

I really had no idea what to expect from this quirky little film, and found myself pleasantly surprised.

 

Fast Color tells the story of Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a young African-American woman on the run and being pursued by both the government and scientists who apparently want to study her. Within the first 15 minutes of the film, we are shown that she has special meta-human abilities, which she doesn’t seem to be able to control, but which can be catastrophically dangerous to those around her.

Ruth is traveling by herself to the midwest, in a dystopian near-future which is suffering from a massive drought. When she finally reaches the remote farmstead where her surviving family live, the reunion isn’t entirely amenable. Ruth’s mother Bo (Lorraine Toussaint) is raising Ruth’s own daughter Lila (Saniyya Sidney), after Ruth lost control of her powers, succumbed to addictions, and ran away years ago.

Though this film has science fiction or paranormal elements, at its heart it is a character study, of flawed but emotional people trying to survive and not hurt anyone else. The three main women of the cast do a phenomenal job, and there are excellent supporting performances by David Strathairn as the local sheriff and Christopher Denham as an overly enthusiastic scientist. But, Raw as Ruth and Toussaint as Bo really hold the whole film together.

Don’t go into this one expecting an action-filled SF drama — this one’s a little more quiet, but it’s worth the viewing!

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!