A limited series comic book published by DC Comics in 2019-2020 and collected into a single graphic novel in 2020. It was written by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Chifuyu Sasaki and Naoko Kawano, the art team known as Gurihiru.
There's some interesting real-world history behind this comic. Back in the 1940s, the Anti Defamation League and the producers of the "Adventures of Superman" radio serial hit on the idea of using the superhero's vast popularity to make a difference in some of the nation's social ills, including racism and bigotry.
The result was a 16-episode storyarc in 1946 called "The Clan of the Fiery Cross," created with the aid of a man named Stetson Kennedy, an anti-racism activist who went undercover in the Ku Klux Klan to research the KKK's rituals, secrets, code words, and membership. The program was already the most popular show on the radio, and having two straight weeks of America's top superhero beating the snot out of the Klan did serious damage to the hate group's reputation, along with steeply dropping its membership rolls.
And that brings us to this comic, which is an adaptation of the radio show. It's got some new or altered characters, some new or altered storylines -- in other words, it's an adaptation, not a transcription, so don't expect it to take you two weeks to read it.
So our main characters -- aside from Superman, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen -- are the Lee family, recent Chinese immigrants, particularly the two kids, popular and athletic Tommy and brainy but nervous Roberta.
The Lees' first days in their new Metropolis home start out rough, with all too many reminders of the racism that plagued anyone who wasn't white in the 1940s. Besides the occasional slur and rude remark, there's also the rising threat of the Clan of the Fiery Cross, a hate group that burns crosses in people's lawns, sets bombs in community centers, and tries all too hard to assault and kill as many innocents as they can.
But luckily, Superman is on the case. He saves plenty of lives, but is dogged by his own doubts and fears, including the strange alien ghosts that only he can see and who claim to be his real parents. Is the Man of Steel losing his mind?
As the attacks by the hate group grow bolder, more desperate, and more destructive, can Superman and the Lees come together to smash the Klan once and for all?
This one was really a lot of fun. The story is energetic and engrossing, the art is absolutely glorious, and the message is desperately needed nowadays.
My lone criticism is that the story is really episodic, almost random, with the Klan repeatedly hatching various schemes and putting people in danger, just for the danger to be foiled in the nick of time before the next scheme is hatched. But of course, that's very true to the story's origins in the radio dramas of the 1940s, which were obviously episodic and often ended with a cliffhanger that would be resolved in the next day's broadcast. Still, it can take a little time to get used to it...
I feel like the star of the comic is Roberta Lee, who carries most of the weight of the story. She gets to start out nervous and queasy -- literally queasy, as she has a tendency to lose her lunch during bumpy car rides -- and she gets to grow in lots of ways, showing off more bravery and much more cleverness and wit.
And Superman is portrayed very interestingly. He has his Golden Age powers -- leaping but not flying, less strength, no heat vision, etc. And he also has his first exposure to Kryptonite in this story -- another nice nod to the radio series, where Kryptonite originated. And his doubts and fears are well articulated through the weird alien ghosts he starts seeing everywhere.
And Gurihiru's artwork is just so dang great. The Japanese artistic team always does a great job, and their artwork in this book is just as fun, as beautiful, as wildly charismatic and engaging as ever. I love all the attention they put into depicting the everyday fashions of the 1940s.
And if you needed another reason to get this book? Listen, you love to see people smashing the Klan, right? Everyone loves to see the Klan get smashed! And every other closely related fascist organization! Smashing the Klan is what America has always done best -- and we can continue smashing the Klan today! Huzzah! Klan smashing!
In other words, go get this book for great art and characters, for a fun throwback to classic tales of yesteryear, and for getting to watch hatemongers repeatedly getting beat up.