The Man of Steel Stands Tall Against the Klan

The graphic novel, Superman Smashes the Klan (DC, May 12, 2020) was actually inspired by the 1940s Superman radio serial Clan of the Fiery Cross. Beginning in 1940 New York City's WOR radio station began broadcasting The Adventures of Superman. The radio program was based on the best-selling character from creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. While the serial itself originally aired from 1940 to 1951. In 1946 the serial ran a storyline entitled The Clan of the Fiery Cross, which was a thinly veiled takedown of the Ku Klux Klan. As could be expected, this storyline elicited cries from listeners that it caused Superman to become too political. However, instead of detracting from Superman’s popularity, the serial proved to be a so successful, that it actually helped in reducing the Klan’s real life recruitment efforts.

In 2019, New York Times bestselling author, Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese, Boxers and Saints, The Terrifics, New Super-Man) along with artist Gurihiru (Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Unstoppable Wasp) began a personal retelling in comicbook form, a serialized version of that story. Then in 2020, the three-issue limited series was collected into a 240, square-bound format and re-issued, along with the essay Superman and Me by Yang.

This Superman story takes place in 1946 and centers around teenage siblings, Roberta and Tommy Lee as well as their parents who have recently moved from Chinatown to the center of Metropolis, home to Superman. Tommy, who is older, is the more outgoing of the pair, quickly makes friends in the neighborhood, while Roberta, who is shy, longs for home. The story opens up with Superman facing off against Atom Man, a German soldier that is by designed by Nazi science but powered by Kryptonite. While Superman manages to take him out, the Kryptonite makes him woozy until Inspector Henderson (a Black man, and yes, this becomes important later in the story) takes both it and Atom Man away. As it turns out, both Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are also there to witness the fight.

Upon moving into town, Mr. Lee takes a job as a scientist in the Metropolis Center while Tommy hooks up with the local youth baseball team. Unfortunately, by joining the team he inadvertently shows up the team’s star pitcher, Chuck who heads home to his Uncle Matt. As it turns out Uncle Matt, is not only something of a racist, but a member of the Clan of the Fiery Cross. Meanwhile, Clark Kent is having some odd visions as a result of being exposed to the Kryptonite (even though he doesn’t yet realize it). Clark is also seeing a pair of weirdly alien creatures (a distorted view of his Kryptonian parents). Over at the Lee’s their house is attacked by several members of the Clan of the Fiery Cross, who burn a cross on their lawn. Fortunately, the police arrived in time to break things up. Unfortunately, there are other, far more deadly things afoot as the Clan plans on wrecking even more havoc in Metropolis. 

One of the interesting aspects of this story is that, as it takes place in the past, this version of Krypton’s Last Son is a bit different than the version from the character we are used to seeing. This Superman can’t yet fly but can "run faster than a locomotive" and “Leap tall buildings in a single bound”. So for all intents and purposes he is very much the Superman of the 1940s, mostly unaware of his true Kryptonian origins, and not quite as strong as we know him to be in this era. Needless to say, other things are different, Inspector Henderson (who didn’t appear until the Superman TV show in the ‘50s running from ’52 to ’58). Still, he’s enough like the Superman we now to successfully carry the book.

To return to the story, the members of the Clan of the Burning Cross return to the Lee’s to do more damage, kidnap Tommy, and plant a bomb and all sorts of other nasty mischief. Fortunately, Superman, the Lee children, Jimmy and Lois are around to help out, bringing the story to a happy, and successful conclusion. There is also a sub-plot involving Mr. White as well as Inspector Henderson and Chuck’s nasty Uncle who feels it necessary to unload quite a bit of “white purity” with an extra helping of racial hate directed at the Inspector (told you that his skin color was going to come into play).

As stated at the beginning of this article, Gene Yang rounds out this wonderful graphic novel with a very in-depth, historical essay about not only his own personal history with the Man of Steel, but on his history of growing up as a Chinese-American on the West Coast intermingled with what racism was like for both Blacks in the South an how that mirrored some of what he and other Asians dealt with on the West Coast. He compared and contrasted how the hatred and exclusion from how “regular” Americans were treated. Offering up some very enlightening insights to what being non-White in this country is seen by those who aren’t.

All-in-all, the stories of Superman Smashes the Klan, the Lees, Gene Yang, other non-whites in America, young Tommy and his hateful racist uncle, as well as Superman himself all spin together into a similar tale, one that should provide a bond for all of us to live together in a land where we are all immigrants, descendants of immigrants or slaves, or indigenous peoples. I know when I was growing up we were taught that this country is a melting pot where all races and peoples mixed together. Unfortunately, it is sad to learn that some folks never bothered learning that lesson. Hopefully, with more books like this one, perhaps others will come to learn this as well.

Interestingly enough, this 2020 graphic novel hits on several points also made by James Gunn's 2025 Superman film, including immigration, inclusion, and (oddly enough, a bit of my own mantra, that of Power and responsibility), making this a much more powerful, and importantly unifying message across the DCU.