Who is Superman?

Like many dramatic graphic novels before it, DC Vertigo's "It's a Bird…" by Steven Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen uses paint rather than the traditional comic book coloring to bring the story to life on a more emotional and psychological level. Kristiansen's painting is a contemporary impressionism, giving a grainy and scratchy, yet very realistic portrayal of life typical of such emotive comic books. The death of Aunt Sarah near the end of the story is pivotal and made especially horrifying by Kristiansen.\nThis story is not a Superman adventure, but rather a psychological adventure for one man. The autobiographical story is about Seagle's main character who by no coincidence is named Steven and is facing many dilemmas in his life. The crux of his life is the offer to write the monthly "Superman" comic book. His hesitation to take this assignment, which he had been expected to take eagerly by everyone, is the pivotal point for the plot. \nA superman has long been considered a fictional or living character with extraordinary mental and physical abilities and with a moral capacity above that of the average man, basing values on worldly needs as opposed to herd mentality. Johann W. von Goethe, Edgar Allan Poe, Frederich Nietzsche and George Bernard Shaw have all written about this mythological character before Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster turned superman into "Superman" in 1938's seminal Action Comics. \nSuperman presents a barrier for Steven as his life is defined early from seeing his grandmother die of the crippling Huntington's Disease, but his young eyes are sheltered from actually witnessing the death by a "Superman" comic book given to him by his father. The disturbing message that he overhears his father tell his mother haunts him throughout his life and fosters his hatred of the All-American hero as Steven subsequently finds distaste in "Truth, Justice, and the American Way." \nThroughout the story, we see 18 short stories from Steven's mind. \n"I haven't come up with anything more than fragments. And none of them are very pro-Superman," he tells his boss who is troubled by Steven's procrastination.\n"The Costume" is the first story and tells of a junior high school boy who is noticed by his peers for the first time when he wears the Superman costume to school as a boy, but is ridiculed worse than usual when he wears the same outfit three weeks later. Power is the darkest story on Steven's mind as his hatred of Superman causes him to relate Superman to megalomaniacs like Adolf Hitler and Genghis Khan. Nietzsche is about the famous philosopher's ruminations about the Übermensch, translated as "overman" or "superman." \n"It's a Bird…" gives us a cynical look at the Superman mythology. The man who is usually viewed as icon and a hero is not seen this way through Steven's naive eyes. Through several of the stories, Steven places himself as the Superman of the world or Superman in his own life as he wrestles with his own mind about exactly who he is and where Superman plays into that.\nIn the conclusion, we see that Steven was naive to hate Superman, as it was just a symbol of hatred and fear of Huntington's Disease, a congenital disease which fostered a similar depression in his father. The fist fight between father and son at the conclusion sorts out their issues and Steven finally feels comfortable with the idea of marrying his girlfriend and passing on his dangerous genes.\nAs it turns out, Superman is revealed as a symbol for both the bad and the good things in life as we see a character that is within all of us.