Man & Superman

Truth,
Justice,
And the American Way...

In 1938
Two Jewish men
Published the first adventure 
Of Superman.

Some have called his creation
Wish-fulfillment,
Not just for the lives
His creators lived
But for the era
In which it happened.

Elsewhere,
There were other Jews
Fighting a man
Who dreamed of
A different superman.

Now,
Oddly,
These creators 
First envisioned 
Superman 
As a villain.

It was only
When forced
To reconsider
That he became 
A hero.

A hero
Who could
Exhibit
All manner
Of great
But relatively human 
Abilities.

They created
Many adventures 
For Superman 
Over the next several 
Decades.

That’s kind of
Forgotten.

Today 
They’re only seen
As the creators,
Not as active
Participants 
In his history.

One in which
Eventually,
Superman 
Passed into
The hands
Of others
And they lost
All control
And it even seemed
Credit.

And it wasn’t 
For many years
Until they got that back.

And then,
Not until their twilight years,
And their heirs
Continued
That fight,
That never-ending 
Battle.

Perhaps hoping
To one day
Lay claim
To all the rights.

And not quite
Conceiving
That Superman 
Had long ago
Passed into the realm
Of public imagination.

One where he
Is more
And less
Than he has ever been.

Superman,
A fictional man,
Who is sometimes seen
As allegory,
Jewish, 
Even Christian,
But never 
The bad guy.

But then again,
Not always 
The good guy we need.

Sometimes an embarrassment,
Somehow unrelatable.

If you can believe it.

Man,
And Superman.

The American way,
As it were.

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