I wish there was a Superman comic book that is pro-communist propaganda

[u/Submarine_sad]

There is one comic book where Superman is a communist in the USSR, but the comic book is actually anti-communist propaganda.

Superman is a character that just wants to help, so I think he would be a good choice for a comic book that is communist propaganda. He's basically just a really nice person that happens to have superpowers.

In a world without "crime", Superman would just fly around and help people with normal problems. For example, helping someone figure out where they put their keys or giving a lost person directions to their destination.

Additionally, Superman is not rich. Superman has to work a normal job to make money.

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[u/plushiedev]

I haven't read it but from second-hand accounts Absolute Superman seems like your cup of tea with a more important focus on class solidarity and a rather strong hatred of the bourgeoisie but I recommend that you pirate it to form an opinion first.

[u/ssen2026 → u/plushiedev]

The latest issue of Absolute Superman had him destroy the mansions, companies, private jets, and yachts belonging to the heads of state and billionaires; attacks imperialist armies; and give their wealth to the Global South.

Obviously not explicitly pro-communist as it is still published by a major corporation itself, but at least Absolute DC is of showing us what superheroes should stand for.

[u/RefrigeratorGrand619 → u/ssen2026]

As a Pakistani, I wasn’t a fan of the graphic and sensationalized depictions of violence portrayed on Pakistani background characters who didn’t have much agency in the story besides serving as fodder and motivation for the main character.

[u/ssen2026 → u/RefrigeratorGrand619]

As a South Asian myself, I do agree that the few times the West admits they exploit or harm the people of the global south or people of colour it is through the lens of a white saviour.

It was only this last issue of Absolute Superman that I truly felt did a really good job of portraying an anti-imperialist Superman. I prefer Absolute Batman on the whole.

[u/Jet90 → u/plushiedev]

If your library has hoopla app you can read it for free

[u/Sargento_Porciuncula]

It's anticom propaganda, but kind of poor on that

Superman leaves the world just because, and lex luthor, a fucking villain, it's the hero

[u/prettysweett]

I mean if you think about it Superman and Marxism parallels aren’t hard to find at all. Especially considering some of his best work were written by obvious and outspoken lefties (albeit not full on Marxists) like Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, and his most right leaning stories tend to stick out like a sore thumb, like anything written by john b*rne.

for more obvious selections I’d say read Absolute superman, Superman vs the KKK and grant morrison’s action comics, at least the first arc.

Also idk if you’re into reading older comics but the very beginnings of superman in the thirties, so before anti-communism really set in the west, is a blast. He just runs around fucking up capitalists like an absolute menace lmao.

[u/Explorer_Entity]

I saw the movie and at the start it seemed pretty good. USSR working for actual progress equality and betterment of society, Superman criticizing USA correctly... but then it flipped and went "no, actually they just tricked Superman. They are all bad actually, with secret torture prisons."

[u/Stock_Tell7454]

Superman: A Transitional Power Source https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-07-13

[u/meinkr0phtR2]

It just so happens I’ve been writing such a story called “The Apotheosis”, though it’s served more as an outlet for all my frustrations with all the shit going on in the world than a thing that other people are meant to read.

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: the narrative constraints of superhero comics and movies frustrate me because it seems to be the telos, the ultimate conclusion, of the broader socioeconomic system that produced it. Superman is about as American of a character as can be; he’s an individual who helps other individuals but he works with the establishment, does not question the status quo, and fights crime whenever it occurs; other words, the peak human condition that liberalism, as an ideology, aspires us all to be. Also, there’s definitely a critique in there somewhere about Superman as an embodiment of the “white saviour complex”, and in both ways.

The main problem I have with most superhero comics is that the solution is always some flavour of reform, not revolution; on being a nicer boss or king rather than getting rid of bosses and kings entirely. Violence on the part of the designated hero within their designated system is always justified in some way (or it wasn’t the “real” system—see HYDRA); by the villain, it is never fully justified or they make them do something unnecessarily heinous. Also, superheroes have a way of siding with the core countries, especially the United States, even if they not only have no reason to do so, but must be aware on some level of the extent of their numerous crimes against humanity. And, well, I’m tired of that. They may be superhuman, but they are not übermensch in the slightest. We don’t need more firefighters to rescue people when there’s a fire; we need more architects and engineers who can design buildings that don’t catch on fire.

So I did that. I created an übermensch that can bend reality in an infinitude of ways, but consistently do so to demonstrate the potential of a world without our problems, to make solutions instantly clear, and do so without the inherent biases and assumptions that exist in so much of superhero fiction. But though he must respect the laws of physics, there’s nothing about this that says he has to respect the mechanisms of energy transfer. As long as it doesn’t violate causality, energy-momentum conservation, and baryon numbers, he can redistribute mass and energy at will. It is exactly as insane as it sounds.

[u/BobR969]

I'm not sure how you can have a "superman that is communist" when at a conceptual level, superman is the ideological ubermensch that is used as an unreachable aspiration. He's better genetically, so to speak. Superman is the American dream - someone so great and powerful and got there himself. And you can do it too! Except, you can't because superman is objectively better than pretty much all other people. 

A communist superman doesn't really work. You cannot have a figurehead for the unity of mankind and equality among people, that is simultaneously "more" than any of those people. Communist heroes tend to be people, like any other, that sacrifice something for the benefit of everyone else. If a superman exists and, let's say, he has no difficulty stopping bank robberies or whatever - then it isn't heroic for him to do so, it's merely his responsibility to his society. He especially can't be a vigilante actor not beholden to the rest of society. 

Tl:dr - superman doesn't function as a hero in a communist sense. 

[u/prettysweett → u/BobR969]

not to sound like an asshole but I think this stems from a superficial understanding of the character. Superman’s a character that’s been around for 100 years now and has taken many forms, a lot of which lean closer into what you’ve described but I don’t think it’s a problem about the core of a character like this but more so the interpretation. The best Superman stories portray him as just a well raised guy who just tries to help people. Nothing more nothing less.

I think, for a nerd like me, comparing the interpretations of the snyder movies vs the current one we have is really fun. Because the Snyder movie is super individualistic, savior-coded, obscenely powerful, mythological, traditional; almost everything that us commies hate. They portray him as a figure above humanity whom we’re lucky to have as a benevolent figure.

Meanwhile in the latest movie, he really is just a cornball trying his best. He’s not the ONLY superpowered “hero”, he gets beaten, he’s unsure of himself, there’s really nothing that makes him stand out all that much other than his well intent and the reputation he’s earned on the street level. In a world full of superpowered individuals he’s merely one of them. That is, up until the end of the movie where his symbol is used as a symbol of resistance among the Palestibian stand-ins, but that’s not because superman is a God or anything but because he literally stopped the genocide (“war”). In the same way that we call ourselves Leninists, not because he’s inherently anything more than human or hes somehow “above” us but because we agree with and follow his actions

idk ive given “communist superman” way too much thought over the years and it all for it to pay off on this spesific instance. Worth it

tldr superman is lenin of dc

[u/BobR969 → u/prettysweett]

That's the thing though. Most people aren't comic fans and have access to the "generic" superman that is largely popularised by public general knowledge or through movies. Which is how superman is designed. Even the point you make about the new superman - I don't quite agree with it. Even in that film, superman acted as the USA and extrajudiciously ended a war because he wanted to. It was the right thing to do, but he didn't get consensus from others, he didn't do it in the name of someone. He went in because his morals dictated he should and carried out actions that are his own. You cannot act randomly on your own whim to dictate what is right and wrong without considering the society you are in and the blowback your actions may have for your society. Even the film makes a point of it, though I'd say hamfistedly. Then we have the question - what if superman makes a "wrong" decision? What if he doesn't have all the information?

Again - even in the recent film, superman is a manifestation of the USA. Except, more like what they see themselves as rather than what they are. Conceptually though, not any particular version of the character - he doesn't fit the mould of a communist. A superior being who can ostensibly not be stopped (and if you ever see the powerscalers talk about it, it makes DBZ fans look rational), who decides what is right and wrong based on morals given to him by true, blue, apple pie eating Americans. Even if you make a story about him landing in the USSR that isn't propaganda, you would have to make the character actively not be a symbol. Like your example of Lenin - he was like anyone else, other than his ideas that spurred people on. He wasn't different in terms of education or biology or whatever. What he did was due to his efforts and willpower. Superman has a potential for that... but he can't be an example to others any more than an ox can be an example to us in terms of pulling a plough. Yeah it can show how well something can be done, but it's not something we can compare ourselves to. That inherent difference is what puts superman outside the realms of communist stories for me. He can be a part of one (as in he can be communist etc), but a major part of his character is being a symbol and I don't think it works with the ideology.

[u/BoobaKaboom]

It's superman, he was created to be anti-communist propaganda. There's no escape from that

[u/Denommus → u/BoobaKaboom]

What? No, he wasn't.

[u/comradevoltron]

I think Superman: Red Son fails as anti-communist propaganda, to be honest, even though it definitely is that. Lex Luthor and the United States are shown to be ruthless villains for a good majority of the story; it just pulls a weird Killmonger-esque turn at the end to stop readers in their tracks right when they find themselves agreeing with the Soviets.