I can now expand on my post of six days ago about Superman saying he’s ashamed to be an American. My advice to jwd over at Dixonverse, reposted here, led to some spirited discussion this week, all of which has been quite exciting.

At the time, I was working off of the first part of the story in Superman #226 (which was, and still is, sold out and back-ordered in my area). Today, I read the story’s conclusion (or continuation, really) in Action #836. The impression I get is that the Golden Age Superman, in his many years of exile, has become deluded and judgmental. What we are seeing of his life, and of the modern Superman’s, are rather what he wished he’d done. And as we see, this Superman is much more tyrannical. Perhaps JWD, if he bought the second installment, will draw some comfort from that.