The next morning, Roberta meets Clark Kent. Roberta and Tommy are subjected to slurs and microaggressions by their white peers in Metropolis, and their father rejects aid offered by Black characters in the immediate wake of the Klan’s attack.

Led by the Grand Scorpion, the Klan is just one manifestation of racism in this comic.

This Klan, the Klan of the Fiery Kross, wears the white robes and hoods of the Ku Klux Klan and recites unmistakably white supremacist ideology. Lee’s attempts to affiliate himself and his family with whiteness don’t stop the Klan from burning a cross in their front yard. Lee defaults to Cantonese despite her husband’s reminders to speak English. Roberta laments the loss of a favorite coat made by her mother and is uncomfortable with its department store replacement. Roberta and her mother are not as willing to give up Chinese culture. Lee is comfortable putting on whiteness in order to assimilate into his new position and neighborhood, while Tommy is eager to adopt American traditions. Lee’s white lab coat, gifted to him by his new, white boss, and Tommy’s baseball hat, given to him by Jimmy Olsen, represent their willingness to assimilate. Lee has recently taken a job with the Metropolis Health Department. The family is relocating from Chinatown to Metropolis proper, as Dr. Superman punching a Nazi is the baseline.Īs the comic progresses, the reader is introduced to Roberta, her brother Tommy, and their parents Dr. Nothing in this comic is particularly subtle, and it’s better for the absence of allegory. A two-page spread follows the first set of panels, opening up in such a way as to make Atom Man appear to fly after Superman punches him. The comic opens with Atom Man, self-proclaimed “Avenger of the Master Race,” attacking the Metropolis Dam.

Set in 1946, Gene Luen Yang, Gurihiru, and Janice Chiang’s Superman Smashes the Klan is a loose adaptation of the sixteen-episode “Clan of the Fiery Cross” story of the same year from The Adventures of Superman, a radio series that finished airing more than half a century ago. Superman Smashes the Klan: Part One Kyle Baker (variant cover artist), Janice Chiang (letterer), Gurihiru (interior and main cover artists), Gene Luen Yang (writer)

Superman smashes the klan 1