Absent Friends

Insanity Disco: You've given your share of eulogies, which gives you a macabre kind of perspective on it. Who would you like to eulogize you?

S: I'd like Lois to do it- I've asked her to do it- but I don't think she will. She says as a reporter she's too close to it- and that as a wife she's going to be too distraught to do it right. I think Diana would do it if she had to, and that she has an eloquence few people credit her for, but I think the both of them will be enough to force Bruce to give it.

ID: And you smile a little at that; is it because you're happy he'll be giving your send-off, or because you like the idea of him browbeaten by the two strongest women you know.

S: Can't it be both? No, um, I think Bruce will give a fine speech; I think he'll agonize too much over it, but I think in the end him giving the speech will be good for his soul, and good for ours- our community; it'll put him at the head of our table, so to speak, and I can't think of anybody better to be there.

ID: Not Diana?

S: God, I’m treading carefully, here, trying not to sound sexist- Diana’s a fine woman, but she isn’t a leader. She’s more important than that. A leader, really, is just a figurehead, someone to follow into what, under normal circumstances, would be an insane situation. When it comes to joining the fray, there is no one as stalwart or as fierce as Diana- but the fact is that she’s very much a single combatant. In part because she is a woman, really the first superhuman female to come to anyone’s mind, she has always maintained a certain degree of self-reliance. She doesn’t wait to see what a Flash is going to do, or a Green Lantern, or J’onn, or anyone else- not even me or Bruce- she leaps into battle to take care of what she thinks needs to be taken care of. Bruce, by contrast, relies on the rest of us- loathe as he might be to admit that- but when a building’s falling on a crowd, he can’t do more than save a few of the people himself, people he can carry out from under it- so he’s been forced for a long time to rely on the rest of us, which has really helped build him up as a coordinator and as a leader.

ID: But you prefaced that by worrying about sounding sexist. Why?

S: Because I think in a way it is influenced by gender. And I’m not saying the League couldn’t follow a strong woman’s lead, I just think that for some of us it would take an adjustment, perhaps even a revelatory moment. I don’t think I’m one of those people- but I think it would be naïve to think that in such a testosterone heavy community there wouldn’t be some flare-ups.

ID: Hmm. We may come back to that later, but today I want to focus on people you’ve lost. I'm not sure how much you believe in an afterlife beyond the waiting room you've said you met your father in, but could you talk about some of the people who preceded you you'd like to meet again.

S: Obviously, there’s my father; I find myself hoping there is at least some kind of a purgatory, because I’d like to see him again. We didn’t always, see eye to eye isn’t quite right, but I think maybe I stopped being entirely his son when I found out I, well, wasn’t. I think the fact that I was an alien, that I felt like an alien, that I felt like I was alien even to my own parents- I think it pushed him away.

I remember quite clearly one day, I used my abilities in town. I mean, there was a fire, and I did help save this little boy and his dog, but what I didn’t realize at the time was my dad was at the store across the street, and he saw. Truth be told, it wasn’t that he saw that, but that he saw that Lana was there, that she had that aura about her, admiration mixed with a tinge of worry, and he knew me well enough to know I was showing off. And it wasn’t that I saved the boy, but that I didn’t even think about how easy it would have been for the Fire Department to get to him, and beyond that, how stupid I was doing it all just to impress a girl. And he said he knew he’d raised me better than that, that he didn’t recognize his own son at that moment.

And I’ll never forget what I said, because I think it may have been the single most spiteful thing I’ve ever done, but I told him, “Because I’m not.” And I think I hurt him in a way I never intended, I think I caused serious long-term damage to our relationship. I never took into account that, as hard as finding out that I was adopted had been on me, it had had consequences for those I cared about, too. I don’t think he ever looked at me the same way; I don’t know if he ever would have been able to, but I think, dying the way he did, we’ll never get that chance to iron it over.

ID: And what about Connor [Note: Superboy, Superman’s adolescent clone]?

S: I miss him. I always used to, well, I guess I just didn’t understand it, Bruce’s relationship with his second Robin. He was headstrong- maybe even bratty- and he and Bruce were at cross-purposes almost from the moment they met. But when he died, Bruce mourned him as hard as he’d mourned his parents- maybe harder, since that Robin was just a kid, which only increased the tragedy. And it really wasn’t until Connor that I understood.

From the moment I first saw him, Connor was a jackass. I remember he sued me over the use of my name and insignia- and he wore his hair like one of the New Kids on the Block- only this was half a decade after they’d disappeared.

ID: I do remember you sporting an, ahem, party in the back hairstyle about that time, just so you don’t start throwing stones in your glass fortress.

S: I’d just come back from the dead. I think it’s safe to say I wasn’t entirely in my right mind in those days.

ID: Fair enough. But you mentioned something that’s always been kind of rumored, something that’s delicate so I’ll try and be gentle, but, one of the Robin’s was killed. Do you think Batman bears any responsibility for that, perhaps in the form of criminal negligence?

S: Criminally, I don’t know. I tend not to pay too much attention to the word criminal, since vigilantism, which, frankly, is what a large part of what I do is, is technically criminal in the eyes of the law. But a better way to look at it would be is he morally negligent.

I don’t want to go too much into that particular Robin’s life, because I don’t have the right to reveal it, but I’ll say this: he was headed for a bad life, a hard life, and in all likelihood a violent end. What Bruce did, what he tried to do, was give him structure, and discipline, and an outlet for all the things that were going to get him into trouble. Morally, I think Bruce’s intentions were good ones, but at the end of the day that doesn't matter, because Jason died.

But if you’re asking if Bruce bear’s responsibility for his Robin’s death- no, I don’t think he does, but at the same time, I know he disagrees. And I think every single day for the rest of his life Bruce is going to bear responsibility for his death; I don’t know if that’s right or not, but it’s a cross he won’t ever even attempt to set down.

ID: Do you think, given the death at least of one Robin, that using minors as vigilantes is a practice that should be discontinued?

S: I sincerely believe that what we do is a calling. Some people have the skills and the drive and desire to do what we do. What we do can also be, unfortunately, very dangerous. I just hope we continue to train and protect the next generation as best we can- it’s a standard I think we’ve tried to stick to, and one I hope we can live up to.

We’ll be trying to bring you a new section of the interview every Tuesday. Some of the questions have already been prepared by the interviewer, but to ask Superman a question, leave a comment or send an email to DeathofSuperman@gmail.com.