Veterans

Infiltrating Deltas: I’d heard talk of Congress contemplating the creation of a Superman Day, recently. They were thinking of using the day you originally succumbed to your injuries fighting Doomsday, to honor heroes like yourself, those who fell in the line of duty and those who served, and those who fell. And I also hear you delivered a statement, in writing for obvious reasons, about why you thought that was a bad idea. Why?

Superman: Okay, my argument was two-pronged, actually. First, I wouldn’t want it called Superman Day, or to celebrate my death. I’m, as a symbol, too small for something like that. If anything, it could be called Justice Day, and celebrate the founding date of the League- or use some other day, because really, it isn’t and shouldn’t be about me.

Second, we already have a day. Granted, our observance isn’t far-reaching, and the implications are, well, I’ll stop padding it. We celebrate Veterans Day as ours, or ours with traditional military veterans, anyway. I think it’s appropriate to look at the people who do what we do in that same light.

ID: That’s… interesting. Because, knowing how you feel about war, I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about veterans.

S: Really? I didn’t think my position was all that gray. Veterans, at least in principal, lay their lives at the feet of the altar of freedom. Some are chosen as sacrifices, others walk away whole; most are damaged in ways that are hard to recognize or qualify, but bear wounds as deep as those who died. I have the utmost awe and respect for veterans, military or otherwise.

ID: Okay, see, it’s that, that caveat: “at least in principal.” What the hell does that mean?

S: You really don’t care about the big picture if you think someone’s stepped in dog crap, do you? It’s a niggling complaint I have with the way we use our military. We treat them like mercenaries; hell, in Iraq, we’ve had them fighting side by side with mercenaries. And our military, our servicemen and women, they deserve better than that. They ought to be above reproach, but when we tarnish the work they do, it lessens the value of their very real sacrifices. My qualms are with the administration of our military, not with our soldiers.

ID: That makes a degree of sense. But do you think it’s appropriate elevating vigilantes to the levels of sanctioned military veterans?

S: I think it would be inappropriate to ghettoize their sacrifice into a separate day simply because they gave their lives independent of a martial authority.

ID: So you don’t think there’s a difference? That the fact that vigilantes are breaking the law doesn’t make them unworthy of being honored side-by-side with servicepeople?

S: No. And I’m surprised to hear you even implying that line of reasoning, which is virtually the same as people who argue against gay marriage, as if the granting of civil rights to one group has ever detrimentally impacted the rights of others.

ID: Of course, you can make the argument that the loss of privilege for a favored group is understandably resisted, but that’s an argument that rhetorically is equivalent to asking “So what?” in the face of iniquity. So no separate but equal for superheroes?

S: Separate is never equal. It can’t be.

ID: I’ll forego my usual bit of race-baiting, even though there’s a part of me that’s a bit curious whether a Kansas farm boy maybe picked up any good ole boyness.

S: My father was very tolerant. And a veteran, I think you’re forgetting.

ID: That’s right, he was drafted. But do you think if your dad hadn’t been drafted, hadn’t been a

S: But he was. Drafted and a veteran. I don’t think he would have chosen to be a soldier, but that doesn’t change the fact that he recognized the sacrifice for what it was, or that he wouldn’t have sought to instill that wisdom in his son. There’s a reason they call it military service, because it is, they’re doing a service for each and every one of us.

Though I think there is sometimes a disconnect when we talk about soldiers, particularly in the modern, all-volunteer-force variety. I have all the respect in the world for the profession, but it is a profession. And the reasons people take the job are many and varied, having as much to do with lack of opportunity as a desire to do good work for a nation. And I don’t think that acknowledging that aspect, and particularly the dynamic skew it creates, with larger percentages of the poor and minorities serving, takes anything away from that service, or the sacrifice some of those soldiers end up making.

And that’s why I’m really very comfortable holding up people who do what I do on that same pedestal: because we are an all volunteer force, because few if any people get into this for any kind of personal gain, let alone financial. Most of us outlay large sums of money, for tailors, gadgets, whatever.

So more than anything, I hold both groups in extremely high regard. I wouldn’t put either ahead of the other. And I’m guilty as much as anyone for forgetting every day how important that work is, how safe I am, and my family is, because of what they do.

And on days like Veterans Day, I try to make that effort to let them know just how much that service means to me, how truly and deeply I respect them. I try to honor them; it’s the least I could conscionably do.

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.

Super Max

Ignominious Dynasty: I want to talk about your Gulag.

Superman: Last week you called it a Guantanamo; ratcheting up the rhetoric, are we?

ID: No. You don’t get to be smug about this- especially after the way you’ve used this interview. Your prison- it’s, it's offensive. You hold people without trial, without access to representation, without the possibility of a writ. Whatever happened to truth, justice and the American way?

S: I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be smug; at worst I was trying to deadpan. But my reply to your second question will come off smug, even though it isn’t meant to be: this is the American way. Guantanamo has been a political and martial reality for closing in on a decade. We have a new president, so that may be changing, but the fact of the matter is the American people knew about Guantanamo and enemy combatants long before they decided to let George Bush stay on as president after finishing Luthor's term.

But that's a side issue- a safe, philosophical discussion that I'm more than happy to engage in, but one whose implications are academic at this point. Because it isn't about civil liberties. It isn't even about justice. It's about safeguarding the public- and not just the American public, but people across the globe. And some of these threats are global- and all of the ones we admit into Super Max are terrorists who the normal criminal justice apparatus can't handle.

ID: Threats, not people? And I've heard the League use that word before, terrorists; so you're playing the “War on Terror” card?

S: I'm not saying it applies to every single metahuman; some are only involved in petty larceny, and frankly, I don't think anyone would want to apply the same extraordinary measures to someone like that. But you let a Dr. Psycho or a Grodd even talk to an attorney and there will be at a minimum a riot- more likely a massive break-out attempt. We’ve seen it happen.

ID: Okay- I’ll grant you criminals who can control minds are a special case, and prosecuting them might take some bending of the normal Constitutional protocols- but the fact remains that most of the superhumans in your Gulag could be granted free and fair trials.

S: They could. Our problem is most of them have. At present, our corrections departments just aren’t able to contain most superhumans; there are even issues holding onto nonsuperhumans who have spent time interacting with the superhuman community. Arkham Asylum in Gotham, which purports to be the most secure institute of its kind in the country, is practically a revolving door for psychopaths. The prison system at large is even worse- even when you don’t take into account government programs like the so-called “Suicide Squad” that encourage early release.

ID: So the ends justify the means once again.

S: This was never meant as a final solution- and don’t use that as an excuse to start drawing Nazi parallels- Super Max is meant to be a temporary holding facility until we can figure out how to provide justice for the inmates, and security for the rest of humanity.

I think our larger failing, and perhaps my largest failing, has been one of leadership. When there’s a flaming monster hell-bent on destroying a continent, the world’s best and brightest come running. But when it’s a complex sociopolitical problem, with necessities in every discipline ranging from legal to technological- there just isn’t the same kind of enthusiasm. And that’s where I think our League has failed, so far; we should have pushed people harder.

And maybe it's exposing the somewhat incestuous nature of our community, or perhaps just how insulated from the normal world we can be. Perhaps we've spent too much time lamenting the lack of superhuman lawyers, rather than spending that time recruiting lawyers willing to work with the superhuman community. But we're not starting to think autonomously; we aren't looking to set up tribunals, or presume to mete out sentences and punishments.

ID: We’re straying- which is entirely my fault. You’ve acknowledged that the new president means a change in policy at Guantanamo, which sounds like in your mind the two are linked. Are you saying that Super Max is on American soil, and that the president has sway over its administration?

S: Super Max, and I don’t think I’m overstepping too much, has always been a joint venture with the U.S. Government. It’s not officially a government entity, and no tax-payer funds are used to keep it running, but we regularly cooperate with federal entities. Something like a third of the inmates housed in Super Max are there as a result of federal investigations and arrests.

ID: I would ask why the government can capture these criminals but can’t house them.

S: Which seems like a reasonable question on its face. And with some, um, we’ll call them supercriminals, that makes sense. For Captain Cold, you take away his freeze gun, and he’s basically like any other convict. But for Icicle, basically the same powers, except he is the freeze gun. And this isn’t Powers- we can’t set somebody underneath a violet-tinged “power drainer” lamp and call them neutralized.

With Icicle specifically, we had to take special precautions. For one, he’s in an entirely separate cell block, with its own self-contained HVAC and water systems. The cell is constructed of a specially-developed insulating concrete; outside that is basically a thermal wall, constantly heated; so if Icicle penetrates his cell wall, he can’t freeze through this secondary wall- in fact, the ambient temperature from the thermal wall would keep him from generating freezing temperatures if he ever managed to expose it. And it’s an ongoing process. We were cautious to keep the piping separate- but apparently the water-heater for his cell block was within range of his abilities, and he managed to freeze that- basically flooding the entire cell block. More changes, more money.

The end goal is to create a sort of grudging stalemate, where the inmates realize they can’t escape and will stop trying- which is the usual status quo in the prison system. Then we can hand over the keys to the feds. Once the government has the option of locking them safely away, that’s when the possibility of real trials and real justice becomes viable. But the change in administrations does light a fire under us, one we weren't necessarily expecting, but one I think will help us move through what's been a more darkly gray area than some of us realized.

And obviously, from your reaction, we've made some missteps when it comes to how we communicate our goals to the public- and even our methods. It's something we'll try harder with. But honestly, as a reporter and a citizen- I value free and honest criticism: quis custodiet ipsos custodes. I don't think the League could or should function without it.

We’ll be trying to bring you a new section of the interview every Monday. 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.