No Lies Told In This Week's Writing

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One of my favorite Superman stories appears in 1965’s Superman No. 176. Written by Leo Dorfman with art by Curt Swan, “Superman’s Day Of Truth” opens like so many classic tales from the period where Superman suddenly starts behaving oddly. This time, the Man of Steel is judging a baby contest, as if he’s a member of the Royal Family, but he’s not merely the ornamental vestige of an antiquated institution. There are far more important things Superman could do with his time and god-like abilities.

A woman asks a clearly annoyed Superman, “What do you think of our little darlings?” and he replies bluntly, “Frankly, this is the worst collection of misbehaved brats I’ve ever seen! And you tried to flatter me, dressing your babies like me, hoping I’d pick them as winners!” Superman’s candor obviously offends the lady who claims she’s “never heard such rudeness,” but she seems like the type of person who’d say that if a restaurant wouldn’t make her requested meal substitution. Lois Lane questions Superman’s strange behavior, and he says, “I just had to tell the truth as I saw it,” before flying off to film his new Netflix comedy special.

Superman meets up with his cousin Supergirl, who’s also started dispensing painful truths. The Supergirl Fan Club prepared a lunch for their hero, but she was unimpressed. She delivers this devastating Yelp review: “You meant well, kids, but frankly, the salad tasted like moldy hay, and the chicken wasn’t fried, it was burned.”

So, obviously, the story is defining “telling the truth” as “saying whatever you think without regard for other people’s feelings.” There’s not even room for euphemisms or evasive language. For instance, Supergirl could have told her fan club that their chicken had an “interesting texture” and just rattled off the salad’s ingredients, like Guy Fieri will do whenever he doesn’t like a dish on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives: “OK, you’ve taken lettuce, tomatoes, maybe some carrots, and then you mixed them together and served them on a plate.” (There’s not much else Superman could have said. Those kids were awful.)

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I don’t like conflating honesty with rudeness, but the eventual reveal justifies this angle. Superman and Supergirl aren’t under the influence of red kryptonite, which would trigger a couple days of unpredictable body horror or mental instability. No, they are honoring the Kryptonian Day of Truth, and that poses a problem for Superman who must testify in court that day. (Superman doesn’t regularly perjure himself except for when he finds creative ways to deny that he’s Clark Kent.)

Superman cleverly avoids his situation comedy predicament, and he later joins Supergirl in the bottle city of Kandor where we finally learn the origins of this strange tradition.

Centuries prior to Krypton’s destruction, aliens invade and occupy the planet. The evil Vrangs capture and torture Krypton’s leaders, despite their earnest attempts to work across the aisle. The enslaved population eventually surrenders their dignity for continued survival. They call their gleeful tormentors “master” and express over-the-top gratitude for the meager scraps they feed them.

Years later, an alien ICE agent demands to know why one of the enslaved Kryptonians refuses to play along. “Why do you not smile like the others? Are you not happy to serve us?”

Standing tall, the young man declares, “I will not lie! My name is Val-Lor! I hate and despise you Vrangs. I wish you were all dead.”

Val-Lor (whose name subtly suggests that he’s brave) is immediately executed for his defiance, but his fearless words sparked a revolution: Aneither Kryptonian says, “While we cringed and pretended to be happy, Val-Lor spoke the truth … hurled it into the teeth of our oppressors!” There were always more Kryptonians than Vrangs, and once they no longer feared death more than continued subjugation, they were able to fight back and defeat the Vrangs.

Now, more than ever, we shouldn’t fear telling the truth. We should hurl it into the teeth of those who’d oppress us. Donald Trump and his MAGA goons are just grotesque bullies like the Vrangs, and there are more of us than them. So, let’s follow Val-Lor’s example every day — although, you can be gentler than Supergirl about someone’s lousy cooking.

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This week, I wrote about how we can learn from Alex Pretti, John Brown, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Alex Pretti, John Brown, And Nonviolent Resistance

I discussed Sydney Sweeney’s Chipotle politics.

Sydney Sweeney Sticks Her Neck Out For Nobody

The men who murdered Alex Pretti craved power over others.

Seeking Supremacy Lessens Everyone

My friend John Stoehr from the Editorial Board joined me on the podcast to discuss the ongoing MAGA occupation in Minneapolis. This is when I ask you to head over to my YouTube channel and hit the “subscribe” button. I’d love to have as many subscribers there as I do here.

That’s it for this week. See you on Monday.