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SUPER_CAMP

                                             October 16, 2008

                                                "Men of Tomorrow" (2004)
  Gerard Jones argues that                      by Gerard Jones
  there's one really new
  touch that Siegel gave                        MEN_OF_TOMORROW
  the super-hero: a jokey,
  unserious quality.

    "The comics, cartoons, and radio shows
    had increased the American appetite for
    fantastic heroes, but at the same time,
    plenty of adolescents and precocious
    kids found Flash Gordon and his ilk
    fairly ludicrous. The humor and excess
    of _Superman_ made it possible to laugh
    along with the creators while still
    thrilling to the fantasy of power.
    That had always been Jerry and Joe's
    special insight:  You could want the
    invulnerability and the power, but you
    had to laugh to keep people from             In other words, if Siegel
    knowing how badly you wanted it."            was the great creator of
                                                 the superhero, he was also
                             p.145               the great destroyer.

                                                        SUNDAY_CAMP


     Siegel innovations:

        Kryptonite (originally K-Metal)

        Mister Mxyzptlk


     After Super-man, Siegel kept
     coming up with proposals to
     do comics about super-clown
     characters.  It's arguably
     one of the things that kept
     sabotaging his efforts at a
     follow-up concept.


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