Super Dickery: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:Jimmy_Olsen_30a.jpg|link=Superman|right|
{{quote|'''[[Innocent Bystander]]''': ''Superman--''don't just ''sit'' there! Stop that ''[[Blob Monster|thing]]'' before it wrecks ''Metropolis!''
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The reason for this trope, however, isn't the writer's intent. During the Silver Age, the covers were designed first, and the writers had to work around that cover that had been drawn without a story.
See also the [[Trope Namer]] website [[Superdickery.com]], featuring whole galleries of delightful examples of questionable behaviour by Superman and [http://www.cracked.com/article_16512_6-worst-comic-book-super-husbands.html other superheroes].
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** It's not just Superman who had this happen to him, either. There were plenty of covers involving Jimmy Olsen or Batman giving away the secret identity of/imprisoning/refusing to help/killing Superman.
** One peculiar but common thread through these comics is that Superman spends most of his time ensuring that [[Sidekick Glass Ceiling|nobody else has powers like his.]] If a reason is even given for this, it's because [[The World Is Not Ready]]. Superman has clearly decided he is the only arbiter of truth, justice, [[Liberality for All|and various national ways]].
** Lois Lane is being blackmailed, and what's Supes' response? [http://www.superdickery.com/
** All too often, though, the torment of another character by Superman (often someone he's supposed to be friends or loved ones with) really does occur, and for no apparent constructive reason at all. In one silver age comic, Superman puts Lois Lane (You know? The love of his life?) through an embarrassing and gut-wrenching physical transformation without her permission, allegedly to keep a crook from recognizing her. Of course, even supposing that reason held any water at all, that still doesn't excuse how Superman pretends not to recognize Lois immediately after the transformation, and even out-and-out insults her on her appearance.
** It should be noted that while many Silver Age stories had Superman being a dick, many had his friends being dicks to ''him''- Lois Lane (and Lana Lang, when he was Superboy) constantly tried to prove that Clark was Superman, on the assumption that he would ''have'' to marry her once she did! He also had to constantly save them from danger that they put themselves in recklessly. The latter was also a problem with Jimmy Olsen. So it was really a mutual thing. About the only regular character who wasn't a dick was Perry White, despite his gruff behavior.
*** Of course, he'd never marry either of them, for [http://www.superdickery.com/
*** Bizarrely, the whole prove-his-identity-to-get-him-to-marry-me bit seems to have been valid for Superman. A comic in which he went back in time to get away from Lois and Lana had him meet [[Third Option Love Interest|another girl]] who -- surprise -- came to the same conclusion and tried to get his secret identity. She never ''tells'' Superman that this is her plan, but when he gets back to the present and finds out that she's become fat, he expresses relief that he didn't end up having to marry her. Perhaps Superman is subject to the [[True Name]] effect?
** In ''Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen'' #76, Perry forces the other members of the Daily Planet to go on a death march.
** Of course, the covers do tend to [[Covers Always Lie|exaggerate the apparent dickery]]. For example, on [http://www.superdickery.com/
*** Exaggerate? Some of the covers flat-out ''lied''. "The Miracle of Thirsty Thursday"'s cover shows Metropolis citizens dying of thirst whilst Superman stands before a gushing fire hydrant and explicitly denies water to everyone. Of course, a thoughtful reader may assume that the clarifying context is that the water is in some way contaminated and that Superman is protecting them. In this case, however, the "context" is that the cover is a lie: in the actual story, citizens of Metropolis are affected by a serum that creates an ''aversion'' to water, and Superman has to come up with a means to make them drink.
** Another aspect of comic books during that age was that the audience was primarily children 6-12, and many of the stories would feature incidents that would speak to them - such as being punished via spanking. To an adult's eyes, it would seem... ''bizarre'' (and kinky in some cases), but to a child, it would be a real threat, as would being made fat, losing a parental figure, and so on.
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