Superman Vs. Orson Scott Card

Homophobic science fiction writer Orson Scott Card has been tapped to write a story or two for DC Comics’ new digital first Adventures of Superman. Controversy and outrage swirl in the wake of this recent announcement. Find out why I think the writer shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the Man of Steel, after the jump.

I am sooo late to the party on this one. And I’m ashamed. I have to admit up front to being uninformed. I knew Orson Scott Card’s name. I knew he was a science fiction writer. I knew his big claim to fame was a novel, possibly a series of novels, called “Ender’s Game.” I knew he had also written a few books on writing. I knew that “Ender’s Game” had been made into audio plays on Book Radio on satellite, and that they were good for insomnia whenever I put them on, cuz I went right out. Other than that, I knew nothing about the man personally, and I certainly didn’t know anything about his politics.

It turns out the man is a raging homophobe. I didn’t find this out until it was announced that Card would be contributing to a new digital first comic from DC Comics called Adventures of Superman. I was surprised and shocked. This shouldn’t be happening. Such a man as Card should not be writing the Man of Steel. I don’t even think he should be allowed to.

There have been many solutions to this. We could always vote with our dollars, and just not buy the book in digital form or otherwise. I don’t think that is really fair though. After all, ‘just don’t buy the book’ sounds an awful lot like ‘just don’t marry a member of the same sex,’ doesn’t it? Sounds almost like something Card himself might say. There’s a petition out there for you to sign, it’s right here, and science fiction author David Gerrold has offered an intriguing and amusing solution here.

I myself don’t want to come off Card-ish and insist the man be deprived of his right to work, just as he would insist others be deprived of their right to marry those they love, but, again, he should not be allowed to write Superman. Being the man he is, there’s no way that Card can even understand who Superman is and what makes him who he is.

Superman stands for what’s right, and he protects the rights of those who cannot do it themselves. I’ll be bold and just say it. Superman would be for gay marriage. Superman stands for civil rights, Superman protects minorities, Superman is a real American – whether he was born on Krypton or in Kansas, the Man of Tomorrow is all-American.

This is how he has always been. Early on, before America entered World War II, in the pages of Look magazine, Superman captured Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin and delivered them to the World Court to stand trial for crimes against humanity. On the radio later in the decade, Superman took on the Ku Klux Klan. And what about the countless times he tried to change the world for the better by traveling back in time to save both Lincoln and Kennedy from assassins’ bullets? Does this sound like a man who doesn’t fight for civil rights?

Orson Scott Card isn’t qualified to write Superman. Let him go back to writing flawed characters like Iron Man. That he can do. Just not a true American role model like Superman, who would fight for all of our rights to marry anyone we loved. Superman fights for what is right, and that’s why I love Superman.