41 thoughts on “Happy Independence Day!”

  3. Boy, would Hitman be pissed off if he ever saw the Fortress of Solitude and it’s worship of Krypton.

  7. It’s one thing to remember your homeland fondly and any positive lessons you learned, and another to act like you still live there and dwell on the very things you ran from. That’s why the Krypton room in the Fortress works.

    Then again, Byrne weeded out many of the positives of Krypton in the reboot.

  10. That’s nothing — in the Silver Age, Superman remade an empty planet into an exact duplicate of Krypton. Minus the Kryptonians, of course.

  11. Hitman and Preacher were Ennis’ high points…while everything since hasn’t been horrible, it’s just not on the same level.

  13. I still well up inside every time I read that issue. Especially the beautiful final page with the reveal of the story’s title.

  15. By golly, he’s right. If there’s one thing Americans have far too much of, it’s appreciation for culture and a working grasp of history. Clearly we have to be even less knowledgeable than we already are. It’s a high order, America, but we can do it!

    Now you don’t know. And not knowing if half the battle. Go Joe!

  16. Man, I read your comments pages quite a bit and I dont think Im out of line saying that its both pretty common and unfortunate that many of the posters completely miss the point, but begeesus I think this lot may take the cake.

  17. I totally agree with this character. That’s why the only thing I have to remember my culture is this bottle I have on a pedestal in my living room.
    Inside- the entire city of Bogota, Colombia and all it’s inhabitants shrunken down to minute size.

  18. It would be easy for Superman to push away Krypton. He was how many days old when he had to leave the place?

    Are Krytonian memories that good?

    Hitman makes a good point, but if I were sent to another country to live forever, I doubt I would just abandon being an American the moment I set foot on alien soil.

    Humans will remain human with all their problems. We cannot just walk away or wish it away.

  19. Hitman makes a good point, but if I were sent to another country to live forever, I doubt I would just abandon being an American the moment I set foot on alien soil.

    Yes, but that’s not the principle that most other countries are (ostensibly) founded on. Whether or not it’s actually true in practice (and lord knows it’s not always), the point of America is that we are supposed to be a level playing field for the poor, tired, huddled masses yearning to be free where you can get away from, if not your old culture, your old grudges.

    To wrench this away from America and back to comics, Superman’s function as a character that embraced this idea (and the Superman-as-Immigrant characterization) is one of the things I really like about him, which is why it’s so annoying to me when writers–notably Johns and Richard Donner, recently–keep bringing up stuff from Krypton and Superman’s family there. Jor-El and Krypton have exactly one function each, which is to put the baby in the rocket and then explode, respectively. Superman’s story isn’t about where he’s from, it’s about where he is, and how regardless of origins, he’s an American and, by extension, human. No matter where he came from, he’s one of us now.

  25. We need an updated Hitman scene where he’s complaining about those Kryptonian immigrants like Superman and General Zod constantly bringing their conflicts from the old country, er, planet, to American soil and blowing up Metropolis.

  26. I disagree. In my opinion, America isn’t about being American or embracing American culture. It’s about freedom; the freedom of every individual to be whoever he or she wants to be. And if that means someone wants to be and Italian-American or a Korean-American, that’s fine. That’s their personal choice. And if they want to hang out with only people who identify as they do, that’s fine, too. As long as they don’t treat others badly, they’re free to be and believe anything they want. That’s what freedom is. And I think that’s a big part of what we celebrate on the 4th.

  27. I love Ennis’ writing. I love Ennis’ Hitman. But I disagree completely with everything Hitman said. Hitman seems to think that “culture” is just doing an accent while wearing a funny hat. He need to get out more: first, out of his behind, then out of his beloved States. Hope the shock doesn’t kills him.

  28. I don’t think he means to abandon culture, but that people take too much pride in their old country when coming to a country that represents freedom, enough to splinter a people. In many ways, its people expecting a country to accommodate for them rather than the opposite.

    It’s like going to a Korean church and hearing from several people that Korea is the best country in the world. Then why are you in America? Siphoning its resources? Or when different ethnic groups literally close themselves off from everyone else. There’s a place for pride, but it can easily turn into a weird sort of elitism.

  29. In many ways, its people expecting a country to accommodate for them rather than the opposite.

    But that’s what a free country does. It leaves its people alone to do whatever they want, so long as they don’t interfere with others. No individual should be asked to accommodate his or her country. That’s for countries that aren’t free.

  30. Inspiring stuff, dude. “Ask not what your country can do for you, and don’t ask what you can do for your country, either, because that’s for countries that aren’t free.” ;)

  31. Props to all the commenters above who love the fact that our nation supports multiculturalism and is not France.* But remember that Ennis comes from Northern Ireland, so he’s as likely as not to have seen Irish-American barstool patriots express pride in their heritage by endorsing terrorism. There’s one in every third pub I’ve been to.

    Eh, I’m thinking too much–Ennis isn’t asking anybody to share Tommy’s (or Jesse’s or Constantine’s convictions).

    *Tony Appiah: “In the nation-state, such as France, the only publicly celebrated identity is that of the dominant culture: tolerance and full civil rights may be extended to minority groups but the national history is the history of the majority.” Hence you get black schoolchildren in Martinique reciting texts about “Our ancestors, the Gauls.”

  32. Inspiring stuff, dude. “Ask not what your country can do for you, and don’t ask what you can do for your country, either, because that’s for countries that aren’t free.” ;)

    More like, “Ask not what your country can do for you, and if you’d like to help out with people less fortunate than you that would be great, but you won’t be judged if you just try to live a good life and be a good person, because that’s all a free country asks of you.”

    Or something like that.

  33. Are Krytonian memories that good?

    Well, there’s all that lovin’ between first cousins…

  34. Up here in the Great White North, that’s a description we usually (and maybe more accurately?) direct that kind of sentiment at ourselves. And depending on who you’re asking and their political leanings, it either makes us the greatest society on earth or makes us a vast land with no identity or culture of its own, full of people “just visiting”.

    There’ve been Germans, Ukrainians, Poles, Italians, Jews, Chinese and Sikhs in Canada for the better part of a century (not to mention the natives who’ve been here much longer), all encouraged to keep their own culture and hang with their own kind. And yet our political discourse seems entirely driven by those two “founding cultures”, the Anglo-Saxons and Quebecois. Yet when I watch or read American political commentators, pundits, lobbyists, think tank fellows, I see Hispanics, blacks, Jews, Muslims, East and South Asians, men and women, and I wonder–what the hell is wrong with *us*?

    So my American friends, I wouldn’t take Hitman’s words too seriously. You know your own problems better than anyone, but I don’t think integration is your biggest problem.

  36. [i]But that’s what a free country does. It leaves its people alone to do whatever they want, so long as they don’t interfere with others. No individual should be asked to accommodate his or her country. That’s for countries that aren’t free.[/i]

    Nobody’s saying forced integration is the best option either. But there’s obvious detriments if we go the route of people NOT doing anything for their country and only for themselves.

    That’s Hitman’s point: keeping your own culture and ignoring everyone else’s isn’t a good thing. Part of America’s own success is its ability to integrate several cultures to make it its own. You can’t do that without opening up to other groups.

    You can extend that argument even to the Anglo-saxon “whites” who are afraid of having a black president and Mexicans crossing the border. The result of closing yourself off splinters the country in the long run.

    The ideal situation is for cultures to both keep their own identity, but also to be open to that of other cultures within the United States, without force.

  37. “He need to get out more: first, out of his behind, then out of his beloved States. Hope the shock doesn’t kills him.”

    Ennis is from North Ireland. I’m not even sure he lives in America.

    So, um, FAIL.

  38. Saint Patrick’s day parades should be banned. God bless Lou Dobbs. Seriously.

    “the point of America is that we are supposed to be a level playing field for the poor, tired, huddled masses yearning to be free where you can get away from, if not your old culture, your old grudges.”

    Exactly, why ARE all the asian kids sitting together in the table? Why ARE the jewish people all in their own circles? Why DO black people had a pattern in feeling less american, less welcomed and less inclined to fall under its colours and heil the flag? C’MON!

  40. If missing the point were an Olympic sport, some of you would be getting the gold.

  41. Ennis moved to America years ago. And if you’ve ever read…anything he’s written, then, yeah. “Beloved” is about right.

    //\Oo/\\