Superman Smashes the Klan

by Gene Luen Yang, Gurihiru (Illustrator)

Overview

Harvey Award winner for Best Children or Young Adult Book!

The year is 1946. Teenagers Roberta and Tommy Lee just moved with their parents from Chinatown to the center of Metropolis, home to the famous hero, Superman. Tommy makes friends quickly, while Roberta pines for home. Then one night, the family awakens to find their house surrounded by the Klan of the Fiery Kross! Superman leaps into action, but his exposure to a mysterious green rock has left him weak. Can Roberta and Tommy help him smash the Klan?

Inspired by the 1940s Superman radio serial "Clan of the Fiery Cross," New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese, Boxers and Saints, The Terrifics, New Super-Man) and artist Gurihiru (Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Unstoppable Wasp) bring us a personal retelling of two different immigrants finding ways to belong.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781779504210
Publisher:	DC Comics
Publication date:	05/12/2020
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	65,081
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	HL400L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Gene Luen Yang began making comics and graphic novels more than 15 years ago. In 2006 his book American Born Chinese was published by First Second Books. It became the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and the first to win the American Library Association's Printz Award. It also won an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album - New. In 2013, First Second Books released Boxers & Saints, his two-volume graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion. It was nominated for a National Book Award and won the L.A. Times Book Prize. He made his mainstream comics debut on Superman, with artists John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson.

His other works include the comics continuation of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender. Currently he writes New Super-Man for DC Comics.

Editorial Reviews

…compelling…Yang's sensitivity to the social and political dynamics of difference and assimilation injects the story line with new life and resonance…Roberta and Superman occupy the book's two, alternating point-of-view narrations; the weight Yang gives her thoughts and actions throughout, on a par with the world's original and arguably most famous superhero, is his most successful repositioning. It underscores their shared, vulnerable experience as outsiders…It is to Yang's great credit that almost all of the characters, including a boy whose racist uncle instigates the burning of a cross on the Lees' lawn, feel complex.

The New York Times Book Review - Hillary L. Chute

04/20/2020

When the Chinese Lee family moves from Chinatown to the Metropolis suburbs in 1946, siblings Roberta and Tommy face overt and subtle racism as they settle into their new community. While Tommy joins a local baseball team and uses self-deprecating remarks to make friends (referring to his family as “wontons” to his white peers), Roberta struggles to fit in. Yang (Dragon Hoops) manifests racism variably and authentically—one of their father’s colleagues implies that the family eats dog, and things escalate: the Klan of the Fiery Kross (a KKK analog “motivated by love—love of our nation”) sets a cross ablaze in the Lees’ front yard and threatens to drive the family away. Adapted from a 1940s radio drama, the story draws clear parallels between the Lee’s Chinese family and Superman’s interstellar one; as Superman discovers his heritage, he gives Roberta the confidence to embrace her identity. Japanese artist duo Gurihiru’s style blends manga-esque features with a western approach, creating a hybrid aesthetic that captures Superman’s larger-than-life presence and renders baseball as exciting as high-octane fare. Engaging back matter reveals helpful context about immigrant families in America (including Yang’s own) and the history of white supremacy. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 12–up. (May)

Publishers Weekly

08/01/2020

This adaptation of a story line from the 1940s The Adventures of Superman radio show opens in 1946, as Chinese American siblings Roberta Lee and brother Tommy move to Metropolis. They quickly befriend their next-door neighbor Jimmy Olsen, but not every resident of Metropolis is as welcoming, and Roberta's family soon find themselves targeted by the Klan of the Fiery Cross. After meeting Roberta and Tommy while investigating the Klan in his capacity as a reporter for the Daily Planet, Clark Kent realizes that an intervention by his alter ego Superman is in order, especially after a Klan leader undergoes a procedure to gain enhanced powers. Flashbacks to Superman's personal battle to overcome a sense of alienation as a teenager and discomfort at coming to terms with his alien heritage highlight the character's enduring appeal. VERDICT Yang and Gurihuru (Avatar: The Last Airbender—The Promise Omnibus) spin a thrilling and timely, all-ages adventure that explores the immigrant experience, bigotry, and internalized racism through a range of perspectives that includes an African American police inspector and a young Klan member forced to confront his family's legacy of hatred.

Library Journal

★ 04/01/2020

Gr 7 Up—In 1946, Superman and Metropolis face bigotry and self-doubt. As this Golden Age–era Superman questions his identity, the Chinese American Lee family encounters both microaggressions ("I've never met a Chinese before!") and outright hostility when they move to the Metropolis suburbs from nearby Chinatown. When the Ku Klux Klan burns a cross on the Lees' lawn, Superman (and alter ego Clark Kent) befriends the Lee children, Tommy and Roberta, and goes up against the KKK. This story explores cruelty, how children often inherit prejudiced beliefs from those they trust, and the profit motives behind organized hate groups. Yang draws startlingly perceptive parallels between the racism the Lees confront and Superman's fears that others will see him as an outsider if they learn he is really an extraterrestrial. Whether the Lee children and their friends are bickering and playing or standing up for one another and foiling KKK schemes, Gurihiru's bold cartoons are utterly expressive. Although the buff Superman fills the page testing his powers and knocking out a high-tech Nazi, his best moments are found in quieter interactions, such as when he (as Clark) gives his jacket to Roberta, or seeks his biological and adopted parents for support. Appended are historical photos and informative essays about the KKK; "The Clan of the Fiery Cross," a series of episodes from the 1940s Adventures of Superman radio show that inspired this tale; attitudes toward Chinese and Japanese immigrants; and African American enlistment. VERDICT Rarely does a rollicking superhero tale honor small-scale acts of heroism as much as this Superman story of community, conscience, and consequence. A must-have for all collections.—Thomas Maluck, Richland Library, SC

School Library Journal

2020-03-01
Superman confronts racism and learns to accept himself with the help of new friends.

In this graphic-novel adaptation of the 1940s storyline entitled “The Clan of the Fiery Cross” from The Adventures of Superman radio show, readers are reintroduced to the hero who regularly saves the day but is unsure of himself and his origins. The story also focuses on Roberta Lee, a young Chinese girl. She and her family have just moved from Chinatown to Metropolis proper, and mixed feelings abound. Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane’s colleague from the Daily Planet, takes a larger role here, befriending his new neighbors, the Lees. An altercation following racial slurs directed at Roberta’s brother after he joins the local baseball team escalates into an act of terrorism by the Klan of the Fiery Kross. What starts off as a run-of-the-mill superhero story then becomes a nuanced and personal exploration of the immigrant experience and blatant and internalized racism. Other main characters are white, but black police inspector William Henderson fights his own battles against prejudice. Clean lines, less-saturated coloring, and character designs reminiscent of vintage comics help set the tone of this period piece while the varied panel cuts and action scenes give it a more modern sensibility. Cantonese dialogue is indicated through red speech bubbles; alien speech is in green.

A clever and timely conversation on reclaiming identity and acknowledging one’s full worth. (author’s note, bibliography) (Graphic fiction. 13-adult)

Kirkus Reviews