From: lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Elisabeth Riba)
Subject: Superman's Death Stigmatizes Mentally Ill
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 16:07:59 GMT

The following is quoted directly from a front page article in Saturday
September 12th's Boston Globe:

  For the creators of the comic book series Superman, kryptonite and Lex
Luthor have proven no match for planet Krypton's man of steel.  But
what's this?  More powerful than a locomotive comes... the Rhode
Island mental health community.
  POW!!
  Mental health workers and patients are leading a verbal assault on DC
Comics Inc., publisher of the weekly comic book series.  They are also
taking "politically correct" to places not even the mild-mannered
guardian of truth, justice and the American way might have foreseen.
  In the comic book slated to hit the newsstands Nov. 18, Superman will
die.  His killer will be a "superlunatic" escapee from a "cosmic
insane asylum," accourding to Michael Carlin, an editor at DC Comics.
  Surely a downer for Superman buffs, but an insult to members of the
mental health community who say they are tired of "lunatic" villains
stigmatizing their illness and perpetuating the myth that mental
illnes breeds violence.
  "This is stereotyping at its worst, pitting the ultimate evil against
the ultimate good--and promising to make life difficult for the
mentally ill into the next generation," said Daniel J. McCarthy, one
of two Division of Mental Health administrators for the state.
  Carlin is taken aback by the criticism.
  "I'm terribly sorry if some people have been offended," he said,
adding that he was unaware until recdently of the groundswell of
discord headed his way.
  McCarthy, one of the most outspoken critics of DC Comics' choice of
assassins, said he plans a letter-writing campaign to "educate"
Carlin, as does Eileen Elias, Massachusetts commissioner of mental
health.
  Jann Campbell, a spokeswoman for 250 mentally disabled members of the
Coalition of Consumer Self Advocates in Rhode Island, said her group
will send an "information delegation" to Carlin's office in New York
next week "whether he wants us or not."
  In Washington, where the Alliance for the Mentally Ill is holding its
annual convention, several members have vowed to bring the "lunatic"
stereotyping to the attention of the 2,000 conventioneers.
  Few readers expect Superman's death will last much longer than the
surge in orders for mid-November issues, now running 10 times above
normal, according to several retail comic book stores.
  For example, Wonder Woman came back to life from mud about a month
after her death last spring.  Other heroes and heroines have been less
fortunate. 
  Captain Marvel has not recovered yet from the disease that killed him
in the late-1970's.  The Flash remains subdued by Antimatter, and
Supergirl disintegrated forever--so far--by Antimonitor in 1985.
  This will be Superman's first death since 1938, the year of his
inaugural comic book appearance.
  "Superman will die fighting to save Metropolis from a superlunatic
called Doomsday, dressed in a straitjacket and escaped from a comic
insane asylum," Carlin said.  There is strong speculation he will
return by Christmas, either cloned or, in the spirit of the season, as
Lois Lane's child.
  Killing Superman may have been a good publicity stunt, but Carlin
concedes the ploy has turned somewhat bittersweet.
  "Frankly, I'm very surprised that this is all being taken the wrong
way.  We're in the comics business.  We specialize in stereotypes," he
said.
  Therein lies the rub, according to McCarthy.  Time and again,
national statistics have shown mental health patients to be no more or
less violent than the general population.  Mental illness is a disease
treatable with drugs, he said.  Yet fictional stereotypes promote a
fear that extends to the workplace and housing market.
  It remains unclear what, if anything, DC Comics can do about
Doomsday, were the publisher inclined to placate critics.  Comic books
are a half-billion-dollar retail business, with DC Comics garnering
about 20 percent of the total, according to Maggie Thompson,
codirector of the Comics Buyer's Guide.
  Doomsday has gone to press already.  He will start appearing in comic
books to be distributed next week.
  Campbell said it is time to give the mentally ill a break.  Perhaps
other illnesses should take a turn.
  "If someone who is ill is going kill Superman," she suggested, "how
about an escapee from a cosmic cancer ward?"
-- 
--------------->Elisabeth Anne Riba * lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu<---------------
"I want to be Robin to Bush's Batman."  Dan Quayle
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