ABSTRACT
Traditionally within comic book narratives, Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent, is depicted as “the mild-mannered reporter,” the persistently denigrated butt of jokes.1 The fi gure of the reporter is a dialectical construct, a dry, dull, mild persona who exists in opposition to Superman, the supercharged champion of the underdog and vigilante seeker of justice. There is no Hegelian synthesis in Superman:2 Kent does not take on heroic characteristics without fi rst changing into a cape and tights, and Superman does not take on Kent’s “fear-struck” or “meek”3 characteristics without fi rst donning the clothes of the working journalist. Yet, reportage and comic books mutually inform one another, for Kent, like Peter Parker as a newspaper photographer, reports ‘sensationally’ on Superman, and Superman provides the sensational stories that continues Kent’s journalistic career.
