Superman: A Nation Divided by Roger Stern

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


A Nation Divided is a frustrating comic. It has an interesting premise: Superman lands on Earth in the 1840s and ends up fighting in the Civil War for the North in 1863, where he discovers his powers. I give Roger Stern credit for not going the Dave Gibbons route and insert a Lex Luthor doppleganger who just happens to have Krytonite. Superman does what you'd expect and roots the South with far less bloodshed and the war ends with a far less bloody Gettysburg.

From there, my big question is what happens? How does this change the shape of America, and of Lincoln? Does a Superman raised with 19th Century midwest values, most likely raised against the backdrop of "Bleeding Kansas," the pre-Civil War skirmish over slavery that set the stage for the 1860s election and the War, differ from a 20th Century Superman? What could the team of Abraham Lincoln and Superman bring to the world? If Superman was similar to his normal self, that would be one of the greatest combinations of goodness the world has ever seen, or would it still be?

And here's an interesting question, could Superman helping the union to a quicker victory actually prolong slavery? While Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, it only applied to those states in rebellion and didn't ban slavery but rather freed existing slaves. The "border states" (slave states that stayed with the North) could still have slaves and could feasibly replenish the Southern slave population. Lincoln himself said he'd be happy not to end slavery if it kept the Union together.

On the other hand, with Lincoln alive, we may have seen a reconstruction that was far gentler on the South and far more generous. Slavery would certainly eventually be on the road to abolition in a decade or so due to changes in the economy that were accelerated by the War. However, without the heavy handed reconstruction which was enabled by a long and bloody war and the assassination of Lincoln, might full emancipation for all and Civil Rights have come with far less fighting and anger leading to more harmonious race relations today?

These are among the fascinating ideas which Mr. Stern's story doesn't address. Now to be fair, this is a Prestige comic book, and not a 300 page novel or a treatise, but if you're going to tell an alternate history as an ELseworld tale, you need to tell how this "What If?" scenario would affect the world or the superhero. Instead, Stern completely avoids the implications and imagines Superman discovering a message from his Kyrptonian parents that leads him to (in effect) become the Lone Ranger. What a waste of a good premise?



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