The Internet's oldest, ahem, "tribute" to Superman is still its best, although it takes a little more work to find it these days. Superdickery began as a site simply collecting old comics covers and other images where Superman seemed to be behaving badly. There were surprisingly many of these, partly because covers often rely on shock value, and what's more shocking than the ultimate symbol of virtue looking like a brat, brute or monster? Even today's Superman covers can rely on that tactic: But it was also a study in how sensibilities change: in the 1950s and 1960s, Superman stories were power fantasies for kids and feminism was barely spoken of. It was totally fine for Superman to play elaborate practical jokes to teach Lois or Jimmy some kind of lesson. That scene in Superman II (and again in Superman IV) where Clark basically Super-roofies Lois into forgetting his secret? There was plenty of precedent. Mostly, though, it's just funny to watch Mike Mitsch build a body of evidence, some pieces more in context than others, that Superman has always been a terrible person. Mitsch eventually widened the scope of his site to include other, non-Superman episodes of superheroes behaving badly, but its original purpose lives on in the "Superman Is A Dick" tag. What'd we miss? Let us know in the comments!
T Campbell has written quite a few online comics series and selected work for Marvel, Archie and Tokyopop. His longest-running works are Fans, Penny and Aggie-- and his current project with co-writer Phil Kahn, Guilded Age.
