Center for European Studies

European Studies Because… Speaker Series – Drawing on the Past: Superheroes, Comics, & Propaganda

Lars Konzack, University of Copenhagen

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In 1990, a Danish super hero graphic novel “Superman: A Tale of Five Cities” came out featuring the all-American superhero Superman.  It was the first official Superman created outside the United States. The graphic novel had a different take on the Man of Steel. In here, Superman visits five European Capitals (Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, and Helsinki) and meet local superheroes like The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen and the Ice Virgin of Norway. It is a historical gaze into Cold War dilemmas and how America, personified by Superman, is simultaneously perceived as a protector of Western democracies and as exponent of American cultural imperialism. “Superman: A tale of Five Cities” is a rare glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of late Cold War sentiment in a Northern Europe that could at any moment be at the brink of nuclear destruction.