Monday, December 9, 2024

Ep 68 Step Aside Elon, Lex Luthor is here! A Conversation with Elliot S! Maggin - Superman Cultural Icon

Episode 67

Step Aside Elon, Lex Luthor is here! A Conversation with Elliot S! Maggin

Superman Cultural Icon

Listen here: Radical Centrist Podcast

Alternative on Podetize: https://feeds.podetize.com/niuDVZ_Uh.mp3

Step aside Elon,

Order Lexcorp here

Lex Luthor is here. He is badass and out to save the planet.

It's an interesting contrast really. Elon Musk has his sights set on colonies on Mars and continuing to aggressively exploit the resources of earth in service to that, and other goals. On the other hand, the supervillain that most Americans and much of the world know as Lex Luthor, the nemesis of Superman, may be turning over a new leaf. "May be" is the operative phrase though. Nevertheless you can't help but notice that Luthor's bottom line is saving the planet that we currently call home rather than hastening a move into the cosmos.

Elliot S! Maggin (yes that is an exclamation point after his middle initial) has, in fact, had a love/hate relationship with Lex Luthor since they were first introduced to one another on the pages of the Superman comic when Elliot was a young boy. If you "read" between the lines in this podcast you will probably speculate that young Elliot was torn between the brilliance of Luthor and his evil intentions.

Elliot's career as a writer began with a colorful story about a Green Lantern comic that he wrote for a history class at Brandeis University, from which he graduated as the class Valedictorian, despite only getting a B+ on his comic book paper!

The first comic spawned 15 more years of writing comics for DC, mostly Superman, making him a cultural icon for millions of young people who eagerly anticipated the next issue each month. Those 15 years were capped off with two best-selling "Superman" novels written with his own storyline but timed for release by DC in conjunction with the first two Superman movies. Between those novels he made a move to New Hampshire, taught at Waterville Academy, bought a home, bought a horse; adopted a dog and ran for Congress, among other things. When the campaign was over he went back to writing and has never stopped.