Clark Kent quits newspaper job in latest Superman comic
Add Superman to the list of reporters leaving the newspaper business behind.
In the comic book series' latest issue, which went on sale Wednesday, an outraged Clark Kent quits his job at The Daily Planet after his boss berates him.
"I was taught to believe you could use words to change the course of rivers - that even the darkest secrets would fall under the harsh light of the sun," the superhero's alter ego says in a newsroom outburst. "But facts have been replaced by opinions. Information has been replaced by entertainment. Reporters have become stenographers. I can't be the only one who's sick of what passes for the news today."
In Wednesday's issue, Kent tells his editor he's been a journalist for barely five years.
But for decades, his job as a reporter at The Daily Planet has been a mainstay of Superman's story.
Word of the superhero's career move drew attention from media critics and others who've watched the newspaper industry's struggles.
"It seems very overly dramatic," said Erica Smith, a former newspaper employee who's tracked U.S. newspaper industry layoffs and buyouts on her Paper Cuts blog since 2007. "It doesn't seem to me to fit either the industry or the character."
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I read long ago that the only reason Clark Kent worked for a newspaper was because, way back in the day, newspapers had police blotters and working at a paper ensured he could respond to crime faster via the newspaper's resources. Clearly, that hasn't made sense for a number of years. He's long overdue for a new career.
What do you mean the Daily Planet is dying? I still have daily delivery.
The Daily Planet was dying anyways. Circulation is down and everyone is moving online. Clark now freelances for DailyPlanet.com as an independent blogger...
This is not the first time Clark has left the Daily Planet. In the seventies, he was moved over to anchor TV. In the nineties, he left the planet to become editor of a "Newsweek" style magazine. These things cycle around. The Daily Planet won't be abandoned in the long term. This is just another storyline. Things will be set back to normal in a few years. I mean, the guy DIED in the nineties and still got better. This is nothing.
Besides, this is just the so-called "new 52" version of the character, basically a new character who has only been around for a year or so. He's not the original Superman character from 1938, or the "Silver Age" Superman character most people think of when they think of the character, or the modern Superman who existed through the nineties and into the 2000's. He's none of those characters, but a new, fourth version using the same name.
Erica smith must not read or watch the news, or read the comic. The quote is spot on to how maimstream news is, and it is good dc had kent quit.