Source: pinterest.com
6. Metropolis’ Segregation Problem
(Pages 7-8)
This next two-page stretch seems like it would be good, but it isn’t. We’ll discuss that in a moment.
Lois comes to the frankly dangerous living quarters of a black woman and her baby. There are fires and rats, and plaster falling from the ceilings, the works. Lois is horrified. So the basic premise that black people were/are disproportionately forced into terrible slumlord housing via racist real estate practices is pretty spot-on.
But due to the fact that this NEVER COMES UP AGAIN, it doesn’t work. Superman doesn’t help out, Lois doesn’t do anything about it, and all of these people just continue to live their lives in horrible conditions.
This is a Metropolis problem, and the story never addresses it again. Superman may spend many hours a week beating up Brainiac and Terra Man, but he takes precisely zero time to go help out the suffering residents of Little Africa. What a jerk.
