By Zack Quaintance — Finally, it’s happening…I’m sticking to the original conceit of these feature and only including a single panel in this spotlight. Why is that? Well, this one is just so good, and not only that, it also just so expertly encapsulates the idea and themes not only behind the book it appears but also the inherent goodness of the character involved.

All that said, I’ll stop equivocating now and get on to this excellent panel, which you can check out below….

Superman Smashes the Klan #3

Since this three-part series started last year, it has been one of my favorite comics being published by DC Comics. It’s well-done from start to finish in all aspects, including scene-by-scene writing, the illustrations, and the plot. But moreover, this series is almost a historical record of Superman’s past of fighting bigotry and hate, incorporating the way his radio serial in the late ‘30s took on the Klan. It was one of the most popular pieces of media in the country at the time, and the show taking a stand against racism the way it did remains significant to this day. The panel above is powerful both on its own visual merits as well as in the context of writer Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru’s exploration of that past, which also ties into the present. Great stuff all around.

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.