Superman to Start Cross-Country Walk in West Philly
Recently the Inquirer reported that a new DC Comics storyline titled Grounded will feature the Man of Steel being super-on-foot for a year. He’ll be walking across the United States doing what he does best, and “getting in touch with his human side” along the way.
But what really piqued our interest is that the DC hero will be starting off his journey at 48th and Larchwood Streets in West Philadelphia. What will he be doing there, you ask? Well, he’ll be sating his Kryptonian hunger with a Philly cheese steak, duh. Also, apparently some drugs get blasted by his burning gaze, among other things.
Oh, and he’ll be roughly following in the footsteps of Philadelphian Mike Gallagher, who left on foot from 2 Street in April and is currently traversing the Rocky Mountains on his way to San Francisco. He is not made of steel, but he’d be happy to know that he blazed a trail for Mr. Kent.
We’re happy to see Superman starting off his latest adventure in Philly. The twelve-issue storyline will conclude in June 2011.
This is, honestly, the dumbest idea DC comics has ever had.
If you read the set up for why he’s deciding to walk across country it makes no damn sense. Some woman complains that superman didn’t save her husband from cancer because he was too busy saving THE WHOLE FRAKKIN PLANET, and he goes “She’s right! I need to go wander the country for a while and save no one!”
Face+Palm.
@Bill: You know, I was blinded by the random coolness of a Superman sighting in West Philly, but you have an excellent point. We could probably do better than DC in this case. Why can’t he be walking for charity, with major corporations looking to improve their tarnished reputations (LexCorp?) vying for sponsorships that increase with every good deed done without flying. Or something. Anything, really. But yeah, a great point.
When does he depart from 48+Larchwood?
@Hannah Well, from what I could find, it looks like he departed on June 23, 2010, despite the news reports saying otherwise:
http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/comics/?cm=14920
It seems Superman’s reasons for walking across the country are about as compelling as Mike Gallagher’s…in that they’re not at all. Maybe the Man of Steel will break down and decide on biking the second half as well.
@Amanda While I can’t speak for DC Comics, I can say that when someone decides to go across the country with one of the main purposes being to talk to all the different people you meet along the way, a bike starts to seem like a good idea when you begin to go a week at a time without seeing a soul. Mike’s trip, how he did it and what he was doing, changed over time. That’s not called breaking down, that’s called evolution.
Joe