According to comic book lore, Superman is blessed with an enormous arsenal of powers, including heat vision, superhuman strength, and the ability to leap tall buildings.
A sense of good timing, however, apparently isn't in his repertoire.
Last week, the iconic DC Comics superhero made headlines when he renounced his U.S. citizenship in the latest issue of Action Comics (which was released last week), distancing himself from America and stating that he was tired of his high-flying heroic actions being "construed as instruments of U.S. policy."
Then came Sunday night's news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by American armed forces in Pakistan, resulting in massive celebrations around the nation, and a renewed sense of patriotism spreading across the country.
To be fair, it's really just a case of bad timing on DC's part. Sure, the esteemed comic book publisher is no stranger to unleashing shocking plot developments and stunts in order to revive sagging sales. (To wit: The Man of Steel was killed off by the villainous Doomsday only to be resurrected from the dead a few months later.)
Comic book creators have also made various attempts to present a more mature and complex messages and plotlines over the last couple decades (like when artist Marvel's Northstar came out of the closet in 1992 or when indie comics artist Robert Walker created the HIV-positive superheroes known as the O+ Men a few years back.)
This time around, DC's latest stunt to drop a bombshell on the comic book world kinda backfired because of the death of Bin Laden. While the issue has reportedly sold well, members of the blogosphere have been cackling at the ironic timing of the plot development in light of yesterday's, including one snarky comic book fan named Tenaciousbt who joked on his blog earlier today about how "Superman won't be celebrating with the American people and military today."
"While the rest of us 'Americans' celebrate the killing of the orchestrator of the 9/11 attacks," Tenaciousbt wrote. "I guess Superman will be too busy trying to appeal to everyone else to care."
The snarksters over on Bleeding Cool also posted an amusing comic today which predicted that DC Comics will attempt to capitalize on the military giving Bin Laden's remains a burial at sea by creating a storyline where Aquaman falling in love with the terrorist's corpse.
Gross as it may seem, we wouldn't put it past DC.
