Matt’s Canadian Adventure #1 – Toronto Superman Stories

Judging from WordPress analytics, some search engines have been sending people here when they’re looking to buy a Superman t-shirt in Toronto. That’s not what this post is about, but you might want to try one of these comic shops…

 

My friend Sudge is going to love this one.

I’ve spent the last week in Toronto, and I’m also a monumental geek. Those two facts may be evident from this blog, but they both collided this week. See, I own, and wear, a Superman t-shirt.

Toronto has a major, if under-reported Superman connection – it’s the inspiration for Metropolis, the character’s home city. Joe Shuster, the artist who created Superman along with writer Jerry Siegel, lived in Toronto for the first 10 years of his life, learning to draw and working as a paperboy for the Toronto Star – it’s no coincidence that when Clark Kent first got his gig as a reporter he worked for the Daily Star, although it was renamed as the Daily Planet within a couple of years.

Toronto is also home to the World’s Biggest Bookshop, which may be somewhat corporate, but hey, I’m a book geek, the place was calling to me. There I am, browsing the history section (I think), when an older guy spots my shirt:

“Superman fan, huh?”
“Oh hi, yeah, I am.”
“Up, up and away… Anyway, just wanted to say I like the shirt.”
“Cool, it gets a lot of comments.”
“Really? Glad I’m not coming across as being strange then.”

There’s a CTV News article on the Shuster-Toronto link, and Joe Shuster’s final interview, in which he talks about his background, was published in 1992; it seems to be a way of him restating the link between his most famous creation and his Canadian heritage. It’s a good interview, tinged with sadness and nostalgia. In some ways it’s a reminder of just how different the world was when Superman was created back in 1938.

We’re at the top of the CN Tower, the second tallest free-standing structure in the world. One of the coolest parts of this is the glass floor,  2.5 inches of reinforced glass that can, apparently, hold the weight of 14 hippos, although I think we need to get 14 hippos up there to check this out. The fact that it’s five times stronger than it needs to be doesn’t stop people from being scared of walking on it – after all, it’s looking straight down over 1000 metres, and if you’re scared of heights, it’s going to make you a bit twitchy. Me? I’m daft enough to be one of the people jumping on it.

A middle-aged lady, however, was scared, which is why she starts shouting “Superman, Superman!” at me. I end up having to hold her hand as she walks gingerly across the frame, with me telling her all the time that it’s perfectly safe, that they use this stuff in space shuttles. I think she felt better with the Superman logo being around, even if it was a fat Brit wearing it – I ended up having my photo taken.

So maybe Superman, one of the USA’s archetypal heroes, owes something to Canada too. I like that idea, but maybe that’s because it fits my stereotypes – I always see Constable Benton Fraser, who’s a character seemingly popped out of Canada’s subconcsiousness in much the same way that the Doctor popped out of Britain’s, as having Superman-y characteristics. I like the idea that Toronto, which has cemented itself as one of my favourite cities, has also influenced one of my favourite characters. It’s kinda cool.

We’re riding around on one of Toronto’s many tour buses (that’s another blog – don’t worry, Canadian tour guides, it’s going to be a nice one), and this is something like the third time we’ve done the loop and I’m a bit jetlagged, so I’m zoning out a little. I notice that, as we’re held up in traffice on one of Toronto’s many streets filled with cafes and restaurants, a guy dressed as a chef is pointing at me. To be honest, at first I try to ignore him – I’m from Britain and therefore have an instinctive need to not make eye contact with pointing strangers – but it becomes impossible. As I look at him, he draws an imaginary triangle on his chest, pointis at my shirt then gives me a thumbs up. I wave and he goes back to work, leaving me slightly bemused.

The Toronto-Superman connection is relatively understated, although comic fans are familiar with it. There aren’t plaques memorialising it, although there was a postage stamp in the 1990s, and there’s a Joe Shuster Way in west Toronto (I’m gutted I didn’t find out about that until I was back home). Then there are the wider links – Canadian Margot Kidder, who played Lois in the Christopher Reeve movies, used to date former prime minister Pierre Trudeau; a scene in Superman II was filmed on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

Talking of which… On the day we went to Niagara Falls I wore my Batman t-shirt. I got no comments. None. Nada. In fact, of all the clothes I own, the only one that ever gets comments is my Superman t-shirt.

So why do you think that is?