Supermanic Monday #5--No Wonder Philadelphia Is Broke

So, Superman and the woman (Felicity Rose? Really??) about to commit suicide.

We start early in the day:

And Superman just sits there for many, many hours:

(By the way, the photocopier really should have gotten a co-penciling credit this issue. Which is fine, because that's why I read Superman--for static scenes of nobody moving for hours.)

Now, based on the way everyone is dressed, it's summer. So to go all the way from early morning to deep darkness is what--10 or 12 hours? More, depending on how late it is at the end.

Kal-El could have had this wrapped up in 5 seconds, flat...and still have gotten the woman the help she needed.

But because Superman feels the need to indulge her every whim and show off what a sensitive dude he is, a major Philadelphia street has to be blocked off for 12 hours. A ton of police, firefighters, and ambulance crews are there the whole time--think of the lives they could be saving elsewhere.

And not to be crass, but hell, think of the overtime the city has to be paying! This whole incident costs the city tens of thousands of dollars (at least) more than it had to. And then, to add insult to injury:

Yeah, Superman could have streaked down there, turned off the light, and been back before she could blink. Or, he could have just yelled down, "Yo, kill the light." But nope, Superman has to vandalize expensive city property.

Just to be clear--throughout the city there were crimes being committed, fires not being put out, and people not getting ambulances (like, for example, the old man with the irregular heartbeat!)...all because Superman chose not to end the crisis quickly. Instead, he narcissisticly decided that his (untrained, unlicensed, and untested) psychotherapy was the only thing that could save the woman.

But, hey, at least we got a lecture equating John Lennon with JFK, and Charles Manson with Fidel Castro. So, bonus--free philosophy!!

Thank you again, JMS, for turning Kal-El into a preening jackass I no longer care to read.