# Superman says you can slap a jap! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500 "2005-06-23T05:58:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/41 "2005-06-24T01:02:44Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > (and “Jap” was standard on the front page headlines of most newspapers). Back around 1998 a local TV station ran a marathon of McHale’s Navy reruns. I hadn’t seen the show since its original run in the '60s. I had totally forgotten how freely they used the words “Jap” and “Nip,” and I was amazed that this was allowed back on the air in the '90s. ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/42 "2005-06-24T02:15:21Z")
Thanks, **pravnik** Robin: “What does he mean, Bruce? How and he force you into a boner?” Joker: “So! They laugh at my boner, will they! I’ll show them! I’ll show them how many boners the Joker can make!” Pure comedy gold! ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/43 "2005-06-24T03:31:48Z")
> [@Squee](#): > > Robin: “What does he mean, Bruce? How and he force you into a boner?” “I don’t know. But whatever it is, it isn’t **good** , that’s for sure.” These panels are straight from Earth-N, the parallel world where Joel Shumacher directed _Batman Begins._ ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/44 "2005-06-24T03:47:41Z")
There was also a Batman serial (the criminal ringleader was The Wizard) in which the narrator talks about “slanty-eyed Japs” and how treacherous they are. **Tuckerfan** is correct. Although, sometimes the books creative team enjoyed it. One of the Green Lantern writer’s talked about how much fun it was to come up with stories to match some of the covers (he mentioned one which included a stunned Hal Jordan looking at a lemonade stand selling power rings for $1. You knew they were real rings because the satisfied customers were flying away.) Some of the covers are easy to explain. Why is superman burning Jimmy’s present? Doubtless it contains some mad science thingy or other placed there by one of his enemies. Why is he blocking Jimmy’s adoption? Because Hal Rand is an alien or a mad scientist or something. Why not use the future viewing machine To warn Bruce of his parent’s murder? The Bruce on that cover is 13 at least. His parent’s are already dead. Re The Archie Beat Off Cover There’s a sex comic by the name of Cherry Poptart. It’s drawn in the style of Archie. There has long been suspicion the artist/writer/creator used to work for Archie comics. There’s also speculation on what he tried to get away with during that time. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/45 "2005-06-24T04:18:08Z")
[http://www.superdickery.com/dick/62.html](http://www.superdickery.com/dick/62.html) I have this one. That ain’t Supes. Batman is doing battle with a Superman robot turned evil by pollution. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/46 "2005-06-24T05:25:36Z")
I have to suspect that [this one](http://www.superdickery.com/other/196.html) has to involve gay pride somehow. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/47 "2005-06-24T05:34:31Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I have to suspect that [this one](http://www.superdickery.com/other/196.html) has to involve gay pride somehow. Shockingly, [the Rainbow Raider](http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/rainbow.html) was straight. The Pied Piper was the gay Flash villian. Who’da thunk it? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/48 "2005-06-24T05:54:39Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > [http://www.superdickery.com/dick/62.html](http://www.superdickery.com/dick/62.html) > > I have this one. That ain’t Supes. Batman is doing battle with a Superman robot turned evil by pollution. I like the blurb on the cover: This is not an imaginary fight scene! Or a symbolic picture! Or any other sort of cop-out! Because “Superman robot turned evil by pollution” is certainly no cop-out! ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/49 "2005-06-24T13:42:56Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I have to suspect that [this one](http://www.superdickery.com/other/196.html) has to involve gay pride somehow. Actually, according to my good buddy Grant Morrison, Superman’s new power was that he could create a tiny Superman duplicate from his hands. The little fella had all of Superman’s powers, and so he became Metropolis’ new darling, leaving the original Superman to mope about being lonely and unappreciated. So, I guess the lesson is, as funny as the jokes in this and similar threads may be, they’ll never be as goofy as the real thing. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/50 "2005-06-24T14:13:12Z")
Didn’t we do a [Bugs Bunny vs. Superman](http://www.superdickery.com/other/210.html) thread a long time ago? ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/51 "2005-06-24T14:26:29Z")
> [@Stark Raven Mad](#): > > I’m confused. When did “jap” become a racial slur? Why didn’t I get the memo? I hate that it IS a slur…couldn’t folks back then have come up with a more colorful one? I mean, we’ve come up with some doozies in the past, ones that can be easily avoided after they fall out of vogue. The result of our forefather’s lack of imagination in racist propagandizing is the unfortunate stigmatizing of what otherwise could have been a handy and logical abbreviation of “Japanese.” Yeesh! ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500/52 "2005-06-24T14:56:12Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > Didn’t we do a [Bugs Bunny vs. Superman](http://www.superdickery.com/other/210.html) thread a long time ago? The following one never fails to reduce me to tears. The commentary is just dead on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/309500.md?page=2)