It's a Bird, It's a Plane... It's a...Gay Superman?

With ten days to go until "Superman Returns" hits the summer theaters, this issue needs to be cleared up.

He ain't gay. He wasn't gay in the comics, George Reeves wasn't gay, and Christopher Reeve wasn't gay either. Dean Cain isn't gay, Tom Welling isn't gay, and neither is Brandon Routh. The Superman these actors have played is just a very nice guy with a confident fashion sense who can kick your ass. There may, however, be an issue with Jimmy Olsen.

Even though I don't buy the spin, I can see how the studio releasing the photo below could accidentally get across a sense of identity confusion. Clark is wearing his glasses with his Superman costume, and he's looking in a mirror so the "S" is backwards. And he's clearly on the inside somewhere looking out. Okay -- I admit it -- that does sound like a visual metaphor for the gay experience.

"I'm so confused. Not!"

Probably a bad choice of PR material if you're trying to counter people calling your character a closet gay. Even so, let's not put this baggage on a movie that looks like it's going to be really excellent. We all know that once he gets to Metropolis, Clark has a true, authentic love and lust for Lois. This is not something he's been faking since 1938.

Me and the S-Man have history that lets me say this with confidence. The first comic book I ever bought was a "Superman" from a local drug store where everybody bought their comics. Later, I used to race home from school to catch syndicated repeats of "The Adventures of Superman" with George Reeves. The first film review I ever wrote for TV broadcast was for "Superman" with Christopher Reeve. I worked as supervising producer on the first season of "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" and actually wrote the Smallvile, Kryptonite and Lois-interviews-Superman-for-the-first-time introduction episodes. My kids and I love to watch "Smallville."

Jerry Seinfeld, possibly the most famous Superman fan out there, probably has nailed the right way to look at this issue. He's not gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that.