麦金在超人80周年接受Hero Journalism采访，谈及超人对自己的意义（01:56）

问：为什么这个角色能打动你？艾略特·S·麦金：是他教会我认字，我家街那头有一家理发店，安迪理发店，店里摆着一张桌子，堆满漫画，大多是超人，我去剪头发的时候就看着上面的图画，慢慢开始学认字，那时候我大概4岁，布鲁克林D大道上给我看牙的医生诊所里墙上也挂满了漫画，钻牙的时候我就看漫画，我再次需要他了，因为我感觉我快要撑不住了；我还看过原版电视剧，就是54-58年那版，那时我还是个小婴儿，但从我记事起，这个角色就一直陪着我，我以前从来不看旁白文字，后来开始读框内说明，才终于看懂原来超人和克拉克是同一个人，以前我觉得那些旁白纯属多余，不过早在我意识到克拉克和超人是同一个人之前，我就已经迷上了这个角色，虽然没人跟我说破这件事

后来我开始写漫画的时候才发觉，天呐，当时好像就只有凯里·贝茨、雷恩·维恩，再加上我想写超人，我们单纯觉得这是最棒的角色，不管是他的配角，团队，还是作为主角本人，他都是既真实又典型，我喜欢他，因为他首先很贴近，一个有性格，有烦恼的活生生的人，对他而言，克拉克这层身份拥有自己的生活，这件事至关重要，可如今这点被放大得太过头，以至于很多人都不再相信超人本身才是那个真实的本体，这很荒诞

但他们认为克拉克才是真实本体，超人只是他扮演的身份，其实恰恰相反，克拉克才是超人精心塑造的艺术形象，超人是厚重完整的人格，超人的故事，并不只是动作冒险故事，它们是道德剧，每次接手这个角色的创作者，好像都要削弱他的能力，把他的力量砍掉一半，三分之一，或是拆得七零八落，还有一种说法是一个扭转河流走向，折弯钢铁的角色，要比能玩转行星的角色更难写，这也很荒诞；他近乎全能，所以故事的核心最终还是会落到，如果你手握世间一切力量，在当下的处境里你会做出怎样的选择？这些故事本质上是道德剧

这些是伦理与道德的具象载体，这正是我喜爱的原因，你知道吗，朱利·施瓦茨以前总问我“打斗场面在哪？” 我就回答“喏，在这儿，这儿，还有那儿，动作场面已经足够多了”，有时候甚至到我临交稿的时候在他办公室里现补上打斗的描写，因为打斗篇幅对我来说反而是最没意思的部分，所以这就是我喜欢超人的缘由，超人比克拉克更有生命力，实际上，他比你我都更有生命力，就是这样，这类角色大多都是如此，他们是不朽的，超人是托尔、宙斯这类古老神祇的后继者，他们很真实

Why does the character resonate with you?Elliot S! Maggin：He taught me how to read. There was a barbershop up the street from me, Andy's Barbershop, with a table full of comics, mostly Superman. And I would get my hair cut, looking at the pictures and eventually reading. I was maybe four. Had a dentist on Avenue D in Brooklyn, who had a wall full of comics. And while I'm getting my teeth drilled, I would read comics. I need him again. It's starting to crack. And I watched the television show in the original, you know, the 54 to 58. I was a baby. But that was my character from the day I was conscious, I think. I finally figured out Superman and Clark were the same guy because I started reading the captions. I never used to read the captions.I thought they were a waste. But I was I was into the character long before I realized Clark and Superman were the same guy. Nobody told me.When I started writing comics, I think, oh gee, Cary Bates, Len Wein and I were the only people who wanted to write Superman. We just thought those were the best characters. The ancillary characters, the supporting characters, the main character. He was authentic and archetypal at the same time. And I like him because he's a guy. He's a real guy with a personality and concerns. It's very important to him that Clark have a life. It's gotten so important that people don't believe Superman is the real character anymore. That's nonsense.But they think Clark is the real character and he plays Superman. It's the other way around. Clark is a work of art and Superman is a real dense personality. Superman's stories aren't Aren't action-adventure stories. They're morality plays. Every time somebody takes over the character, it seems they depower him. They cut his powers in half or in thirds or in pieces. And to say that a character who can change the course of mighty rivers and bend steel is harder to write than a character who can juggle planets is nonsense. He's omnipotent. So the story's come down to what do you do in this given situation if you've got all the power in the world? They're morality plays.They're ethics and morality images. And that's what I like about them. You know, Julie Schwartz used to tell me, “where's the fight scene?” And I'd say, “well, there's plenty of action over here and over here and over here.” And I got to the point where I was handing in stories and I would finish the fight scene in his office because that was the least interesting thing to me. So that's why I like Superman. Superman is more profoundly alive than Clark. Actually, he's more profoundly alive than you and I. So there. That's true of most of these characters. These characters are immortal. Superman is the descendant of Thor and Zeus. They are real.