It has been awhile since I've done as blatant a #SupermanAnalogue. I've been saving this one, too. Today, I want to talk about "The American" from Cla$$War. A Superman for a Bush era commentary. 
Cla$$War was not... subtle. The series began in 2002 with Authority style hyper violence and even angrier politics. It featured the Superman of the Justice League expy group called "The Enola Gay" going AWOL when he realized that his actions were in the name of American hegemony.
His teammates had given up their ideals and become superpowered privateers, murderers and drug smugglers (this series was REALLY into the CIA as secret cocaine traffickers thing). When American went AWOL, they pursued, luring him out by murdering civilians, of all nationalities.
The action and the veneer of real world politics made for an exciting, if now very dated, series that sadly only got through 6 of the planned 12 issues, though there is a hardback collection. It made for a good alternative when you were caught up on The Authority and wanted more.
And I make The Authority comparison for a reason. Many reviewers of the time made the connection and that was definitely what was "in" then. Many of the fights utilized the same sort of shock value extreme implementations of super powers. Art was solid and action was great!
The book also featured Icon, a Wonder Woman stand in, but really just another government manufactured superbeing like The American with seemingly identical powers. She, kind of like Kid Miracleman, had become numb to human life with her vast power and murdered dispassionately.
There was also "The Young American", a teen sidekick who had become addicted to his public image and used his fame to play rockstar, with all the implications of that. Sex, drugs, and rock-'n'-roll, baby!
The team also had a resident big guy, a former boxing champion named "Heavyweight". In addition to being strong and durable, he could grow allowing him to be the most powerful physical being in the series. However, all the big guns in the series could hurt each other.
The book never got to go past it's initial premise of rogue Superman, but it was fun. I dig the look of the American, especially when the stars are drawn with no outline so the white bodysuit merges with them. It is a really cool design.
Anyway, if you've ever wanted to see a Superman torture a George W. Bush stand-in and burn the word "LIAR" onto his face with heat vision, this is the book for you.
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