Suicide Slum

Suicide Slum (official name Southside) is a notorious fictional slum in publications from DC Comics. The area was first introduced in the "The Newsboy Legion" feature as a slum in New York City. It was later placed in Superman's city, Metropolis, when the Newsboy Legion was reintroduced. The Southside is also known as The Simon Project in the Post-Crisis continuity.

Fictional history

Southside, also known as The Simon Project (in the Post-Crisis) continuity, and most notably, Suicide Slum, has been at various times the stomping ground of several superheroes, including the Guardian (who protected the Newsboy Legion) and Black Lightning. It was based on the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City in which Jack Kirby grew up. In the comics the district's real name is Hobb's Bay. It was occasionally referred to by this name in the alternate continuity of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Suicide Slum is also the site of The Ace o' Clubs, a bar owned by Superman supporting character Bibbo Bibbowski. The human personification of the New God Black Racer lives, paralyzed, in a hospital in Suicide Slum. This was also where he was murdered. The Slum is also where the villain called Sleez operates from for some time, until he is slain. It is also the childhood home of Jose Delgado (schoolteacher-turned-vigilante Gangbuster) and Jefferson Pierce (the superhero known as Black Lightning).