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The Kryptonian Cybernet Issue 58
______________________________________________________
T H E K R Y P T O N I A N C Y B E R N E T
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http://www.ms.uky.edu/~sykes/kc
Issue #58 - Early February 1999
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CONTENTS
--------
Section 1: Superscripts: Notes from the Editor(s)
We All Need Somebody to Lean On
Apologies and a request for some help on KC
Ratings At A Glance
Titles Shipped December 1998
And Who Disguised As...
Superman: The Complete History; Not Really, But Must Reading
J.D. Rummel takes a look at the new book by Les Daniels
Section 2: The KC Newsroom
A Kaycees reminder, Superman and the JLA visit No Man's
Land, Overhauling the Superman titles, Superboy visits
Hypertime, More Superman Lives news and rumors, Superman
sells software, Kara In-Ze returns, and a few brief bits
The Story of Superman
Josh Elder shares a detailed account of the history of
the Man of Steel
Section 3: The Story of Superman
(continued)
Superman: The Dailies
Paul Keery reviews the recent compilation of the Superman
newspaper strips from 1939 to 1942
Section 4: New Comic Reviews
The Triangle Titles
Adventures of Superman #564, by Jeff Sykes
Action Comics #751 by Derek Jackson
Superman: The Man of Steel #86, by Mike Smith
Superman #142, by Thomas Deja
Section 5: New Comic Reviews
Super-Family Titles
Superboy #59, by Rene' Gobeyn
Supergirl #29, by Thomas Deja
Superman Adventures #28, by Cory Strode
Team Titles
JLA #26, by Anatole Wilson
Section 6: New Comic Reviews
Team Titles (cont)
Young Justice #5, by Gary Robinson
Miniseries
The Kingdom #1, by Jeff Sykes
The Kingdom #2, by Jeff Sykes
Section 7: New Comic Reviews
Miniseries (cont)
Superman: The Doomsday Wars #3, by Gary Robinson
Superman & Batman: Generations #2, by Anatole Wilson
Specials and Guest Appearances
LotDCU: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1, by Rene Gobeyn
Superman: A Nation Divided, by G.M. Nelson
Section 8: New Comic Reviews
Specials and Guest Appearances (cont)
Superman 80-Page Giant #1, by Thomas Deja
Hitman #34, by Thomas Deja
AfterByrne
Manuscripts of Steel
Denes House reviews Man of Steel Annual #3, an Elseworlds
tale in which Kal-El wasn't the only Kryptonian to escape
to Earth
Section 9: AfterByrne
Superman Stories
Sean Hogan turns his attention to those stories which
were most important in developing the character of
Superman's wife, Lois Lane
The Phantom Zone
Tales of Earth-One
Episode 8 - The Boy of 1000 Faces: Jimmy Olsen
Bob Hughes discusses Jimmy Olsen's introduction into
the Superman mythos, and the early days of his own title
Section 10: The Phantom Zone
The One, True, Original Superman!
(continued)
When Supermen Meet: Part Three
Two Supermen and a Luthor face Ultraman and two Luthors,
and the Earth-1 and Earth-2 Supermen meet the beginning
of a Crisis; by Lou Mougin
Section 11: The Mailbag
STAFF:
------
Jeffery D. Sykes, Publisher and Co-Editor-in-Chief
Shane Travis, Co-Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor of Comic Reviews
Neil Ottenstein, Executive Editor of STAS Reviews
LEGAL DISCLAIMERS:
-----------------
Superman and all related characters, locations, and events are copyright
and trademark DC Comics. Use of the aforementioned is not intended to
challenge said ownership. We strongly suggest that each reader look to the
media sources mentioned within for further information.
All original material published in The Kryptonian Cybernet, including but
not limited to reviews, articles, and editorials, are copyright 1999 by The
Kryptonian Cybernet and the respective authors. Reprinting in any format
is expressly forbidden without the permission of The Kryptonian Cybernet
and the contributing author.
Opinions presented within this issue belong to the authors of the articles
which contain them. They should in no way be construed as those of any
other particular member of the editorial or contributing staff, unless
otherwise indicated.
This magazine can be distributed, in whole, freely via e-mail. Should you
desire to share this publication with other on-line services, please
contact me at sykes@ms.uky.edu for permission. Feel free to advertise
subscription information on other on-line services which have internet mail
availability.
THE KRYPTONIAN CYBERNET is available by e-mail -- to subscribe, send the
commands
subscribe kc
end
in the body of an e-mail message to "majordomo@novia.net" (without the
quotation marks). The program ignores the subject line of the message.
Back issues are available via ftp at oasis.novia.net. These archives can
also be reached via the Kryptonian Cybernet Homepage:
http://www.ms.uky.edu/~sykes/kc
___________________________________________
SUPERSCRIPTS: Notes from the Editor(s)
------------------------------------------
By Jeff Sykes (sykes@ms.uky.edu)
WE ALL NEED SOMEBODY TO LEAN ON
I'm sorry.
That's pretty much all that can be said.
Sure, I could complain about how life's become too busy for me to keep up,
but in the end, it doesn't change the fact that I feel absolutely terrible
about not being able to keep the Cybernet on schedule for the past few
months. And let's be clear about that -- the fault is completely mine.
Shane, Neil, and our many contributors have done their part in not falling
behind, and I've been the one unable to take advantage of their timeliness.
Because it's not fair to our readers and contributors that the entire
magazine is being dragged down by one person, it's time for that one person
to do something about it.
As a result, I've decided that it's time for me to step down from all of my
writing duties on the monthly issues, at least for the foreseeable future.
As such, there are three specific parts of the magazine where I'm going to
need some help.
First, Superscripts, this very column. We are now accepting submissions for
guest editorials to appear beginning in our next issue. Submissions will be
considered from anybody wishing to sound off on any topic related to the
Man of Steel or his periphery. Editorials should be between 3000 and 10000
characters in length, and a title for the editorial must be submitted along
with the commentary. Submission does not guarantee that the editorial will
run, but we will attempt to accommodate everyone with a quality submission.
If you wish to submit a guest-editorial, send your article to me at
sykes@ms.uky.edu, and copy the submission to KryptonCN@aol.com.
Second, I need someone to take over the KC Newsroom. As a compilation
service (think Lexcom), the Newsroom gathers together Superman news and
information from various sources and passes them along in one themed chunk.
In order to take over the Newsroom, you must be willing to regularly peruse
several news sources, most of them online, for information pertaining to
the Man of Steel. I will provide a list of about ten sources that I have
found to be fairly useful, and you may wish to supplement those with
sources of your own. You will often find it best to combine similar stories
into one piece, and you will probably want to paraphrase some stories in
order to trim them down in length. All in all, this job can probably be
done with about an hour of web surfing a week and perhaps another hour or
two of writing and preparation for a specific issue.
Third, I would like someone to take over the Mailbag. This would require
editing and formatting letters sent to the magazine from its readers and
preparing responses to those letters if necessary, or if you just wish to
promote the exchange of ideas. If a letter responds directly to a column or
review appearing in a previous issue of KC, you should be prepared to
contact the appropriate writer, to give them a chance to respond. In all,
this is probably the least taxing of the writing chores, though it ideally
requires a bit of personality, a willingness to share opinions, and the
ability to lead a discussion.
In addition to this writing help, I'd also like to find a little assistance
in maintaining the KC web site. In particular, I'm sure that our web users
have noticed the infrequent updates to our Superman Calendar, which
provides information on TV schedules for STAS and _Lois and Clark_, as well
as updates to the comics shipping schedule. It's also been well over a year
since our page of links to other Superman sites has been updated. I'd be
very appreciative if someone would volunteer to take over the maintenance
of one or both of these parts of the web site. I'd also certainly be
willing to let the maintainers completely redesign those pages if they so
desire. If you'd be willing to help in this, or any of the above positions,
please contact me at sykes@ms.uky.edu.
As things stand, I simply cannot dedicate the time necessary to ensure that
our issues meet my standards of acceptable quality and still come out on a
regular schedule. I am, however, unwilling to settle for a shoddy product,
and I do not want to have to move to a more infrequent publication
schedule. Thus, without this assistance, we may have to rethink the entire
concept of The Kryptonian Cybernet and whether or not it can continue to
exist.
God knows I hope doesn't come to that.
Okay, enough with the downers. Things are looking up in the Superman
comics, we've still got over half of the third season STAS episodes yet to
air, there are some great Superman publications out (_Superman: The
Complete History_, _Superman: The Dailies_, and _Superman: The Sunday
Classics_), and we've got a great set of articles and reviews for you this
issue. I hope you enjoy it!
I'll see you in here again just as soon as I can. Someone keep the keyboard
warm for me...
Jeff Sykes
___________________________________________
RATINGS AT A GLANCE: Titles shipped December 1998
-----------------------------------------------------
Prepared by Jeff Sykes (sykes@ms.uky.edu)
Not a bad month at all for the Man of Steel and the rest of the Superman
family of characters, as 8 of 17 titles rated 3.5 Shields or better. All
but 3 titles pulled 3.0 Shields or better, which is at least above average.
On the other hand, the highest-rated titles tended to be specials, while
the regularly-published titles -- especially the Superman books proper --
populate the lower end of the list.
Key:
----
Issue -- Issue for which 'Current' Rating and Rank are calculated. The
'Previous' columns refer to the issue immediately prior to
this.
Rating -- Average Rating, in Shields (maximum rating is 5.0). The number
in () indicates how many people submitted ratings.
Rank -- The relative ranking of the book among the regularly-published
Superman titles. (T) indicates a tie.
Average -- Average of the ratings for this title over the indicated number
of issues, based on the book's cumulative average. Each issue
is weighted equally, regardless of the number of people rating
the book that issue. If this book is averaged over fewer issues
than the rest, the number of issues is displayed in ().
Current Previous Avg (6Iss)
Title Issue Rating Rank Rating Rank Rating Rank
----- ----- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
LotDCU: Crisis 1 4.1(8) - -- - -- -
The Kingdom 1 3.7(6) - -- - -- -
Hitman 34 3.7(4) - -- - -- -
S: Nation Divided 1 3.7(5) - -- - -- -
S/B: Generations 2 3.6(6) - 3.9(8) - 3.75(2) -
Superman Adv. 28 3.6(4) 1 3.1(5) 5 2.98 6
Superboy 59 3.6(8) 2 3.4(8) 2 3.33 4
Young Justice 5 3.5(7) 3 3.5(6) 1 3.40(5) 2
The Kingdom 2 3.3(7) - -- - -- -
JLA 26 3.3(8) 4 3.2(11) 3 3.35 3
Supergirl 29 3.3(6) 5 2.7(7) 8 3.43 1
Man of Steel 86 3.1(7) 6 2.9(11) 7 3.17 5
Superman 142 3.0(7) 7 3.2(10) 4 2.82 8
S: Doomsday Wars 3 3.0(6) - 2.9(10) - 3.00(3) -
Adv. of Superman 564 2.9(7) 8 2.4(9) * 2.95 7
Action Comics 751 2.8(7) 9 3.0(11) 6 2.75 9
Sup 80-Page Giant 1 2.6(5) - -- - -- -
* The previous issue of _Adventures of Superman_ shipped in October, and
so was not ranked with last month's books.
"Fire up the way-back machine, Mr. Peabody..."
LOTDCU: CRISIS ON INF. EARTHS #1 (4.1 Shields)
- The top-rated book this month, and the only to break the 4.0 Shields
mark, jumps back thirteen years to insert a new story into the events of
_Crisis on Infinite Earths_. Though the price tag may be a bit steep,
pre-Crisis fans would probably enjoy this book. Besides, given how long
it's been since anyone read a new story of the Earth-1 Superman, you have
to wonder how long it'll be before another one comes along.
"'A Bad Trip'? That just about covers it..."
SUPERMAN 80-PAGE GIANT #1 (2.6 Shields)
- While reader response varied about some of the individual stories, the
first Superman 80-Page Giant in years lands with a resounding thud at the
bottom of this month's ratings. But since it contains perhaps the worst
Superman story since the dreadful _Superman: At Earth's End_, it's probably
a well-deserved placement.
"Bring on the new guys already!"
THE TRIANGLE TITLES (Bottom four rankings)
- While the Superman titles each managed to hover right around their six
month averages, the four books still finished as the four lowest-rated of
the nine regularly-published titles. And over the six month average, they
take four of the five bottom positions. Let's hope the new creative team
can return the books to the top of the list.
Information for 'Ratings at a Glance' and the ratings accompanying the
monthly reviews of Superman comics are obtained from KC readers. Anyone
interested in contributing may contact Shane Travis <travis@sedsystems.ca>
and will be added to the monthly mailing-list to receive a Ratings Form.
___________________________________________
AND WHO DISGUISED AS...
---------------------------------------------------------
A Column of Opinion by J.D. Rummel (rummel@creighton.edu)
Superman: The Complete History -- Not Really, But Must Reading.
For Christmas Santa placed under the tree a wonderful book for me (hmm, has
kind of children's story meter, doesn't it?). Amid the array of much-needed
socks and other items on my list, I received _Superman, The Complete
History_. This was a wonderful surprise (although now I understand why
Santa looked so irked when I was flipping through the book on a recent
outing before Christmas).
There is no foreword that discusses the writer's motivation in producing
this volume, and that is a shame, because fans like to hear others'
stories, but it seems a logical progression of his work. This is Les
Daniels' fourth journey into comic book examination. The others were all
wide overviews: _Comix, A History of Comic Books in America_, _Marvel: Five
Fabulous Decades_, and _DC Comics: Sixty Years_. Certainly a narrowing of
focus is accomplished, from the wide open _Comix_, down into the keen-eyed
_Superman: The Complete History_. Although all of his work is fine reading
for both fans and the merely curious, _Superman: The Complete History_ is
the first one that seems to really dig at the subject. This is most true
for me in the early, murky years of Superman's creation. Daniels does an
impressive job of detailing the formation of Superman, including early
Shuster sketches.
In fact, the illustrations are by far the book's best feature. Someone
opened some vaults and collectors were contacted, because there is stuff
here that does not normally surface. Photographs include George Reeves'
costume and a stunning range of toys (that some of these even survived
amazes me). Visually, the book is also extremely well laid out and rich in
color and depth.
Something that every creative person should take in is the history of
Siegel and Shuster. Not the story of two young men who got taken by big
business, because this book draws that picture under a different light.
These were two fellas who were doing okay for quite a while, but they made
some bad choices. Maybe it was youthful ignorance, or just bad luck.
Regardless, the story is something that anyone who works in some creative
capacity needs to take in. I was equally intrigued by the bits and pieces
revealed about the other men who have contributed so heavily to shaping the
legend. Especially interesting were details about Mort Weisinger, a man
with some real issues with the fictional character he had to shepherd.
The book is somewhat uneven in that it reprints whole stories from some
areas, for no demanding reason other than displaying a whole strip from a
decade. For no clear reason, the sixties and seventies are not equally
represented, however. In fact, after the initial copious history, though,
the tale starts to rush and blur. In fact, the book seems to run down and
tire as the modern era is approached and discussed. Details get sketchy,
and coverage of many aspects of the last few years are hurried over.
Is it complete? No, not by a long shot, it doesn't cover the range and
impact of Superman the character at all, but is it something that every
Superman fan should read? You bet.
Away!
And Who Disguised As... is copyright 1999 by J. D. Rummel. Its contents may
not be reproduced in any format without the written permission of the
author.
___________________________________________
THE KC NEWSROOM
-------------------
DON'T FORGET!
This is just a reminder that voting for the 1998 Kaycees ends at 11:59 PM
EST on February 7 (that's Sunday). If you haven't yet voted, you can do so
by visiting the KC homepage!
VENTURING INTO NO MAN'S LAND
The Batman titles recently began a long storyline called "No Man's Land,"
in which Gotham City has been cut off from the rest of the world, with no
one allowed in or out of the city. Since news of this hotly debated
storyline broke last year, fans have questioned why DC's super-heroes would
not step in and remedy the situation. That question will be answered to
some extent in a couple of upcoming stories guest-starring the Man of
Steel.
First up, in April's _Batman_ #566, Superman experiences Gotham City's
turmoil first-hand, but effecting a change won't be as easy as we might
expect. Long time _Superman: The Man of Steel_ artist Jon Bogdanove
provides the pencils for this issue, with inks by Eduardo Barreto.
In _JLA_ #31, the League tackles the Gotham City issue in a story which
finds the team split over what to do. Certain strictly law-abiding heroes
refuse to disobey the government's edict that no one may enter or leave the
city, while others simply believe that the necessary help must be provided
regardless of the law. This particular issue is guest-written by Mark Waid
(_The Kingdom_) and Devin Grayson (_The Titans_), and should hit stores in
late May.
SUPERMAN TITLES, THE OVERHAUL CONTINUES
_Wizard_ #90 reports in their Buzz Bin that the Superman titles may be in
for some big changes. In their words, "Guaranteed: Changes won't take place
until April-shipping books at the earliest, but 1999 will see massive
upheaval in the Superman line. Old creators will be departing and the
'linked' format of the books might also change."
So how close are they to the mark? Well, those of you who watch _Previews_
and/or our Coming Attractions might have noticed that Mark Millar
(_Superman Adventures_) is listed as co-writer for the February and March
issues of _Action Comics_. Millar recently reported that he has agreed to
script the plots by writer/artist Stuart Immonen for all of 1999. As quoted
in AnotherUniverse.com's Daily Buzz (http://www.mania.com/buzz), Millar
says, "Scripting over another creator's plots is a system I don't normally
believe in, but since Stuart is one of the three most talented people in
the business I jumped at the chance." There have still been no
announcements about new writers for _Superman_ or _Adventures of Superman_.
As for changing the 'linked' format of the triangle titles, Mike Carlin
told the folks at Comic Book Resources (http://www.comicbookresources.com)
not to expect the triangle numbering system to end, although he did admit
that some tweaking is needed. Said Carlin, "We hope to do better in the
content of those books (we *always* hope to do that in all we do) -- but
what we have achieved is the ability to *add* more Superman material to our
publishing schedule. So if the linked weeklies aren't for you ...
_Superman: War of the Worlds_ might be ... or _Superman for All Seasons_
... or _Superman Adventures_."
SUPERBOY'S ROMP THROUGH HYPERTIME
In January's _Superboy_ #60, the Kid began an extended journey through the
worlds of Hypertime, the much-talked-about concept introduced to the DC
Universe in the pages of _The Kingdom_. Just prior to the beginning of the
five-part story, Karl Kesel spoke with Newsarama
(http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html) about how _Superboy_ became the
first title to explore the new possibilities of Hypertime.
"Penciller Tom Grummett, editor Mike McAvennie, and I decided that although
we were having more fun than humans should be allowed to have, even while
doing a comic book, we really wanted to get more people reading _Superboy_.
Right or wrong, we believe that if someone gives it a chance, they'll like
what they see and keep coming back for more. What we needed was to give the
fans a reason to buy the book. In other words: a 'Big Event' that,
hopefully, DC would get behind."
They eventually settled on the idea of having the Boy of Steel visit
several different Elseworlds. "We thought it'd be great to establish that
there was a way -- but not necessarily an easy way -- to visit these
Elseworlds, to say that everything DC publishes fits together and matters
in some way or other. I wrote up a memo outlining what we wanted to do,
convinced it would be shot down in flames. I almost had a heart attack when
Mike Carlin gave it a thumbs up! Then he threw in the clincher -- that we
should work with Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and editor Dan Raspler on this,
since they were starting up something very similar." As Kesel would learn
later, the folks behind Hypertime decided it would be fitting to involve
Superboy since he was one of the characters most affected by _Crisis_.
The _Superboy_ team worked very closely with the Hypertime team, and they
all realized that the new concept needed *very* close supervision. "None of
us wanted to see two or three characters every month moving through
Hypertime and meeting various versions of themselves or others," explained
Kesel. "This *isn't* Earth-1/Earth-2, where it seemed characters could
cross back and forth just to go shopping or do lunch. Hypertime is
dangerous. It isn't the Final Frontier -- it's the Fatal Frontier. One
misstep and ... well, read _Superboy_ #60-64 and you'll see."
BUT DOES ANYONE CARE ANYMORE?
A few more tidbits of news and rumor about the _Superman Lives_ project.
First up, some script information. Ain't It Cool News
(http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com) passed along some information from a
reader concerning one of the writers commissioned to rework the project.
We've already mentioned names such as Akiva Goldsman, Kevin Smith, and Dan
Gilroy, who all worked from existing scripts. This particular reader also
says that Alex Ford was one of the commissioned writers, but that Ford went
an entirely different route, proposing a completely new draft. In fact,
Ford plotted out character development and storylines over the course of an
entire series of films. His proposal also featured only one major villain
per movie. However, says the reader, producer Jon Peters nixed the proposal
for deviating from the original parameters. For more information on Ford's
supposed idea, including a list of the major villains, see Ain't It Cool
News.
There have also been a couple more directors mentioned in reference to the
project, in support of the information that Tim Burton is no longer
involved. Corona's Coming Attractions (http://www.corona.bc.ca/films)
passed along news, originally appearing in the _Times of India_, that
Shekhar Kapur (critically acclaimed director of _Elizabeth_) was offered
the director's chair for _Superman Lives_. Kapur indicated that there was a
catch, however, in that Nicolas Cage is still attached to the project.
Cinescape Online (http://www.cinescape.com) later indicated that Kapur had
chosen not to accept the offer. Ain't It Cool News has since stated that
their latest information has Simon West (_Con-Air_) as leading candidate.
Finally, Corona's Coming Attractions may have the biggest scoop yet on the
project, coming from someone claiming to work in Warner Brothers' publicity
department. Claims the informant, "it appears the top brass held an
informal, at-somebody's-house meeting ... and decided a few things about
WB's future schedule. ... But here's what you really want to know: there
was an order on my desk this morning to destroy ALL PUBLICITY MATERIALS,
PROSPECTIVE OR OTHERWISE, for _Superman Lives_. The project has been
shelved because of an unnecessarily escalating pre-production budget
($103.4 million has been spent to date), and the PTB are tired of delays.
So, I guess you can all let your collective breath out, because _Superman
Lives_, for now, ain't flyin' nowhere."
[Editorial follows] I have a really hard time understanding how WB could
simply throw away $103 million dollars of pre-production, but I think this
might be the best thing for the film. Maybe the WB executives will wake up
and give Jon Peters his walking papers...
SUPERMAN, SUPER PITCH
Lotus announced that it had reached an agreement with DC Comics in which
the superhuman image of Superman will be the basis of an advertising and
marketing crusade on behalf of its upcoming Release 5 (R5) of Lotus' Notes,
which Lotus is dubbing its "Super.Human.Software."
"We believe the characteristics of Superman represent the perfect
embodiment of what the R5 products will allow our customers to do," said
Steve Sayre, Lotus' Senior Vice President of Worldwide Corporate Marketing,
in a press release issued earlier this week. "By enabling each individual
to do the best job possible -- giving them the tools to be 'super-human' --
we can work together to solve any problem."
The worldwide Super.Human.Software campaign will be featured on television,
Internet, print and billboard advertising. Notes R5 front-end software
provides users with quicker access to all of their most frequently used
applications and combines Internet e-mail, news, calendars, Web browsing,
document management, and customized business software programs.
RETURN TO ARGO
Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer, writers of both the "Little Girl Lost" two-part
episode of the Superman animated series and the sequel story which appeared
in _Superman Adventures_ #21, are currently working on another comic book
story to feature the animated incarnation of Supergirl. Bret Blevins, who
drew the tale appearing in _Superman Adventures_ #21, will pencil the new
story. In fact, Dorkin and Dyer are hoping for the exact creative team as
the earlier collaboration.
Dorkin told Comic Book Resources (http://www.comicbookresources.com), "The
book is about what happens after Supergirl travels to Argo to put her
family to rest. Superman is prominent in [the story], so I guess it's the
first legit Superman/Supergirl team-up for the _Superman Adventures_ comic,
if that matters to anyone. We had a good time working on it and hope people
like it."
Dorkin also revealed that he and Dyer have been given the green light for a
two-part Superman story to appear in future issues of _Superman
Adventures_, though they haven't yet begun work on the script. Adds Dorkin,
"We really like working on the animated-style DC stuff as opposed to the
'real' DC books, so we hope to do more stories down the line whenever we
can."
BRIEFS
* Add a Justice League book to the upcoming line of Realworlds titles,
the series of Elseworlds one-shots which will feature DC characters in
tales set in the world as we know it. J.M. DeMatteis is writing the
story, which he describes as "a sort of Big Chill story about a bunch
of kids who grow up fanatical about the Justice League ... and what
happens when they reunite, years later, in their 30s." Glenn Barr will
provide the art.
* The next new episode of the Superman animated series arrives the weekend
of February 6, and will guest-star Green Lantern. Written by Hilary
Bader, "In Brightest Day" tells the story of how Green Lantern receives
the ring and later teams with Superman when the Earth is attacked by
Sinestro. "[Green Lantern is] Kyle Rayner by name and a little bit of
looks, but he's got pieces of both legends," Bader told The Comic Book
Continuum (http://www.detnews.com/comicbooks). "He's got Hal Jordan's
origin and kind of Hal Jordan's costume, but he's Kyle Rayner," said
producer Bruce Timm. "It's a fun story."
* In addition to the Green Lantern episode, there are still a few new
episodes left in the third season, including the debut of Aquaman, a
new episode featuring Darkseid, and another Batman team-up.
___________________________________________
The Story of Superman
-------------------------------------
By Joshua Elder (j-elder@nwu.edu)
[This article was Josh's senior term paper last year, and is reprinted here
with his permission.]
"And so begins the startling adventures of the most sensational [comic]
strip character of all time: SUPERMAN! ..." (Siegel and Shuster 12). This
prophetic line appeared in the last page of _Action Comics_ #1, the comic
in which Superman debuted. This issue would herald the beginning of a
legend and tell a story now familiar the world over. The story begins on a
distant planet in the throes of death. A scientist places his only child in
a rocket and shoots him into the stars toward earth. This child is found by
a passing motorist and taken to an orphanage; it is there that the baby
first shows signs of prodigious strength. When the child, given the name
Clark Kent, reaches adulthood, he finds he can leap an eighth of a mile,
lift tremendous weights, and run faster than an express train. He decides
early on to use his great strength for the benefit of mankind, and so is
born ... Superman! This origin has been revised and added to over the
years, but it is still the groundwork for one of the most famous fictional
characters of all time. Superman's story begins with his creators, Jerry
Siegel and Joe Shuster, it continues in the pages of comic books, branches
off into every known medium, and has now become a true American myth.
Superman was brought to life over sixty years ago by two boys from
Cleveland, Ohio: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Jerry Siegel was born on
October 17, 1914 in Cleveland. He had a great interest in science fiction
and fantasy as a youth, and, in fact, he published the first sci-fi fanzine
ever in 1929 called _Cosmic Stories_ ("Jerome Siegel"). Joe Shuster was
born in Toronto on July 10, 1914. He and his family moved to Cleveland when
Joe was nine. It was there that he met and became good friends with Jerry
Siegel ("Joe Shuster").
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster met in 1931 and instantly became great
friends. They shared an interest in science fiction, and together they put
out an aptly titled fanzine, _Science Fiction_, in 1932. It was in the
third issue of this magazine that a short story called "Reign of the
Superman" appeared. Jerry Siegel wrote the story and Joe Shuster did the
artwork for it. This story by Siegel and Shuster was the first to use the
name Superman. This Superman was a far cry from the Superman of today; he
was a villain. This Superman was a bald, evil genius with incredible mental
powers who planned to take over the world. The next character to use the
name of Superman was created in 1932 as a comic strip, and reworked in 1933
as a comic book. This Superman had a full head of hair and a heroic
attitude ("Jerome Siegel"). This version was actually sold to a comic
publisher for publication, but the publisher soon folded. This
disillusioned the pair, but they persevered because they loved the
character so much (Daniels 20).
The ultimate concept of Superman came to Jerry Siegel in a vision one night
in 1934 (Daniels 21). "I'm lying in bed counting sheep when all of a sudden
it hits me. I conceive a character like Samson, Hercules and all the strong
men I heard tell of rolled into one, only more so." (qtd. in Friedrich,
Austin, and Simpson 66). Siegel and Shuster worked furiously to create this
Superman; they drew up the origin in the space of twenty-four hours. They
made him a being from outer space with a flashy costume and a secret
identity. The name of this secret identity was Clark Kent, named for
popular actor Clark Gable. The idea of a secret identity appealed to Siegel
and Shuster; they loved the idea that they could have miraculous powers
that no one suspected (Daniels 21).
Siegel and Shuster put together a total of twelve strips and took them to
almost every newspaper syndicate in the U.S. and Canada. The strips were
rejected by all of them. Even the publisher of DC National, Sheldon Mayer,
who later gave them both jobs, thought the idea of a super-powered alien
hero was "ridiculous". (Friedrich, Austin, and Simpson 66). After
Superman's failure to sell, Siegel and Shuster got jobs working for the DC
National comic book company in 1935. They created dozens of characters for
the company, including the popular Dr. Occult ("Jerome Siegel").
Siegel and Shuster again took Superman to publishers around the country in
1938. DC Publisher Sheldon Mayer took a chance and put the Superman story
as the headliner for the inaugural issue of _Action Comics_, released in
April of 1938. Action Comics became an unprecedented hit. Subsequent issues
sold out almost immediately. In the space of a year, _Action Comics_ was
selling close to a million copies a month. This success led to the launch
of a second Superman title, aptly named _Superman_. It also sold close to a
million copies a month, even though it consisted mostly of reprints.
Unfortunately for Siegel and Shuster, they had both signed away any rights
to the Superman character, a common practice at the time. They were still
well compensated, however. The _Saturday Evening Post_ reported them as
having a 1941 income of over $75,000 each ("Joe Shuster").
An interesting footnote in the history of Superman would be the history of
Lois Lane. She was inspired by Lois Amster, the class beauty of Siegel and
Shuster's high school. There was also another inspiration for Lois, Joanne
Carter. She was the model Joe Shuster used in his illustrations for Lois.
After this initial work with Siegel and Shuster, Joanne and the duo went
their separate ways. Jerry Siegel again ran into Joanne at a masquerade
ball in New York years later. Sparks flew between the two, and Superman's
creator and the model for Lois Lane were married in 1948 (Daniels 24-25).
While Siegel and Shuster were making excellent salaries for their work on
Superman, they still felt they were being cheated out of the millions DC
was making on the character. In 1946, the pair sued for royalties on the
Superman character. The legal battle lasted for over two years, and it
ended with Siegel and Shuster receiving the paltry sum of $200,000. This
was less than they would have made working for DC in those two years. They
also had to sign off any and all rights to Superman, and their bylines were
removed from all Superman comics. This lawsuit also blacklisted them from
the comic industry and made it extremely difficult for them to find work
("Joe Shuster"). It wasn't until 1975, when Siegel and Shuster sued DC
again, that they finally got some recognition for their creation. After
pressure from DC publisher Carmine Infantino, DC agreed to pay the duo a
pension of $35,000 each, every year for the rest of their lives. Later, in
the early eighties, a number of artists and writers pushed DC into
reinstating the Siegel and Shuster byline on all Superman comics. It
remains there to this day ("Joe Shuster").
Joe Shuster eventually settled in LA. He became something of a recluse,
deeply resentful of his treatment by DC. He died July 30, 1992 at the age
of seventy-eight ("Joe Shuster"). Jerry Siegel also eventually moved to LA,
living only a few blocks from his longtime friend Joe Shuster. He died on
January 28, 1997 at the age of eighty-three ("Jerome Siegel"). Siegel and
Shuster may have been neglected by their publisher, but they are still
remembered by their fans. Their names will never be forgotten by anyone who
sees the tag line on every Superman comic or TV show: Superman created by
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
The world was first introduced to Superman in the pages of _Action Comics_,
and it is in the pages of comic books that most people came to know him.
_Action Comics'_ success also spawned a spin-off comic, _Superman_. This
marked the first time any comic book character had a comic devoted solely
to its exploits. Even though _Superman_ was mostly reprints, it sold more
copies than _Action Comics_ did (Daniels 22). In Superman's heyday in the
early sixties, he starred in no less than eight comics. All of these comics
averaged over 200,000 copies a month, an excellent amount for the time.
Today he stars in five titles, with one coming out every week of the year
(Younis). Besides starring in his own comic books for sixty continuous
years, Superman has made it possible for every superhero after him to
exist. According to Les Daniels in his book, _DC Comics: Sixty Years of the
World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes_, Superman was the first superhero. All
other superheroes owe their very existence to the Man of Steel (22).
The Superman who made his debut in _Action Comics_ was a far cry from the
one of today. He couldn't fly, melt metal with a glance, or see through
walls. He also worked for the Daily Star, not the Daily Planet. His costume
was quite different as well. The "S" on his chest was smaller and placed
inside a simple yellow triangle. Also, he didn't have red boots, just long
blue stockings. Superman's earliest adventures had him battling social
problems, not supervillains. In the first issue of _Action Comics_ he dealt
with a corrupt politician, a group of mobsters, and a wife beater. Soon,
however, Superman had to fight more impressive foes. His first
"supervillain" was the Ultra-Humanite, a short, bald, evil scientist with
plans to take over the earth. This character seemed to be a tribute to the
evil Superman character from Siegel and Shuster's early story "Reign of the
Superman". The Ultra-Humanite was just a testing ground, however, for the
ultimate Superman villain, Lex Luthor. Luthor made his debut in _Action
Comics_ #23 in April of 1940. In his first appearance, he was an evil
scientist with a full head of red hair who tried to defeat Superman with
incredible inventions. It wouldn't be long, however, before Luthor was
sporting the bald look he is so well known for. Luthor has since become the
ultimate Superman foe, the brain to Superman's brawn (Daniels 22-27).
The first, and most important, supporting character introduced in the pages
of _Action Comics_ was Lois Lane. In her early appearances, she pitied
Clark because he was such a weakling; however, she was enthralled by the
majestic Superman. This love triangle between Lois, Clark, and Superman
provided literally hundreds of stories (Daniels 24-25). Besides Lois, there
have been many women in Superman's life. Lana Lang was Superman's high
school sweetheart and Lois Lane's rival for the affections of the adult
Superman. Superman's next love was the mermaid Lori Lemaris. He met her in
college and proposed to her, but they both knew that their love could never
work. Superman's final love interest was Lyla Lerrol, a Kryptonian actress
Superman met in a time travel story. All of this raises the question of why
every woman Superman has a fling with has the initials of L.L.? The world
may never know (Friedrich, Austin, and Simpson 70-71).
Superboy made his debut in January or February of 1945 in _More Fun Comics_
#101. Superboy became the first of many continuity slip-ups to affect the
Man of Steel. Clark Kent originally became Superman as an adult when he
came to Metropolis. Apparently no one seemed to mind this error because
Superboy got his own comic in 1949. The Superboy stories fleshed out where
Superman came from. They gave his hometown its name of Smallville, they
introduced Superman's boyhood sweetheart Lana Lang, and they gave
Superman's foster parents a name: Jonathan and Martha Kent. Superboy was
not the only addition to the Superman Family. In the early fifties, several
characters with Superman's powers and abilities would be introduced. The
first was Supergirl, Superman's cousin, who had also managed to escape from
Krypton. After it was revealed that Supergirl survived, a whole city of
shrunken Kryptonians in the bottled city of Kandor made their debut. The
next characters introduced were the Superpets, animals from Krypton with
their own superhuman powers. There were four Superpets, each with the
powers of Superman: Krypto the Superdog, Streaky the Supercat, Comet the
Superhorse, and Beppo the Superchimp. If the Superpets weren't enough, a
flawed clone of Superman called Bizarro was created. Bizarro was a pasty
faced, brain damaged individual. He was charming enough in his first
appearances, but he soon became boring and monotonous. The final group of
individuals to share Superman's powers were the criminals of the Phantom
Zone. The Phantom Zone was an out-of-phase dimension where Kryptonian
criminals were sent for punishment (Daniels 88, 118-121).
(Continued in Section 3)
___________________________________________
The Story of Superman
-------------------------------------
By Joshua Elder (j-elder@nwu.edu)
(Continued from Section 2)
Almost all of these additions to the Superman family were initiated by
Superman group editor Mort Weisinger. He edited the Superman comics for
close to twenty years and was responsible for most of the changes to the
character, good and bad. In addition to spreading around Superman's powers
to an ever growing cast of characters, Weisinger also introduced Kryptonite
in every color of the rainbow and Superman's home, the Fortress of
Solitude. For good or bad, Weisinger was one of the major influences on the
story of Superman; he was the man who made Superman into the character many
people know him as today. The other major contributor to the Superman
mythos in that time frame was Curt Swan. He started as a Superman artist in
1954 and continued to draw the character until 1986. He defined the look of
Superman for an entire generation (Daniels 118-121).
As Superman got older, a problem arose. How could Superman still be thirty
if his comics had been published for forty years? The Superman writers used
the concept of Earth 1 and Earth 2 to explain this. The Superman from the
thirties to fifties lived on Earth 2; the Superman who was currently in the
comics lived on Earth 1. This split was also used to explain the radical
changes in Superman's powers and origins over the years (Daniels 132-133).
Another overhaul was attempted in the late seventies when writer Dennis
O'Neil was brought in to modernize Superman. O'Neil got rid of all
Kryptonite on earth, took away half of Superman's powers, and made Clark
Kent a television reporter. Dennis left the book after only thirteen
issues, and most of his renovations went with him (Curtin 12). The biggest
overhaul, however, was yet to come.
To celebrate DC Comics 50th anniversary, the _Crisis on Infinite Earths_
was written. This series streamlined DC continuity and eliminated a lot of
Superman's baggage. It also gave popular writer John Byrne the chance to
restart Superman from scratch (Daniels 188-189). Byrne said this about what
he did to Superman, "I'm essentially going to sit down and 'create' a
character, but I've got 50 years of stuff to draw on....That's what I did,
take the best of what there was and combine it." (qtd. in Zimmerman 66).
Byrne was given a mandate by DC Comics to revamp Superman in 1986. He threw
out almost fifty years of continuity and started from scratch with the
character in his _Man of Steel_ miniseries published between July and
September of '86 (Tscherne 14). Byrne made one Superman with one origin.
This Superman had never been Superboy and was the only survivor of Krypton
(Daniels 188-189). Byrne also emphasized the "man" over the "Super" in
Superman; this reversed the way Superman was handled by the previous
writers. Byrne also made Krypton a very different place after the 1986
revamp. Krypton used to be a Buck Rogers-esque sci-fi utopia; Byrne's
Krypton was a cold and sterile place where human emotion was completely
subdued by science. Byrne also remade all the other Superman supporting
characters in his revamp. Lois was no longer infatuated with Superman nor
did she hate Clark Kent. Lex Luthor was also totally remade. He became the
billionaire head of Lexcorp, the largest corporation in the world and
employer of close to three-fourths of Metropolis' citizens. He now wanted
to kill Superman for dethroning him as the most powerful man in Metropolis.
The character of Supergirl was also completely redone. This Supergirl was a
shape changer from an alternate reality who wore the symbol of Superman as
a sign of respect.(Tscherne 14-16).
Superman has had many other comic book adventures in the ten years since
his revamp. In 1990's _Superman_ #50, Clark Kent proposed to Lois Lane. The
proposal was just the warm-up for the greatest Superman story of all time,
1992's "The Death of Superman". In this story, Superman was killed by the
monster Doomsday. After being buried, four impostors rose to take his
place. One of these was the new Superboy, a cocky teenage clone of
Superman. By the middle of '93, the real Superman had returned, defeated
one of his evil impostors the Cyborg, and grown out his hair. After "The
Death of Superman", the next big event in Superman's life was his marriage
to Lois Lane in November 1997's _Superman: The Wedding Album_. The most
recent change in the Man of Steel's life would be his new powers and
costume. He gained his new energy powers and blue and white suit in April
1997's landmark _Superman_ #123 (Younis). The story of Superman has been
told in comics for sixty years, and it will continue to be told there for
another sixty years as long as there are talented writers and artists
willing to tell the tale of the Last Son of Krypton.
Superman is truly the king of all media. He has been featured in virtually
every type of entertainment medium. He began as a comic book character but
soon made the leap into newspaper syndication on January 16, 1939. By 1941,
Superman was featured in 350 daily newspapers and ninety Sunday papers. He
reached an estimated audience of over twenty million people. On February
12, 1940 Superman made his first foray into a non-print medium with the
radio show "Adventures of Superman". The radio show was one of the most
popular of its day and ran for thirteen years. The radio show was also
important because it introduced several important elements into the
Superman saga. The radio show created Daily Planet copyboy Jimmy Olsen,
managing editor Perry White, and the bane of Superman's existence,
Kryptonite (Daniels 66-67, 70).
Superman first came to the big screen in a series of seventeen animated
serials shown every month from September 9th, 1941 to July 30th, 1943.
These serials were enormously popular and won several academy awards. They
are still considered masterpieces of animation even today (Mangels 42).
Kirk Alyn was the first person to ever play Superman. He portrayed the Man
of Steel in two movie serials: "Superman" in 1948 and "The Atom Man vs.
Superman" in 1950. "The Atom Man vs. Superman" stands as the highest
grossing movie serial of all time (Daniels 82-83).
A whole generation of children grew up knowing George Reeves as Superman;
Reeves portrayed Superman in the "Adventures of Superman" television show
from 1953 to 1957. The show was immensely popular and still runs in
syndication today. The "Adventures of Superman" ended prematurely because
of the apparent suicide of its star, George Reeves. This suicide has
stirred so much controversy that it even spawned a book called _Hollywood
Kryptonite_ (Daniels 108-111). Actress Noel Neill, who portrayed Lois Lane,
is one of the many who doesn't believe that Reeves killed himself. "We
don't really know; it doesn't seem right that he would do it."(qtd. in
Daniels 110-111).
Superman was also the star of his own Broadway Play, "It's a Bird, It's a
Plane, It's Superman!" in 1969. The play got excellent reviews but
ultimately failed; it closed after only one season. The play has enjoyed
two revivals: one in 1975 and the other in 1992. Superman was also
represented on TV in cartoon format for close to twenty years.
Hanna-Barbera produced Superman shows for several years and later put him
in the popular "Super Friends" cartoons (Daniels 144-147).
"Superman the Movie" was released in 1978. It became the highest grossing
film in Warner Brothers history and one of the highest grossing films of
all time. It starred Christopher Reeve as Superman, Margot Kidder as Lois
Lane, Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, and Marlon Brando as Superman's father
Jor-El. The movie was directed by Richard Donner and produced by Alexander
and Ilya Salkind. The movie cost close to $45 million to make, a huge
amount at the time, but it made over $245 million in the theaters.
Christopher Reeve starred in three more Superman movies: "Superman II",
"Superman III", and "Superman IV, The Quest for Peace". The sequels didn't
have the drive or creative force of the original, but they were still quite
successful (Daniels 174-177).
Two spin-offs of the Superman movies were produced: the movie "Supergirl"
and the series "Superboy". "Supergirl" starred Helen Slater in the title
role and boasted some very impressive special effects but suffered from a
weak plot. "Superboy" starred Gerard Christopher and lasted for four years
and one hundred episodes. The "Superboy" series has been considered by many
critics to be the most thought provoking superhero series ever done. "Lois
and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" debuted in 1993 on ABC. It
starred Dean Cain as Superman and Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane. This series
emphasized the relationships of the characters over superheroic action. The
show was in the top twenty of Nielsen ratings for two of its seasons, but
its rating had dropped off by the fourth season. It was canceled in 1997
but soon picked up for daily syndication on the TNT cable network (Daniels
199, 236).
Superman currently stars in "Superman: The Animated Series" on the WB
network. The show premiered on Sept 6, 1996. He also joined up with Batman
in the "New Batman/Superman Adventures" on the WB in mid-1997. Superman is
now shown in cartoon at least four times a week. The "New Batman/Superman
Adventures" episode, "World's Finest", garnered the second highest ratings
in the WB network's history. A new Superman film is also currently in the
works. It is tentatively titled "Superman Lives!". It is set to star Nick
Cage as Superman, and the director is "Batman" director Tim Burton
(Younis). What medium will Superman conquer next? Whichever one comes
along.
"The urchin in Irkutsk may never have heard of Hamlet; the peon in
Pernamburo may not know who Raskolnikov is; the widow in Jakarta may stare
blankly at the mention of Don Quixote or Micawber or Jay Gatsby. But every
man, woman, and child on the planet knows Mickey Mouse, Sherlock Holmes,
Robin Hood... and - 'SUPERMAN'." (qtd. in "A Great Quote") This statement
by sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison shows just how ingrained the character of
Superman is in America's psyche. He has become a part of America's
mythology, a legend in his own time. The fascination with Superman doesn't
end at America's border. According to Chantal d'Aulnis, the president of
business affairs and international rights for DC Comics, Superman comics
are sold in over forty countries and translated into twenty-five languages
(Daniels 242).
Metropolis, IL is the official home of Superman. When the town adopted
Superman as their town's symbol in January 21, 1972, the ceremony was
carried by CBS News to over five million viewers and on the front page of
the New York Times. This was not the end of Metropolis' association with
Superman. Metropolis holds an annual Superman Celebration that draws fifty
thousand people a year. The people of Metropolis also raised $20,000 to
erect a twenty foot bronze Superman statue in front of the courthouse.
Metropolis also renamed their newspaper the Planet, and the town is home to
the Superman Museum, the largest collection of Superman paraphernalia in
the world. The people of Metropolis also made a giant card with over 5,300
signatures for Christopher Reeve after his May 27, 1995 riding accident
(Superman in Metropolis 5-7, 19). The fact that a town would do so much in
support of a fictional character is amazing. Almost as amazing was the
reaction by Superman's fans to his "death". Close to one hundred mourners
came to the DC offices to mourn his passing in 1992. They wore black
armbands in remembrance of their hero (Brozan B22). The fact that people
would go to such lengths over a fictional character shows that Superman is
more than just a fictional character; he's a legend.
There are many theories on why Superman has been successful for so long.
Patrick O'Neill, an editor of the comic book commentary magazine "WIZARD"
believes, "Superman is the first of his kind, the progenitor of an entire
'race' of superpeople....Americans have special love for firsts -- the
first black Supreme Court Justice, the first woman astronaut, the first
baby boomer president, and, yes, the first superhero." (95). Otto Friedrich
thinks that there are several reasons for Superman's continued popularity.
He was an orphan, forced to rely on himself in a cruel world. He was the
ultimate foreigner in a nation of foreigners. Superman is also the
penultimate hero. He fights for "Truth, Justice, and the American Way."
Finally, Superman has also always been a very malleable character. He has
changed with the times and with the restrictions of the various media he
has been in. There have been, literally, hundreds of individuals involved
in the creation of Superman. All of these creators have helped make
Superman the character he is today (69-70).
Many people see an even higher purpose for Superman. "Superman, I've always
thought, is an angel." this is the opinion of Roman Catholic priest and
writer Andrew Greeley (qtd. in Friedrich, Austin, and Simpson 70). Superman
movie screenwriter David Newman also believes Superman has religious
overtones, "It begins with the father who lives up in heaven, who says, 'I
will send my son to save earth.' The son takes on the guise of a man but is
not a man. The religious overtones are so clear." (qtd. in Friedrich,
Austin, and Simpson 70). Marc McClure, Jimmy Olsen from the Superman
movies, has this theory about Superman's enduring popularity, "I think
everyone's looking for a hero. People are trying to create heroes, but
Superman is already a hero. As long as the people who control the
adventures treat him like a hero he will go on forever." (qtd. in Mangels
53) Superman has been around for sixty years and has become something of an
American institution. He has become a piece of genuine Americana like Uncle
Sam or Paul Bunyan. Everyone, from the old man leaning on his cane to the
toddler just learning how to walk, knows the story of Superman and is
inspired by it.
The story of Superman, which began with its creators Siegel and Shuster,
continued in the pages of comic books, and leaped into every other medium,
has evolved into a legend in its own time. Superman has been in continuous
publication for sixty years, and in that time he has become more than just
a comic book character. Superman has become a part of American culture; he
is a bonafide American myth. The name Superman is recognized by people from
every age group and every part of the country and world. Superman has also
become a symbol of hope and courage in a dark world. This symbolism is best
summed in a statement by Christopher Reeves, "I've seen firsthand how he
actually transforms people's lives. I have seen children dying of brain
tumors who wanted as their last request to talk to me and have gone to
their graves with a peace brought on by knowing that their belief in this
character is intact. I've seen that Superman really matters." (qtd. in
Friedrich, Austin, and Simpson 70).
Works Cited
-----------
Brozan, Nadine. "Chronicle" New York Times Nov. 1992: B22
Curtin, Jack. "What a Long Strange Journey It's Been." Superman Tribute
Edition. Ed. Gareb S. Shamus and Patrick Daniel O'Neill. Syracuse:
Wizard Press, 1993. 10-13.
Daniels, Les. DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book
Heroes. 1st ed. Canada: Little, 1995.
Ellison, Harlan. "A Great Quote." n.pag. Online. Internet. 3 Dec. 1997.
Available WWW: http://www.ms.uky.edu/~sykes/kc/index.html
Friedrich, Otto, Beth Austin, and Janice C. Simpson. "Up, Up and
Awaaay!!!" TIME 14 Mar. 1988: 66-73
"Jerome Siegel Co-creator of Superman" n.pag. Online. Internet. 10 Dec
1997. Available WWW:
http://www.wizard.com/~herriman/bios-1/siegel1.html
"Joe Shuster" n.pag. Online Internet. 10 Dec. 1997. Available
WWW:http://www.wizard.com/~herriman/bios-1/shuster1.html
Mangels, Andy. "SUPERMAN: The Man of Screen." Superman Tribute Edition. Ed.
Gareb S. Shamus and Patrick Daniel O'Neill. Syracuse: Wizard Press,
1993. 42-53.
O'Neill, Patrick Daniel. "The Importance of Being Superman." Superman
Tribute Edition. Ed. Gareb S.Shamus and Patrick Daniel O'Neill.
Syracuse: Wizard Press, 1993. 94-95.
Siegel, Jerry and Joe Shuster. Action Comics #1. 1938. New York: DC
Comics, 1992.
Superman in Metropolis, Illinois. Metropolis, IL: Metropolis Media Inc.,
1997.
Tscherne, Joel W. "For Those Who Came in Late..." Superman Tribute
Edition. Ed. Gareb S. Shamus and Patrick Daniel O'Neill. Syracuse:
Wizard Press, 1993. 14-16.
Younis, Steven. "Superman Homepage" 5 Feb. 1998: n.pag. Online. Internet.
9 Feb. 1998. Available WWW:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/7771/index.html
Zimmerman, Dwight Jon. "The Post-Modern Superman." Comics Interview
Super Special. Ed. David Anthony Kraft. New York: Fictioneer Books
Ltd., 1993. 58-67.
___________________________________________
SUPERMAN: THE DAILIES
-----------------------------------------------------
Review by Paul Keery (nanpaul.keery@sympatico.ca)
The original Man of Tomorrow is back -- just in time for his Sixtieth
Anniversary!
Long-time fans of the Man of Steel are well aware that Superman has gone
through many incarnations in his sixty year career. It's not often that
modern readers get a glimpse of the original Siegel and Shuster version.
In _Superman: The Dailies 1939-1942_, released in November 1998 by DC and
Kitchen Sink Comics, we see Superman's adventures as they were originally
meant to appear -- as an ongoing daily newspaper adventure comic strip.
This is a very different Superman from the one we are familiar with -- but
this is the version, in comic books, newspapers, and on the radio show,
that captivated America and set Superman on the road to becoming a national
icon. Even today, the idealism and spirit of fun inherent in Siegel and
Shuster's Superman shines through. This book is an enjoyable read.
The hardcover version is a compilation of the three paperback volumes that
are due to be released later in 1999; the three volumes are simply bound
together. In introductions to each volume, James Vance examines the
Superman phenomenon as the character exploded, thanks to the daily and
Sunday strips, radio show, and cinematic animation, into the public
consciousness in the late 1930s and early 1940s. It's easy to forget the
incredible impact Superman had, not only on the comic industry, but on
society as a whole. The Vance introductions do a fine job of setting the
strips into the context of the times while also providing some interesting
commentary on the strips themselves, though there isn't the exhaustive
history of the creation of the strip that was a highlight of the previous
_Batman: The Dailies_ collections.
The stories and art evolve over the three volumes, becoming much more
detailed and complex as Siegel and the artists -- first Joe Shuster, then
Wayne Boring and Jack Burnley -- grew more comfortable with the daily [and
Sunday] grind.
More than half of the stories found in Volume 1, the earliest of the
strips, also appeared in early issues of _Action Comics_ and _Superman_. At
first, the stories were almost duplicated panel for panel in the comic
books; later, Siegel and Shuster reworked the stories considerably. It's
interesting to compare the two versions [if you happen to have _Superman
Archives Volume 1_, or -- gasp -- the original issues!]; the stories seem
to work more effectively in the daily format than in the comic books,
confirming the idea that a newspaper strip was the primary goal of Siegel
and Shuster, that comic books were almost 'second-best' for them.
By Volume 2, Siegel is revisiting his favourite themes, but in a more
sophisticated manner. The story from _Action Comics_ #2, in which Superman
stops a war by forcing the generals to fight each other, is updated to show
Superman forcing the dictators [thinly disguised versions of Hitler and
Mussolini] to fight; their incompetence at hand-to-hand combat causes their
troops to abandon them in disgust.
Siegel's social conscience is also in evidence, as he shows Superman once
more fighting to have slum tenements rebuilt; this time, Clark himself is
involved in enlisting government funding and support for new housing
projects, instead of forcing the government to rebuild the slums because
Superman knocks them down. We also see Superman helping people to take
charge of their lives by learning self-reliance and courage, lessons which
were dear to Siegel's heart, and appropriate for a character based on
Siegel's conception that inside every quiet, unassuming person lay a
superman.
The art chores are divided between Shuster and Wayne Boring, who takes over
in the middle of a story. While Shuster's work is among his best, Boring's
art is still evolving at this point. Superman's tights come partway down
his thighs -- much like modern workout shorts -- for a few strips, while
Superman's S-shield is too low [it starts beneath his pecs, and the point
ends up at his belly button]. Boring is caught between his own developing
style and the need to ghost Shuster to some extent, but the art is
recognisably his. It's fascinating to see Boring's early art and compare it
to his later work; one can readily see how Boring's art style matured over
the years.
Volume 3 sees Siegel tackle an ambitious story which lasts a full eight
months. In "The League to Destroy Superman", we see a group of successful
criminals band together to try to eliminate the Man of Steel with some
rather imaginative devices. They fail, of course, but Siegel holds the
reader's interest with some interesting characterisation of the lead
criminal, the Blond Tigress, who finds her determination flagging as she
grows more familiar with Superman. The art by Jack Burnley is very detailed
and imaginatively laid out -- especially given the constrictions of the
daily strip format -- and is probably the best in the compilation. A
sequence of Superman and a criminal perched high above Metropolis on a
flagpole is particularly striking.
There are some interesting oddities for long-time fans. First, Superman's
S-shield in the 1942 strips is virtually identical to the S-shield used in
the Fleischer cartoons [and later revived by Alex Ross for the Kingdom Come
Superman]. Second, Superman himself is clearly having fun; this is not the
stolid, reserved Silver Age Superman. Indeed, his constant quips remind you
of Spider-Man's constant wisecracking twenty years later.
Superman is quite willing to bend the law to force confessions, and even
kills in the early strips [Whitney Ellsworth, the strip's editor, put an
end to this; while there are still deaths in the later strips, Superman
does not directly cause them]. Even the modern Batman draws the line at
killing, though he'd probably approve of the "super-degree" Superman uses
to extract information from various thugs!
In light of many later Lois Lane stories in which she connives to prove
Clark is Superman, it is astounding to see her declare that "[she] has no
reason to believe that [Superman] has more than one identity!" The
Clark-Lois-Superman triangle is handled with more sophistication. Superman
is presented as a selfless champion of justice who finds Lois attractive
but doesn't have time for romance -- much like the archetypal heroes of the
past.
The strips are so interesting that the reader is left wanting more. There
is much more material -- indeed, the high point of the strip is supposed to
have been the late Forties and early Fifties. One hopes that DC would
consider reprinting the entire run of the Superman strips, as has been done
for other classic adventure strips; perhaps DC could continue as it has
begun, and reprint three years worth of dailies and Sundays annually.
Certainly this reviewer would be quite willing to buy them!
Overall, the book is a good buy if you're interested in some of the seminal
Superman stories, from an entertainment as well as an historical
perspective. The hardcover volume is a bit expensive -- especially if you
pay in Canadian dollars, as I do! However, the three paperback volumes are
well worth picking up when they come out. For just over half the price of
the hardcover edition, you'll get some fun, exciting Superman tales -- and
you'll learn more about how Superman became an American legend.
___________________________________________
NEW COMIC REVIEWS
-------------------------------------------
Comics Arriving In Stores December 1998
In addition to the multitude of books reviewed this month, Superman also
guest-starred in _Wonder Woman_ #141, _Legends of the DC Universe_ #13, and
_The Power of Shazam!_ #36. As well, Superman, Steel, and Supergirl all
played roles in the pages of _JLA/Titans_ #2, while Superboy and the other
members of Young Justice have a cameo appearance at the book's conclusion.
Ratings Panelists:
-----------------
AW: Anatole Wilson GN: G.M. Nelson RG: Rene' Gobeyn
CoS: Cory Strode GR: Gary Robinson SDM: Simon DelMonte
DJ: Derek Jackson JE: Josh Elder ST: Shane Travis
DWd: Darrin Wood JSy: Jeff Sykes TD: Thomas Deja
EM: Edward Mathews MS: Mike Smith VV: Vic Vitek
As always, the first rating given after the average is that of the
reviewer. The average rating given for each book may correspond to a
larger sample of ratings than what is printed following the average.
==============================================
THE TRIANGLE TITLES:
-------------------
5. THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #564 Feb 1999 $1.99 US/$3.25 CAN
"Visions of Death"
Plot: Karl Kesel
Dialogue: Jerry Ordway
Layout Art: Tom Grummett
Finished Inks: Denis Rodier
Letterer: Albert T. De Guzman
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Separations: Digital Chameleon
Dream Asst. Editor: Tony Bedard
Nightmare: Joey Cavalieri
Cover: Tom Grummett, Denis Rodier, and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 2.9/5.0 Shields
JSy: 3.9 Shields
EM: 3.0 Shields
GN: 3.6 Shields - Once again, great characterization by Ordway and Kesel.
(Every writer can relate to Clark on pages 5 and 6.)
JE: 3.1 Shields - This issue was an all around solid one. The current
"Superman tries to save the world" is a good idea and I am waiting
to see where it goes.
SDM: 2.7 Shields - More of the same, I would say. The ideas behind both
the main plot and the LexCom subplot are good, but the execution
is moving so slowly. Some good character moments, though.
TD: 1.5 Shields - Once again, I am faced with writing a comment on a book
that I've forgotten the second I read it...
VV: 2.5 Shields - Superman and the Psychic Friends Network; what a
pairing! <g> I'm sure this is some kind of temporary effect,
possibly from the _Kingdom_ miniseries. It was nice to see more
character interaction among the un- or under-employed.
Superman's haunting dreams continue, this time with Clark waking from a
nightmare vision of a nuclear disaster. But before he can on a blind
worldwide search, Lois reminds him that he has to attend a meeting with a
new publisher. As Lois leaves, Clark promises her that he'll whip out a few
chapters and still make the meeting that morning. Of course, an episode of
writer's block and a few distractions later (when did they get a cat?),
Clark just can't sit still any longer and heads out for a spin about town.
Fortunately, Superman arrives at Mr. Odetts' house amidst Hypersector just
in time to prevent a falling crane from removing Luthor's construction
obstacle. Odetts shares his history with Superman, giving Clark a few ideas
for his new book.
Meanwhile, Lois gets another computer crash course from Jimmy, as the
technologically able lad teaches her how best to search the web for
material to use in her next article. As the lesson concludes, a lunch
invitation from Simone sends the youngster scrambling towards the door.
Having just arrived on the scene, Clark whisks Lois off to lunch,
explaining that he's delayed his meeting until tomorrow.
Coincidentally, most of the Daily Planet gang shows up at the Big Belly
Burger, where Allie the copy girl now works. Jimmy and Perry share a
clandestine moment where we learn that Jimmy is acting as Perry's inside
man at Lexcom. Wonder what the old fox has up his sleeve? Unfortunately, we
don't find out, as Lois and Clark crash the party, followed shortly
thereafter by Lucy and Ron.
As Clark returns Lois to her office after lunch, the news breaks about a
nuclear meltdown in Markovia, the same nation recently ravaged by the
Millennium Giants (I just *knew* you'd want to be reminded of that
particular story). He rushes across the globe to see how he can help, only
to be headed off by Markovia's King Brion, aka Geo-Force. Brion's pride
won't allow him to accept Superman's help, so we get the cliched "heroes
fight, then team up" scene, leading to the final page, where Superman
realizes that yet another of his nightmares has come true.
Let's talk about the art first. I am of the impression that Tom Grummett
may have stretched himself too thin trying to handle both _Superboy_ and
_Adventures of Superman_. To back up my suspicions, Grummett only provides
layout art for this issue, as opposed to full pencils. This, of course, is
a horrible thing to inflict upon the readers, seeing as Denis Rodier inks
the book. What we get here is rushed, sketchy panels, especially towards
the end of the issue. And to top it all off, the last page of the issue
features the same full-page panel as the first page did, with only Superman
and Geo-Force inserted into the foreground.
Now, granted, it's still Tom Grummett's style and layouts, so it's pretty
hard to call the art bad, but he's capable of so much better than this.
We've got this massive changing of the guard under way, with most of the
Superman creative team being replaced over the next few months. Perhaps
Grummett should just move along as well, instead focusing on _Superboy_,
where Kesel's inks do him so much more justice anyway.
Before we move off of Grummett's art, though, let me add that this was one
great cover. Superman stands in dismay, dwarfed by a burning nuclear plant
in the background. The art is very nice, but what makes this a great cover
is the image choice. This is the kind of attention-grabbing cover which
could prompt people to take the book off the shelf. Aside from those that
use gratuitous cover art for that purpose, comics in recent years haven't
done a very good job of attention-grabbing, so it should be pointed out
when it happens. Kudos.
Those of you who are familiar with my reviews will know that I'm much more
interested in story than art, and that's why my rating for this issue is
still fairly high. Sure, we have the ridiculously cliched encounter with
Geo-Force to conclude the book, and that does drag the issue down a bit,
but the first 17 pages more than make up for the last five.
This book was primarily a collection of character sketches, illustrating
wonderfully human moments. Lois expresses her worries about Clark's
continued unemployment, and how it will affect their financial security. In
an exceptional two-page spread, Clark fidgets and piddles through a losing
battle with writer's block. Mr. Odetts shares his lifetime of memories and
concern for losing his home. Lois' frustration with the "reporting" methods
of Lexcom continues to grow. Jimmy calmly exhibits his comfort with the
technology, but quickly reverts to his skittish and impressionable self
when taken outside of that comfort zone.
While not the whiz-bang action-filled plot that some folks may prefer, this
was a well-written depiction of life in the aftermath of the Daily Planet's
closing, of how the primary cast members are dealing with the adjustments.
Back in the early 90s, arguably the last time that the books were
consistently *very* good, one of the greatest strengths of the Superman
titles was their ability to show Superman's effect on the people around
him. Since the closing of the Daily Planet, we've seen a little of that
reflection return to the stories. That's a promising turn of events.
A shame the creators have figured this out just as they're being shown the
door.
Jeff Sykes
<sykes@ms.uky.edu>
==============================================
6. ACTION COMICS #751 Feb 1999 $1.99 US/$3.25 CAN
"Sixes and Sevens"
Writer/Penciller: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Jose Marzan, Jr.
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Separator: Digital Chameleon
Assistant: Maureen McTigue
Thirteen: Joey Cavalieri
Cover: Stuart Immonen, Jose Marzan, Jr., and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 2.8/5.0 Shields
DJ: 2.3 Shields
EM: 3.3 Shields - At least the fake K might explain the big S-man's
irregular behavior...
GN: 3.3 Shields - Great splash page!
JSy: 4.4 Shields - Stuart shows off his potential as a writer with this
issue, nailing one of the best portrayals of Superman during his
stint on _Action_. Very strong issue with nice character moments.
SDM: 2.5 Shields - Didn't I read this story last week? Last month? Even
more of the same, only with less skill than Kesel and Ordway.
Nice art, though.
TD: 1.5 Shields - Puh-leeze. More log-rolling in the name of advancing
the next Big Event.
VV: 2.0 Shields - I don't want to see "Next on Whitty Banter; Superheroes
and the women who kiss them!" It is good to see that Luthor did
learn from his previous mistake and is letting others handle the
(presumably) high radiation kryptonite.
We begin our story in the nation of Markovia, where Superman is assisting
Geo-Force in containing a nuclear meltdown. With Superman's help, the two
quickly contain the meltdown from becoming a more serious disaster. We then
find ourselves at Lexcom, where Lois is talking with Lucy about Lucy's
pregnancy. After the call, Jimmy delivers the mail along with some small
talk. In the mail, Lois discovers a picture of Superman kissing a young
lady while flying. Simone sees the picture and decides it would be good to
boost circulation. Lex does not.
After threatening Simone with deportation for interrupting him with
something so trivial, we find Lex meeting with agents of the DEO about the
synthetic Kryptonite. They agree to try another test on Superman.
Cut back to Lexcom; Ashbury's mad because she thinks her father caused
Scorn to disappear. He's left her a letter, but it is in his language, and
that subplot ends there until next time. Lois meanwhile goes off to meet
the taker of the above-mentioned photograph.
Ron Troupe and Lucy are both struggling for jobs. Ron's outlook at
Metropolis National doesn't look good, but Mr. Stern offers some strong
advice. Meanwhile, Lucy's honesty lands her a job at an airport in
Bakerline.
Lois meets with the photographer about the picture. A P.I. demands ten
grand to hand over the negative to Lois. Lois goes off about morality and
then Superman shows up to also lecture the man. Oh, and coincidentally,
attack helicopters show up and open fire, but our hero blocks the deadly
shot from Lois and the P.I. Superman chases them, realizes he's been led
into a trap, and WHAM! He's hit with a synthetic Kryptonite bullet. He
falls, wounded, to the Earth, but the synthetic Kryptonite quickly wears
off.
The P.I. is amazed at Superman's willingness to protect everybody, even
someone willing to make Superman look bad, and tears up the negative. We
end with Lois and Superman discussing recent events in their apartment.
Story:
"Need to use my super-speed judiciously here ... One mistake at this
altitude could be disastrous." Superman can't catch a helicopter because of
the area? That's one of the lamest plot excuses I've ever heard. I realize
it was because they needed to lead him into a trap, but come on! Also,
while Superman can be surprised and fired at, we're talking about a guy who
can catch bullets. But this bullet manages to hit him in the side. Couldn't
Supes even catch the bullet? Maybe I'm being picky, but it seems like Stu
sometimes forgets how powerful the Man of Steel is. There are a ton of
subplots in this book, which is okay, but makes for almost no story. We are
basically seeing soap opera-like snippets to keep us interested in
characters. This is an indicator of staleness in writing -- something
Immonen has shown us all too much lately. I would like to see DC ease up on
the subplots for a while. The page with Mr. Stern, however, was excellent.
The advice offered by Stern is good advice, and not just for a comic book.
I always love how Superman comics time and time again (get it?) show the
morality of journalism, especially with today's sleazy invasion journalism.
DC Comics has always used this, and Immonen often shows this morality in
his stories.
Art:
Ah, Immonen's my favorite artist. I really can't praise his art enough.
I've mentioned before he has trouble with faces, and this issue shows that.
Otherwise the art is exactly what I've come to expect from Mr. Immonen and
his crew. All in all, this is another forgettable issue; one I won't be
digging for a couple a months from now when I get that read-a-back-issue
itch. At least there weren't any new villains. I hope DC takes this DEO in
the right direction.
And why are the traffic lights on page 19 (when Superman hits the ground)
in reverse order?
Derek Jackson
<djackson@iconstructs.com>
==============================================
7. SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #86 Feb 1999 $1.99 US/$3.25 CAN
"On The Job!"
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciller: Scot Eaton
Inker: Dennis Janke
Letterer: Ken Lopez
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Separations: Digital Chameleon
Assistant Editor: Maureen McTigue
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Cover: Scot Eaton and Dennis Janke
RATINGS
Average: 3.1/5.0 Shields
MS: 3.8 Shields
EM: 3.0 Shields
JE: 3.4 Shields - This is a story that's been a long time in coming.
Abandoning Clark Kent in favor of being a full-time Superman to
appease an ever-guilty conscience is the story that _Death of
Clark Kent_ should have been.
ST: 4.1 Shields - My favourite triangle story in quite a while. Superman
gets to actually be *super*, but has to use his brains as well.
All this *and* we get development in sub-plots. Way to go out on
a high note, Weezie.
TD: 2.0 Shields - Louise Simonson's tenure on the book ends not with a
whimper but with a sigh as she creates a frenzied, pointless
lead-in to _Superman Rex_.
VV: 1.5 Shields - Superman should already know he can't be everywhere at
once, and he shouldn't try; that's why there are *other* heroes.
Kurt Busiek has already explored this with Samaritan. That doesn't
mean it shouldn't be done again, but any attempt better have some
new ideas in it.
I'm happy to say that this is the last issue of _Man of Steel_ before the
new creative team takes over. Not only does this mark the end of a year of
creative flux for this book, but it's a pretty good finale for long-time
scribe Louise Simonson.
It's a pretty simple plot. Superman has another precognitive dream of
impending disasters and spends the day racing around the world, trying to
interpret the visions and prevent them from coming true. Finally, he heads
for the Fortress of Solitude and builds satellites to monitor the earth and
help him decipher his dreams. The issue closes with a forboding shot of
Superman in a monitor room a la the one used in _Kingdom Come_. Hmmm...
This story has a lot of things I've been missing in the Superman comics
lately. Rather than focus on what Superman can't do (a frequent theme in
the post-Crisis era), this issue shows us what he *can* do. I once read a
Spider-Man story where his spider-sense was expanded so he could detect
danger from miles away. Naturally, he was relieved to get back to normal,
since there was no way he could handle knowing about problems he could
never solve. Superman, however, just leaps out the window in the desperate
hope that he can accomplish something -- anything -- before it's too late.
With his powers and a good deal of careful thinking (something else I
haven't seen from Superman in a while), he pulls it off. Superman is
astonished to see a mud slide in his dream, but not only does he figure out
where it is, he also saves the village in its path.
In the same vein, seeing Superman build monitor satellites is pretty
unusual, but why question it? He's got the equipment, he's got the
super-speed, and the robots in the Fortress know how to help him, so why
not? While I'm not sure about this "24-7" story, it's nice to see Superman
using his resources to their full extent.
Although Lois has a small role in the story, it's well played. She's asleep
on the couch while Clark's trying to stay awake watching TV for disasters,
and when he has the dream, Lois tries to calm him down, almost as if to
talk him out of blindly looking for trouble. Clearly, she's concerned about
Clark's strange nightmares, even though she doesn't fully understand what
he's going through. (If she could see what Clark's dreaming about, maybe
she'd be more anxious for him to go out on patrol!)
As for the artwork, Scot Eaton and Dennis Janke continue to gel; we get a
much more dynamic and emotive Superman than in previous collaborations. And
how could I ignore the excellent cover of Superman working around the
clock? Verrry nice.
So there you have it. I suppose I should point out once again that the
"Luthor buys the Planet" plotline is *still* on the back burner. With
Superman becoming more detached from his supporting cast, I guess it'll
stay there. In the meantime, this new power is proving to be an intriguing
mystery.
Mike Smith
<mike_p_smith@hotmail.com>
==============================================
8. SUPERMAN #142 Feb 1999 $1.99 US/$3.25 CAN
"Clark Kent No More"
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Penciller: George Jeanty
Inker: Joe Rubinstein
Letterers: John Costanza and Clem Robins
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Separations: Digital Chameleon
Assistant Editor: Maureen McTigue
Editor Some More: Joey Cavalieri
Cover: Dan Jurgens, Joe Rubinstein, and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 3.0/5.0 Shields
TD: 3.5 Shields
EM: 3.0 Shields
GN: 3.0 Shields - Jeanty and Rubinstein made for a good match, though I
don't know that I'd want them as the regular art team.
JE: 3.5 Shields - I'm starting to warm up to Outburst, and I'm really
looking forward to finding out where his powers came from. While
I thought Clark and Lois weren't handled properly, my biggest
complaint was with Luthor; his reactions to Outburst were totally
out of character.
ST: 2.9 Shields - I loved the Outburst stuff, but I felt like I had missed
three issues of development of the 'Superman being everywhere'
story. Where's the world reaction to the satellites? Why is he so
cold and Krypton Man-ish? Why is everyone dumping on him? Jeanty
does excellent work here; much better than his _Superboy_ stint.
VV: 2.0 Shields - Outburst is okay, but the "Death of Clark Kent" arc
should have taught Supes that he needs to be Clark. Unless this is
mind control (which will also upset me), I don't understand this
move.
Remember last time, when I said I liked "Introducing Outburst" even though
it had all the earmarks of being the kind of story I hated? Well guess
what? I liked this one as well.
I will wait for you all to call your religious leaders and see if Hell has
frozen over.
Supes is now knee deep in being Every Hero. The first half of this story is
in the shape of a news broadcast. As Supes averts an oil rig disaster, Cat
Grant discusses the Man of Steel's hard schedule and wonders if he might be
overexerting himself. We also learn that Lex Luthor, the President, and
several members of the super hero community are all worried by Supes' new
dedication to his job. The report prompts Simone to order Lois and Jimmy to
explore Superman's frantic pace, over Lois' protests.
Cut to the focus of last issue's story -- Mitch Andersen, a.k.a. Outburst.
Jurgens fills in a bit more about Mitch's life since the events of "The
Death of Superman". His father has died, he seems to be living in a housing
project, and his powers build up to an extent that they *must* be released.
Mitch dons his Outburst costume and goes off patrolling.
Lois returns to her apartment to find Clark, in his Superman uniform, who
tells her he has such a great responsibility as Superman that being Clark
is no longer viable. The conversation is cut short, however, when a
helicopter with Lex and Cat goes out of control. Outburst tries to stop the
copter, but only manages to slow its descent. Fortunately, that buys enough
time for Superman to arrive and catch it. Before Outburst can talk to his
idol, Superman flies off again, leaving the young hero at the mercies of a
grateful Cat Grant and Lex Luthor. Meanwhile, Lois -- realizing the gravity
of the situation, heads to Gotham City in search of 'the one person' who
can talk some sense into her husband.
This story works for a couple of reasons. One of them is that Jurgens
manages to concisely summarize the situation and creates an interesting
tension between the information disseminated and the sequence of Supes
saving the oil rig. He also manages to increase the impact of the major
scene in the story -- the confrontation between Lois and Clark -- by
leaving out certain stretches of the conversation. As I've said in the
past, Jurgens' dialogue is his weakest point, and by only giving us key
moments in this conversation, he allows us to fill in the blanks for
ourselves.
Another reason this issue works is guest penciller George Jeanty, who does
a knock-out job in some scenes. With a very clean line style reminiscent of
Michael Allred and Kevin Maguire, he creates dynamic tableaus while also
giving the characters a humanity and gravity. His Superman may not be
conventionally powerful looking (in some cases, like on page 6, he looks
downright underfed), but it makes the concerns raised in the story more
believable.
Jeanty's handling of the central scene works wonders. The framing of pages
14 and 16 are excellent, and Jeanty's handling of Lois' expression as she
works through this conversation is marvelous. His decision not to show the
expression on Lois' face when she discovers Clark's glasses are gone
(although I wonder about the little emphasis arrows in the close-up) is
excellent.
And then there's Outburst who, God help me, I still like. Now that Jurgens
has taken the time to fill in some more about the character, we learn
Superman's impact on others (Disclosure: since I didn't start reading the
Triangle books until "The Reign of the Supermen", I did not recognize Mitch
at first). Jurgens is subtle about Mitch's present circumstances, and it's
obvious the kid is going through rough times, yet Mitch does not let this
get him down. Even more importantly, he utilizes the example of Superman to
inspire him to do good for the *right* reasons, while still keeping the
first blush excitement of being a metahuman. Sure, I would still like to
know a bit more about him, and about why he has magnetic abilities, but I
actually trust Jurgens to disclose this info in good time.
I don't know if Jurgens has relaxed because he knows the light is at the
end of the tunnel, or if the hints of talents he's shown us in the past are
finally blossoming, but to my amazement, _Superman_ is becoming the most
readable of the triangle titles. Considering that it was once the least
readable, that's impressive.
I'm still holding out for a story of the magnitude of "Checkmate" or
"Within Human Reach" before Jurgens -- who has been associated with the Man
of Steel for the longest time -- takes his final bow, but damn, I'm
enjoying this streak of good stories like "Clark Kent No More."
Thomas Deja
<tdj723@webtv.net>
___________________________________________
SUPER-FAMILY TITLES:
-------------------
SUPERBOY #59 Feb 1999 $1.99 US/$3.25 CAN
"Mission to Krypton"
Writer: Karl Kesel
Guest Pencils: Dusty Abell
Guest Inks: Dexter Vines
Colors: Buzz Setzer
Letters: ComicCraft
Assistant: Frank Berrios
Editor: Mike McAvennie
Cover: Tom Grummett, Karl Kesel, and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 3.6/5.0 Shields
RG: 4.0 Shields (Story) - A story I've waited years for. Well done.
2.0 Shields (Art) - Too dark and angular, and over-inked.
DWd: 4.0 Shields - Enjoyed the story, especially the naming at the end.
I thought the art suited very well too!
EM: 4.5 Shields - Kesel gives us a nice story, and the Kid finally gets
a name other than Superboy.
JE: 3.6 Shields - I'm glad that events in Superboy reflect events in the
current Superman books (full-time Superman); Kesel uses them to
create a very interesting and unique story. Superboy and Superman
now share a greater common bond than ever before, which can only
lead to better stories for the both of them.
JSy: 4.0 Shields - While nothing extraordinary, this is a solid tale by
Kesel with what I found to be an extremely moving and long overdue
conclusion. Dusty Abell's style is a bit jarring in places, and he
especially needs to work on improving his depictions of hair.
SDM: 2.9 Shields - The good bits -- Superboy's reaction to the Kryptonian
VR and the Kid finally getting a name -- outweigh the weak art by
Abell and the new "24/7" personality that has been latched onto
Superman. I hope that we don't see Superboy dragged into the
Superman storylines too often.
ST: 3.0 Shields - The last page tugged at my heart, but then I wondered;
will anyone *use* this new name? The character has been around for
6+ years without one, after all.... The art was distracting too;
everyone looked too old (esp. Serling), too angular, too dark.
VV: 3.5 Shields - A good issue, and I like that Superman is showing the
kid some respect. I think it will benefit both in the long run.
Following the near-total destruction of the Whiz Wagon during the
Demolition Run story line, Superboy and Mickey are finally back at Cadmus
with the remains. Mickey is going to take it as a personal challenge to
repair it. Since it was built by the Hairies, this may prove to be a too
large a bite, but everyone needs a hobby.
Superman drops by for a quick visit and asks if he can borrow Superboy for
a bit. The pair flies to the Fortress of Solitude, where Superman gives the
Kid a virtual tour of Krypton. While in the virtual reality, Superboy lives
as a Kryptonian who saved the life of one of Superman's ancestors during
the Clone Wars. Superboy, being a clone and seeing how the Kryptonians
treated them, probably felt more than a bit strange fighting with the
establishment. He later lives out the last days of Krypton as a descendant
of the original nameless hero, named Kon-El. After seeing Krypton explode,
he returns to reality, where Superman formally adopts Superboy and gives
him his first (and only) name, Kon-El.
I've waited years for this story, and it was worth the wait. As a reviewer
of _Superboy_, I'm often in the position where I have to refer to Superboy
as Superboy several times in the same paragraph, simply because until this
issue, the Kid has never had a real name. As a clone, he was grown at
Cadmus and never had parents. The Newsboys released him before he was
ready, so his creators never gave him a name. Without parents or family to
protect, he has always been a public hero, and he has never had to resort
to a secret identity. Now he is totally alone, with no real or even adopted
family to turn to. This hasn't been a critical problem in the book; in
fact, in some ways it has been one of the things that has always made the
Kid a bit special. He was only Superboy, nothing else.
At various times in the past, though, he has made some small references to
the fact that he was a clone, and wondered what it was like to have
parents, siblings, or a life outside of his being a super-hero. He has
always seemed to almost envy Robin and Impulse their outside lives and
families, even with the problems that families bring.
All this has now changed forever. With one simple act, Superman has given
him a name, a family and a real connection to the S-shield that he has
always worn with pride and honor. It was about time.
It was a real shame that this meaningful story was marred by some of the
worst art I've seen in this title in well over a year. The figures were too
angular, and the perspectives were just short of awful. The inking was much
too heavy in places. Overall, it gave a dark cast to a book that should
have been bright, shiny, and new. There was also a distinct lack of
background detail that is all the more noticeable after the incredible run
of artwork we've had in the past year.
Oh well. Grummett will be back next issue.
Rene Gobeyn
<bedlam@frontiernet.net>
==============================================
SUPERGIRL #29 Feb 1999 $1.99 US/$3.25 CAN
"Small Change"
Writer: Peter David
Penciller: Leonard Kirk
Inker: Robin Riggs
Letterer: Pat Prentice
Colorist: Gene D'Angelo
Separations: Digital Chameleon
Asst. Editor: Frank Berrios
Editor: Mike McAvennie
Cover: Leonard Kirk, Robin Riggs, and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 3.3/5.0 Shields
TD: 3.0 Shields
EM: 4.6 Shields - PAD manages to tell a really good tale using Fourth
World characters and reminds us that continuity can be our
friend... (tiny S-girl!)
GN: 3.5 Shields - PAD handled Supergirl and the Apokolips gang
effectively, giving us more than the stock "New Gods" story
this type of thing always seems to fall into.
JSy: 3.1 Shields - When not dealing with Twilight and the Furies, PAD
manages to work his usual magic with the supporting cast. What
caught my attention was page 20, one of the most intriguing
single pages I've ever seen. Darkseid speechless?
ST: 2.8 Shields - Continuity or no, the idea everyone on Apokolips stands
at 500+ feet is wrong in *so* many ways, I can't even begin to
say. This whole arc was disappointing; three issues to learn that
Twilight was once a Fury?
VV: 2.5 Shields - Fourth World does not intrigue me in the least, though
I do wonder who this "Himon" is that can stand up to Darkseid. I'm
also wondering if Supergirl is slowly turning back towards "The
Dark Side" based on her comments in this issue.
I cringed when I saw the title of this story, anticipating another turn at
David vaudeville. I was wrong. This story, arguably the most serious of his
run, is also viciously dense -- so much so that I wonder if some of last
issue's fight scene couldn't have been shortened to give this sequence more
'breathing room'. After all, there's another, excellent point for a
cliffhanger on page four.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Supergirl, if you remember, found herself on Apokolips shrunk to about six
inches in height. Overlooked by the Furies searching for her, Linda
witnesses the fate of Twilight. Sneeringly dubbed "the Homecoming Queen" by
Granny Goodness, she is paraded through the streets of (I assume)
Armaghetto, broken and bloodied, before she is taken away to Granny's
chambers for torture. Outraged by this spectacle, the maid of Might vows to
free Twilight and take her to Earth -- when she is captured by Granny.
We then return to Earth, where Fred and his new partner are at the 'end of
the S curve' looking for the killer. As Fred explains what's going on, his
partner makes a gruesome (off-screen) discovery. Also, Dick's mother
invites a friend to her rebuilt house. The friend, an art dealer, becomes
attracted to Linda's angel sculptures and vows to make the girl a star.
Back on Apokolips, Supergirl is trapped in a Null Field by Granny, who
explains that Linda's Ray Palmer impersonation is the result of her not
utilizing a Boom Tube. It seems the New Gods are naturally larger than
humans, but the Tube adjusts for scale. Supergirl is tortured slightly (the
Field does allow those outside it to affect those inside, but not vice
versa) before the furies go to work on Twilight herself. As we watch Space
Girl wait for Twilight outside the arena, we learn that the woman -- a New
God changeling -- finally breaks just as Supergirl is saved by Himon.
Together, Linda and Twilight manage to escape the Furies' grasp and dodge a
parademon swarm before Linda utilizes her powers to transport the two of
them back to Earth.
Of course, their escape does not go without a greater effect; the teleport
(which takes place in a fire-pit) causes the first ever display of
'Celestial Radiance' on Apokolips. This causes some, like Furies leader
Lashina, to display some hope in the most hopeless place in the Universe.
Back on Earth, Twilight escapes while Supergirl falls into an exhausted
sleep -- but not before the villain, who denies the existence of God,
thanks the Earth Angel.
There is a lot going on in "Small Change", to the point that it at times
seems a tad rushed. David has given us two issues of build-up to a very
worthwhile climax (although I still think the climax needed more room to
breathe -- to give David more time to explore the points he wanted to
make). David seems a lot more comfortable with the New Gods characters once
he's got them on their own turf, and the misplaced vaudeville aspects are
refreshingly gone, throwing his theme of how hope can exist in a hopeless
place into the forefront.
While Twilight's background is given annoyingly short shrift this issue, we
begin to see more of the character's personality, making her even more of a
dark mirror for Supergirl. This is a character who spends the bulk of the
issue being harassed, cut up, electrocuted and tortured, yet even though we
know it's affecting her, she refuses to give in to the despair and
loathsomeness of Apokolips -- something that even Supergirl does when she
pulls an eye-for-an-eye on Bernadeth.
I was a bit worried about how Kirk would handle Apokolips. To my surprise,
he excels. Detailed in spots, and satisfyingly nasty and dank, Kirk's
biggest triumph is in letting the expressions of the participants reflect
the atmosphere of the place. The faces of the Furies, almost
caricature-like in their glee and rage, makes the alien nature of these
beings come through... not to mention how it makes the impact of
Supergirl's final act greater.
"Small Change", despite its punny title, turns out to be an excellent end
to a lackluster storyline. If only David had shortened the pointlessly long
fight scene of issue #28 and/or eliminated the Spice Girl bashing in issue
#27, it would've been a fitting end to a great storyline.
Thomas Deja
<tdj723webtv.net>
==============================================
SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #28 Feb 1999 $1.99 US/$3.25 CAN
"Jimmy Olsen Versus Darkseid"
Writer: Mark Millar
Penciller: Mike Manley
Inker: Terry Austin
Colorist: Marie Severin
Separations: Zylonol
Letterer: Lois Buhalis
Asst. Editor: Frank Berrios
Editor: Mike McAvennie
Cover: Rick Burchett and Terry Austin
RATINGS
Average: 3.6/5.0 Shields
CoS: 3.0 Shields - Haven't we read this story about a bajillion
times already? A sub-par art job and an overcrowded plot mars
what could have been either a fresh look at both Superman and
Jimmy Olsen or a intriguing show-down with Darkseid.
JE: 4.3 Shields - Jimmy attempting to fill in for Superman was absolutely
hilarious and Lois' coaching was even better. Superman's defiance
of Desaad even while trapped in Jimmy's body excellently portrayed
his indomitable will. One of the most entertaining _Adventures_
I've read in a long time.
JSy: 3.7 Shields - As far as the story goes, Millar turns in one of his
better performances, returning some of the fun to this book. I
was especially impressed with Jimmy's slow realization of what
he had gained. Manley's art was a bit busier than Amancio's has
been, and the additional detail isn't appropriate for this style.
ST: 3.3 Shields - A very Silver Age-y story in both pacing and content.
While I'm not sure it could have filled two issues, this story
would have benefitted from another 10 pages. A fun read.
In the last issue of The Kryptonian Cybernet, one person's comment on
_Supergirl_ #28 just jumped out at me, as they noted that the inclusion of
the New Gods characters might have pulled down its ranking. I know there
are some fans who don't like Jack Kirby's post-1970 work, including The New
Gods. I am not one of those fans. The New Gods are the characters who
pulled me into the DC Universe after living my youth as a Marvel Zombie,
and even though no one can do them as well as Kirby, I always go out of my
way to pick up any New Gods appearances. A review of _Superman Adventures_
is not the place to get on my Pro-Kirby soapbox, but I honestly feel that
Jack's minor creations have more going for them than most writers' biggest
guns. So when I read the "Next Issue" box saying that this issue of
_Superman Adventures_ would have Darkseid and Kalibak, I got excited.
When I saw the cover, I retained that excitement. It shows Kalibak and a
few Para-Demons flying down from an imposing statue of Darkseid while Jimmy
Olsen is opening his shirt to reveal the S-emblem. One of the big problems
with comic books, in my opinion, is that the covers don't make you want to
pick up the book and read it. In the 50s and 60s, comic book editors put
most of their efforts into the cover, because they knew that was how you
got people interested in reading the story inside. Now, comic book covers
just seem to be an afterthought, probably because very few comics are
"impulse buys" anymore. This cover, however, begs the reader to pick up the
book and find out just how Jimmy Olsen got to be Superman.
The problem with many of the comic book covers of the past was that they
promised more than they delivered. "Superman becomes a Giant Red Ant? I
gotta read that!!" Then, as you read the interior, he would be exposed to
red kryptonite and be transformed into a Giant Red Ant for about three
panels. This comic has that same problem.
While Superman is battling Intergang (and rescuing Lois and Jimmy), Kalibak
appears and announces his plan to switch minds with Superman. That way, he
can destroy Earth without breaking Darkseid's pact with New Genesis that no
one from Apokolips would physically attack Earth. Problem is, Jimmy Olsen
interferes, and he switches minds with Superman instead of Kalibak. Kalibak
takes Jimmy (with the mind of Superman) back to Apokolips as he escapes,
leaving Superman (with the mind of Jimmy) to figure out how to deal with
being Superman, and to find a way to get to Apokolips and save Superman (in
the body of Jimmy).
Darkseid is a very hard character to write, and I will grant that Millar
does a good job with him. Too many writers make Darkseid a watered down Dr.
Doom, engaging in battles with heroes when the character Kirby created
would never dirty his hands with actual fighting. To me, the defining scene
of Darkseid is in an early issue of _The New Gods_ when Orion breaks in on
Darkseid's Earth headquarters; while Orion threaten him and prepares for
battle, Darkseid merely sits in a chair and directs his minions to take
care of Orion. In this story, while Jimmy is trying to learn how to be
Superman, Darkseid punishes Kalibak for his initiative, then directs Desaad
to torture Superman and to alert him when things get intense. Darkseid's
casual dismissal of Superman is far more chilling than any physical
posturing or standard villain speech.
After meeting with Professor Hamilton (who does a lot of testing but can't
fix anything), Jimmy finds out that there is no way for him to get to
Apokolips. Hearing police sirens, Jimmy uses Superman's power to stop a
bank robbery and is met by Kalibak, who has come to bring him to Apokolips,
where he can crush him in front of Darkseid. Jimmy pushes Kalibak through
the boom tube, disposing of him easily. When he finds Superman (because
Superman had the presence of mind to use Jimmy's signal watch), their minds
are quickly switched back. Darkseid allows them to leave, saying that his
plans would be disrupted if he fought and killed Superman at this time. He
dismisses them by saying, "Savor the surplus time I have granted for you to
spend with your loved ones before this day of reckoning arrives." Now
that's a villain.
The main failure of this story came from the parallel structure of telling
two main plots, leaving both feeling rushed. Any time you get a
mind-switching story, there is the chance to explore the characters
involved. Sadly, this story didn't take advantage of the opportunity, and
we get only a couple of brief sequences of Jimmy dealing with having the
power of Superman. While the Apokolips story was a good one, it also got
short shrift by having to deal with the mind-switching plot, and by not
taking the opportunity to explore how Darkseid and his minions try to get
around the pact.
Due to the crowded structure, the story had too many coincidences and dead
ends. While on Apokolips, Superman gets his hands on the mind switcher,
hiding it behind his back. When the story returns to Apokolips, that
important development is tossed away in a single line. Jimmy has trouble
shutting out all of Superman's different sensory impulses, but when he goes
into action, that problem just melts away. The biggest problem pacing-wise,
however, is that Jimmy is able to defeat Kalibak in two panels. Two
Panels?!?! This is a villain who has battled Superman to a standstill for
page after page, yet even though Jimmy has no experience being Superman, he
tosses him off like an old tomato can?
Mike Manley is working more in the Adventures comics line, but still
doesn't seem to have adapted his art style to it successfully. The splash
page shows this, as the Intergang members are crudely drawn and look out of
place when compared to the simplified and iconic design of Superman, Lois
and Jimmy. It could be that he is unable to draw characters in this style
without a model sheet, because this incongruity also shows up with other
characters who haven't been in the cartoon. I know I harp on this, but the
Adventures style is harder than standard comics art -- the character design
is simpler, therefore every line matters. While the style looks easier, it
is next to impossible to get away with stylistic tricks or corrective
shading. He also has a bit of trouble with story flow; to give him the
benefit of the doubt, this could be because the story is so crowded.
All-in-all, while I did like the use of Kirby's characters, the story was
too cramped. If you want to see how Darkseid should be handled, this is a
good blueprint. Even though he's not the main villain of the Animated
Superman, this story makes me feel like all the other foes Superman faces
are just warm-ups for whatever Darkseid has planned for him. That's what
makes this story just a touch above average.
Cory Strode
<Solitaire.Rose@wolrdnet.att.net>
___________________________________________
TEAM TITLES:
-----------
JLA #26 Feb 1999 $1.99 US/$3.25 CAN
"Our Army At War"
Writer: Grant Morrison
Guest Penciller: Mark Pajarillo
Guest Inker: Walden Wong
Letterer: Ken Lopez
Colorist: Pat Garrahy
Separations: Digital Chameleon
Assoc. Editor: Tony Bedard
Editor: Dan Raspler
Cover: Howard Porter and John Dell
RATINGS
Average: 3.3/5.0 Shields
AW: 4.5 Shields
EM: 4.0 Shields - I couldn't get "Shag" jokes out of my head; Eiling is
now the Shagless man. Pissed Superman frightens me. :)
GN: 3.3 Shields - Morrison shows one of Superman's greatest powers is the
force of his personality. Can't wait to see how the Ultramarines
play into the DCU.
JE: 3.5 Shields - The payoff of the Ultramarines arc was very weak. The
art was not up to the usual standards of Porter and Dell, although
the portrayal of Superman was surprisingly strong.
JSy: 2.7 Shields - Superman confronting the troops is yet another picture
perfect Man of Steel moment for Grant Morrison, but it's not
enough to maintain my interest level. Outside of DC1M, I've just
not found the main plots very interesting in this book.
ST: 3.2 Shields - Some good stuff, and one of the best examples I've
seen of the force of Superman's presence, but the Ultramarines
just never engaged me. The prologues at the end looked far more
interesting.
TD: 2.9 Shields - *This* was a cool wrap-up to a questionable three-
parter with a wonderful -- and complete -- ending. Lost a whole
shield for the awful art, though.
VV: 2.5 Shields - Nothing really stands out in this story, either
good or bad. Between this and _The Doomsday Wars_, those JLA
transporters are pretty powerful weapons. Maybe Gates of the
LSH can take a hint. <g>
Well, the Shaggy Man is shaggy no more. He's now what the well-trimmed
psychotic Army general is wearing...
_JLA_ #26 has to be one of the best denouements Morrison has written for
the team. First we see Batman, Plastic Man, and the Huntress facing the
indestructible Eiling. Then we see the shaken but not beaten Superman face
the Ultramarine Corps by himself -- not as a fighter, but as a man of
reason. My vote for one of the best scenes of the year is the barrage he
faces on pages 6 and 7, and his bravery in the midst of it that turns the
soldiers around and makes them listen. Then, ironically, it is Superman's
force of action that causes him to burst in just as Batman almost has
Eiling hypnotized, forcing the Caped Crusader to come up with another plan
on the fly.
The aftermath is especially intriguing: The Ultramarine Corps founds a new
city and recreates itself as a "first-strike global peacekeeping force,"
willing to kill if it must. It's hard to guess the ramifications, or
possible tie-ins with _Kingdom Come_, but it certainly bears grim portents
for the future.
Finally, look out as the Hourman from the future joins the JLA, Johnny
Thunder's Thunderbolt appears -- apparently to get mixed up with an
invasion of fifth-dimensional, magical beings -- the comeback of Amazo, and
a promised appearance by Captain Marvel. Whew! That should shake up the
next few months.
As a last word, if I wasn't about to catch a plane for the holidays, I'd
spend more time complimenting Mark Pajarillo and Walden Wong. Their thin,
simplified lines neatly contrast Dell and Porters' heavier artwork, and was
a joy to gaze at.
Anatole Wilson
<awilson@us.oracle.com>
___________________________________________
TEAM TITLES (cont):
------------------
YOUNG JUSTICE #5 Feb 1999 $2.50 US/$3.95 CAN
"First, Do No Harm"
Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Todd Nauck
Inks: Lary Stucker
Colors: Jason Wright
Separations: Digital Chameleon
Letters: Ken Lopez
Asst. Editor: Frank Berrios
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover: Todd Nauck, Lary Stucker, and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 3.5/5.0 Shields
GR: 3.5 Shields
DWd: 4.0 Shields - Interesting ending. Talk about unexpected.
EM: 4.5 Shields - Wow. Who saw *that* coming? I hope there is serious
follow-up to this issue's unexpected turn of events...
GN: 3.3 Shields - PAD shows YJ doesn't need to become the Giffen JLA to
be a good book.
JSy: 3.4 Shields - Given the target audience suggested by the tone of the
first few issues of this title, I think the last page was just a
bit excessive. Aside from that, it's interesting that PAD has the
YJers working so well as a team in light of their inexperience
with teamwork.
ST: 3.6 Shields
TD: 2.0 Shields - David's sudden attempt to make the series semi-serious
did not entirely work, although the concept of the self-actualized
villain was clever.
I enjoyed myself until the last two pages.
Back from their side jaunt into _YJ Secret Files_, the superkids grapple
with the mystery of their missing mentor, Red Tornado. In the style of the
old Batman TV show, their new nemesis Harm has left them a deliberate clue
to RT's whereabouts. The trail leads to, of all things, a midnight mass
wherein the Pope is threatened. Meanwhile, Harm has rewired RT to run
defense. It takes the whole bunch -- Robin, Superboy, Impulse, Secret,
Wonder Girl, and Arrowette -- to subdue the android and get the Pope out of
Harm's way.
And then came the last two pages.
Til then, I was having a heck of a good time. It seemed that PAD had
recovered his old dash. The story, fueled by lots of action and humor, was
a' movin' on! No, not all the jokes work. But, then, as the great Groucho
Marx declared in _Animal Crackers_, "I know all the jokes aren't funny, but
you've got to expect that once in a while!" Just as big things come in
small packages, the funniest stuff is in the smallest panels. Look closely
at the Pope on page 11, panel 2: having just been "rescued" by Wonder Girl,
he crosses himself while trying not to puke. A little bigger panel shows
the normally hyperactive Impulse quietly admiring the ticking bomb he's
holding: "You just don't see this kinda craft in a bomb anymore." The
comedy flows from the irony.
As I said, there's also action aplenty. The artwork communicates the
frenetic goings-on well. Again, the smallest panels pack the biggest punch.
Take a look at page 13, for example: The deadly cleaver dramatically
klanging upon the intervening staff, the look of grim determination in
Robin's face. For the first time since I began reading YJ, I found myself
admiring Nauck and Stucker's layouts.
Of course, I've long admired PAD's dialogue, though, verily, the villain
did quoth the best lines: "Time for you to return to the realm of the
mythic, Robin. With any luck, in the retelling and building of your
legend... maybe you'll be a bit taller."
The clever twists, the cute little clue Harm leaves, the way the kids save
the day (more by accident than anything else) helped make the mixture taste
just right.
Until the last two pages.
In my review of _YJ_ #4, Iwrote about this slipping of adult concerns into
super-hero stories. To paraphrase what Cal Coolidge said to his wife about
the preacher's Adultery sermon, "I was mostly against it." Mostly, now. Not
wholly. I greatly admire Dini and Ross' wonderful _Peace On Earth_, for
example. It doesn't appear that Dini and Ross were trying to tie Superman
into the DC Universe. They posited a good and decent man, who happens to be
superhuman, confronting a terrible world problem. As would hold true in the
real world, Superman finds that one man can only do so much. The book thus
ends with people still starving. _Peace On Earth_ is as good a
juxtaposition of real-life problems and comic book whimsy as any you'll
find. but Dini and Ross weren't trying to be all things to all people. They
didn't load the book with super-types, either heroic or villainous. They
didn't see-saw between horror and humor. They played on a level field --
and they won the game.
So could PAD, a marvelous writer -- dare I say, a marvelous writer of funny
stuff! This isn't to say that the man shouldn't write about child abuse,
parent abuse, divorce, et al. It doesn't mean he shouldn't hear the sound
of guns in his fertile imagination, nor see the sight of blood... but Holy
Beatles, Batman! Why, oh why, can't this book -- just this book, a comic
tailor-made for rollicking adventure and high humor, a comic that could
help plug a big hole on the stands -- why, I say, can't it be just plain
funny? Would that hurt anybody? Huh? Would it?
The answer, of course, is no. No, it wouldn't hurt anybody.
I don't know whether DC wanted those last two pages. I don't know whether
they're what the fans crave or PAD needs to write. All I know is, they're
like a casket at a birthday party.
Gary D. Robinson
<robinfam@akron.infi.net>
___________________________________________
MINISERIES:
----------
THE KINGDOM #1 Feb 1999 $2.95 US/$4.75 CAN
"Never Ending Slaughter"
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
Letters: Phil Felix
Colors: John Kalisz
Separations: Chris Chuckry
Associate Editor: Tony Bedard
Editor: Dan Raspler
Cover: Ariel Olivetti
RATINGS
Average: 3.7/5.0 Shields
JSy: 4.3 Shields
EM: 4.5 Shields - Superman dies. And dies. And dies... hmm... can you say
"Multiverse"?
JE: 2.6 Shields - A poor sequel to _Kingdom Come_ that never should
have seen the light of day. The character of Gog wasn't even used
properly, the set-up he was given in _New Year's Evil: Gog_ being
far better than the story that eventually saw use here.
SDM: 3.3 Shields - Entertaining, mind-boggling, fun, intriguing. Waid is
still one of the best scriptwriters around, and does a good job
overcoming the limitations he places in a slightly confusing plot.
Good art, but after Alex Ross, the Kingdom Come heroes will never
look as good.
TD: 3.0 Shields - While the deliciously sick concept of watching Gog kill
off a supes-a-day was fun for a moment, it doesn't hide the fact
that it's well-done set-up. Luckily, Olivetti's art was a treat.
VV: 4.5 Shields - Deadman's use was very effective in pulling the pieces
together, but I'm not sure about "combined telescopic vision
piercing the time barrier" -- you'd think that the Supermen might
want to look into the *future* to see what happens after they
"died". I can't wait to see the conclusion, or to see what happens
to the DCU afterwards.
Mark Waid is a big ol' tease.
Come on -- admit it. The book opens with perhaps the biggest tease that he
could possibly have enticed pre-Crisis Superman fans with, and then it
concludes with a couple of shocking cliffhangers and a ton of questions.
Lord knows that I was drooling for the second issue by the time I'd poured
my way through this one.
So, for the few people out there who didn't read _The Kingdom_, let's
briefly outline what happened in this first issue.
The story opens with Superman speeding above the Metropolis skyline, only
to crash into an invisible barrier. Below, in the offices of the Daily Star
(!?), the workers ignore the daily occurrence and go about their business.
As we pan back and obtain our first glimpse of Superman, the shadows only
reveal gray temples and the unmistakable S-shield of the Earth-2 Man of
Steel, the Superman of the Golden Age. And the captions... "He deserved
Heaven. Not prison."
What did I tell you? What in the world could Kal-L have to do with this
story? Better yet, why is DC allowing Waid to use a character from the
Multiverse? Unfortunately, those questions aren't answered in this issue.
Guess we'll have to see what comes up in the conclusion of the miniseries.
Instead, the scene shifts to Heaven's waystation, where Deadman is
welcoming yet another Superman to the afterlife. It seems that Gog, the
villain introduced in 1997's _New Year's Evil: Gog_ #1, has been travelling
backwards in time, killing Superman (the Kingdom Come version) over and
over, but earlier and earlier. But why? The first dead Superman relates the
events of _Gog_ #1, and reveals that Gog has been given the task of
accelerating the Kansas disaster from the pages of _Kingdom Come_.
Meanwhile, a lone figure chastises the Quintessence (Zeus of the Greek
Gods, Ganthet of the Guardians, Highfather of the New Gods, and the wizard
Shazam) for their selfish reasons for setting Gog upon his path. Intending
to stop this disaster from happening, this mysterious figure enlists his
agent, Rip Hunter of the Linear Men, to intervene.
Further in the past, Gog has arrived at the day when Wonder Woman gave
birth to Superman's son. As the world celebrates the birth, Gog attacks,
burning Superman's symbol into Clark's chest and snatching the infant from
the arms of his mother. The myriad heroes of the Kingdom Come universe join
the battle, but Gog continues only to grow stronger under their assault.
Eventually, even Hunter can hold Gog in this time no longer, and Gog
escapes with the child, leaving the chilling statement, "As I am Gog... so
shall you be my Magog."
The Linear Men finally arrive, and warn the heroes that pursuing Gog will
result in their timeline ceasing to exist. Hunter makes the decision for
everyone, as he whisks Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman away, explaining
that "the greatest secret in the universe may well be at stake unless we
save your boy -- and prevent Gog from destroying Kansas -- before it's too
late." Back in 1998, the Kents' afternoon on the porch is interrupted by a
distant explosion, and a rush of power sweeps across their property...
So why begin with Kal-L? How can Gog be killing Superman over and over? Who
is that talking to the Quintessence? Why does Hunter seem to know more
about what's going on than the rest of the Linear Men? Didn't some of those
heroes die in the nuclear explosion at the end of _Kingdom Come_? Is Magog
Superman's son? What is "the greatest secret in the universe"? Were the
Kents just killed in a pre-creation of the Kansas tragedy? Could I
*possibly* have any more questions to ask about this issue!?
While this type of "jigsaw story" may not be everyone's cup of tea, it is
perhaps my favorite type of story. I love having a jumble of pieces thrown
at me so that I can try to put together the picture by myself. (Well, as
long as I know that the puzzle will be completed in a reasonable amount of
time. Chris Claremont blew that on _Sovereign Seven_ by taking entirely too
long to reveal the mystery.)
Furthermore, this just left me breathless -- after finishing the issue, I
sat in stunned silence for several minutes, trying to figure out what had
just happened. I poured back through the book, looking for new snippets,
searching for things that might seem more relevant than others. And it's
Kal-L!
I did have one problem with the book, though. I absolutely can not stand
Ariel Olivetti's art. Didn't like it on _JLA: Paradise Lost_ either. The
word "grotesque" comes to mind, even though I can't really place a finger
on anything specific that turns me off. It must just be an issue of not
caring for the particular style. (Though I can see it working for _Lobo_.)
In the end, what this issue managed to do was excite me, intrigue me, and
leave me breathless, pantingly eager to read the next issue. And when a
book can cause that kind of reaction, it must have been a pretty good read.
But would the conclusion live up the billing?
Jeff Sykes
<sykes@ms.uky.edu>
==============================================
THE KINGDOM #2 Feb 1999 $2.95 US/$4.75 CAN
"Mighty Rivers"
Writer: Mark Waid
Pencils: Mike Zeck
Inks: John Beatty
Letters: Phil Felix
Colors: John Kalisz
Separations: Digital Chameleon
Associate Editor: Tony Bedard
Editor: Dan Raspler
Cover: Mike Zeck and John Beatty
RATINGS
Average: 3.3/5.0 Shields
JSy: 2.8 Shields
EM: 4.7 Shields - Waid misspelled "Multiverse" this issue. The editors
have to catch these errors. ;)
GN: 2.8 Shields - Really wanted to like this one more. Clever use of
Jonathan and the Planet Krypton weapons; time will tell whether or
not re-linking to the multiverse is a good idea. The art of Zeck
and Beatty -- fondly remembered elsewhere -- was a disappointment.
JE: 2.5 Shields - In two short issues Waid has managed to turn the entire
DCU on its head and not in a good way. By opening the door back to
the infinite earths, he's undone the Crisis and invalidated one
of the greatest comic stories ever told. Time will tell whether
Hypertime was a good idea or not, but I'm going to go on record as
being utterly against the return to multiple earths and timelines.
The only truly bright spot of this book was the Earth-2 Superman's
classic conspiratorial wink on the last page.
SDM: 2.2 Shields - THUD! The weakest story I've ever read by Waid, with
lousy artwork by Mike Zeck. Only the return of some version of
the Multiverse and a few good character moments redeem this at
all, and for me the jury is still out on Hypertime.
TD: 3.5 Shields - Okay...I will admit to being a little wowed by Waid's
solution of letting us have our cake and eating it, too -- and the
fight scene that revealed the reason for the _Astro City_-esque
_Planet Krypton_ one-shot was clever.
VV: 4.8 Shields - I *knew* Hypertime existed (but the reasons will have
to go into a lengthier treatise), and it is a sneaky way to bring
back the Multiverse, but HOORAY!! The camaradiere of Batman, WW,
and Superman made my day.
Disappointing. After all the build-up and promise I felt from the first
issue, this was a real let down. Too many questions left unanswered and too
many drawn-out battles make for a rather uninteresting story which appears
to have been told only to introduce a radical new concept.
But first, to the recap.
Having heard of an immense blast having swept through Kansas, our present
day Superman rushes home to find his emblem burnt into a hundred mile
stretch of the Kansas landscape. This, however, wasn't the big blast, as
Superman discovers that his parents have suffered only a few minor blasts.
Rushing back out into the countryside, he finds Gog torturing Captain Atom,
but Gog happily turns his attention to the Man of Steel, pounding him
mercilessly. One mighty blow sends Superman flying through the air, only
to be caught by... himself!?
The triumvirate of heroes from the Kingdom Come era let their present day
counterparts in on the situation, and the battle is rejoined when Superman
realizes his son is trapped in a chunk of Kryptonite. While no match for
Gog, the heroes do draw him away from the Kryptonite long enough for the
child to be rescued -- only to have him fade out of existence as,
apparently, their timeline begins to unravel.
Gog eventually resumes his manhandling of all six heroes, but Hunter
finally reappears, removing the present day Superman, Batman, and Wonder
Woman from the fray. Hunter has enlisted the help of Kid Flash, Offspring,
Nightstar, and Ibn Al Xu'ffasch, second generation heroes from the Kingdom
Come era, and they've been busy stocking Booster Gold's new Planet Krypton
restaurant with various weapons and artifacts. Gog crashes the restaurant,
followed closely by the elder heroes, and the final battle is joined, as
the weapons gathered by the young heroes are turned on Gog.
For some reason, these things have an effect on Gog where Superman's powers
had been unable to, and Gog lets fly with a desperate attack, downing most
of the heroes. The Kingdom Come Wonder Woman then tells the present day
Superman about the Kansas tragedy, and how it had come to pass because he
had turned his back on mankind. In defiance, promising never to let that
happen, Superman rises and rushes Gog, who lets fly with a final blast,
breaching the walls of the restaurant -- and of Hypertime.
The heroes all find themselves faced with a multitude of images, some from
their own past, some from odd versions of themselves, and some from
realities completely removed from their own. The great secret that Hunter
and his ally were trying to protect, Hypertime is the "vast, interconnected
web of parallel timelines which comprise all reality." You want more of an
explanation than that, go read the book. It makes my head hurt.
Finally, the mysterious ally of Rip Hunter stands revealed as Superman and
Wonder Woman's son -- the only child ever born with the power to freely
traverse Hypertime. The Quintessence is made to restore Gog's humanity, and
the heroes return to their timelines.
And over Metropolis, Kal-L backs away from the barrier, grins knowingly,
and winks to the readers. "He knows this isn't the jail he once believed it
to be. Now he knows there's a door... even if he's not going to use it. Not
today, anyway."
So let's look back at some of those questions I asked at the end of the
first issue:
Why begin with Kal-L? Clearly, this was just a nod to pre-Crisis fans, an
announcement that the heroes they fondly remember aren't that far away. Of
course, anyone without knowledge of the Multiverse is going to be *really*
confused by these Superman bookends to the story.
How can Gog be killing Superman over and over? Hypertime. Here's the only
real negative to this concept. If not monitored carefully, Hypertime could
be used as a means for getting around difficulties. Can't figure out how to
bring back Barry Allen? Step into another timeline where he never died...
This is gonna require some serious watchdogs.
Why does Hunter know so much more than the other Linear Men? That answer
must wait for another day. All we get here is a cryptic reference to a
lifelong search.
Didn't some of those heroes die in the nuclear explosion at the end of
_Kingdom Come_? Well of course they did. Hypertime, however, is the
solution. The timeline we were seeing in _The Kingdom_ was not exactly the
same as the one we saw in _Kingdom Come_. Or if they were truly errors,
Hypertime makes a good "correction factor," doesn't it? Gotta be *very*
careful not to abuse this.
Is Magog Superman's son? Who is that talking to the Quintessence?
Thankfully, we learn that Superman's son was talking to the Quintessence,
and that he has nothing to do with Magog. Of course, I still want some idea
of how Superman and Wonder Woman's child could somehow have the inherent
ability to traverse Hypertime...
Some new questions and comments:
Why does Hunter think that the Linear Men would try to *destroy* Hypertime
if they were to learn of its existence? They've always been made out as
protectors of what they understood to be linear time. There's really no
reason to think they'd suddenly turn into Hal Jordan upon gaining that
insight... Oh, wait, I may have just answered my own question.
Superman (ours) comes to think that he and Lois have a son, and then he
later learns that the child is Wonder Woman's not Lois's. Any bets that
Superman never again thinks about these possibilities in his own books?
Waid never makes it clear why the artifacts gathered from across Hypertime
are able to hurt Gog. He says that, when removed from their own realities,
they begin to break down the barriers between Kingdoms, but that doesn't
really explain why a gas gun or pistols would be of any use.
Some things seen in Hypertime -- Tangent, the future version of Darkseid
from JLA's "Rock of Ages" story, Superboy and Krypto, Superman Red and
Superman Blue (the Pre-Crisis version), and Supermen from _Superman: The
Dark Side_, _Superman: A Nation Divided_, _Superman & Batman: Generations_,
_Superman: War of the Worlds_, and what I presume to be the upcoming
_Superman: Red Son_.
Kal-L. The implication of the epilogue is that Kal-L, the Earth-2 Superman,
somehow has learned about the existence of Hypertime and can leave his
"prison" any time he wants. What's not so clear is how he would know this,
and how he would have such ability all of a sudden. Regardless, the fact
that stories about the original Superman are suddenly possible again makes
for an interesting future, does it not?
Finally, the art. Zeck's style doesn't grate on me, as Olivetti's did in
the first issue, so I liked the artwork on this book a bit more than the
other. However, there are more recognizable problems -- not much in the way
of backgrounds, sometimes the images become sketchy or distorted, and lines
occasionally become heavy. The art is generally clean and dynamic, so the
problems don't stand out.
So while I think there's a ton of promise in this fascinating new concept
of Hypertime, and while I'm eager to see where DC allows people to go with
the possibility, it seems that the entire purpose of the story was to
reveal this new status quo. In the end, how we got there just didn't live
up to the level of quality that I would expect from a sequel to _Kingdom
Come_.
Jeff Sykes
<sykes@ms.uky.edu>
___________________________________________
MINISERIES (cont):
-----------------
SUPERMAN: THE DOOMSDAY WARS #3 Feb 1999 $4.95 US/$7.95 CAN
"Death"
Writer/Pencil Artist: Dan Jurgens
Finished Ink Artist: Norm Rapmund
Letterer: John Workman
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Separator: Android Images
Assistant Editor: Maureen McTigue
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Cover: Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund
RATINGS
Average: 3.0/5.0 Shields
GR: 3.0 Shields
GN: 3.8 Shields - Not too sure about Brainiac's new body. Would it be
too much to hope this is the last of Doomsday?
JE: 3.3 Shields - The conclusion was just a little too neat for me. The
teleport-tube solution is an open invitation to make Doomsday into
a villain-of-the-month like the Cyborg, and Brainiac was defeated
with far too little panache, although his return to mechanical
life has promise.
TD: 1.5 Shields - Ho-hum. Dumb fight scene and a new reworking of
Brainiac. The purpose of this prestige series was what?
VV: 3.0 Shields - The ending kinda works for me, and having Brainiac back
as a robot/android is yet another nod that sometimes the old
things are the best. The bad thing; Doomsday is going to come back
again; somehow I doubt the LSH would miss something like the
transporter sequencing through eternity.
The life of Pete and Lana Ross' newborn son is on the line. Not only does
Doomsday-Brainiac threaten the baby, but he plans to turn the Earth into a
replica of the cold, mechanized world of Colu. Haunted by memories of past
failures, Superman launches himself into battle a final time. The JLA
struggles to break free of Brainiac's prison as a desperate Pete Ross
sneaks into the laboratory where his child is being held. Will Pete survive
an encounter with the lab's defense systems? Will Superman defeat Doomsday
and rescue baby Ross before the fiend can mutate him into the ultimate
host-body? Will Doomsday finally meet his doom?
Are these trick questions?
We know *what* will happen; the only question is how. Without giving too
much away, I will say that the cavalry rides to the rescue in the nick of
time and our hero finds a rather novel way of containing, if not
destroying, Doomsday. A chapter which begins under a pall of gloom and
despair ends on a bright note that tugs at the heartstrings.
After a rather bumpy takeoff, Dan Jurgens' characterization has finally
smoothed out. There isn't as much to wince at in the dialogue as before,
and the humor Jurgens inserts is a welcome relief to the unremitting
seriousness of the last two chapters. My only quibble with the plot is the
resolution to the extended flashback sequence involving the near-loss of
the Kent farm. I suspect that, had this been a real farm on the auction
block, the mere gift of some cows from the neighbors wouldn't stop the bank
from foreclosing.
As for the art, it's plenty serviceable here. Jurgens isn't a great detail
man, but he doesn't have to be in order to build the suspense and
communicate the emotion his final chapter demands. Once again, I must
commend Gregory Wright on his wonderful colors; they appeal to the kid in
me.
I still have a lot of trouble with Doomsday's ongoing existence. As far as
I'm concerned, this is a character who works better dead... but if he has
to be, I'm sure glad the equally ongoing Man of Steel will always be there
to stop him.
Gary Robinson
<robinfam@akron.infi.net>
==============================================
SUPERMAN AND BATMAN: GENERATIONS #2 Feb 1999 $4.95 US/$7.95 CAN
"1959: Strange Days / 1969: Changing Times"
Writer, Artist, Letterer: John Byrne
Colorist: Trish Mulvihill
Cover Separations: Heroic Age
Interior Separations: Jamison
Assistant Editor: Maureen McTigue
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Cover: John Byrne
RATINGS
Average: 3.6/5.0 Shields
AW: 3.0 Shields
GN: 3.4 Shields - Not as much fun as the first installment, but not a
bad tale overall. Clever ploy by "Joker Jr." Felt like Superman
got slighted in 1969.
JE: 4.0 Shields - While not as good as the last one, Byrne continues to
craft an intriguing and entertaining tale. His art was a little
choppy at times (understandable given his workload), but overall
it was strong and conveyed the styles of the times effectively.
ST: 3.4 Shields
VV: 4.0 Shields - I am enjoying this Elseworlds immensely; the idea of
Superman Jr. turning into a killer and (apparently) being killed
by his own men was not something we would have seen in the Silver
Age; on the other hand, the plot twist regarding the Joker fit
right in.
John Byrne's second foray into the imaginary world where Batman and
Superman are allowed to age is less successful than his first. Unlike last
issue, where he captured nearly perfectly the styles of the '30s and '40s
heroes, Byrne's desire to put his own stylistic mark on these adventures
lets "reality" intrude and sours the stories he tells.
With the launching of Russia's Sputnik in the late '50s, and then the
United States' own planet-orbiting craft, the world's eyes shifted from
earthbound concerns to the stars. Science fiction as we know it today was
born in this era, and it quickly began its influence on the comics of the
time. Batman and Superman were not immune to this; more and more often,
they found themselves fighting off alien invasions, championing the cause
of justice on other worlds, or at the very least battling super-robots here
on their home planet.
It should be no surprise, then, that "Strange Days," which takes place in
1959, begins with Batman attempting to stop... a rampaging house come to
life? It turns out to a machination of Mr. Mxyzptlk, who is engaged in a
contest with Bat-Mite to see whose hero is greater. Ah, but there's more to
it than that. The contest really has been forced on them by aliens, members
of an enslaved race desperately seeking a champion to free them. Now, the
battles against overwhelming magic are true-to-form enough, and the aliens
look like your typical '50s depictions, but Byrne doesn't have as much fun
with the story as he should have.
First of all, the invading aliens gruesomely kill and eat their victims.
Quite graphic for a '50s comic book, especially one that would have had to
been approved by the new Comics Code Authority.
Second, though Superman and Batman cleverly turn the tables on Mxy and
Bat-Mite, I can't believe they wouldn't want to help the enslaved race.
Indeed, the heroes of that era would have found a way to help them. The
final panel also adds a sobering note to the story, as Lex Luthor informs
Joel Kent that his father is Superman. (You may remember that Lois and
Clark hid that from their son so he wouldn't feel inferior because he had
no powers.)
"Changing Times" reflects the era of the late 1960s, when Viet Nam and
psychodelia had a strong influence on the politics, art, music, and some of
the comic books of the period. Truth be told, however, the "social
relevance" movement in comics was limited mostly to undergrounds, with
"Green Lantern/Green Arrow" and the drug-related issues of Spider-Man being
the few mainstream exceptions. Psychodelia and the hippie movement was
relegated largely to Binky and friends (DC's Archie clones), and to Joe
Simon experiments like "Prez" and "Brother Power/The Geek." Through all of
this, Batman and Superman remained largely untouched. Oh -- back in '64,
Batman's costume got a "new look," and the popularity of his TV show
definitely colored the atmosphere of the comic, but it wasn't until the
early '70s, under Denny O'Neil's hand and the startling freshness of Neal
Adams' artwork, that either hero really began to change with the times.
All this is to say that by pulling in Viet Nam and a hipster "Joker Jr.,"
John Byrne is fudging it. Since there's no distinctive "look" to capture,
Byrne is on his own to decide what might have happened with a more
realistic Superman and Batman, and the story is bleak indeed. By the end of
this story, Dick Grayson -- who succeeded Batman -- is killed by the Joker,
to be succeeded in turn by Bruce Wayne Jr. Joel Kent is dead, killed by his
own troops in Viet Nam after pulling off a My Lei-type massacre of North
Vietnamese. Superman's daughter, Kara, is forced to postpone her plans to
wed Bruce, Jr., and Lois finds out she has cancer. Strangely enough,
Superman hasn't aged, though Clark Kent sports gray sideburns. Is Superman
immortal in this Elseworld, fated to watch his friends die of old age while
he carries on?
I've glossed over this second story, first because Superman plays such a
small role in it, and second, because there's not as much to it as the
previous stories. Byrne does add some interesting scenes -- Superman and
the Justice Society refusing President Nixon's request to clear away
protesters or end the war; a retired Bruce Wayne talking to the ghost of
Alfred; the fact that Bruce would willingly use his influence to keep
Bruce, Jr. out of the draft -- but too much goes by without proper
exposition. Is Joel, Jr. really so disturbed by not being super-powered
that he becomes fanatical in Viet Nam? The My Lei situation was complex,
and the psychology of how it happened is still being examined. It deserved
more than two pages.
I don't know what Byrne has in store for the next four decades (the next
two issues). I hope he does more than just throw in more historical events
and kill off familiar characters. This issue was a real downer compared to
the last one, and all I can really do with it is look at the pretty
pictures.
Anatole Wilson
<awilson@us.oracle.com>
___________________________________________
SPECIALS AND GUEST APPEARANCES:
------------------------------
LOTDCU: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1 Feb 1999 $4.95 US/$7.95 CAN
"The Untold Story"
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Penciller: Paul Ryan
Inker: Bob McLeod
Colorist: Tom McCraw
Separator: Digital Chameleon
Letterer: John Costanza
Assistant Editor: L.A. Williams
Editor: Mike Carlin
Cover Painting: Glen Orbik
RATINGS
Average: 4.1/5.0 Shields
RG: 5.0 Shields - Shows what can be done with today's production values.
EM: 5.0 Shields - Marv Wolfman and Paul Ryan turn out some of their best
work in years. I really hope Hypertime allows us to see Earth-D
again.
GN: 3.0 Shields - Nice to see Wolfman on super-hero stuff again, and
while it's a shame Perez wasn't available for the art, Ryan is a
more than acceptable substitute. Not sure this story -- complete
with the PC JLA -- was crying to be told, though.
ST: 3.7 Shields - A good story, but one that ultimately loses its impact
by being too far removed in time from its source material. Also,
the effort to be PC was rather overwhelming at times.
TD: 2.7 Shields - While it was a treat to see a lot of the pre-Crisis
characters again, there was something very hollow-seeming about
it... and the artwork by Paul Ryan didn't help.
If you haven't picked up this book, and ether have or are planning to buy
the _Crisis_ hardcover (or soft if/when available), go buy it now. You may
not have the chance to do so later. I went back and bought two more copies
after reading it. I wasn't alone in doing so. I don't think this story will
be included in the collection, and I suspect you will want it later.
As the story opens, we get a view of the Anti-Monitor and the Psycho Pirate
watching as the Anti-Matter Universe consumes yet another of the many
alternate Earths. We are also briefly introduced to Pariah, who seems to be
cursed to precede the Crisis as it consumes all of the Multi-verses. A
quick scene change takes us to visit Barry and Iris Allen as the Crisis
begins to attack the 30th century of Earth-1.
This is a localized event; Barry deliberately lets go of his control of his
internal vibrations so that he will return to 20th Century Earth-1, so that
he can bring some of his friends back to help him combat the problem.
Instead of appearing there, he finds himself on an alternate Earth he had
never visited before, Earth-D, and he stumbles across the local version of
the Flash. Like all the other alternates, this one also has its versions of
the DCU heroes.
Another scene change takes us to the Earth-D version of the Justice League,
here called the Justice Alliance, and versions of Batman, Robin, Hawkman,
Hawkgirl, and Wonder Woman. Here we really start to see some of the
differences between Earth-D and Earth-1. The heroes are more multi-racial
than on Earth-1, and overall seem better adjusted, and far less violent.
Aquaman looks more fish-like, and J'onn has retained more of his Martian
features. Earth-D doesn't seem to have as many dark overtones as Earth-1,
and as such, the heroes don't have the grim and gritty feel that seems to
have suffused Earth-1 and its (our) heroes. Even Batman is married and has
a life.
Pariah and Lady Quark appear to them, and Pariah lets them in on what is
really happening. The scene shifts again to the Flash, who introduces
himself to the Earth-D Flash and his wife before leaving to meet with the
Justice Alliance in their undersea headquarters.
After introductions, the Crisis comes to Earth-D, and the JAA headquarters
are destroyed. The remaining heroes gather in Superman's (Earth-D)
Fortress, and Pariah goes to Earth-1 to gather our heroes to help in the
battle. As the combined heroes discuss their options, matters are taken out
of their hands, as the Anti-Monitor sends in His Shadows to begin the
battle. The battle is brief and very one-sided, as three of the Earth-D
heroes are killed. We do get to see the origin and brief career of the
Earth-D Green Lantern. The Heroes are losing badly and decide to try to
evacuate the survivors to Earth-1.
The evacuation is going smoothly until the Anti-Monitor abducts Barry, and
the Earth-1 heroes are sent back. Instead of getting to Earth-1, however,
they appear somewhere else with a collection of the heroes of Earth-1 and
Earth-2. The story continues in the regular _Crisis_ limited series.
Whew. If you've been reading comics for long enough to remember the
_Crisis_ books when they originally came out, you know what I mean. This
story fits seamlessly between issues 4 and 5 of the original _Crisis_,
except for the appearance of Barry Allen who died at the end of issue 2.
With all the time hopping going on, that didn't concern me much.
If memory serves me correctly, Crisis was the first major DCU crossover
event. In my humble opinion, it was also the best. It served to reboot the
DCU into what we have today. While it's true that some are still arguing
whether this was a good thing or not, there is no doubt that this was a
significant change in the direction of the DCU, doing away with much of the
fractured continuity and allowing the building of a more internally
consistent history. Did it really need the reboot? Opinions vary, but as a
fan of both pre- and post-Crisis stories, I find the later ones to be more
interesting and consistent.
One of the many things that I miss from the pre-Crisis days of the DCU are
the annual crossover stories of the JLA (Earth-1) and JSA (Earth-2). These
stories served to show many of the changes that occurred in the type of
stories that were told between the Golden Age (Earth-2) and the Silver Age
(Earth-1).
The Golden Age showed the heroes as fighting evils that people could
understand and relate to, be it WWII, the Cold War, or organized crime. The
Silver age, in the early days of the space race, showed a slightly less
optimistic view, and more of the technological fantastic. It was full of
alien beings and civilizations, lost races, and other dimensions. Even the
most down to Earth heroes, Batman and Robin had many adventures on other
planets.
Viewed this way, the Crisis is really (for the most part) the dawning of
the 'modern' age DCU. While it is internally more consistent, showing a
real progression and history from the Golden age, to Silver, to modern, we
miss seeing the differences between them.
The current DCU is a mostly dark and grim place. The heroes approach the
evils that surround them in an ever more violent manner. Following the
pattern out a few years brings us to the world of _Kingdom Come_. While
logical and consistent, I'm not sure if I want to see it continue this way.
However, considering the recent revelations of _The Kingdom_, this may be
changing. Who knows, I may get to have the best of all (DCU) worlds.
The art in this book is striking. I can think of no better word. Many of
the elements of the original Crisis (1985) stories are present. In fact
some of the pages are nearly identical to ones that were presented in the
original series. I have little doubt that this is deliberate, but what I
liked best was the use of current production techniques and a better
quality paper to better show the art. Overall, this book has everything I
like; clean, crisp foreground characters, nicely detailed backgrounds,
excellent perspectives, and wonderful reproduction.
Rene Gobeyn
<bedlam@frontiernet.net>
==============================================
SUPERMAN: A NATION DIVIDED Feb 1999 $4.95 US/$7.95 CAN
Writer: Roger Stern
Artist: Eduardo Barreto
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Color and Seps: Chris Chuckry
Asst. Editor: Maureen McTigue
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Cover: Eduardo Barreto
RATINGS
Average: 3.7/5.0 Shields
GN: 4.0 Shields
JE: 3.5 Shields - Quite an entertaining story, but I thought the Super
Cowboy at the end was a little much.
JSy: 4.0 Shields - Barreto's art is positively beautiful, and Stern gives
us a well-told story. The real twist sets up a sequel which could
be even more interesting.
SDM: 3.0 Shields - A lot of research went into this, and Roger's use of
historical figures is very well done. I want to know what would
have happened in the long run to an America strengthened by a
Superman tempering the reconstruction and the march to the Pacific.
ST: 3.8 Shields
What difference can one man -- even a Superman -- make? Quite a bit in this
Elseworlds story, the latest in what has been a pretty good year for
Superman prestige format books. Set in the Civil War, _Superman: A Nation
Divided_ begins with young Pvt. Atticus Kent -- a soldier in the Union Army
-- on the march to face the forces of the Confederacy. His abilities only
hinted at earlier in his life, Atticus begins to fully discover the power
at his disposal when he takes a Rebel cannonball in the chest. Atticus
angrily tears into the Rebel soldiers, leading the Union troops into
Vicksburg, where he captures Confederate General Pemberton.
Atticus is soon brought to the attention of Union Generals Grant and
Sherman, who quickly put their new secret weapon to work. Atticus
eventually discovers his powers of heat vision and flight and adds them to
the Union arsenal. Following his meeting with an amazed President Lincoln
and Frederick Douglass, Atticus is sent into the battle at Gettysburg.
Flying into the fray, Atticus -- much to Custer's chagrin -- captures the
Rebel General J.E.B. Stuart and unceremoniously deposits him into Custer's
custody. Pressing on, he captures General Lee and forces him to give the
surrender order to his troops. With his later capture of Confederate
President Jefferson Davis, the Union soon achieves victory.
The nation now at peace, Atticus is invited to accompany President and Mrs.
Lincoln on a fateful trip to Ford's Theater, where his hearing alerts him
to John Wilkes Booth's attempt to assassinate Lincoln. After saving
Lincoln, Atticus takes to the task of organizing a "secret service" to
protect the president and serving the presidency in other matters.
Several weeks after Lincoln is sworn in for his second term, Atticus Kent
-- now a major -- learns that his mother is ill and flies to her bedside.
After her death, Atticus' father reveals that Atticus isn't his natural
son, and describes how he discovered a baby in "a big, metal egg" that fell
from the sky. When Atticus uncovers the now-buried egg, a hologram of
Jor-El appears. Describing the destruction of Krypton, the hologram tells
how Jor-El and Lara sent their only son to Earth -- where he intended a far
different fate for his son than what developed. Molding the remains of the
metal egg into a robotic horse, Atticus leaves the President's service and
heads out west to find his destiny.
I am never certain about Elseworlds tales that take Superman too far from
his science fiction roots, but any reservations I might have had about this
setting were quickly dispelled. In lesser hands, this might have
degenerated into the story of a Superman single-handedly pounding the
"evil" South into submission and winning the Civil War. Writer Roger Stern
-- a veteran of the Superman titles whose work has been missed on the
monthlies -- and artist Eduardo Barreto have crafted a thoughtful tale in
this Elseworlds. Stern is careful to create a background for Atticus'
character and attitudes, so that his later actions are no surprise.
Throughout the story, Atticus acts to minimize the loss of life even as he
fights for a Union victory, and is a warrior who regrets the deaths of
those opponents who he still sees as fellow Americans.
One complaint oft expressed regarding Superman Elseworlds is that Kal-El
always reverts to heroic type regardless of his upbringing (e.g. being
raised on Apokolips as in _Superman: The Dark Side_) and acts to preserve
human life. I'm not sure that's a flaw. If you're going to do a story about
a super-powered madman, tyrant or murderer, why bother using the Superman
character at all? Just do a story featuring someone else.
Bowing to what would have been the chief form of communication of the day,
Stern cleverly moves the story along in the form of letters written by
those involved in the tale; most of these are Atticus', but others include
generals from both sides in the conflict. The technique -- the same used in
the recent maxi-series _The Kents_ -- allows the characters to express
views that might not have been portrayed as effectively otherwise. In his
correspondence, Custer laments the loss of personal glory in the wake of
this flying soldier -- an insight that might not have been expressed as
well through simple dialogue.
While clearly portraying Atticus' heroism, Stern is careful not to demonize
the Confederacy or its soldiers, acknowledging that many in the Union Army
also did not think much of their "Negro brothers."
Other than a Jeremiah Olsen and Ma and Pa Kent, the story relies for the
most part on historical figures of the period rather than trying to
shoehorn roles for members of Superman's familiar supporting cast, and the
story is better for it. I am glad I did not have to see, say, Lois Lane the
war correspondent who falls in love with the super-soldier, or Lex Luthor
the arms merchant who supplies both the Union and the Confederacy. Besides,
the ending leaves the door wide open for a sequel, and the creative team
richly deserves the opportunity to revisit this particular Superman and his
legend.
Never considered a terribly flashy or dynamic artist, Barreto is a solid
craftsman whose work is perfectly suited for this tale and the period in
which it is set. Further, his variation on the familiar red "S" symbol --
with a smaller "U" and "A" on either side -- represents an interesting
twist on this well-known emblem. The cover -- showing the shadowed Atticus
in battle with the modified chest emblem highlighted -- is particularly
effective.
G.M. Nelson
<KALEL224@aol.com>
___________________________________________
SPECIALS AND GUEST APPEARANCES (cont):
-------------------------------------
SUPERMAN 80-PAGE GIANT #1 Feb 1999 $4.95 US/$7.95 CAN
Color Separations: Digital Chameleon
Assistant Editor: Maureen McTigue
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Cover: Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, and Patrick Martin
RATINGS
Average: 2.6/5.0 Shields
TD: 3.0 Shields
EM: 2.0 Shields - Some stories are fun, but save your money because the
bad outweighs the good. Do we need another Scorn story in an
80-page giant dedicated to the S-man?
JE: 3.4 Shields - Enjoyable overall, but I especially liked the Six-Pack
segment. I'll admit my appreciation is a bit colored by the fact
that Mr. Nelson used the unfinished pencils of this story to give
me a lesson in comic book storytelling, not to mention the almost
illegally hilarious script that Ennis wrote.
VV: 2.5 Shields - Good Scorn story, okay Mxy story (loved the Batman
reference), very good Captain Tomorrow story (Superman looks
really good here). Others... eh - especially the Deception and
Sixpack stories.
I wonder why, outside nostalgia, the 80-Page Giant has returned. In its
year-long re-introduced existence, this format has fallen into the patterns
that demanded the re-organization of the annual system that brought it back
in the first place: it has become a repository for questionable stories and
fill-ins, a place to dump stuff that might otherwise not be seen. And, not
surprisingly, the results are uneven.
In this $5.00 book, we have a couple of relatively unmemorable pieces, a
well-intentioned mediocrity, two attempts at humor -- one of which is
hilariously successful, the other of which falls flat on its face, a
surprisingly well-written character study, and a story whose only purpose
of being is to take advantage of computer coloring methods. In order, the
stories are:
"Big Name"
Writer: Mike W. Barr
Penciller: Norm Breyfogle
Inker: Brett Breeding
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak
Colorist: Joe Rosas
1.5 Shields
The first of two stories by Barr, this is the sort of cliche-ridden thing
that seemed to plague the Super titles at the very end of their pre-Crisis
existence. But then, as we're about to see, this is typical of the book.
This is more the story of Alya, the cartoon Russian shill (replete with
'vat' and 'da' dialogue) of a female crime boss called the Tsarina. When
Alya needlessly pulls the plug on one of the Tsarina's safe cracking
operations, he is mocked so badly he vows to kill Superman. Alya's first
attempt comes at another heist -- a heist Superman is clued in on by the
Tsarina herself -- where the guy buries Supes in cement. Not surprisingly,
that doesn't work, and he becomes more of a laughing stock, prompting Alya
to utilize a set of nesting dolls to summon a family of demons to clean the
Man of Steel's clock. Unfortunately for Alya, Supes figures out a way to
defeat the demons that bodes badly for him....
At eleven pages, this is a prime idiot plot that could've worked with any
super-hero stretched out needlessly. There are a few moments that happen
*only* because if they didn't, the story would stop dead (primarily the
Tsarina telling on her crew -- there is no explanation as to why, or for
that matter why Clark naturally assumes this is a Russian Mafia operation
and not a freelance crime boss). Norm Breyfogle's art is fairly good,
although I wonder why the 'demons' summoned by the nesting dolls seem
Amerind in design. I wonder if we were supposed to feel for Alya, because
if we were supposed to, it certainly didn't work.
"Too Close to Home"
Writer: Danny Fingeroth
Artist: Bob McLeod
Letterer: Lois Buhalis
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
2.3 Shields
This story, like the one before it, seems more pre-Crisis than anything
else. It's also the product of one of the few comic writers I hold in less
esteem than Dan Jurgens, Danny Fingeroth (who, to be fair, wrote the
outstanding _Spider-Man_ #400). Yet while Fingeroth's mediocrity shines
through, it's not that terrible and ends up being one of the highlights of
the book.
Clark Kent is suddenly worried about a comic strip called Captain Tomorrow,
in which a staff artist for The Daily Criterion is secretly Cosmopolis'
greatest hero. Captain Tomorrow, while only being published in the Planet
for a month, has become wildly popular -- so popular a child mistakes Supes
for the comic strip hero after a rescue! Clark confronts the aged artist,
suspecting there's something fishy going on, but he discovers as Superman
that the reason for these parallels is actually a lot more mundane -- the
cartoonist was a super-hero in the 40s called the Crimson Comet, and is
reliving his glory days through the strip.
Now, the dialogue is corny, the story fairly predictable once it's on the
rails, but Fingeroth's good intentions do allow us to forgive a lot. It
also helps that Fingeroth has Bob McLeod doing pencils. McLeod is one of
those artists, like _Astro City_'s Brent Anderson, who excels at doing
distinctive human faces -- which makes him perfect for this story. The
animatedness of the cartoonist in the story is truly wonderful, and his
Lois is dynamic.
"Too Close to Home" could've been a lot worse -- luckily, Fingeroth hit
upon the right voice, and he had the right artist for the task. The results
are entertaining, if not exactly groundbreaking.
"The Adventures of Scorn"
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Penciller: Ron Wagner
Inker: Brett Breeding
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
3.5 Shields
And speaking of Dan Jurgens.....
Now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel of Jurgens' dominance
of the Supes franchise, he pulls another excellent story out of his hat,
proving he *can* write well if he wants to. Basically, Scorn is working as
a hot dog vendor, reflecting on his life while being more and more
humiliated. An encounter with a homeless man and the unassuming robber
called The Banker Bandit gives the Man from Kandor hope in his present
situation.
Jurgens, apparently remembering that Scorn is educated, just incapable of
speaking English well, writes a fairly strong interior monologue about how
different his life is here on Earth. As expected, there is the typical
clunky dialogue (the line revealing how Ashbury figured out her assailant
is the Banker Bandit is a particular howler), but it never detracts from
what is a strong portrait of Scorn's growing struggle to stay in our world.
Ron Wagner, who so disappointed in last year's _Genesis_ miniseries, gives
the story a very professional veneer -- in fact, there seems to be a strong
Jurgens influence in this story's art as well, and it works well.
My only question is -- why couldn't this story have been integrated into
the main books? It handily explains Scorn's disappearance that's alluded to
in recent issues. That question aside, "The Adventures of Scorn" is one of
Jurgens better stories, right up there with his origin recap in the first
_Superman Secret Files_.
"The Doors of Deception"
Writer: John Rozum
Artist: John McCrea
Letters: Pat Prentice
Colors: Felix Serrano
0.2 Shields
Lois, Clark and Jimmy are visiting a Luthor-sponsored Science and
Technology Expo. The weird lights on the Ferris Wheel cause everyone but
Superman and some thugs to fall asleep. Superman stops the thugs, then gets
into a fight with The Utopian, a guy who looks like a Samoan in a freaky
suit. The Utopian can (get this) 'change his mind' and send Supes on a bad
trip, man. But Supes defeats the villain, and all is right in the world.
Forget about the worst story in this annual; this is among the worst
stories *ever* written about Superman. This is the sort of thing I recall
reading in _Action Comics_ in the 70s, complete with its throwaway villain,
pseudo-hippie talk about drugs, and total lack of characterization. I'd
almost say Joe McCrea was totally unsuited to draw the Action Ace as well,
if not for his exceptional job on _Hitman_ #34 (*The best* Superman story
I've read in a while). Trees died for this story....
"Prime Time"
Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Artist: Graham Higgins
Letterer: Phil Felix
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
1.0 Shields
Lois and Clark are at home watching TV. Mr. Mxyzptlk shows up and projects
them into a bunch of parodies of TV shows. Why? I dunno -- to take up ten
pages?
Extremely unfunny. I expected a bit more from Abnett and Lanning. The only
thing that saves it from being the worst thing in the book is that it
follows "Doors of Perception." That, and a mildly amusing usage of the
line, "He's done something to me, hasn't he?" Next!
"How to Be A Super-Hero"
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Nelson
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti
Letters: Clem Robins
Colors: Pam Rambo
3.9 Shields
In what has to be the most bizarre story of this annual, Sixpack from
_Hitman_ passes out in a drunken stupor and dreams he goes out on patrol
with Superman. Actually, SixPack kind of goes on a rampage and Supes does
spin control, all the while lecturing this drunken
mental-patient-who-thinks-he's-a-super-hero on what being a super hero
really means.
This could've gone wrong so many ways -- but surprisingly, Ennis makes it
work. Part of the reason is that, even though it is clearly a parody, Ennis
never loses sight of who Superman is. The Man of Steel never is held up for
ridicule, he never comes off as a joke -- the humor comes entirely from the
contrast between 'what it takes to be a super-hero' and SixPack's insane
drunken idea of what it takes. On top of that, we get to see Doomsday used
as a punchline to a joke that works (unlike in "Prime Time"), and a very,
very nice art job by Nelson and Jimmy Palmiotti which is strongly
reminiscent of MAD magazine.
Even though it has no right to be, "How to Be A Super-Hero" is, along with
"The Adventures of Scorn," the best story in the annual. Hey, where else
are you going to find Luthor being called a "multinational bag o' sick,"
and Superman trying to explain to someone why burning Stryker Island down
*isn't* a good thing.
"Night of the Unstoppable Solvent"
Writer: Mike W. Barr
Penciller: William Rosado
Inker: Brett Breeding
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Joe Rosas
1.5 Shields
We start the book where we began, with another archaic-feeling tale. Supes
investigates a bridge collapse and finds out that S.T.A.R. Labs'
experiments with a universal solvent for rescue workers works *too* well,
and is cutting a swath through Metropolis. Superman tracks the liquid,
acting as troubleshooter for certain disasters, before sending the solvent
out into space, where it can't hurt anyone.
As with "Big Name," "Night of the Unstoppable Solvent" is very cliched --
we've got a busload of cheerleaders who do an impromptu routine for
Superman after they're saved, a child crying for her teddy bear after Supes
rescues her, homeless people living in the sewers, and other staples of
lame comic book writing. And Rosado's pencils are not as engaging as
Breyfogle's. After some of the dreadful stuff preceding it, it's hard to
generate enough venom for this story -- but it's hard to generate much
enthusiasm either.
*********
So what do we have? One exceptional character study. One genuinely humorous
humor story. A story that works in spite of its mediocre writing and is
touching. Two very unremarkable stories from a writer who should know
better. A wretched comedy piece. And a truly awful super-hero yarn with
little in the way of rhyme or reason.
Why am I summarizing again -- because of these eighty pages, only thirty
are worth reading. And I cannot see paying $4.95 for thirty pages of good
stuff and fifty pages of mediocrity. This 80-Page Giant is a boondoggle, to
say the least, and the publishers are going to have to do something to
either lower the price (I'd pay less for newsprint) or junk this experiment
for something else. Because right now, this t'aint working.
Thomas Deja
<tdj723webtv.net>
==============================================
HITMAN #34 Feb 1999 $2.50 US/$3.95 CAN
"Of Thee I Sing"
Writer: Garth Ennis
Penciller: John McCrea
Inker: Leach
Letterer: Pat Prentice
Colorist: Feeny
Separator: Heroic Age
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover: John McCrea
RATINGS
Average: 3.7/5.0 Shields
TD: 4.5 Shields
GN: 2.6 Shields - Not a bad story overall, but it's hard to believe
Superman would have opened up like this to a complete stranger.
JE: 4.6 Shields - This utterly superb story gave us something we rarely
ever see; a Superman who failed. We learn that Superman is his own
harshest critic and also see how he is viewed by some of DC's more
'fringe' characters.
JSy: 3.0 Shields - I was completely enthralled with this story through
page 18, but the last few pages just ruined the whole book for me.
Wow.
I just keep reading this book, arguably the best Superman story I've read
in months, again and again. A wonderfully simple story about the 'idea' of
Superman, it may have been overlooked by a lot of people who mistakenly
believe that _Hitman_ is good only for jokes of a questionable nature.
Tommy Monaghan, the metahuman Hitman, is sitting on the rooftop of a
Cauldron building, reading an article about the Man of Steel when he
discovers Superman himself brooding. The two converse, and Tommy learns why
Big Blue is here: earlier in the evening, Supes went to aid a space shuttle
disaster. He saved the bulk of the astronauts, but not the one he
discovered trapped under the floorboards of the landing bay seconds before
the shuttle exploded. Depressed that he let this man down and violated
certain principles he's been trying to uphold, Superman doesn't know what
to do.
Tommy is thunderstruck, not believing the Man of Steel is hurting because
he cannot live up to the ideals people hold about him. He then explains his
view of what Superman means: Superman is the ultimate representation of the
immigrant experience, a man who put aside his culture to become an American
and help others. Tommy points out a numbers runner across the street and
explains that even though this man shows that America is not yet the
greatest country on the world, people like Superman show that there's
always a chance, "...A chance to be somebody, and yeah, even a chance we
can be saved. An' if a chance is all we can hope for, well, maybe that
ain't so bad."
These words are enough to bring Superman out of his funk. After signing an
autograph for Tommy, he thanks him and flies off -- allowing Tommy to
finally carry out his mission and kill the numbers runner.
This story works on so many levels. It even works as a part of the
'Superman Rex' storyline while standing on its own. Ennis has Superman's
character down pat, portraying him as a decent human being without being
just a cardboard cut-out. Some of the best moment are the small ones: Supes
waving away Tommy's embarrassment at swearing in front of him with a
knowing, "just us boys" smile; Superman considering Tommy's belief that
Batman "should take a vacation"; explaining that he has no objections to
smoking, but wishing Tommy would realize what he's doing to himself. All
these moments seem organicly a part of Supes' nature, and they never seem
forced. Under Ennis' pen, Big Blue does come off the most unbelievably cool
guy, a man aware of his celebrity, but not allowing it to interfere with
his inherently stand-up nature.
I'm also struck by the way Ennis handles Hitman himself. By making the star
of the book tongue-tied and self-conscious at first, Ennis drives home the
impact of having someone like Superman in your world.
I know John McCrea's art isn't for everyone -- its exaggerated figures and
cartoony details may gall those who prefer a more representational art
style -- but for this story, which is primarily two people taking, it is
excellent. McCrea enjoys using shadows to emphasize mood, and he takes full
advantage of the setting and the mood of the story to pull out all the
stops. After his poor performance in this month's _Superman 80-Page Giant_,
I wasn't sure McCrea could handle a Superman story. He's still not
appropriate for every story, but for this one he is spot on.
"Of Thee I Sing" takes two characters, plops them down side by side, and
manages to show us more about the Man of Steel than a number of triangle
titles ... which is why, in my opinion, it's one of my favorite Superman
stories of the year.
Thomas Deja
<tdj723@webtv.net>
___________________________________________
AFTER-BYRNE: Reviews of the post-Crisis Man of Steel
------------------------------------------------------------
MANUSCRIPTS OF STEEL
------------------------------
Reviews of After-Byrne Superman Special Stories
by Denes House (househld@borg.com)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL ANNUAL #3
"Unforgiven"
Written by Priest
Art by M.D. Bright and Curt A. Shoultz
Colored by Glenn Whitmore
Cover byMike Mignola
1994
Squarebound Format, $2.95 US/$4.00 CAN
Rating:
3.5/5.0 Shields
--------------------------------------------------------
Will Kal-El commit genocide in order to free the Earth from the oppressive
rule of its Kryptonian overlords? That's the kind of question that could
only be asked in an Elseworlds tale, and as with the other Superman Annuals
during the 1994 Elseworlds-themed summer, _Superman: The Man of Steel
Annual_ #3 is a good, solid read.
Before I go too far into this review, let me apologize for the absence of
this column for the past few months. Work and family issues have kept me
from having much spare time, necessitating a hiatus. I think I'm back on
track for a while, and I thank you for your patience.
"Unforgiven" opens with an aged Batman breaking into a complex facility
(the text calls it an "old construction depot," but the visuals are clearly
an aircraft carrier). He's stealing blueprints marked "climate purif.." As
he leaves the way he came in, Team Luthor is waiting for him, hovering on
flying platforms. Batman grins and sets off explosives that startle Team
Luthor long enough for Batman to dive into the water and emerge strapped to
a giant rocket-pack that he flies to a remote island covered with a large
facility.
On the roof of one of the buildings, Lex Luthor himself (the red-bearded
Lex Luthor II) confronts Batman, who struggles mightily before being
subdued and beaten unconscious by Luthor. High above, a flying stranger
wonders at Bruce Wayne's persistence in fighting the "cueballs."
The flying man zooms to the mainland and enters a tall building. He is the
son of Jor-El. A Jor-El that appears to him via a viewscreen! It is the
23rd year of the Kryptonian occupation of Earth. Kal-El, born on this
planet after his father's plan saved 100,000 Kryptonians (selected by
University scores) to start a new life on Earth. They were chased off their
own planet by a deadly microbe plague, spawned by Krypton's clone wars.
Earth, according to Jor-El, was the only planet in the galaxy whose
atmosphere provided a counteragent for the deadly plague.
Now Kal is 23 years old, and has been primarily raised by an elderly human
couple, the Kents, due to Kryptonians' distaste for physical contact. The
human-influenced Kal has been stealing out to observe Bruce Wayne's
activities -- fascinated by him and his war against the "cueballs" -- Kal's
people, the Kryptonians, led by Jor-El.
Kal is upset by certain facets of the Kryptonian occupation, and confronts
Jor-El. Why had they virtually enslaved humanity by becoming their absolute
rulers, monitoring their lives with an armored police force and
surveillance equipment? Why, if their reign was benevolent and
compassionate, was there a vital Free Earth movement seeking to overthrow
the Kryptonians? Why, if all this was true, did Batman endure endless
beatings and prison escapes to stop the cueballs' rule?
Jor-El arrogantly labels Wayne insane, and muses that were it not for the
Kryptonians' moral objections to killing, Wayne would have been dealt with
long ago. Jor-El reveals that he knows Kal-El has been sneaking out, and
indicates that it would be embarrassing to him if Kal continued that
behavior.
When young Kal-El returns to his quarters, his mother informs him via
viewscreen that the Kents have been reassigned, and that she has conveyed
his gratitude to them for their assistance. Kal finds a contraband gift
from "Ma & Pa" -- a paper copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel "to help you make
up your mind..." about things. Kal decides to go visit Wayne in prison.
"Why do you struggle against the Kryptonian system, particularly when it
costs you so much?" Wayne glares at the young man with his intense eyes and
answers, "You know."
Kal has difficulty sleeping that night, and is roused by an alert on the
vid-screen, Batman has escaped! Jor-El reluctantly authorizes any necessary
force to stop Wayne. Kal knows where Wayne will head, and streaks off
towards the island facility Bruce had been aiming for when he was last
caught.
Kal bursts in to find Batman working at some equipment. Why is he so
interested in a climate purification plant? Especially when Team Luthor is
headed there authorized to use deadly force? Batman tosses Kal a duffel bag
-- "Brought you a present. I'm slowing down, Kal-El. I'm tired. Now, it's
YOUR TURN." Luthor arrives at that moment, and despite Kal's protection,
threatens Batman. "Pay attention son," Wayne warns, "today it's me --
tomorrow it's YOU." Luthor fires, and in a flash of light, Batman is gone.
Kal wrestles over what to do. Later, at the Kryptonian control center,
Jor-El is startled to see the lights go out in the capital city!
Kal-El, using the gift Bruce had given him, a brightly-colored costume and
cape, has become a freedom fighter on behalf of the humans of Earth. When
he discovers that the "climate purifying plant" is really the only thing
keeping the Kryptonians on Earth alive by pumping plague antigens into the
air, will he commit genocide by destroying the plant in order to free the
humans of Earth?
This is a very interesting story, asking the question -- what if many more
Kryptonians survived the planet's demise? Others have written stories with
that theme before -- including a story by John Byrne in the regular
_Superman_ title (illustrated beautifully by Mike Mignola -- this book's
cover artist) but this is a good entry in that line of stories.
Priest weaves a convincing tale. His Batman is scary and just this side of
insane; his Kal-El is naive and idealistic; his Jor-El cold and arrogant.
The moral dilemma he presents Superman is a good one, and the choice Kal
makes is well told. Priest weaves many traditional Superman elements into
this Elseworld -- Lois, Lex, Kryptonite, the Kents, his Clark Kent identity
and glasses, the costume -- and does it all in a very logical way.
The Clark/Lois romance that develops is not all that convincing, and
Luthor's place in the story is confusing, but those elements are really
peripheral to the central story.
I've been a fan of Mark Bright's since his days on _Iron Man_ (he created
the red-and-silver armor that is still my favorite...) and he comes through
in fine form here. The inks by Curt Shoultz are blocky and murky, but
Bright's dynamic and unique style shines through.
No matter how good the internal art is, however, the cover by Mike Mignola
makes your mouth water for what might have been. Mignola's covers for this
series of annuals are incredible, and almost unfair to the artists who do
the interiors.
Capsule review:
Story: Solid tale, engaging and entertaining. Some side points are
confusing, but the central moral dilemma is a good one, worthy of Superman.
3.0 Shields out of 5.
Art: Mark Bright is an excellent artist and does some good work here. Murky
inks don't help, but a dazzling cover more than makes up for it. 4.0
Shields out of 5.
Overall: 3.5 Shields out of 5.
___________________________________________
SUPERMAN STORIES
------------------------------------------
By Sean Hogan (shogan@intergate.bc.ca)
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is undoubtedly the most famous of the Superman supporting cast.
Lois was introduced at the same time as Superman -- in _Action Comics_ #1,
as a feisty, strong-willed reporter who writes "sob stories" for the paper.
She can't stand her co-worker Clark Kent because, as she tells him, "you're
a spineless, unbearable coward!"
Lois' character and personality changed during the following years -- for
the worse. She was a character (and often a caricature) driven by
compulsions: to wed Superman and to prove that Clark was Superman (both
usually by way of trickery). Lois was a petty, shallow person for most of
these stories. The personalities of most comic book characters in the
Golden Age and Silver Age were story-driven. Since many of the stories had
the same points told and re-told in different tales, those characteristics
were reinforced over and over. It wasn't until the later issues of her own
comic, _Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane_ that the writers began to develop
her as a passionate, intelligent, well-rounded person.
When John Byrne re-started the Superman continuity he drew much of his
inspiration from the original tales by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The
current incarnation of Lois Lane owes much to the original. She is updated,
so that she isn't just a 'girl reporter' stuck doing 'sob stories', but she
retains the spark and spirit seen in the very first Superman stories.
We meet Lois in the first issue of the _Man Of Steel_ miniseries when Clark
rescues the space-plane, Constitution.
Lois' first words to her saviour are: "Hold it right there, buster!!!"
Clark finds himself unable to leave -- "She's ... I don't know ... not as
beautiful as a movie star, but she has ... a quality. Something I've never
seen in any other woman. Almost a fire in those big, dark eyes. For just a
moment it seemed as if something passed between us. A spark." The meeting
is brief, as Clark flees the mob that surrounds them.
The miniseries quickly establishes Lois' character as resourceful,
ambitious, uncompromising, highly principled, and attractively feminine. In
one issue, she fakes an accident so that Superman will save her and allow
her to get an exclusive interview. In a later issue, when Luthor brags
about the expensive dress he bought for her as a present, she tells Luthor
off and strips out of her dress to storm out, covered only by Clark's
jacket.
Byrne provided more background on Lois in _The World Of Metropolis_
miniseries. Lois is the focus of the second issue, which starts with her
daring rescue of her sister Lucy's dog. Lois talks about her relationship
with her father -- "He never could get used to the idea of his firstborn
being a girl. He wanted a son so badly he tried everything he could to turn
me into one." When Lucy asks if Lois will ever forgive him, she replies,
"He'll have to forgive himself first."
Lois then reminisces about her getting the job at the Planet. The brash
15-year-old marched up to Managing Editor Perry White to announce that she
plans to be "the best darn reporter this paper has ever had." She even
claims to be 19, until Lucy finks on her. When Perry kicks her out, Lois'
reaction is "I DON'T BELIEVE IT! Doesn't he know what a chance he's passing
up on here??"
That night, Lois sneaks out of the army base where she and her family live
and heads back to Metropolis. Determined to prove her worth, she decides to
get some dirt on Lex Luthor for the paper. She manages to scale the outside
of the building (literally, by climbing up a statue to get to a window
washer's platform) and is able to steal some papers from Luthor's desk
before she gets caught.
Ever resourceful, Lois still manages to sneak out a piece of paper by
hiding it in her mouth. The next day, she returns to the Planet to show
Perry the paper and convinces him to hire her.
The _Man Of Steel_ miniseries sets up Lois' relationship with Clark Kent.
After all her work to get the exclusive interview with Superman, she finds
out that she has been scooped by the Planet's newest reporter. In issue #4
she reminds the "swine" that it has been "seventeen months, two weeks, four
days and an odd number of hours" since he scooped her. In issue #5 she
reveals that for "five years I've been dreaming of being kissed by
Superman."
Lois' attitude to Clark is softening by the time the regular series begins.
In _Superman_ #1, she says, "Don't be cute Kent. You're hard enough to
resist without those puppy-dog looks," but adds, "Denial builds character
and I'm gonna be denying you for a loooong time." Clark, determined to win
her as himself (not as Superman), takes heart when she calls him a weasel
because, "I consider that up a step up from swine."
One of the frustrations of watching Lois' relationship with Clark is that
it often falls into the background as a sub-plot -- with most of the issue
being taken up by the 'fight of the week' syndrome.
To my mind, the worst example of this was when Clark revealed his secret
identity to Lois in _Action Comics_ #662. The cover shows a shocked Lois
holding Clark's glasses (which reflect him opening his shirt to reveal his
costume) with the words "At Long Last - The Secret Revealed!" The majority
of the issue involves a fight between Superman and the Silver Banshee. It's
only in the last three pages that the two sit down and talk, and only on
the last page that Clark bares his big red "S".
In the following issue, _Superman_ #53, a stunned Lois asks for some time
to think things through. The rest of that issue has Superman in another
fight. The following issues send him bouncing through time in the "Time And
Time Again" arc. When he finally returns in _Action Comics_ #661, the two
carry on their relationship almost as if nothing had happened. It's poor
storytelling to have important developments of characters or their
relationships glossed over in the cracks between slugfests.
Once in a while, we do get a story that focuses on the characters, rather
than the action. My favorite Lois and Clark story is _Adventures of
Superman_ #525. Lois catches up with Clark and his parents after the fight
with Conduit. Lois convinces him that "under that costume, you're Clark
Kent -- you'll always be Clark Kent. You can't live without him ... and
neither can I!" (I choose to ignore that current arc where Superman seems
to have forgotten this lesson).
The story by Karl Kesel showcases the best of Lois -- her determination to
catch up to the Kent motorhome (by travelling at 137 mph), treating the
police pursuit as an escort. Her indignation at her ticket. Her joy at
finding the Kents. The intelligent way she proves why he needs to be Clark.
Due to the well rounded character with which Byrne started and the tendency
of later stories to forego character development in favour of action, Lois
really hasn't changed a great deal since the _Man Of Steel_ miniseries. The
main change has been the slow development from hating Clark Kent, to
becoming romantically involved with him, and finally to becoming his
partner and wife.
Almost all of the other tales involving Lois draw from her characterization
in the early stories. Even the much deplored "Commando Lois" from the
Honeymoon arc is consistent with the 15 year old who risked life and limb
to sneak into Luthor's complex.
Another example of "Commando Lois" is the 1990 Roger Stern story,
"Survival", from _Action Comics_ #655. Dressed in camouflage, Lois follows
army munitions thieves, even jumping atop their moving van and clinging to
the roof until reaching their hideout.
Captured, Lois fakes an injury to overcome a soldier and escape with his
rifle -- only to be caught again when she decides to try and capture the
rebel leader. Although Superman comes to her rescue, it's Lois who disarms
and captures the leader and holds the bad guys at gunpoint until the army
arrives. When Perry is ordered by the Army to classify part of Lois' story,
she has no fear of confronting Perry over the censorship. The issue ends on
a softer note as Clark picks up Lois for breakfast and receives a kiss on
the cheek from Lois as thanks.
In this story, Lois is commando, reporter, girlfriend -- and in character.
In my opinion, the only storyline that isn't true to Lois' character is
"The Engagement Is Off" storyline. If there is one trait of Lois'
established since the re-boot in 1986, it's that she doesn't give up. While
her motivation for the breakup is never very clear, certainly the hints of
jealousy, insecurity, and the inability to accept Clark's duties as
Superman are not characteristic of Lois.
My suggestion is for readers to completely ignore the breakup (except for
the fun Mxyzptlk had trying to reunite the two). Repeat after me: "With
Hypertime, anything is possible." :-) At least things were quickly set to
right with the wedding.
For those interested in stories focusing on Lois, you can also pick up the
trade paperback collections, _Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of
Superman_ (featuring a number of classic and just darn good stories) and
_Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite_ (featuring Lois' family as well as her
engagement to Clark).
Before I go, I want to correct an error in my article on Batman where I
wrote, "Despite several appearances by Batman in the Super-titles, Superman
has only made one appearance in the Bat-titles. The story in _The Batman
Chronicles_ #7 is even written by Super-scribe Jerry Ordway."
Several people corrected me, including Douglas Ethington, who wrote: "This
is incorrect: Superman also appeared in 'A Death in the Family' parts 3 and
4. He is asked by the U.S. government to prevent Batman from taking revenge
on the Joker, and prevents the Joker from murdering the U.N. assembly."
This is doubly embarrassing for me since this was the stunt that drew me
back to reading comics. Ah well, thanks for keeping me on my toes.
Until next time . . .
___________________________________________
THE PHANTOM ZONE: Reviews of the pre-Crisis Man of Steel
------------------------------------------------------------------
TALES OF EARTH-ONE
--------------------------------------
by Bob Hughes (rhughes3@ix.netcom.com)
(or see my web page, "Who's Whose in The DC Universe" at
pw2.netcom.com/~rhughes3/whoswho.htm)
Episode #8
The Boy of 1000 Faces: Jimmy Olsen
When the average man-in-the-street thinks of Superman, almost certainly the
first character names that come to mind are Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and
Jimmy Olsen. Mild-mannered Clark (Superman) Kent and Lois Lane, girl
reporter (or "repohtah", as radio announcer Jackson Beck put it, were there
from the beginning, but the Planet's cub reporter, "Superman's Pal," Jimmy
Olsen experienced a much longer gestation.
Perhaps simply seeking a character to hang a plot from, producer Robert
Maxwell and writer George Ludlum introduced Daily Planet copy boy Jimmy
Olsen on the April 15, 1940 episode of the Superman radio program. In "The
Protection Racket", the 14-year-old freckle-faced lad enlists Clark Kent's
aid because his mother's candy store is being threatened by gangsters when
she refuses to pay protection money. Clark promises to help Jimmy out, and
eventually Superman does. But it wasn't until September 20 that Jimmy
actually got to meet the Man of Steel! In the early radio episodes the
mysterious Superman was treated as something of an "urban legend", rarely
interacting with anyone longer than the time it took to punch them in the
face or dangle them from a rooftop. But when Jimmy is lost in an
underground cave during an earthquake, Superman just doesn't have time to
change back to Clark Kent. Jimmy becomes the first reporter ever to get an
interview with Superman.
Whether Maxwell and Ludlum actually based Jimmy on the unnamed copy boy who
first appeared in _Action Comics_ #6 is unknown, but Jerry Siegel and Leo
Nowak did use the boy for the model of Jimmy when he finally appeared by
name in _Superman_ #13 in November 1941. Jimmy had a couple more starring
roles in the early Forties but then he reverted back to walk-on status. His
most frequent line was, "Mr. White wants to see you in his office." He did
star in at least one 1944 newspaper sequence, "Prince Jimmy Olsen", written
by DC Editor-In-Chief Whitney Ellsworth.
On the radio though, Jimmy was a big star. Portrayed with "gosh, wow!"
enthusiasm by Jackie Kelk, he became the on-site stand-in for kids
listening to the program all over the country. So when the show went to TV,
the role couldn't help but be important. Jack Larsen played a much older
(and dumber) Jimmy, but he retained the same boyish charm, peck and
enthusiasm.
The popularity of the TV show inspired editor Mort Weisinger to play Jimmy
up more in the comic books, sometimes re-using plots from the show. Thus,
_Superman_ #86 in January 1954 featured "Jimmy Olsen... Editor" by William
Woolfolk, Wayne Boring, and Stan Kaye, loosely based on the TV episode
"Jimmy Olsen, Boy Editor" by David Chantler.
The splash page shows Jimmy at the editor's desk chewing out his staff.
"Why don't you two dig up some REAL scoops? You call yourselves reporters!
GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST!" Jimmy yells at Lois and Perry while Superman hovers
in astonishment outside the window.
As the story begins, Perry wakes up from a nightmare and hears Superman
capture the Gaspipe Gang just outside his window. He dresses and hurries to
the Planet Office to write the story. So does Clark. But when they get
there, White's door is being repainted with Jimmy's name. Lois explains
that it's Boys' Day (which they should remember). The Mayor has requested
that all important jobs in Metropolis be taken over by boys for twenty-four
hours to let them learn at first hand what it's like to do an adult's job.
Even though there's not much going on, Jimmy wants his day in charge to
leave a mark -- so he drags out a seven-year-old unsolved jewel robbery,
the Hinkley case, and demands that the Planet solve it in one day. He sends
Clark out to check license plates, Lois to interview the only witness, and
Perry out to scout jewelry stores and see if any of the gems have turned
up. The seven year statute of limitations expires that very day, so it's
the last chance to solve the crime and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Perry is beside himself, but Clark is more indulgent. He doesn't really
think Jimmy can solve the case, but at least he's going about it in a
business-like way.
And Jimmy's business-like way produces results! Superman searches the auto
licenses in the robbery photographs at super-speed and discovers one of
them belongs to John Sawyer, a notorious criminal known as the Snipe. Lois,
meanwhile, discovers that the witness, respectable business man Charles
Morda, is a friend of the same John Sawyer. As usual, Lois blurts out her
knowledge directly instead of taking it back to the office and writing it
up. The next thing she knows, she's in a speed boat -- about to do the Deep
Six. But her hovering guardian angel in red and blue (Superman) uses his
super breath to swamp the boat, forcing the bad guys to drop their guns.
Then he rescues Lois, boat and all.
"(SIGHH)" moans Lois, "Superman is wonderful." (The "Sighh" with two h's is
a sure sign that Bill Woolfolk wrote this story, even if he didn't still
have a copy of the original script.) The case is almost solved, but they
still haven't found the jewels.
Perry meanwhile, given the grunt work job, has trudged to hundreds of
jewelry stores. Dead tired and on his last legs, he finally finds the
Hinkley Jewels in a tiny out-of-the-way store. He's just as dumb as Lois,
though, and blurts out his find right in front of the store owner.
Back at the Planet, White congratulates Olsen on his scoop, but the robbers
burst in and hold the two at gun point. The jewelry store owner that White
blabbed to was actually the man behind the robbery. After seven years of
waiting, he got greedy and put the jewels on sale a few hours too soon. But
he's going to hold everyone in the office until after midnight so that the
statute of limitations will run out and he'll be able to sell the jewels
legally. (Of course, that's kidnapping, which will get him into worse
trouble, but nobody ever said crooks were smart). Superman has to come up
with another clever method of disarming the gunmen without endangering his
friends. Soon the boy police chief and his boy officers show up to arrest
the criminals.
Perry is beside himself. "Jimmy Olsen solved the biggest crime in
Metropolis records! I must be dreaming!" Well, Clark consoles him, if you
wake up tomorrow and it's still today you'll know it was all a dream.
In the TV show version by David Chantler, the premise is the same (except
it's an armored car robbery), but the story is much less complex. The
action skips right from Jimmy's first news story directly to the gangsters
taking over the Editor's office. Thus the TV Jimmy never gets a chance to
do anything but stare down a gun barrel while Clark tries to figure out a
way to save Jimmy and Lois without anybody getting shot.
Nine months after this rather innocuous comic book re-debut, National
Comics decided to award Jimmy Olsen with his own comic book. This seems
like a strange decision, but the Fifties were a strange time. Comic book
stories were getting shorter, because publishers were afraid to raise
prices to keep up with costs. The negative reaction to comics caused by the
proliferation of crime and horror comics, and fanned by unscrupulous
politicians and quack psychiatrists had publishers running for cover.
Harvey Comics canceled its horror titles and replaced them with _Casper,
the Friendly Ghost_. Many publishers went out of business all together. For
those that remained, the emphasis was on Westerns and comedy. National was
having some success with comics based on teenagers, such as _Buzzy_ and
_Leave it to Binky_, and the former MLJ comics was having so much success
with Archie that they renamed the company after him. Jimmy Olsen had red
hair. Why couldn't he be as big as Archie?
Launching a new title required new staff, however. But the upheavals in the
comic book market made experienced staff easy to find. Mort Weisinger
didn't have too far to look to tap Otto Binder and Curt Swan.
Otto Binder started out as a science-fiction writer in the thirties and
graduated into comic books because there was more money to be made there.
He came from a creative family which included his brother Earl, with whom
he co-created Adam Link, Robot under the pen name EandO Binder. Adam Link,
who was probably the first sentient, heroic robot ever, appeared in
_Amazing Stories_ from 1939-42. The stories were eventually adapted on
television in an _Outer Limits_ episode, as well as many comic adaptions in
Warren's _Creepy_ and _Eerie_ magazines of the Sixties. Binder started off
writing for just about every comic book publisher and was one of the very
first full-time writers (as opposed to writer/artists) in the business. He
eventually concentrated on Fawcett's Captain Marvel series, where he
produced over half of all the Captain Marvel scripts ever written. In his
spare time he also wrote tons of stuff for Marvel, including the Whizzer,
the Young Allies and one of the two All-Winners Squad stories published in
the Forties. (Bill Finger wrote the other one). In 1948 he began work for
National Comics and did Aquaman, Captain Compass, Merry Girl of 1000
Gimmicks, Robotman, Johnny Quick, Tommy Tomorrow, Green Arrow, and bunches
of other stuff. Because of the lawsuit between National and Fawcett over
whether Captain Marvel infringed on National's Superman, he eventually had
to give up the National strips. That suit ended with the discontinuance of
all Fawcett's comics in 1953. Binder went on to work for EC for awhile,
before returning to National and beginning to write Superman and Superboy
stories (as well as taking back Tommy Tomorrow). Given National's decision
to cut their page counts down to 36 pages rather than raise prices, but to
continue to run three stories in each issue, Binder's lighter "Captain
Marvel" approach seemed to be just what Mort Weisinger needed to breathe
new life into the Superman franchise.
Curt Swan came to comics directly from his military service, where he
worked on the Stars and Stripes newspaper. There he met Ed France Herron,
comic book scripter and editor (and creator of the Red Skull and Captain
Marvel Jr.) who directed him to Detective Comics, Inc. to apply for a job.
Soon, Curt was ghosting the Boy Commandos, later expanding into Tommy
Tomorrow, _Gang Busters_, and even _Star Spangled War Stories_.
Occasionally he was assigned a Superman story, beginning with "The Man Who
Bossed Superman" in _Superman_ #51 in 1948. In 1949, he began drawing
_Superboy_, alternating with John Sikela. He did the first Superman/Batman
team-up story in _Superman_ #76 in 1952 and continued with the first year
of Superman/Batman team-ups in _World's Finest_, beginning with #71 in July
1954, just a few months before he took on the Jimmy Olsen assignment.
Unlike Wayne Boring, the head Superman artist, whose forte was action and
science-fiction, Curt showed a great affinity for drawing real people, with
a believable variety of expressions and in a believable variety of
real-life situations. He was perfect for the Olsen assignment.
(Continued in Section 10)
___________________________________________
TALES OF EARTH-ONE
--------------------------------------
by Bob Hughes (rhughes3@ix.netcom.com)
(or see my web page, "Who's Whose in The DC Universe" at
pw2.netcom.com/~rhughes3/whoswho.htm)
(Continued from Section 9)
The first story in _Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen_ #1 (Sept 1954) was "The
Boy of 1000 Faces". The opening caption read: "Cocky, courageous and
clever, that's Jimmy Olsen, Cub Reporter for the Daily Planet. You've seen
him on television as Superman's plucky pal. Now join his exciting
adventures when he goes in quest of sensational scoops on his own!"
Plainly, Weisinger was relying heavily on Jimmy's TV exposure to put this
comic book over. But "courageous and clever" were never words that would be
used to describe Jack Larson's TV Jimmy. The Binder/Swan version would be
something different.
>From the beginning, Jimmy saw himself as a master investigative reporter, a
master of disguise, and a crusader for justice in his own right. That his
reach often exceeded his grasp was what made the stories exciting.
In order to ferret out information about the Deuce Dorgan gang, Jimmy
disguises himself as an ice cream vendor, with a bicycle-powered ice cream
cart. But Deuce doesn't like nosy ice cream vendors, even ones bearing free
samples, so he shoves Jimmy's bike into on-coming traffic. Fortunately,
Superman hears the screeching brakes and swoops down out of the sky.
Superman warns Jimmy not to chase crooks on his own, but when Jimmy finds a
clue lying on the ground nearby, he forgets caution and rushes back to the
Planet to ask Perry White to let him use the Flying Newsroom, the Planet
helicopter. Despite admonitions from White, Lane, and Kent, Jimmy claims he
can take care of himself.
"Besides Superman is my pal! Wouldn't they be surprised to know I can
contact him by using this secret Superman S.O.S. signal hidden in my wrist
watch! Super Duper!" Jimmy is hot on the trail of the Vickers jewel
robbery.
Jumbo Jones is the Newsroom pilot. Jimmy uses the chopper to fly to Gem
Lake, where he disguises himself as a Barton Brush Man. (See kids, there
used to be people in America called door-to-door salesmen. It was sort of
like SPAM in slow motion.) Jimmy's nosy behavior gets him in trouble again,
and soon he and Jumbo are in the midst of a real donnybrook. Even Jimmy's
compressed air pen isn't enough to save the day. And after they're tied up
and dropped into the lake, its too late for the super signal. Jimmy has to
rely on his own ingenuity to get his hands untied so that he can contact
Superman, and again on his own wits to find the jewels. Superman helps a
little, but it's really Jimmy all the way on this one. Back to rub his
scoop in Perry White's nose, Perry just says "I knew you'd break the case
just like I said before."
The idea of a pilot for the Flying Newsroom was soon abandoned. Jimmy,
Clark, and Lois routinely piloted it themselves, usually crash-landing it
somewhere exotic where they could get into ludicrous adventures.
Jimmy wasn't all work, however. Between news assignments he also had an eye
for the ladies. "Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Ex-Pal" (_Jimmy Olsen_ #2, Nov-Dec
1954) takes place while Jimmy is vacationing at a beach resort near
Metropolis. Jimmy tries to chat up Betty Hart, who he thinks is "Super
Duper!" but Tom Barton, her jealous boyfriend, keeps razzing Jimmy about
being "Superman's pal". So when Superman walks right by Jimmy and seems to
snub him, Jimmy is predictably upset. He follows Superman into the hotel
where he is astonished to find that Superman is offering to guard their
safe in exchange for money. Jimmy walks right up to Superman, but Supes
brushes him off with a "Sorry kid, no time for autographs now!" At Tom
Barton's instigation, Betty and the other hotel guests begin to shy away
from the young reporter, believing his tales of adventures with Superman to
be empty boasting.
Superman doesn't even respond to Jimmy's Secret Superman Signal. But while
Superman is inside the hotel bragging about his super deeds, Jimmy
overhears safe crackers breaking in to the very safe Superman is supposed
to be guarding. Suddenly Jimmy puts the puzzle together and marches back
into the hotel lobby where he socks Superman in the jaw! He's a phony in
cahoots with the gang and all his super stunts had been faked. The real
Superman finally does arrive, but Jimmy has already wrapped the case up,
and Superman finds himself being ignored by Jimmy, who is too busy making
time with Betty. "Seems all his attention is taken up with another ...
ahem... PAL!"
Jimmy can even get into trouble just staying home in his own apartment. In
"The Story of Superman's Souvenirs" (_Jimmy Olsen_ #5, June 1955), Jimmy is
dusting his unique collection when a news bulletin indicates Killer Burke
is still at large and rumored to be in Jimmy's neighborhood! Suddenly Burke
is right there in Olsen's apartment! He rips out the phone so Jimmy can't
call the police and -- wouldn't you know it? -- Jimmy left his Secret
Superman Signal at the office!
Trying to figure out some way to get through the police cordon combing the
neighborhood, Burke is fascinated by Jimmy's trophy case. He spots a
machine gun, but Jimmy tells him how Superman plugged up the barrel by
flipping the spent bullets right back inside it with super-speed,
super-aim, and super-force. Next, Killer turns to a meteor. Maybe if I
dropped it on a squad car? Jimmy talks him out of it again. The meteor is a
hollow fake built by Superman to bamboozle a crook. Next, Killer wants to
try a metal Superman suit, but the last crook who wore it couldn't get it
off and had to get Superman's help.
Finally, Killer settles on an invisibility belt, previously used by Lex
Luthor, but the ruthless gunman doesn't get more than 4 panels before he
runs into trouble. The system Luthor used to bend light rays around the
belt also renders the wearer completely blind. Apparently it doesn't kick
in for a few minutes, so Killer managed to get outside before his invisible
screaming caught the cops' attention.
"Blast it Kid! Why didn't you tell me that?" "You didn't ask me!" replies
Jimmy the smart-alec. The Planet headline reads "Superman's Pal Captures
Gunman Without Superman's Help" but Jimmy allows as that's not strictly
true because Superman helped through his souvenirs.
The basic formula for Jimmy stories had been established. He was brash,
enthusiastic, and smart, but his plans always seemed to backfire in some
way. He was Superman's pal and even had a Secret Superman Signal, but it
never seemed to help. Jimmy invariably had to get himself out of trouble.
When he did, everything was "Super Duper", but since things rarely went his
way it was mostly "Yipes!" and "Jeepers!"
Binder and Swan cranked out 29 straight issues of _Superman's Pal_
together, at three stories apiece, which equals 87 straight Jimmy Olsen
stories. After that they had help. But the prolific Binder also cranked out
other stories, including the first several Bizarro epics and the first
Supergirl and Legion of Super-Heroes adventures, as well as creating
Brainiac and Kandor, the bottle city from Krypton. Curt Swan also took over
the Superman newspaper strip in 1958 and later the Superman comic book,
where he would become the #1 Superman artist of the Sixties, Seventies, and
Eighties. Curt was the only artist to have new Superman art published in
six different decades!
To keep a comic book going for years you need a constant flow of new
gimmicks. One gimmick at which Binder was an expert was the bizarre
transformation story. Usually associated with Red Kryptonite (which Binder
helped create), the story style pre-dated the glowing mineral and could be
applied to characters other than Superman himself. Jimmy was a prime
candidate for such travails.
In "Jimmy Olsen, Speed Demon" (_Jimmy Olsen_ #15, Sept 1956), a crackpot
scientist named Professor Claude claims he's created a serum that will give
people super-speed like Superman. He sends a vial to the Daily Planet where
Clark wisely cautions against drinking it because it might be harmful.
Jimmy decides Claude might be good for a human interest story and goes to
his lab to interview him, where he accidentally drinks the stuff anyway. "I
-- I thought it was milk! (Gulp!)."
Coincidentally _Jimmy Olsen_ #15 came out the same month as the Flash's
first appearance in _Showcase_. While Barry Allen was out-running taxi
cabs, the more imaginative Jimmy Olsen was biking through Metropolis at
super-speed. "Super Duper! Will they be amazed at the office!"
Soon Jimmy is rushing from task to task at super-speed, prompting Clark to
worry the enthusiastic amateur might get himself into trouble. Sure enough,
biking down Main Street, Jimmy blows all the money right out of a man's
hands, and since he can't fly, he can't help him get it back. He then
chases a car full of crooks, but when they slam on the brakes, Jimmy can't
stop his bike in time and goes flying over his handle bars. He ends up
hanging from a flag pole while Superman completes the capture. Superman
insists Jimmy get the antidote (good thing that spoilsport stayed out of
Central City) but not only does Professor Claude not have an antidote, he
can't even find the original formula anymore!
Jimmy promises Superman not to leave the office until Superman finds a
cure. But his nose for news can't resist trying to collar a reputed jewel
thief. He asks Don Dirkson to come to the Planet. "I'll goad him into
shooting me, then dodge the bullet at super-speed." Afterwards they can
match the bullet with one found at the Jewel robbery. (Wouldn't it be
easier to just get a warrant?) Predictably, Jimmy's super-speed wears off
at just the wrong moment and Clark has to come up with a clever plan to
save him without changing to Superman.
Crackpot scientists made a good story source for Jimmy, but it was too much
trouble to create a new one for each story, so Jimmy got his own permanent
in-house mad scientist in the person of Professor Phineas Potter in "The
Super-Brain of Jimmy Olsen" (_Jimmy Olsen_ #22, August 1957). Potter shows
up at the Daily Planet offices, announcing he's giving them the honor of
publicizing his greatest invention ever, the Evolution Accelerator. Under
the chuckling gaze of Lois and Perry, Jimmy tries out Potter's invention,
sure that the man is a complete crackpot. But when he pulls back the
curtain, Jimmy has been transformed. Now bald, with the enlarged swollen
skull that DC constantly insisted represented future human evolution, Jimmy
has also gained quite a swollen opinion of himself. and insists that they
call him the Cosmic Brain. (Nobody does). Jimmy demands that everyone
follow his orders, and he can even use his mental powers to control
Superman! He has all of Superman's powers, he claims, except
super-strength. Threatening to reveal Superman's secret identity if he
doesn't obey, Jimmy sends the rival Man of Tomorrow off to dig a crater 100
miles wide in the Antarctic icecap. Then he tells Metropolis' own Blue Boy
to drop a mountain from the Himalayas, an uninhabited island, stones from
deep in the earth, and carloads of desert sand into it. Superman decides
Jimmy is too nuts to continue humoring and tells him he won't continue with
these mad demands even if Jimmy does expose his identity, but Jimmy reveals
he has Kryptonite vision also! So Superman meekly completes Jimmy's plan by
hurling hundreds of space meteors into the hole. After 24 hours, Jimmy
reverts to normal and can't remember why he wanted Superman to do all this
wacky stuff. Fortunately he left notes behind to explain the cosmic good
deed Superman has unwittingly performed. Apparently he refused to tell
Superman the real purpose of his mission because he was afraid Superman
would become too rattled to perform it correctly (but threatening him with
Kryptonite annihilation was okay). In the last panel, Potter destroys his
evolution machine, which Clark thinks is a good idea, despite the fact that
Jimmy has just used it to save the world. The man just doesn't like
competition.
Binder would later retcon Professor Potter into the Superboy universe by
revealing that he was an uncle of Lana Lang. Of course back then he didn't
have Jimmy to use as a Guinea pig, but Lana also had red hair, so that was
close enough.
Jimmy's most famous transformation occurred in "The E-L-A-S-T-I-C Lad" in
_Jimmy Olsen_ 31, September 1958. Yes, not only was Jimmy Earth-1's first
super speedster, he was also its first stretchable sleuth, beating out
Elongated Man, Ralph Dibney by almost two years. Professor Potter had
nothing to do with this metamorphosis however. This one was Superman's
fault.
Superman delivers a strange leaden box that he found floating in space to
Jimmy's apartment so that they can catalogue its contents. (Why they didn't
do this somewhere safe like the Fortress of Solitude?) But before they can
open it together, he gets called away on an emergency. He warns Jimmy not
to touch anything until he gets back, but Jimmy spots a bottle of green
glowing liquid in the box. Thinking it might be Kryptonite, Jimmy hastens
to destroy it, but accidentally spills it on himself instead. Jimmy is
astonished to find he can't type anymore because his fingers bend on the
typewriter keys!
Upset that his friends will laugh at him, Jimmy runs away and joins a
carnival where they bill him as Elastic Lad. There he's recognized by Silky
Smith, a gangster. Realizing that Olsen is hiding out and looking for an
antidote, Smith thinks he can use this to his advantage. He disguises
himself as "Prof Bolton" and offers Jimmy an antidote if he can help with a
few innocuous tasks. Jimmy washes a window, not realizing that it's the
DA's office, or that he was using a special chemical that weakens
bullet-proof glass. Then he helps dispose of a time bomb, but actually puts
it exactly where the gang wants it. Lastly, he unwittingly helps them to
break into the real Professor Bolton's office, where there really is
Kryptonite.
Realizing that he has been duped and that Superman can't save him, Jimmy
has to stop feeling sorry for himself and actually use his new powers for
good. After saving the day and learning to be a hero, the elastic powers
finally wear off. In the last panel, Jimmy is standing on boxes and chairs
trying to reach the top of the store room files, wishing he was still
Elastic Lad. Fortunately (?) for Jimmy, Professor Potter was able to create
a synthetic stretching serum which Jimmy used to resume his super career in
_Jimmy Olsen_ #37's "The Elastic Lad of Metropolis" (June 1959).
Jimmy's position in the pantheon of sidekicks often gets short shrift,
probably because so much of his early years were spent on radio. The April
1940 first appearance of Robin, the Boy Wonder, actually came out in
February and therefore pre-dates the April 1940 first appearance of Jimmy
Olsen, but Jimmy is still the second sidekick, ancestor to everyone from
Rick Jones to Snapper Carr, the Everykid doing his best to survive in the
backwash of Greatness.
As the Sixties got weirder and weirder in the Real World, Jimmy's own life
got weirder in the comics, as he ricocheted from Turtle boy to Wolfman,
from Human Flamethrower to Porcupine. He should have been the mentor for
Robby Reed (Dial H for Hero). Instead he became senior advisor to a kid
gang under Jack Kirby's watch and then tried to become relevant in the
Seventies as Mr. Action, the Investigative Reporter. John Byrne wisely
turned him back into a teen-age wannabe and there he remains, trying to
prove that a normal person can make a difference in a world of meta-humans.
___________________________________________
WHEN SUPERMEN MEET: PART THREE
------------------------------------
by Lou Mougin (lomougin@wf.net)
To return to the 1982 _DC Comics Presents_ Annual: the two Luthors of
separate Earths had just met Ultraman, the villainous "Superman" of
Earth-Three, and were cooking up a business deal with him.
Earth-Three had been introduced back in 1964, in the third JLA/JSA teamup.
Its only super-beings were evil counterparts of the Justice League, and
Ultraman was his Earth's answer to Superman. Luthor of Earth-One tried to
weaken him with a Kryptonite beam, and discovered that it only strengthened
him. Luckily, after the evil Man of Steel threw them in the air and caught
them, both Luthors convinced him that they were on the same side. Wolfman
brought out the fact in this story that, while Ultraman was easily as
powerful as either Superman, he was a bit dumber than them as well. Thus
his statement, "Bah! Any Earth I am on is Earth-One!", and Lex's gentle
rejoinder, "My friend, oh, my friend, the number is mere designation."
All three baddies struck a deal with each other and walked away, not
knowing they were trailed by that Earth's Lois Lane, in hiding. She had
been introduced in an issue of _Secret Society of Super-Villains_, and Marv
picked her up and used her to good purpose. She contacted the red-bearded
Luthor of her own world, who was a red-bearded good guy. It transpired that
the Luthor of Earth-Two wanted to merge his Earth with Earth-One and
destroy them both. "And with the destruction of both those Earths, all our
foes will die as well!", he exulted. The Earth-One Luthor called him a
madman, but it was a bit late to stop him now.
Meanwhile, Kal-El and Kal-L had their best moment together to date. By this
time, "Mr. and Mrs. Superman" had been running in _Superman Family_ long
enough to provide some decent backstory on the Earth-Two Superman, so Marv
had some recent history to play off of. And what he played off of was the
relationship between the original Superman and his wife, Lois.
"She was always snooping around, trying to learn my secret identity," said
the Earth-Two Kryptonian. "I thought she was just a pest then. But now I
love her and I wonder why I resisted the idea of marrying her for so long.
I just never wanted to admit to myself that she was the only woman for me.
I'm glad I finally did. What about you and your Lois?"
Supes of Earth-One admitted, "Oh, I love her, but marriage--? I don't know!
...It would be selfish of me to care about myself when there are millions
out there who need me."
"Yes, there are millions out there, many more millions than I could ever
hope to help," said Kal-L. "So I became obsessed with helping everyone. Oh,
I did so happily, but something inside me was missing. Our name is
Superman. That's Super and Man. And I was allowing myself to be controlled
only by the Super. ...The Man in me had a right to live. ...I found a
renewed vigor within me. I had Lois. I had happiness, and there I was with
this renewed commitment to helping others, too. Because of the love Lois
and I shared, I became an even better Superman than before."
The Superman of Earth-One didn't say a word, but he was listening mighty
hard.
Unfortunately, a projected image of the Earth-Three Luthor intruded, to
inform them of the threat they now faced. The two Supermen met with him and
the Earth-Three Lois, got the lowdown, and saw Luthor become Earth-Three's
first super-hero, dressed in a cybernetic power-suit. As you might have
expected, the three of them defeated Ultraman, even though Superman of
Earth-Two admitted, "I'm not quite as young as I once was ... the pain of
his punches hasn't all gone away."
Lex Luthor of Earth-One refused to let his crony destroy both Earths,
saying, "Unlike you, I've still got family to protect. My sister [Lena
Thorul] won't be slain just to give you one vainglorious thrill!" Enter our
heroes, who kept the Earths from merging and defeated both bad guys. Then
the Supermen departed, saying farewell to the Luthor who was their ally and
returning the other Luthors to jails on their native worlds.
The last bit was possibly the best, a contrast between the two Supermen's
life situations. Superman of Earth-Two came back home to a loving wife.
Superman of Earth-One zipped back into his office at the Daily Planet, saw
Lois outside, getting an assignment, and thought, "There's Lois ... maybe I
should ... but ... but ..."
And all that remained, in the end, was a solitary Superman staring at the
floor.
It was the best Superman teaming to date, pointing up Marv Wolfman's
empathy for the character and the craft that made him the best Superman
writer since Denny O'Neil.
The Supermen had to wait two more years before their next teamup, in _DC
Comics Presents Annual_ #3. This was a rip-roaring affair done by Roy
Thomas and Gil Kane, teaming up both Supermen with the Marvel Family in a
sequel to an Earth-One Supes/Captain Marvel teamup in _DC Comics Presents_
#33-34. This time, Dr. Sivana sapped the powers from Captain Marvel,
Captain Marvel, Jr., and Mary Marvel, turning himself into a green-and-gold
costumed "Captain Sivana", more than a match for any single super-hero. As
his victories piled up, he promoted himself to "Major Sivana", and then
"General Sivana". Luckily, he stopped there.
After clobbering the three Marvels, Sivana decided to take on Superman, but
missed the mark a bit and ended up in Earth-Two. There he met the native
Superman, admitting as he punched him, "You certainly seem to have aged
since we met! Must be the difference in the Kryptonian calendar!" Kal-L put
up a battle, but was no match for Sivana's superior power, and wound up
attached to a Kryptonite meteor. Then the villain went on to Earth-One, and
proceeded to pound the stuffing out of that Earth's Superman.
Captain Marvel, incensed by what he was seeing, broke free of his
imprisonment on the Rock of Eternity with the help of the Shazam gods, and
interfered enough to let Superman go rescue his Earth-Two counterpart. He
managed to save Kal-L just as the snoozing wizard Shazam awoke and took
back his powers from the usurping Sivana. After that, the two Supermen got
back to find the Marvel Family on top of things. It wasn't the first time
the Earth-Two Supes had met the Fawcett heroes -- they'd had a previous
encounter during World War II, in _All-Star Squadron_ -- but the five-hero
tableau was pretty nice to see. With that, Superman-Two said, "No time like
the present ... to return to my own Earth! Farewell!", and was gone.
After that, there would be one more great teaming of the heroes, but it
would stretch across multiple issues of _Crisis On Infinite Earths_.
The Golden Age Superman was an important part of the Crisis cast from issue
#1 onward, but Wolfman and artist George Perez didn't get around to teaming
him up with Superman of Earth-One until issue #5, in the great centerspread
mob-shot that assembled all the heroes of Earths One and Two aboard the
Monitor's spacecraft. They did manage to appear together on page 14, in
which Kal-L socked a sabre-toothed tiger unconscious to save Lois Lane of
Earth-One. As she moved in to thank him, she noticed the grey at his
temples...
"Superman? Wh-what happened? You're o--"
"Old, Lois?" said Superman-Two. "That's okay." As he explained that he was
the Superman of another Earth, the Superman of Earth-One stepped up and
confirmed the story to Lois. "Oh, gosh," she exclaimed, "do you think we
can take this all from the top?"
To be continued...
___________________________________________
THE MAILBAG
-------------------------------------
(sykes@ms.uky.edu, KryptonCN@aol.com)
KC Responses are indented and begun with ****
========================================
[Last issue, Neil Hansen asked for information on "The World's Greatest
Super-Heroes" comic strip, including creator credits, heroes and villains
that appeared in the strip, and stories. Two readers responded.]
From: Thomas Deja (tdj723@webtv.net)
"The World's Greatest Super Heroes" started out as a comic strip about the
JLA in 1978 with Len Wein writing and George Tuska providing the art. The
first two storylines featured the League vs. Dr. Destiny and Vandal Savage.
After about a year, the series morphed into a Superman solo-strip. I don't
know who wrote these sequences, but Tuska still provided the art.
**** Jon Knutson (waffyjon@execpc.com) adds that the strip originally
featured Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and perhaps Aquaman, but
later became called "The World's Greatest Superheroes Featuring
Superman."
========================================
From: David Young (young_d1@popmail.firn.edu)
I was just rereading your Early December issue and caught something I'd
like to comment on. In the feature about the Post-Crisis history of the
World's Finest team, [Sean Hogan] make[s] this comment.
"Batman appears for five pages of _Action Comics_ #594 ... Batman brings
Robin along to meet Superman. It isn't clear whether this Robin is supposed
to be Dick Grayson or Jason Todd. While Robin stands slack-jawed
(repeatedly saying "wow!"), the two discuss the scrapbook."
I'm pretty sure that the Robin seen in this issue is supposed to be Jason
Todd. Remember that the stories in _Action Comics_ at the time were
current with the other Superman and DC titles coming out then (and Jason
Todd was Robin then).
I've always thought that it would be a touching moment if we saw Superman
on one of his visits to the Batcave happen upon the "autograph" he gave
Robin in this issue and momentarily think about the departed Jason Todd.
Here are some Superman-Robin questions to see if anyone can answer. Who
can tell me when Superman first met each Robin?
Pre-Crisis-wise, I have no idea when he first met Dick Grayson
chronologically. Was it _Superman_ (vol. 1) #76, the first Superman-Batman
team-up outside of _All Star Comics_? Was there a later story which
supposedly took place before that issue? As for Pre-Crisis Jason Todd, I
remember Superman meeting him in the excellent _Superman Annual_ #10
(written by Alan Moore). Did he meet the Pre-Crisis Jason Todd other than
that time?
Post-Crisis-wise, a recently released _Legends of the DC Universe_ issue
showed the first meeting between Superman and Dick Grayson-Robin (I can't
recall the number). Was _Action Comics_ #594 the first meeting of the
Post-Crisis Superman and Jason Todd? And I really don't have a clue right
now when Superman first met Tim Drake although I'm sure I could find out.
These queries should keep the Superman-fans going for a while.
**** I'm pretty certain that the first meeting of Superman and Tim Drake
was in _Superman: Man of Steel_ #14, when they teamed up to fight a
vampire in Metropolis. Jimmy Olsen also played a major role in the
story, because Lucy Lane was one of the vampire's targets. The
conclusion of the story appeared the following week in _Superman_ #70
and also served as a lead-in to the Blaze/Satanus War.
P.S. Whatever the answers are, I'm sure the new year-long World's Finest
series coming out may change some of them, since each issue occurs one year
apart over the years Superman and Batman have known each other.
========================================
From: Stephen Menendian (sm356798@oak.cats.ohiou.edu)
In response to the your rebuttal of _Wizard_'s "Clark Can't," you must
admit the titles have *major* flaws currently. Perhaps the titles are at
their lowest ebb since the pre-Crisis crap. I have been reading religiously
since the Byrne revamp, but it's clear that Cavalieri was systematically
destroying the changes that Byrne setup. I already miss the kinetic
explanation to Supes' flying ability, the force of will explained by his
super-evolved genetics, enhanced by the perfect pairing of Jor-El and Lara.
Due to the total lack of quality control, the event-oriented nature, and
the "let's forget the character building" Superman, I am considering
dropping the titles I haven't missed in thirteen years in favor of the much
more character-driven _Superman Adventures_. The verisimilitude is gone.
The best stuff was pre-Death and they never again reached that. _Wizard_'s
point that there are major problems is correct, despite the details.
**** If you'll re-read the introduction to the first half of our response,
you'll see that we *did* grant that the titles have their flaws.
However, when deciding what needs to be fixed, you have to look at
what is and what isn't working. In general, we simply disagree with
_Wizard_ about *what* it is that needs fixing.
This time last year, I probably would have agreed with you that the
problems were major, but I currently happen to think that the problems
are both minor and being addressed. For one, I happen to think the
last three months have been pretty good, perhaps the strongest set of
'linked' stories across the titles since before the death of Superman.
At least I know I'm once again enjoying and eager to read the Superman
books. Within the next few months, we're going to see a new editor and
a mostly new set of creative teams on the books (with only Immonen/
Marzan and Grummett/Rodier remaining, at most), which means an
infusion of new ideas and perspectives.
Now, I agree that the best stuff was during the early 1990s, before
Superman's Death heralded the importance of media-driven events, and
they're still not consistently hitting that level of quality. But they
may be on the right track for the first time in a while.
========================================
From: Lee K. Seitz (lkseitz@hiwaay.net)
I wrote, "We're supposed to believe that at least five months of comic book
time have passed since we last saw Lana? And that assumes she didn't know
she was pregnant until the second month. I admit I haven't researched the
topic, but surely it's been more recently than that."
Jeff replied, "I don't have my comics in front of me, so I can't confirm
this, but I believe that the last time we saw Lana was at Lois and Clark's
wedding, more than two years ago our time. If this is correct, then I don't
think five months comics time is unbelievable."
I apologize, but I forgot half my complaint by the time I wrote my previous
letter regarding Lana's pregnancy in _Doomsday Wars_. Upon reading
_Doomsday Wars_ #3, I remembered exactly what it was. It's the combination
of being exactly one year since Cat Grant's son died and Lana being seven
months pregnant. I guess you're right that Lana hasn't been seen since the
wedding, but [checks Superman Comics Index on the Superman Homepage] it's
been five years since Adam was killed.
[Does some quick math.] Oh, hmmm. Well, that would be almost five months.
[Looks embarrassed.] Well, I'm usually not bothered by "comic book time,"
but in this case it really got to me. I much prefer it when comic book
writers use vague terms to say how long ago something happened. I guess it
boils down to personal preference and youcan disregard my previous letter.
**** On the other hand, this kind of lends some credence to a conversion
factor of 5 to 1. (Five years worth of comics equals one year to the
characters in those comics.) Of course, under that system, you have
to be willing to accept that there are about 20 seasons in the DCU,
and Christmas happens several times a year. :)
I'd like to see a Superman book which advanced at real time. It'd be
kind of interesting to see people actually age and have progression
in their lives. Let us see Clark and Lois and their children 15 years
down the road...
========================================
From: Francis Barel (francis_barel@hotmail.com)
Can anyone tell me why the JLA never got to fight the Avengers? I remember,
back in 1984, that Dick Giordanio wrote in a "Meanwhile" that it didn't
work with Marvel, but then it was a to be continued "Meanwhile". And I
don't think the following month I saw the rest of the answer. So, does
anyone know the truth?
I'm also looking for the title of a story with Batman, where he and
Superman are on a boat which is hijacked, and then Clark is thrown
overboard and starts looking for Superman. It's a pre-Crisis story, of
course, and I think it had Neal Adams or some draw-alike artist. Thank you
for your info.
**** Outside of my reading days. Readers?
While we're on the subject, we seem to be getting more of these "Help
me find some information" questions these days. Would there be enough
interest in this type of content to warrant a regular column, where
readers could ask the columnist(s) for information on particular
issues? More importantly, is there anyone out there who is both
willing and knowledgeable enough to take on such a column?
-- Jeff Sykes
___________________________________________
************************************************************
End of Section 11/Issue #58
