Jan 4th Comic RoundUp

posted by JediSheltie @ 8:14 PM

It's a Superman trifecta for the New Year. Three different takes on the Man of Steel in one week. Only two of them are official, though.

All Star Superman #6

Man, everybody loves the hell out of this series. I like it, but I'm going to ask it to have my children or anything. For those who are just hopping on board, or have forgotten since the last issue came out, DC's “All Star” line is a combination of their most iconic characters with superstar creative teams. Granted, it probably wasn't all that hard to get Grant Morrison (JLA, Seven Soldiers), he was already in their Rolodex.

All Star lines are essentially Elseworlds, though they do not bare that familiar trademark. Morrison's take on the character is more Silver than Modern age, in terms of plots, powers, and overall storyline. The core story here is intriguing. Way back in issue one, Superman saves a solar probe from certain disaster. In doing so, he's doused with solar radiation which, while amping up his powers tremendously, also consigns him to a slow, withering fate as his cells deteriorate from the overexposure. The overall “theme” of the story flows through each issue, but is not the central focus past issue 1.

Issue 6 shows us the young Clark in this continuity in Smallville. We later discover this issue isn't exactly backtracking. It tells the story of how Johnathan Kent dies of heart attack while his son is fighting a “chronovore,” with the help of three newcomer “farm hands” that turn out to be Supermen from the far-flung future. The story itself is touching in dealing with Clark's relationship to his adoptive (only) father, demonstrating effectively how it was a farmer from Kansas who was responsible for creating the Man of Steel moreso than any disembodied floating holographic head.

The grinding confusion with all the time traveling straight out of the Silver Age is where the series loses it for me. The “5^th dimensional” Superman / Myx combo is an example of one of the things DC has, I believe rightly, tried to get away from in the mainstream continuity. The claim that this series is “strip(ping) down the Man of Steel to his timeless, essential elements” might be true with Superman, but the world in which he exists seems stuffed with all the best examples of the excesses of the Silver Age.

Finally, my other disappointment here, and this is purely personal, is that I've never been a fan of Quitely's art. I just think everyone looks like fat, balloon creatures. This is simply an example of an art style I have personal issues with, and I will never say that's any reason for anyone else not to buy the book. I'm fairly easy-going as far as art goes, and you have to work hard to bug me. Quitely's “that guy” for me. Everyone else is probably fine with it.

Superman Confidential #3

The story of Kryptonite continues, slowly. Like All Star, Confidential is a set of stories under the same banner, though these are meant to fill in the “big early stories.” In this case, we have Clark's (eventual, presumably) first encounter with Kryptonite. The Kryptonite in question has only recently made it to Metropolis, and has, for a reason as yet unexplained, the ability to narrate its adventures in the first person.

The eventual confrontation will be memorable, I'm sure, but the story so far has provided quite a bit of juice beyond Kryptonite. Here is Superman in the first few weeks of his “debut”, presumably, the one captured in Birthright, and is still feeling out what it means to be who he is and do what he does. The element I find most intriguing is his uncertainty with his own mortality. The hero he grows into is a polished champion, aware of his limits (however few) and aware of the effects of his own powers. He wasn't always that self confident.

No matter what fantastic abilities you think you have, your notions of “invulnerability” might be put to the test when that first tanker truck starts flying at high speed in your general direction.

Confidential not only provides these insights into the character, but is also good for those who demand the classic “love triangle” action, and not the bonds of holy matrimony. Issue 3 deals with this, as Superman fesses up to Lois about having to stand her up because he was buried under an erupting volcano.

Dave Stewart's art is minimalist, heavy lines without much detail. In order to more fully appreciate my taste in art as it affects a story, I'll say I'm not a fan of Stewart's style, either, but it doesn't bug me the way Quitely's does on All Star. I wish the art was more detailed, but I don't think it aversely impacts the story. In order to not be all art negative, I'll go out on a limb and say I'm a big Jim Lee fan, for instance. Granted, that bandwagon's pretty crowded, but then again, there's a reason for that.

Superman #658

Yes, “the” Superman. Kurt Busiek is in a bit of a pickle, editorially. With all the big, earth shattering, and possibly continuity-altering events happening over in Action at the moment, what kind of compelling story do you tell? Why, one from the future. I'll say right form the start, this arc lost me pretty quickly, then won me back with this issue and the question posed to Superman at the end.

As duly pointed out last issue, the Earth, the very Universe, is just fresh from being saved, and in pops a dead guy named Arion to tell the story of how Superman is killed and the world is destroyed in the near future. In the most technical of sense, the action never leaves the top of the Daily Planet building, where the journals of Lois Lane (From the Future!) unfold, providing us a the blow by blow of the end of the world. Tip one seems to be that Superman's pretty easy to knock off, after all.

Well, not exactly as easy as the future baddie Khyber though. Superman #658 shows a Superman reborn to resume the never ending battle, liberate the earth, and... get killed... for “real” this time. Yep, after years rebuilding himself underneath the earth, he goes for Khyber full bore, and, in the last moment, is killed because he refuses to take Khyber's life. Kudos to Busiek for bringing me back right there. If there's any way for Clark to die, that's it.

Khyber is killed; weakened in the last fight, he's dispatched in perfect deus ex machina comic style. The ultimate editorial monkeywrench to keep the main character pure is rolled out, though it's primarily to mock this very device, I believe. Superman's still “dead”, and the world eventually tears itself apart anyway. After Khyber is killed the survivors don't get together and sing Kumbaya, they splinter and fight for the scraps until all life on earth is seemingly eradicated.

Which brings us to the end, as Arion charges Superman, and his like, are the ones who will ultimately be responsible for it. He's from the “life is cyclical” school of sorcery, and believes that by holding off the cataclysms that, though they may destroy, eventually result in rebirth, the heroes of the Earth only intensify them, to the point they will become so destructive that nothing will survive, thus ending the cycle.

Now, this could all be a way to spin a good yarn, or, as recent Newsarama interviews with Dan Dido have shown, a bit of epic foreshadowing:

“NRAMA: Things are still moving forward - there are threads left from Crisis, there are elements in 52 that extend beyond the scope of that particular series, there are Monitors around…looking at the larger story in a three act structure, where would you say we are now?

DD: We're about to enter Act Three.”

Infinite Crisis was act two? Geeze.

Anyway, though I enjoy it when my BA in Philosophy is actually useful in reading comics, I'll refrain from delving too deeply into Arion's views on life, the Universe, and everything. Suffice to say, it's fun to think the big thoughts while looking at the “S” from time to time, and I shall enjoy seeing how Clark responds to the challenges ahead. I don't think he'll be sitting them out.