The cover to Superman 675 is simply one of the best Alex Ross paintings I've ever seen. DC Comics should consider making a poster out of this.
Too bad the story inside is so unappealing. I loved Kurt Busiek's Superman Secret Identity, but I've never gotten into his regular Superman run at all. Reading this story leaves me cold. I'm not looking forward to Trinity in the least. Countdown #1 comes out tomorrow--that's been awful too, but let's see if the last issue redeems it.
I don't really have any expectations from EA's Superman Returns game when it ships this month. It might be cool to fly around an open city, but I wouldn't pay $60 for the experience. It could be a rental or something to pick up a year from now when it's $20. Team XBox has a cool video showing Bizarro in the game. According to this article at GameSpy, you get to play as Bizarro for a while. I think it's hilarious to hear his voice: "Bizarro must do good...bizarro must kill people. It fun being hero by destroying city." Huh, I think there's a lot of cool ideas from the Bizarro world. A Bizarro Sims game, where you attrack people by ignoring them? A Bizarro Grand Theft Auto, where you do random acts of goofy kindness? What else could be done? Nuff said.
DC continuity was just too dang confusin' for kids to figure out. When the Dumb Communists infiltrated Superman's publishin' company in the 1980s, that's what they claimed in order to justify Crisis on Infinite Earths. How can a dumbass kid know about Earth I and Earth II and the fourteen varieties of Kryptonite and the Adult Legionnaires? Well, I did, and I didn't have a rich Uncle with a secret stash of Silver Age comics. How did I, Cousin Dick, a hick from the boondocks, learn so much comics history? I was edujicated by Giants!
Batman 213 (1969) was the first Giant book I ever bought. 5 big stories for 25 cents, that was a big deal to me when the regular comics were 12-15 cents. This book had the Holy Grail for me: the origin of Robin! Like many kids in the 60s, I was a big fan of the BATMAN tv show starring Adam West. I always wondered why the TV show never explained their origin! I idolized Robin, and here it was all explained: the murder of Dick Grayson's parents, his adoption by Bruce Wayne, and his training to become the Boy Wonder. But little did I know there was an even better story in this issue: "The Man Behind the Red Hood". Little did I know until the very last page--this was the origin of the Joker! I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that Judd Winick also read this same story and used the Red Hood in Jason Todd's revival.
I wasn't just a Batman fan. I loved Superman, and that also translated to Superboy. I liked readin' about Superman's teenage adventures, his family life with the Kents, and most of all, his super-dog, Krypto! My first fan letter to DC comics was written in crayon: "Where did Krypto come from? How come we never see Superman's parents in his own comic?" Quite soon after that, another Giant, Superboy 165 (1970) answered both of these questions! Jor-El used Krypto as a test animal to perfect his rocket ship for Superman...heck, that didn't seem cruel at the time. But the secret of Ma and Pa Kent's death had me cryin' like a baby! They contracted a rare disease, which Superboy thought that he caused through a time travel adventure. Later it turned out just to be the Kents own misfortune. After exhaustin' ever possible resource to save them (Lex Luthor, Phantom Zone, etc), the Kents quietly pass away at home--forcing Clark to finally leave Smallville.
DC 100 Page Super Spectacular #6 (1971) introduced me to Earth I and Earth II. I remember seeing this title on the comic book rack at The Book Cache in Anchorage, Alaska. (How I got there was another story altogether.) I only had a dollar and decided to spend half of it on this title because of the wonderful Neal Adams wraparound cover--I had never seen so many heroes in one place! I was curious why there were two Supermen, two Batmen, and an adult version of Robin. Luckily, the lead story was the classic "Crisis on Earth-1, Earth-2" Justice League two-parter that explained the whole mystery. If that wasn't enough, the back cover had a guide that explained who each hero was on the front cover. The rest of the book was filled with Golden and Silver Age reprints of The Spectre, Johnny Quick, Vigilante, Wildcat, and Hawkman. Little did I know that I was studyin' to enjoy Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadron that featured all these cowpokes!
In 1972, DC made Detective Comics a regular bi-monthly 100 page comic, and that format lasted until 1975 (issues 438-445). This particular run was exceptional, because Archie Goodwin was the editor. He revitalized the all-new Batman stories with exceptional artwork by Jim Aparo, Sal Almendola, Alex Toth, and Howard Chaykin, and wrote all of them except one--the classic "Night of the Stalker" (written by Steve Englehart from an idea by Neal Adams). We also had the remarkable Manhunter backup, written by Goodwin and drawn by a new artist called Walt Simonson. This truly was the best deal in comics--awesome new stories, coupled with reprints that explained the history of the DC Universe. I learned all about Doctor Fate, Kid Eternity, the Guardian and Newsboy Legion, the Atom, Hawkman, and the power of fishnet stockings--Zatanna! Detective 438 reprinted Zatanna's adventures with the Atom, and gave us a trail to follow her classic search for Daddy Zatara thru other 100 page spectaculars.
There ya go pardners, the trail of DC Giants. If you've tried to follow them now in back issue bins or EBay, it can cost ya a pretty penny to buy 'em back! But ya know what I remember thinkin', even as a ten-year old, that these big books were the best value--each one took me hours to read. I suppose ya got the equivalent in DC Showcase reprints, but somehow it just don't seem the same to me. Ain't none of 'em got a beautiful Neal Adams cover like Superman 252! Nuff said.
The character Nasthalthia only appears on three pages of All-Star Superman #5, but she made quite an impression on me. Maybe I just love a goth chick who wears a skin tight leather outfit, or maybe it's her role as Charon (transporting dead souls on the river Styx) in this story. Lex's introduction to Nasthalthia is charming:
Lovely Nasthalthia here will take you back to the land of the living while I await the end. She's 18, speaks 30 languages, and wants to rule the world one day, bless her.
How about this for serendipity? Last night, I start reading Back Issue #17 from TwoMorrows: it's an "All Super Girls" issue featuring articles on Tigra, Spider-Woman, Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, and Supergirl. (Highly recommended with lots of great artwork!) The Supergirl article discusses the period of time when the character when through a period of changes in the 70s. Adventure Comics 397 was a milestone issue, because Supergirl changed her costume. She went from her original costume to a number that included a belt and thigh-high red leather boots. The back-up story, titled "Supergirl Meets Nasty" featured a new villainess: Nasthalthia! Lex Luthor shows up and we discover that she is Lex's niece...that can't be good! In her first appearance, she's not much of a threat, enlisting a female motorcycle gang to terrorize Stanhope College which Supergirl defeats easily.
Morrison's Silver Age memory is astounding. Does he remember this from decades past, did he reread his collection, or did Mark Waid remind him of Nasty? Will we see her again? I hope so. And this leads to a question: since Krypto appears in All Star Superman #6, will we see the Silver Age version of Supergirl at some point? Nuff said.
My pick of the week: All Star Superman #5. More genius Silver-Age craziness from Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. Superman never really appears in costume during the story--instead it's Clark Kent who plays second fiddle to Lex Luthor. Luthor's in prison, awaiting his turn at the electric chair, and spends some quality time with Kent. Fans of the bumbling, stumbling Clark Kent persona in the Christopher Reeve Superman movies will love the scenes where Kent clumsily falls around Luthor's lab and whimpers when the Parasite goes on a rampage. Despite Luthor's genius, he can't see the resemblance between Superman and his alter ego:
I've always liked you, Kent. You're a humble, modest, uncoordinated human. You're everything He's not.
Even in the end, when Kent's glasses are removed, Luthor still doesn't see it. Throughout the issue, Kent looks more like a puffy, overweight post-adolescent than the Man of Steel. Due to Quitely's rendition, you wouldn't think they are the same person, either.
There's no mistaking the allegory in the final pages of the story: Luthor's sending Superman on a trip to hell. Is it just me, or does Luthor resemble Grant Morrison in a few panels? Nuff said.
Howdy there pardners! I've been busy truckin' XBox 360s to all the Wal-Marts across the country. Plain tuckered out, but now I'm givin' my rig Betsy a rest and settlin' back in my "crib" (as you young fellers call it) over here in East Biggs. Me and Joe Bob are gettin' ready to fight WW2 all over again in Call of Duty 2. But first, I'm takin a moment to celebrate President's Day 2006. Remember when Presidents actually appeared in funny books? My favorite was this here apperance by President John F. Kennedy in Superman...
Can't blame a feller for passin' on the Fortress of Solitude with those beauties waitin' for action. Those were the days! Nuff said.
I was blown away by this week's issue of Superman. "This Is Your Life - Part I" is an Infinite Crisis crossover that is really worthwhile. We see "our" current generation Superman getting pummeled by another blue clad figure--who has to be Superman I. I am sure we will see the entire fight in Infinite Crisis #5, judging from the Jim Lee cover. With each blow, Superman receives memories and visions of the elder Superman's life on Earth 1. The way this is told by Joe Kelly, using various narrators (Ma Kent, Lois Lane, Clark Kent) is just marvelous. It's also a jam issue, artistically speaking, with Ed Benes, Tim Sale, Jerry Ordway, and Howard Chaykin.
You can understand Superman I's point of view more clearly through this story. He's part of the first generation of superheroes. He has lived through World War II and the McCarthy era that forced the JSA to step down. He see evil in very black and white terms because the villains he fought had no shades of gray. And he loves Lois Lane more than anything in the world. We see a lot of Superman's courtship of Lois in these flashbacks, drawn by Howard Chaykin, which gives a nostalgic, Cary Grant\Kathryn Hepburn quality to their relationship. Fans of the Justice Society and the All Star Squadron won't want to miss this one. Hopefully the remaining chapters will be just as good. Nuff said.
If you're watching the Shield on FX network (and if you are not watching it, you really should be), then you've seen the ads for a new reality show called "Black. White.". It's co-produced by Ice Cube. In the promos you see white and black people trading races using Hollywood-style makeup techniques. It's an intriguing idea for a reality show and I am very interested to watch the first episode. Where did they get this idea? Two sources come to mind.
The first is Lois Lane 106, my favorite issue from Lois Lane's entire comic book run. (Keep in mind that this was published in 1970, when civil rights issues were still hot, and DC tried to address them in various ways. ) Titled "I Am Curious (Black)!" (a takeoff on a popular X-rated movie title), Lois takes a trip to Harlem for a story about the neighborhood. She finds herself shut out by the black community. What's an ace reporter to do?
She tells Superman, who takes her to the Fortress of Solitude, and uses a machine to turn her into a black woman. I like how the hair changes into an afro. I think her boobs get a little bigger. Superman's obviously not doing us any favors by keeping this machine all to himself.
After changing her race, Lois discovers how African Americans face discrimination and poverty. Then she confronts Superman and asks if he would marry her now that she is black! Yooww. Teri Hatcher ain't enough for you, Superman, so how about a little Beyonce? His answer is still the same: I can't marry you because you'd be a target for my enemies. In other words, Superman's gonna play the field because it's the swinging 70's and he's wide open, baby!
Of course, I don't believe this is the inspiration for Black White. I doubt Ice Cube read Lois Lane comics from the 1970s. But I bet that Ice Cube did see the classic Eddie Murphy video on Saturday Night Live where he becomes a white man (you can view it here). Murphy discovers that white people get a lot of things for free, like newspapers and bank loans. Parties erupt on buses when the last black person exits (cocktails are served). It's one of the funniest things Murphy has ever done. Nuff said.
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