Superman: January 2006 Archives

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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When I think of comic book stories that are absolutely perfect, from beginning to end, there are very few. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko did a great job on the Master Planner trilogy in Amazing Spider-Man. Lee and Jack Kirby wrote a great Fantastic Four two-parter called "Battle for the Baxter Building". Alan Moore's two-parter "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" story that ended Superman's last incarnation was a timeless classic. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely had a nice streak with the first few issues of New X-Men, and now they've done it again with the second issue of A.S.S. (All-Star Superman).

It's not that anything super-monumental happens in this story. It's Morrison and Quitely's interpretation of the classic Silver Age Superman. Having revealed his secret identity to Lois Lane, he gives her a tour of his Fortress of Solitude. While it's still in the Arctic and requires a key to open the door, not everything is as it was in the 70s. The key is different and so are the robots that take care of the Fortress. As Superman escorts Lois through his secret hideout, Morrison reminds us what was great about this era. It was magical, mythological, and it makes the present-day Superman pale in comparison. While today's Superman gets imbroiled in one super-battle after another, the Silver Age Superman explored his universe. He took trips into the bottled city of Kandor, fell in love with mermaids, and rescued near-extinct animals for his private zoo. Not to say that every Silver Age story was a classic, but the mythology gave writers all the tools they needed to tell a good story. If Superman ever got stale, it wasn't a fault of being too powerful or having too many Kryptonians around--it was because whoever wrote those stories couldn't think of new problems for Superman to face. For that to work, you need a big thinker to create bigger problems. You need writers like Alan Moore or Grant Morrison.

When Morrison and Quitely work together, the result is an awesome blend of imagination. The pacing of the story beats are just perfect. This particular story isn't about Superman as much as it is about Lois Lane (she's the narrator). Feeling stupid and paranoid after learning about Clark Kent, she doesn't quite believe that she was so naive. As Superman lists the many ways he fooled Lois over the years, her paranoia increases. Lois has never been drawn sexier than with Quitely behind the pencil. I can almost imagine Lois being played by Evangeline Lilly if this were a movie. If you've seen the solicitation for A.S.S. #3, then you know Lois becomes a super-hero, and that costume looks pretty fine. I think Quitely will be getting plenty of requests for Lois sketches in the future. Nuff said.

Extra:
Horcast podcast interview with Frank Quitely

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