In case you didn’t make it to the end of last week’s blog (I don’t blame you), I want to talk about what’s going on for the last month of the Year of Superman. I have plans for the last two weeks, including a week of holiday-themed stories and then wrapping it all up with a sort of “best of” week featuring classic stories I haven’t covered, as well as stories that kind of function as “endings” for the Man of Steel. In the last two weeks before then, it’s gonna be a free-for-all. I’m going to try to cross off as many things from my to-read and to-watch list as I possibly can, but there won’t necessarily be any rhyme or reason, pattern or theme. I’m going to get in whatever I can. As I write this, on Dec. 3, I know what I’m reading today, but I’ve got no idea what you’re going to get over the next six. Here’s hoping we can have some fun with it.
And as always, you can check out earlier blogs in the Year of Superman Archive!
Wed., Dec. 3
Graphic Novel: Superman: Ending Battle (Collects Superman Vol. 2 #186-187, Adventures of Superman #608-609, Superman: The Man of Steel #130-131, and Action Comics #795-796)
Notes: About two years after the legendary Action Comics #775, “What’s So Funny about Truth, Justice, and the American Way?”, the four Superman titles came in with a sequel story that lasted for two months across eight individual issues. In “Ending Battle,” written in turn by Geoff Johns, Joe Casey, Mark Schultz, and Joe Kelly, Clark Kent is in Washington, DC visiting his old friend Vice President Pete Ross (this was during the President Luthor era), when the White House is attacked by the Master Jailer and Neutron. They’ve been hired to kidnap Pete and his wife, Lana Lang – but not because he’s the Vice President. Superman stops them, but they manage to escape, and Pete gets a very cryptic call from President Luthor, asking him to tell Clark “You’re faster than a speeding bullet.”
Later that day (in part two), the Atomic Skull arrives in Kansas where he quickly takes down Superboy and is about to go after Jonathan and Martha before Superman arrives to save them. As the day continues, more villains attack people close to Clark Kent: Riot goes after his old high school coach, Quakemaster his dentist, Hellgramite one of his college professors, and so on. Superman races from scene to scene, capturing one B-list villain after another, piecing together that someone is targeting not Superman, but Clark. He also realizes that the villains that are being sent are deliberately sub-par – whoever is behind this isn’t actually trying to harm anyone, but rather to send the message that nobody close to Clark Kent is safe. The stakes are raised when King Shark goes after Jimmy Olsen. After Superman stops him, Shark claims that a voice in his head told him a name and location, and he didn’t have a choice but to attack. While Superman is cleaning up the Shark attack, someone attacks the Daily Planet.
In Part Three Superman arrives at the Planet to see it besieged by Green Lantern’s old enemy Evil Star. No seriously, that’s his name. But despite having a moniker that sounds like a third grader came up with it, Evil Star is a lot more dangerous than the bad guys so far. He’s powerful, and in control of dozens of inhuman monsters that make him very dangerous – but he has no more idea of why he’s attacking than King Shark did. The attacks are coming faster now – Rock and Terra-Man attacking Steelworks, the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit fighting Dr. Killgrave, and Superman has Lois gather everyone close to them at Steelworks, where Superman tells them that “Clark Kent” is in danger and that they’ve been targeted due to their association with him. Although many of them want to get out there and stand their ground, Lois convinces them that it’s better for them to stay there, safe, instead of dividing Superman’s attention by trying to rescue them all…and Bibbo (ah, but I love Bibbo) volunteers to make SURE everybody stays put. As he prepares to fight, a mental wave knocks Steel out of the battle and tells Superman to go to Lex Luthor.
In Part Four Superman finds Luthor hiding in a secret lair of his own, where he confesses that he knows Clark Kent is Superman…but he also says that he’s not the one responsible for the attacks. He doesn’t know who sent him Clark’s identity, and refuses to be a pawn in somebody else’s game (which is pretty damned Lex Luthor of him, you gotta admit). In the midst of their discussion, they’re attacked by the Elite. Superman quickly realizes that even THEY are being mentally controlled, and finally tracks down the source to the living interdimensional spacecraft called Bunny, whose consciousness has been destroyed and whose body is controlled by the Cyborg Superman. As he leaves the Cyborg in ruins, Superman declares war on the man he knows now to be responsible: Manchester Black.
In Part Five, Superman finds that the Master Jailer has converted Metropolis into the “largest prison on Earth,” and Manchester Black is waiting for him. But he still has a gauntlet of villains to get through: Prankster, a random Bizarro, a newbie called Puzzler, Neutron and Terra-Man again. (And in a beautiful one-page vignette, Mr. Mxyzptlk shows up. He’s planning to pursue his usual mischief, but when he sees just how royally pissed off Superman is, he voluntarily says his name backwards and disappears, realizing that this is “not a good time.”) As part six begins, Superman knocks the Kryptonite out of Metallo, declaring he doesn’t have time for this, and makes his way through a literal army of low-tier villains before stumbling upon the A-team: Bizarro #1, Mogul, and Silver Banshee working with the Master Jailer. The power goes out in the city and Lois decides she can’t stand sitting around in Steelworks anymore, sneaking out to investigate, only to find herself in the clutches of the man himself, Manchester Black.
Part seven takes Superman to the “boiling point” (to quote the cover) as he discovers that his four remaining foes are more dangerous than he realized. Black has tampered with Bizarro’s twisted mind, “clearing” it and making him far more capable than ever before, and after a full day of Superman running Black’s villain gauntlet, Bizarro and Mongul beat the tar out of him. Banshee, meanwhile, is also more dangerous now that Black has revealed Superman’s “true, genetic” name of Kal-El, giving her magic greater efficacy against him. Superman takes the fight to the tropics, where the sun refuels him, but even there, the Master Jailer has set snares for him, even spreading Kryptonite into the sand. He manages to defeat them and tracks Black back to Metropolis, where the villain has been mentally torturing Lois (in a series of profoundly disturbing scenes). When Superman arrives, he finds Black standing over her dead body.
In the grand finale, Black smugly reveals that the government let him out of prison to do dirty jobs for them, and he used that freedom to investigate, finding Clark’s identity by observing his affection for Lois Lane. He taunts Superman, saying that he’s finally shown him how the world “really works” – sending him on a day-long battle to “save the world,” and the only loss of life was the person who means the most to him. The battle is quick and fierce, and Superman annihilates Black’s body with a burst of heat vision – until that part is revealed to be another illusion. Superman refuses to dishonor Lois’s memory by killing his enemy. “Vengeance is not justice,” he says. In stunned astonishment, Black finally realizes – finally ACCEPTS – that Superman’s the real deal, that even after everything that’s been done to him, the armor will not break, and he won’t kill him, ever. The realization makes Black drop his illusions: Lois is alive, of course, Black’s suicide plan being to make Superman kill him and then discover Lois was alive…but he failed. Superman cannot be broken. He slinks away and wipes the minds of everyone he told Superman’s identity to, including Luthor (who, to his absolute fury, remembers that he USED to know who Superman really is, but CANNOT REMEMBER THE NAME). Then, seeing that he has indeed become the villain Superman called him, Black kills himself with a telekinetic bullet.
I don’t know if I’ve read this storyline through since it was originally published back in 2002, but holy hand grenades, it was a humdinger. This was one of the darkest Superman stories of the period, putting our hero through a physical and emotional wringer like he’s never been through before. The only thing I can think of to compare it to is the first half of the Knightfall storyline, when Bane breaks all of the villains out of Arkham Asylum and has Batman run himself ragged trying to defeat them all before he steps in and snaps his spine. But Black’s real goal wasn’t physical, it was emotional. It was about tearing down who Superman is at his core, making him betray his truest convictions, turning him into the monster that Black is convinced everybody is deep inside. It doesn’t happen, though. The story takes a very long, roundabout, and upsetting path to get there, but in the end the result is the same: Superman is Superman. And he cannot be compromised, no matter what. This story precedes Injustice, but in a way it almost feels like a rebuttal to that. Even in his darkest moment, even when he believes he’s lost everything, Superman doesn’t bend.
It’s the kind of climax that makes you smile and say, “Ya gotta respect that,” and in a way, that’s what Manchester Black does at the end. He sees that he was wrong, and he makes up for it as much as he can – restoring the status quo in regards to Clark’s secret identity, and then taking himself off the playing field. This being a comic book, of course, he eventually got better, but when he appears now he’s more of an anti-hero than the anti-villain he was in these storylines. “Ending Battle” changed him, and that’s quite a testament to the story.
The harshest part of the entire run comes in chapter seven, when Black tortures Lois. We see it – mentally he breaks her down, showing her her worst memories and her worst fears (such as Clark cheating on her with Wonder Woman) in a tremendously uncomfortable sequence that can only be described as mind rape. And frankly, it’s all unnecessary – as his plan depended on Lois being alive at the end of it, what the hell was the point of torturing her?
Fortunately, things work out at the end, and this was even a turning point for the Superman titles at the time. Following the events of the “Our Worlds at War” storyline (which coincided with the real-world tragedy of Sept. 11), Superman had changed his costume slightly, putting a black background in his S-shield, a black shield on his cape, and generally showing up in darker tones that were reflected in the stories of that period. After Black’s defeat, after he and Lois take time to heal, he goes back to the classic yellow, signaling that the period of mourning has ended and Superman is, indeed, Superman once again.
The only thing about this story that’s kind of confusing is just how isolated it feels. Granted, it takes place in a 24-hour period, but it spans the entire planet, and the only other heroes to actually appear are Superboy and Steel, neither of which turn out to be much of a factor. They reference the Justice League a few times, but it seems like the moment Superman realized someone was targeting Clark’s loved ones, he would have activated the entire JLA – have the Flash evacuating people, Green Lantern shielding them, Batman and Wonder Woman fighting at his side. This could almost be set in a world where Superman is the only superhero there is, and while I can understand that making the other characters a part of the story may have complicated it, leaving them out entirely feels like a tremendous oversight.
Comic: Justice League of America #49
Thur., Dec. 4
TV Episodes: Smallville Season One, Episode One, “Pilot;” Superman and Lois Season Three, Episode 7, “Forever and Always.”
Notes: It’s been a minute since I watched this one, but it’s time to sneak it in. Because the thing is, even though this show never calls our hero “Superman,” even though Clark never puts on the iconic costume until the last shot of the last episode, for an entire generation this is the gold standard of Superman on TV. As much as Christopher Reeve was fundamental to me, I know that people who came of age in the early 2000s latched on to this show. In fact, both David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult identified this as their earliest exposure to Superman. And it lasted ten seasons for a reason: it’s a good show.
The pilot begins with an origin – a rocket in space falls to Earth in the little town of Smallville, Kansas, in 1989. In this version, though, it doesn’t fall by itself – along with the rocket comes a shower of meteors that causes untold havoc to the town, destroying buildings, striking cars and setting them ablaze, and horrifically killing the parents of little Lana Lang right in front of her eyes. As this is going on, industrialist Lionel Luthor (John Glover) is forced to land the helicopter he’s travelling in with his son, Lex, who runs into a cornfield in a blind panic during the shower. He stumbles on a young man lashed to a scarecrow with an “S” painted on his chest – a football initiation ritual – when a meteor streaks overhead and lays waste to the entire cornfield. When Lionel finds his son, the fallout of the meteors has caused his bright red hair to fall out. Oh yeah, and Jonathan and Martha Kent (John Schneider and Annette O’Toole) are tossed upside-down in their truck, only to find a little boy stumbling towards them through the wreckage. Martha, who has been praying for a child of their own, convinces her husband to adopt the boy. Because it wouldn’t be a Superman story otherwise, would it?
Twelve years later, young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) is now a student at Smallville High and he nervously asks his parents permission to try out for the football team. But Jonathan is hesitant, worried that there might be an “accident.” Clark doesn’t take it well, and when he realizes he missed the school bus carrying his friends Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) and Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), he dashes ahead, racing through the cornfields at super-speed to meet them at school. Clark catches a glimpse of Lana Lang (Kristen Kreuk), whom he approaches sheepishly before stumbling and falling flat on his face, a common occurrence. While he watches Lana and her boyfriend Whitney, Clark feels a surge of pain beyond his teen angst, and his eyes fall on the necklace Lana wears all the time, the one with a green meteor rock in it. That afternoon, as Clark walks home moping about everything, Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) loses control of his car when looking at his phone – let that be a lesson kids – and hits a roll of barbed wire that fell off a truck. Lex hits Clark head-on and his car plunges over the side of a bridge. Clark, unhurt, manages to pull the unconscious Lex from the wreck and perform CPR, saving his life. Lex is baffled at how Clark wasn’t hurt, especially when he sees the remains of his car, but is grateful to Clark for saving him. That same night, a local body shop is attacked by the young man that Lex saw in the cornfield 12 years ago. He seems to have electrical powers now, and he hasn’t aged a day.
Lex sends Clark a new truck as a “thank you,” but when Jonathan refuses to allow him to accept it, they get into an argument over how Clark feels like he’ll never be normal. Jonathan decides that it’s time to tell his son the truth of his origins and shows him the rocket that brought him to Earth on the day of the meteor shower. He rushes away in anger, eventually finding himself in a graveyard, where Lana Lang is visiting her parents. For the first time in his life, Clark is able to have a conversation with Lana without making a fool of himself. (It MAY have something to do with the fact that she gave Whitney her green meteor rock necklace for luck in the homecoming football game.) Although Clark is terribly non-specific, the two bond over their mutual trauma and he walks her home, getting a kiss on the cheek for his efforts and promising to save him a dance, even though she’s dating Whitney. Clark visits Lex to return the truck, and in the conversation it comes out that Jonathan doesn’t trust the Luthors because of Lionel’s shady business dealings. Despite the animosity of their fathers, Lex offers Clark his friendship, believing that their generation is the future.
Chloe, meanwhile, sees an odd bystander at the site of an attack on a former football player and tracks him down to a hospital where he’d been comatose since the day of the meteor shower, having recently escaped, identifying him as Jeremy Creek. Chloe shows Clark her “Wall of Weird,” an enormous catalogue of all the strange, inexplicable, and bizarre things that have happened in the town of Smallville since the day of the fateful meteor shower – dozens of news clipping and photos, including a Time magazine cover featuring a weeping three-year-old Lana Lang, and Clark suddenly feels guilty for the death of her parents. As he leaves school, Whitney grabs him, declaring that Clark has been targeted for the scarecrow initiation this year. Clark staggers in pain, seeing the green necklace around Whitney’s neck, and Whitney puts the necklace on Clark, saying, “This is as close as you’re ever gonna get to her.” While string up in the cornfield, Clark is approached by Jeremy Creek. He begs Jeremy to cut him loose, but Jeremy declares he’s safer where he is and leaves. Lex catches a glimpse of Jeremy in the field while driving to his father’s plant, then hears Clark calling for help in the field and cuts him down. The necklace falls from Clark’s neck and he feels his strength return, running from the field, and Lex finds the necklace in the dirt. Clark finds Jeremy about to use his powers to attack the Homecoming dance, and the two fight. Jeremy smashes a truck, getting sprayed with water that seems to short-circuit his electrical powers. When he awakens, he has no memory of the last 12 years. Clark goes home, watching from a distance as Whitney brings Lana home from the dance.
I was a faithful viewer of this series the entire time it was on the air, but I haven’t revisited it very much since the original run ended, and watching the pilot again after all this time is making me consider a full rewatch. (NEXT year.) I’d forgotten a lot of the little beats – how they tied in Lex and Lana’s respective status quo to the same meteor shower that brought Kal-El to Earth, for example, or the rather naked and shameless way Lana’s Aunt Nell thirsted after the very married Jonathan Kent.
The show did a great job of framing what is essentially a Superboy series (minus the costume) in the early 2000s. The characters all felt really true to the classic versions, as well, with the dynamics and relationships fitting the traditional mold while still feeling modern. One of the best things about the show, especially in the early seasons, was the dynamic between Clark and Lex. Although the notion of Lex being a friend of Clark’s who went bad was old, going back at least to the Silver Age, there had been precious few stories that actually EXPLORED that friendship prior to this part. Starting the show on the day they BECAME friends gave the show a nice element of tragedy to it. Lex insists to Clark that their friendship is sincere, and he honestly means it, but every single person watching the show knows that something is going to happen sooner or later to make it go terribly.
The elements that were added to the show are hit and miss. Using the meteors (Kryptonite, in case you didn’t pick up on it) as a sort of catch-all to create metahumans for the show made for a good source of villains, but it caused a “freak of the week” formula that started to get stale quickly. And although it is difficult to separate the character from the actress, Allison Mack’s Chloe Sullivan was a great new character, giving Clark a sort of confidant that he didn’t traditionally have. She was a fantastic character that added a new element unique to this version of the character. At one point they even added her to the comic books, in a Jimmy Olsen serial that ran in the pages of Action Comics during a period when DC was doing a lot of those backup serials. Unfortunately, she never showed up again after the Flashpoint/New 52 reboot, and considering the controversy surrounding Allison Mack, it seems unlikely that she’ll come back again any time soon.
It’s funny, really, how I am remembering now how much I liked this show back in the day. I don’t have time in December, that’s for sure, but I think when January rolls around I’m going to try to find time to pencil episode two into my viewing schedule.
Fri., Dec. 5
Comic: DC K.O.: Superman Vs. Captain Atom #1.
Notes: The “tournament” part of DC K.O. is hitting this month. With issue #2 of the main series narrowing the field down to 16 combatants, this month we’re getting a series of eight issues (four one-shots and four issues of existing ongoing series) that will feature one-on-one fights, and it all kicks off with Superman Vs. Captain Atom. Although he’s never really been an A-lister, Captain Atom is one of those characters like Firestorm, whose true potential is almost limitless if he really cut loose, and that makes him a suitable opponent for Superman. I won’t go through the play-by-play of the battle, but I will say that I was particularly satisfied with this issue. The fight was brutal and intense, but suitably, it was just as much a battle of ideology as it was a physical one. Captain Atom is ready to do whatever it takes to win, whereas Superman is desperately trying to hold on to his ideals even as the battle rages around him. Along the way, the story starts to pick up on the feel of a video game, with a strict set of rules, power ups, and alternate forms being laid out for the heroes as they go head-to-head. It’s rare that you see an all-fight issue that actually feels worthwhile, like it has weight to it, but if this is any indication of what the rest of the month is going to be, we’re in for some epic slugfests. I’m particularly looking forward to the last issue – the one-shot that will pit the Joker against his former victim, Jason Todd, the Red Hood.
Sat., Dec. 6
Movie: Man of Steel (2013)
Notes: I have to confess, I have deliberately dragged my feet when it comes to watching this movie in the Year of Superman project. But that should not be construed as a commentary on the film itself. No, my reluctance has nothing to do with the movie and everything to do with the toxicity of the fanbase that seems to have grown around it. With the possible exception of Star Wars, I have never seen a group of purported fans more whiny, obnoxious, delusional, or self-absorbed than adherents to Zack Snyder’s version of the DC Universe in the time since it was announced that James Gunn was going to reboot it. And in truth, I wasn’t totally in favor of the reboot when it was announced. I did – and still do – like Henry Cavill’s Superman, and I thought that a page-one restart was unnecessary. But that in no way excuses the abhorrent behavior from a small – but astonishingly vocal – segment of the fan base. So let me just say that if you’re one of the people who has spent the last few years online harassing James Gunn or the new cast, or fans of the new movies, or have attempted to review bomb or spread false narratives about the success of the film – if you’re one of these people, then please understand without a doubt that you suck, that you have made the rest of us who DID like the Snyder movies embarrassed to say so out of fear of being associated with you, and that Superman wouldn’t like you either.
Although he, of course, would give you a chance to redeem yourself, because that’s who Superman is.
Okay, that’s the last I’m going to say about that subject. Let’s talk about the movie. There were then – and still are – a lot of things about this incarnation of Superman that I really liked. Although I don’t feel like origin stories are necessary anymore, the opening sequence on Krypton is really dazzling, with a fascinating version of this world that’s unique and – although inspired by versions like John Byrne’s Krypton – isn’t exactly like anything else.
Snyder’s version of Superman leans into him as an alien: he is not of Earth, and although he strives to protect it he doesn’t feel as though he belongs. Every aspect of this version of Clark Kent emphasizes this – the early scenes where he’s struggling to contain his vision and hearing powers, the later scenes where he’s roaming the world before he settles in Metropolis, and of course, the main conflict in the second half of the movie that’s all about Zod calling him out, forcing him to be seen as an alien the very first time the human race glimpses him at all.
This is not, I should stress, my preferred version of Superman. I like it when the character is inherently human, with the fact of his birth on Krypton being incidental to the man he actually is. But like all legendary heroes going back to antiquity, there are different interpretations of the character, and for this particular “Superman is an alien” interpretation, the movie is very well-done.
Similarly, Henry Cavill’s Superman is the perfect fit for THIS interpretation. There’s a sadness and a longing to him, as he looks out on a world that he seems desperate to be a part of, but cannot connect with fully. Michael Shannon’s Zod has the anger and disdain that you want from the character, and he’s fantastic at what he does. Amy Adams as Lois Lane doesn’t quite have the ferocity that I usually like in my Loises, but she trades it for an intellectualism and demeanor where nothing quite phases her, and like many of the other things I’ve mentioned, it works for this version of the character.
There’s the score by Hans Zimmer to talk about as well. I absolutely love the music in this film – strong, bold, classical. Nothing will ever top the classic John Williams theme, of course, that music is etched into my soul. But Zimmer’s work is great, in particular the anthem that plays when we see Clark learning how to fly for the first time. That’s a fantastic sequence, and I never get tired of it.
Among detractors of this film, there are two major points of contention, one of which I think is justified, while the other is missing the point. First, the criticism I agree with: the portrayal of Jonathan Kent. I’m not wild about the fact that Jonathan tries to prevent Clark from using his powers to help people in this movie, although I think it’s more acceptable when you filter it through the lens of a father trying to protect his child. It’s not that he doesn’t care about the school bus full of kids that Clark risks his secret to save, it’s that in his mind HIS child is more important than any other, and he cannot abide the thought of what might happen to him if his secret were to become public. Speaking purely as a dad, I totally understand that perspective. But Jonathan Kent – and I’m going to be frank here – has to be the greatest father in the universe in order to raise a kid with Clark’s power who becomes a Superman instead of a Zod. This problem is especially clear when Jonathan allows himself to be taken by a tornado rather than letting Clark save him. It’s supposed to come across as heroic, in that he considers Clark’s secret more important than his own life, but when you think of the number of ways Clark could have saved his father and still protected his secret, then it just seems…foolish.
The other major criticism is one I disagree with wholeheartedly, and that’s the scene where Superman kills Zod. “Superman doesn’t kill!” they shout, and they’re right. But that’s not the same as saying he NEVER has. Snyder, again, seems to be taking his cue from John Byrne here, specifically the “Supergirl Saga,” in which Superman killed Zod and the two other Phantom Zone criminals to prevent them from finding a way to his Earth and destroying it. Doing so devastated Superman, causing a mental break and eventually steering him to dedicate himself to the protection of life, and never its destruction. The fact that Superman refuses to kill is MORE believable due to the fact that he did it ONCE.
And this film actually does the Byrne story one better. Rather than executing three helpless prisoners out of the fear of what they MIGHT do, in this film Superman kills Zod as he is ACTIVELY threatening the lives of innocent people. Even in a court of law, his actions at that moment would stand up as justifiable. But the lesson he takes away from it is the same – the agony on his face after Zod’s death shows just how deep a wound he’s created in himself.
The other two movies in which Cavill portrays Superman, similarly, have their ups and downs. I’m not going to get too deeply into either of them, except to say that I think Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice gets more derision than it deserves and that Zack Snyder’s Justice League is vastly superior to the theatrical cut of the film. But all that said, although I didn’t feel like the reboot was necessary when it happened, I have since come around on that one wholeheartedly. This movie was good at what it did, but what the James Gunn/David Corenswet movie does is simply much more like the Superman that means so damn much to ME.
TV Episode: Superman and Lois Season 3, Episode 8, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”
Sun., Dec. 7
Comic: Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #4
Notes: The penultimate issue of W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo’s Black Label miniseries is just as triumphant as the first three. In this one, Superman and Batman have figured out that the strange new varieties of Kryptonite they’ve been studying are actually the work of Mr. Mxyzptylk. In and of itself, this isn’t that surprising. What IS a bit of a shock, though, is the revelation that Mxy sent them as a distress signal – the Fifth Dimension is in serious danger, and only Superman can save them! But while he and Batman are doing their thing, Lex Luthor has plans for the new Kryptonite in his possession.
This issue is just a JOY to read. While it’s just as weirdly surrealistic as fans of Prince and Morazzo would come to expect, the tone is one that celebrates imagination and storytelling, focusing on how important these elements are to a character like Superman. It’s not at all what I expected from the two of them, and I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve been given. I should say, though, that it furthers the problem of DC not really knowing what “Black Label” should be, because it doesn’t seem to fit with anything else in that line at all.
There’s only one issue left, scheduled to drop next week, and I can’t wait for the finale.
Mon., Dec. 8
Comic: Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #45, Supergirl Vol. 8 # 7, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #144, Justice League of America #50
Notes: Mark Waid’s string of hits continues with World’s Finest #45, in which our two titular heroes actually take a mostly supporting role. This month, the Joker has gotten wind of Hawkman’s “Absorbascon,” a device that’s familiar to the readers, but which he sells to Lex Luthor on the promise that it can bring the user “infinite knowledge.” The two of them plot to get their hands on it, and the issue ends with their game being upped in a tantalizing and potentially deadly way.
What I really like here is that Waid is pushing forward the story while, at the same time, finding room to do a lot of great little character beats. Lots of people have written the Luthor/Joker partnership before, a team-up that makes little sense in reality, but that keeps happening mostly on the strength of having the arch-foes of the DC Universe’s top two hanging around together. The idea that someone of Luthor’s cold, rational nature would team-up with the Joker is ridiculous, so it’s always fun when a writer finds a way to make it make sense. The Joker of COURSE would love to hang out with Lex – poking holes in his logic is probably the next best thing to tormenting Batman – so having him bring a MacGuffin to Lex that the latter couldn’t possibly resist is a good excuse to force them together against Luthor’s wishes.
Although Superman and Batman take a back seat for most of this issue, we DO get some good moments with them, particularly the opening scene, which features Clark hanging out with Bruce at the Batcave, watching a football game between the Metropolis Meteors and the Gotham Goliaths. It’s incredibly rare to see the two of them doing something so utterly normal, just sitting around like any two ordinary guys, munching popcorn and rooting for their respective teams. It seems almost absurd for Superman and Batman to engage in such an afternoon…but for once, despite their clothes, they aren’t being Superman and Batman. They’re just Clark and Bruce. I can count the number of stories that pull that off effectively on one hand, and I’m not drawn by AI, so that’s a pretty low number.
I also want to call out the artwork by Adrian Gutierrez. I’ve made no secret of my love of Dan Mora’s work across the DC Universe, but Gutierrez has really stepped up and made this book his own. He handles the quiet character moments – like showing Superman wearing a football jersey over his uniform – just as real and perfectly in-character as the Big Damn Hero moments that come later in the issue. In other words, I’m a fan.
In Supergirl #7, it’s Thanksgiving in Midvale, and you know what that means! It means I should have read this comic book two weeks ago. But it ALSO means it’s Lesla’s first holiday on Earth. As Kara’s parents host a Thanksgiving dinner for all of Kara’s friends and family – including Superman and Lois – Lesla gets worried because Kara hasn’t shown up. Turns out she’s under the sea, trying to save herself from being turned into a mermaid by turquoise Kryptonite. You know, like you do.
My love for this book under Sophie Campbell’s stewardship continues unabated. On the one hand, we’ve got Supergirl herself tied up in a plotline that could have fallen straight out of the Silver Age, and Campbell is handling those adroitly. On the other hand, Lesla’s story carries most of the character weight in this issue, and it’s every bit as entertaining and meaningful as the superhero stuff. Lesla is trying to understand Thanksgiving, Lena hates it, Luna doesn’t celebrate it but just wants to be with her friends…the Double-L Squad that Kara has built up around her in this title is already one of the best supporting casts in comics. There’s so much happening with them, with the clashing personalities that somehow still make perfect sense as a group of friends, and it makes the book feel very real, very genuine, and very heartfelt. It’s honestly almost TOO perfect – I’ve been reading comic books for way too long and now I’m almost positive that something horrible is coming that’s going to break up this whole happy surrogate family. In my defense, though, the last page seems to be pointing to that as well, so it’s not just my hardwired paranoia.
I do have one question, though – having Superman show up for Thanksgiving dinner at the Danvers? That’s fine, everybody there knows Supergirl’s secret identity. Having him show up with LOIS, though…is that necessarily the best choice? Lex Luthor’s daughter is right across the table from them, is she not going to piece things together? I mean, I know she’s not the biggest fan of her dad, but still. Seems risky to me.
TV Episode: Superman and Lois Season 3, Episode 9, “The Dress.”
Tues., Dec. 9
Graphic Novel: Superman: Lois and Clark-Doom Rising
Notes: Dan Jurgens, of course, is one of the architects of Superman and who he is for the past 30-plus years, and when the Pre-Crisis Superman and Lois were brought back during the end of the New 52 era, he was called on to write the Lois and Clark miniseries that brought them and their young son Jonathan into regular DC continuity again. A few years later, he contributed this story as one of a series of back-up features that were running in Action Comics, specifically appearing in issues #1051-1057 of that series, along with the story from the Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special that I read earlier this year. I love Jurgens’ take on Superman, and I love any story with Jonathan back when he was still a kid and interesting, so reading the collected edition of this serial felt like a nice way to wrap up this week.
Following the fight with Doombreaker from the special, Lois and Clark take Jon back to the California farm where they lived while in hiding (the New 52 version of Superman being the main one at the time). Jon’s powers are still new and burgeoning, and Clark is hoping to spend some time guiding the boy.
Back in Metropolis, though, the creature called Doombreaker (originally a construction worker named Lloyd Crayton who kept a piece of Doomsday’s bone and was later transformed by it) has escaped. The bone that caused his transformation has gone missing too, and what even Lois and Clark don’t know is that Jon has kept it, hiding it so that no one else could use it to turn themselves into a Doomsday monster. While he’s secreting it in his treehouse, a spacecraft lands and a young woman steps out, Glyanna of the planet P’Luhnn, asking Jon to take her to the man she assumes to be Earth’s king – Superman. The two are attacked by a robot enforcer. Jon calls for help and Clark, with his super-hearing, races away. Just then, though, Doombreaker arrives at the Kents’ doorstep, seeking the piece of Doomsday Jon took with him.
Superman finds Glyanna’s spacecraft, but no sign of her or Jon. Glyanna and Jon, meanwhile, are being held captive on the Enforcer’s spacecraft, where he plans to return Glyanna home to stand trial for treason. Jon fights the Enforcer, but causes the ship to crash, barely pulling Glyanna from the wreckage in time. He again calls his father for help, but Superman is embroiled in battle with Doombreaker, who’s found the piece of bone. When the Enforcer again comes after Jon, Glyanna reveals she’s been controlling it all along, and puts Jon in stasis to use him as a bargaining chip to force Superman to help her. Lois uses a weapon from Glyanna’s ship to stop Doombreaker, then shows Clark the alien’s message – her planet is in the midst of a revolution, and all Superman needs to do to get his son back is put it down for her.
Superman arrives on Glyanna’s planet and is given an ultimatum – stop the uprising or she’ll kill Jon, who is hidden inside one of 120 lead cells all over the planet. As he tries to buy time by holding the mob back, Jon pounds on the walls of his cell (in a manner nicely reminiscent of Doomsday’s first appearance), counting on his father to hear the vibrations, even if he can’t see him. When Glyanna realizes what Jon is doing, she cuts off the oxygen to his cell, but Clark has already located him and breaks him out. Superman finds Glyanna’s parents, the rightful rulers who were overthrown by their daughter, who explain that she was led to turn against them by an outside force. The story ends with Glyanna in space, her mysterious advisor telling her that she’s got a weapon of her own for the future: Doombreaker is in their clutches.
This is exactly the kind of story I loved when Jon was younger – Superman and his son, interacting AS father and son. The boy is still trying to learn about his powers and learn how to be a hero – all of this is territory that very few comic books have covered before, and virtually none of them with as high a profile a character as Superman. Nor has there been a mainstream hero so perfectly suited to this kind of story – it was Superman as a father, something that in the 75-plus years of his existence (at the time) had never really been done before. It was a change of pace that fit the characters and worked beautifully.
Yeah. I’m still salty about Bendis aging Jon up and putting an end to that era prematurely. The Superman books are good right now, but Jon has been a weak link in the franchise ever since that point, and stories like Doom Rising just serve to demonstrate the inherent potential in this formula that was left largely unrealized.
It also makes me remember that – to the best of my knowledge – the cliffhanger at the end of this issue has never been resolved. Glyanna and Doombreaker are theoretically still out there somewhere, waiting for a time to return. Somebody call Jurgens up and get him on that.
Comics: Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #51 (Guest Appearance), DC Go! Holiday Special 2025 #2 (Cameo)
Only three weeks left, friends, it hardly seems real. See you for Week 50 in seven days.
Blake M. Petit is a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure series Other People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon. You can subscribe to his newsletter by clicking right here. You can join in the Kryptonian Konversation every day in the Year of Superman Facebook Group!
Blake M. Petit 