Here’s the thing about Halloween, guys – it seems to happen every year. Funny at that. But despite the proliferation of Halloween comics out there, it’s harder to single out Superman-specific comics that focus on the holiday, especially since I covered a lot of the big ones last year during the original Year of Superman. This week, I decided to take a slight detour, then, to a Super Friends comic, in which the unlikely partnership of Jimmy Olsen and the Wonder Twins save Halloween!
Super Friends #28 Title: Masquerade of Madness Writer: E. Nelson Bridwell Art and Cover: Ramona Fradon Inks: Vince Colletta
It’s a wild Halloween party in Gotham City, and Zan and Jayna – the Wonder Twins – are enjoying watching their friends have fun with the premise. As they walk around having used their powers to turn into an abominable snowman and a black cat (respectively), Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are having a little fun with their dates by dressing as Batman and Robin, and Jimmy Olsen has used the ol’ magic potion he’s used in the past to turn himself into a real werewolf for the party, with the promise from Jayna that she’ll kiss him after the party and end the curse. But when the clock strikes midnight and everyone is supposed to unmask, they find themselves trapped in the forms of their costumes, courtesy of the evil sorcerer Felix Faust.
Apparently, Bruce Wayne and several of the other guests each own ancient gems containing immense power that Faust wants to unlock, and he refuses to release the partygoers from their monstrous forms unless they surrender the gems to him. As most of the guests try fruitlessly to attack Faust, Jimmy lures the Wonder Twins away. Using the kind of logic that really only makes sense in cartoons like Super Friends, Jimmy explains that Faust’s magic only affected people wearing costumes – and since he’s a REAL werewolf, the spell didn’t work on him. The twins realize that the same spell prevents them from returning to their human forms, but they can affect SOME transformations, so Jayna turns into a cat-bat to fly off and find Wonder Woman and Aquaman while Jimmy summons Superman with his signal watch.
As the assembled heroes go on the attack, Faust forces the enchanted partygoers (dressed as Solomon Grundy, Bizarro, Swamp Thing, Man-Bat, and the Demon) to fight them back, raising some serious questions as to what kind of costumes you can find at Spirit Halloween in Gotham City. Like, is there a Joker costume? Would that be like a mass-produced outfit that lets you dress up like Charles Manson or something? The implication here is the creepiest thing about the issue. But anyway, what follows is several pages of the Justice League fighting Faust’s captives, in some amusing face-offs. Superman, naturally, fights “Bizarro,” Aquaman tackles “Swamp Thing” (whom he’s heard is pretty powerful), Batman fights “Grundy,” Robin takes “Man-Bat” and Wonder Woman lassos the “Demon.” You get the usual stuff about the heroes not wanting to actually hurt them, since they’re innocent people who have been transformed by magic, but the captives have all the powers of their costumes and none of the usual compunctions. In the end, though, it’s Jimmy and the Twins who finally get the drop on Faust, with Zan turning into an ice skeleton and freaking the villain out with a Grim Reaper routine long enough for Jimmy to get in and deliver a knockout punch.
I’m always amused by these old Super Friends comics. At the time these were being published, continuity was a fast and loose game, and even though DC Comics had pioneered the concept of a multiverse, it wasn’t something they used as vigorously as they do today. The result were Super Friends stories that tried to pretend they were part of the mainstream DC Universe with various references and callbacks that were probably wasted on the younger readers that the comic was aimed at. For instance, when the League is trying to come up with a plan to fight Faust, Superman suggests calling up the only Justice League member with magical powers, Zatanna, but unfortunately she’s busy on her own case. Jimmy’s werewolfism, as well as the cure (a kiss from a pretty girl) is a callback to one of the classic Silver Age Jimmy Olsen comics (in fact, I’m pretty sure I wrote about that one LAST Halloween), and there’s even a casual reference to the fact that Jimmy learned Batman’s secret identity on a previous adventure, which is a story I’ve never read or even heard of before, so I GOTTA find that one.
At the same time, the stories are light and simplistic, even compared to the DC Comics of the 1970s. They’re not making this comic for older kids, they’re trying to hook the younger ones. Those links are a neat way to do it, although a few footnotes indicating which issues they’re referencing would be nice.
As was often the case with Super Friends, the ending comes pretty abruptly and without much fanfare. Zan scares Faust, Jimmy punches his lights out, and as soon as he hits the floor the spell is broken and the people trapped in their costumes are set free. There’s also a quick beat at the end where the (unnamed) girls who came to the party with Bruce and Dick ask where they heck they’ve gotten to and the “real” Batman casually tells them that their dates have been placed out of harm’s way. It’s astonishing how often people in old comic books fell for that excuse.
It’s a fun little story, though, and I enjoyed reading it. With one Wednesday left until Halloween, though, I want to find something spookier. Hit me in the comments, guys – what’s the scariest Superman story you know?
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
This week’s “Superman Stuff” is going to be a little different – a review, yes, but also a bit of a personal reflection. This week we’re going to look at one of DC’s young reader graphic novels, and how awesome it was not just as a book, but as an experience for my family.
Supergirl’s Zoo-Per Heroes: Krypto’s Big Break Writer & Artist: Rob Justus
This young reader’s graphic novel starts with Supergirl and Krypto playing on the Justice League Satellite. Krypto is, of course, a good boy, but even good boys get into trouble sometimes, and his antics cause the Satellite to accidentally dump the Justice League’s laundry into space. Cosmic comic book physics happen on the way down and, when the costumes fall on some zoo animals, the animals find themselves possessing the powers of the hero whose costume they’re wearing. With the rest of the JLA trapped on the Satellite in their underwear, it’s up to Supergirl and Krypto to get their uniforms back.
It’s a silly story, with logic that wouldn’t even hold up in the goofiest of silver age comic books, and frankly, that’s kind of why I love it. The physics don’t make the slightest bit of sense, and the villain of the piece is a ridiculous caricature. There’s also a running gag about the fact that Krypto and the other animals can speak to each other, but the human characters don’t understand them, which makes Supergirl’s attempts to speak “animal” to them hilarious as they get exasperated with her gibberish barking. Justus’s characters have a simplicity that is absolutely charming, and there’s a sense of humor that appeals to the kids while winking at the parents who are reading along.
It’s that last part that makes this book particularly special to me. I didn’t read this book just for myself; I read it with my son, Eddie. Eddie is an ADHD kid, and while he’s capable of reading anything you put in front of him, he often doesn’t have the patience to do so for more than a page or two. My wife and I often try to get him to read with us, but it can be a struggle, as he’d rather be playing or watching football. But despite that, every other week I take him to the library and we check out a few books. Sometimes he reads them, sometimes he doesn’t. Picking up this one, though, turned out to be a great choice.
I sat with him and opened up the book last night (as I write this), and made a deal with him. “How about you read what Krypto is saying, and I’ll read the other characters, okay?”
And he did. He did it with zeal. He did it with APLOMB. Eddie jumped right into his role, barking and woofing when that’s what Kryto was doing, reading the lines in English when that was the case. He did it with vigour, acting out like everyone’s favorite hyperactive Kryptonian puppy, no doubt because he feels in our beloved Superdog something of a kindred spirit. As we sat together reading the book, he announced his parts gleefully to his mother, who was watching the whole thing with amusement.
I’ve been reading to my son since he was an infant. Getting him to read back to me has sometimes become a chore. But he LOVED this book.
It ended on a cliffhanger, and I’m eagerly awaiting book two. I also intend to try to track down some of Justus’s other work, including the two volumes of Superman’s Good Guy Gang, and share those with Eddie as well. It wasn’t just reading, it was sharing, and that made it all worthwhile.
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
It’s time once again for a healthy helpin’ of reviews. Here are most (if not all) of the Superman-related comics that hit the stands in September, including the second half of Kingdom of Zod, a few journeys to alternate universes, the “Weirdest” co-star Superman and Batman have ever seen, and the newest incarnation of Superman’s ORIGINAL Super Friends.
Supergirl #17 Title: Kingdom of Zod Part Five Writer: Sophie Campbell Art: Bruno Frenda & Joe Quinones Main Cover: Lucas Meyer & Guiliano Peratelli
The second half of Kingdom of Zod kicks off with Supergirl and Superboy (the time-tossed Clark Kent from his teen years) getting caught in a time bubble with Ursa, who’s travelling to the past in an apparent attempt to save Krypton from discussion. The issue checks in briefly with the rest of our cast, including Lana and the Steels dealing with the Krytonite zombies, Superboy (Conner) and Superboy-Prime trying to help an injured Superman, and Lois doing the same with Jonathan. But each of these story threads is given no more than a page or two, with the bulk of the issue focusing on Kara and Clark’s adventures on Krypton.
There’s always a delicate balancing act with intra-family crossover events like this one. In the books where the “lead” character of the franchise (in this case, Superman) is the same as the lead of that title, there’s no real issue. When you have a chapter in an issue of a spinoff character – which Supergirl is, let’s be honest – you have to struggle between maintaining the focus on the person that the regular readers buy the book for and continuing the overall event that may have brought in new readers. Campbell accomplishes this really well. We spend most of the issue with Kara trying to teach a young, inexperienced Clark about the dangers of time travel while at the same time trying to prevent Ursa from making things worse. The interaction between the two of them is really entertaining, with Kara taking on the big sisterly role she thought she would have before she woke up on Earth that first time and discovered that her baby cousin was now older than her. I know that once this is all over Clark is going back to his own time, but I would love to see this dynamic played with more often.
More importantly, the time-travel arc doesn’t feel like a superfluous side-story here, but part of the large whole, and that’s what you really want most of all when you’re reading a story like this one. It needs to feel consequential, or the readers will feel cheated. I don’t think that’s going to happen with anybody here.
Action Comics #1102 Title: Kingdom of Zod Part Six Writer: Mark Waid Art: Montos Main Cover: Lucas Meyer & Guilano Peratelli
Like the Supergirl chapter, Action Comics this month focuses mostly on young Clark and Kara on Krypton, although the side-stories progress a little bit further. Of course, they progress to a point where it just seems like it can’t get any worse. The adult Superman and his group finally reunite with Lois and Jon, but the one person who may be able to protect them from the growing Kryptonite radiation that’s engulfing Earth may not be of help after all.
But back in the past, back on Krypton, young Clark is separated from his cousin as Kara and present-day Ursa are taken into custody by past-Zod. Man, time travel makes these recaps harder to write. The gist of it is this: in this issue we see the teenage Clark that’s been the star of this title since Mark Waid took over have to make some of the choices and learn some of the maturity that’s going to characterize him when he gets older and becomes a true Superman, and that’s a great thing. If you read the classic Superboy stories of the Golden and Silver Ages, there’s not a lot of difference between the character as a teenager and as an adult. He’s the stalwart, confident paragon that we want him to be right from the jump, and while that’s a good thing for a mature Superman, it doesn’t make as much sense when you see him as a kid. Waid’s Superboy is someone who is still learning, still capable of making mistakes, but with a core of purity and decency that you can see developing into the all-loving hero that Superman is. This issue makes for a nice focus on that, a great examination of who Clark was and who he’s going to become, all mixed up in the larger storyline. It’s deftly played.
Superman Unlimited #17 Title: Kingdom of Zod Part Seven Writer: Dan Slott Art: Rachael Stott and Montos Main Cover: Lucas Meyer & Guiliano Peratelli
Part Seven of Kingdom of Zod flips the formula from the last two issues – a quick check-in with Clark and company back on Krypton, with most of the issue in the present, and the wave of El Caldero Kryptonite radiation that’s threatening the entire Earth. But here’s the thing: early in the run of this series, Dan Slott gave Superman a little boost that just may be the thing to save the day.
This is one of those issues where somebody with super-speed does a whole lot of stuff really fast, where things zip along in much less time than it takes to tell the story. I like issues like that, because a good writer can use them to give us quick glimpses at the hero being the hero. As Superman is racing to save the world from the Kryptonite, we see him take moments with friend and enemy alike that remind us of just what kind of a man our hero is. Not that we necessarily NEED that reminder, of course, but seeing Superman in action doing what Superman does is always a treat, and Slott really nails it here. In the midst of this huge storyline, it’s the small moments for Superman that really make this issue worth reading.
Superman #42 Title: Kingdom of Zod Part Eight Writer: Joshua Williams Pencils: Eddy Barrows & Eduardo Pansica Inks: Eber Ferreira & Julio Ferreira Main Cover: Lucas Meyer & Guiliano Peratelli
The penultimate chapter of “Kingdom of Zod” FINALLY brings all of our heroes together. Recovering from the Golden Mode adventure that cancelled out all of the El Calderan Kryptonite on Earth, Superman and his allies come together and learn (courtesy of Booster Gold) that Ursa stole his time-bubble, with Supergirl and young Clark going after her. This issue, they come back, along with a young Zod.
And all hell breaks loose.
Williamson, whose work on this title has made him one of my favorite Superman writers since the Triangle Era, is really showing how adept he is with these characters. Superboy-Prime meets up with Superman again for the first time since his self-proclaimed (and highly effective) Redemption Arc during the “Reign of the Superboys” storyline, and the moments where those two connect are really well-done. On the other hand, Conner Kent seems to be somewhat bitter about the whole thing, and I find myself desperately hoping that Prime’s redemption isn’t going to incorporate a heel turn for the other Superboy. I keep telling myself that Williamson is too good a writer for that. I am telling myself that very, very hard.
The huge cast that shows up in this issue comes together well, with good moments for Lois and Jon, Lena Luthor, and Superboy’s time-travel pals Mary Marvel and Martian Manhunter. Others are somewhat sidelined (I could always do with more Steel in this or any comic book), but that’s kind of the nature of the beast. The more characters there are in a story, the more likely some of them are going to ride the bench. And that’s especially true when you remember that, c’mon now, it IS Superman’s comic book.
Superman: Kingdom of Zod Special Title: Kingdom of Zod Part Nine Writer: Joshua Williamson Art: Paolo Villanelli Main Cover: Dan Mora Supergirl Epilogue By: Sophie Campbell, Tamra Bonvillain & Josh Reed Action Comics Epilogue By: Mark Waid, David Messina, Ivan Plascensia & Josh Reed Superman Unlimited Epilogue By: Dan Slott, Rachael Stott, Giuliano Peratelli & Josh Reed Superman Epilogue By: Joshua Williamson, Bruno Frenda, Luis Guerra & Josh Reed
It’s hard to get too much into this without delving into spoilers. There’s a great fight scene, but it’s actually not the main focus of the book. A lot of the threads of this story have been tied off already in the previous chapters, so all that’s really left here is for Superman and his family to deal with the time-lost Zod who came back from the era before Krypton’s destruction. As they do so, our various heroes are each given something different to deal with: Supergirl gets an artifact of the past that seems poised to set up her future. Tomorrow Man and his dad have a heart-to-heart about Jon’s new direction. The time-travelling Superboy has to deal with the knowledge of his future that he’s picked up along the way. And the other two Superboys – Prime and Conner Kent – each have decisions about their own future to make.
The Conner stuff is, as I mentioned in one of the previous chapters, one of the few parts of this story that gives me concern. We’re seeing a bitterness in the character that doesn’t really suit him. At the same time, it’s understandable: with both Jon and Prime around, he feels like he’s been shunted aside, and honestly, that’s a fairly accurate metaphor for the way fans of his have felt all the way going back to the New 52 reboot. People have been in agreement for quite some time that Conner Kent is a character in need of a new direction, and it seems that Williamson is preparing to finally tackle that story. I’m trusting that he’s too good a writer to make that new direction follow the cliched path of turning him into a villain.
The actual confrontation with Zod is good, but over with surprisingly quickly. The bulk of this issue is concentrated more on putting pieces into place for the future. The creative teams of each of the four respective Superman-family titles each get an epilogue sequence focusing on their own core cast and giving a taste of what we presume will be the next story arc in each. I don’t mind them doing that, but I do feel a little as though it came at the expense of the conclusion of the actual Zod storyline.
As a whole, I’ve enjoyed Kingdom of Zod. Having a new chapter coming out every week made it feel just a little like the glory days of the Triangle Era again, and I miss that period greatly. The ending could have been a bit stronger, but I’m excited to see what comes next.
Absolute Superman #23 Title: The Toyman (Get Brainiac Part Two) Writer: Jason Aaron Art: Juan Ferreyra Main Cover: Rafa Sandoval
As the Toyman rears his head again, Kal flashes back to a harrowing childhood experience back on Krypton. And of course, Brainiac lingers in the background.
The A-plot here is about Superman seeking the Toyman, whose murderous playthings have been enhanced thanks to a collaboration with Brainiac. That’s all well and good, but honestly, it’s not the part of this book that I’m particularly interested in. It’s the flashback scenes that really get my attention this month. It’s easy to forget just how different this Kal-El is from the one we knew. He lived a whole childhood on Krypton before it was destroyed, he has memories of his birth parents (both good and bad) and an awareness of the culture of his home planet that the main timeline Superman lacks. And this is a very different Krypton than the one we know, a fact accentuated by the awful thing that young Kal-El stumbles upon and the explanation for it he receives from his mother. The main Superman comics have had so many stories and miniseries that explore life on pre-cataclysm Krypton that it’s practically become a cliche. This is one situation where I think an exploration of the world that was would actually be warranted. Come on, DC – Absolute Jor-El and Lara? Guaranteed seller.
Adventures of Superman: Book of El #12 Title: Finale Writer: Philip Kennedy Johnson Art: Scott Godlewski Main Cover: Scott Godlewski
The House of El makes its final stand against Kryl-Ux, and with a Kryptonian carrying the power of a god, even an entire super-family has its work cut out.
I…don’t even know anymore. This series from the outset has felt so divorced, so removed from everything that engages me about the Superman mythos. Pulling him into the distant future, setting up a whole mystery that is predicated on him never coming home…it’s been hard to take it seriously. And the finale of the storyline doesn’t help with that. Ultimately, it still feels somewhat inconsequential.
I’ll give it credit for a few things. The heart of this series is definitely in the right place. Johnson gives the story a focus on all the good things about Superman: compassion, redemption, a belief in the best of us. Those elements are at the heart of all the best Superman stories, and we’ve got that here too. Also, I appreciate the fact that the book didn’t have as hard a reset as I came to expect, and that it wasn’t just an excuse to wipe Otho and Osul off the map. In the end, their story is still there and available. It does raise the question, of course, of where the hell they’ve been in the main Superman comics as of late. There’s an answer available in this issue, but it’s something they’re going to have to address sooner or later.
The best thing I can really say about this series, in the end, is that I’m quite certain it will read better as a whole instead of in chapters the way it’s been parcelled out over the past year. It’s certainly happened before. I was kind of underwhelmed at Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow as a monthly series because of the slow burn, but when it was over and I read it as a single book I was deeply moved and impressed. I hope that will be the case here as well. I’m not going to do it anytime soon – I need a little time away from it to clean the slate – but perhaps some time next year I’ll go back and try to read it as one unified story. If I do, I’ll be sure to tell you what I think about it on the second go-around.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #55 Title: Extinction Event Part One Writer: Mark Waid Art: Adrian Gutierrez Main Cover: Dan Mora
With most of the Justice League off-planet, Ra’s Al Ghul assembles a group of villains who share his cause to exterminate most of human life. With his new harbingers of the apocalypse, he unleashes a devastating attack that begins spreading illness across the globe. Superman and Batman are among Earth’s remaining defenders, but when the sickness strikes too close to home, even the Dark Knight may be compromised.
One of the many things that makes Mark Waid’s run on this book is how well he straddles the line between huge storylines of global significance and small, character-focused stories. This issue, for instance, as if Queen Bee’s swarm of alien insects threatening an apocalypse wasn’t bad enough, one of the early victims is somebody that we – and the other heroes – care deeply about. It hurts a little that this book is set in the past and, as the stricken character is someone who is alive and well today, there’s not really a question of IF the heroes will succeed, but rather HOW. On the other hand, it’s still Batman and Superman we’re talking about here, so is there really any question as to whether they’re going to beat the bad guys in the first place?
Getting past that, Waid really explores the way these events affect our heroes. Batman is already approaching the story from a place of conflicted emotion, considering that his primary informant is Ra’s Al Ghul’s daughter Talia. This seems to be the first time Superman learns about the whole Batman/Talia thing as well, which puts him in a bit of a pickle. Bruce is his best friend, of course, but can he be counted on to be at his best? It’s a great way to get into the relationship between the two, with a degree of mutual trust that’s impaired just because Batman himself is too emotionally invested in the whole thing.
It’s another excellent issue. I’ve come to expect nothing less.
Batman/Superman/Weird Al: World’s Weirdest #1 Writers: Mark Waid & Tyrone Finch Vibes: “Weird Al” Yankovic Art: Dan Schoening & Fico Osso Main Cover: Dan Schoening
At last! My two favorite heroes in an adventure together with Batman!
In this deliciously absurd one-shot, Mr. Mxyzptlk’s cosy home in the Fifth Dimension is unsettled when everything strange in his world starts to become…normal. Terrified, he goes to Earth to find Superman for help, only to find the plague is striking there as well Mxy, Superman, and Batman quickly discover the key may be the one person who seems to be immune to the “Mundanity Wave” striking both worlds: “Weird Al” Yankovic.
This story is silly, absurd, totally inconsequential, and has no reason whatsoever to exist. I loved it. Look, I’m an easy sell. Obviously I read anything that has Superman in it, and “Weird Al” is perhaps the last remaining celebrity on Earth that everybody likes (now that we’ve lost Dolly Parton), so it wasn’t really an uphill battle to get me on-board for this one. But that doesn’t mean it’s not still a fun read. Seeing how different DC characters become “normal” when hit with the Mundanity Wave is as weird as anything that’s being turned mundane. (Somehow the Joker in a normal suit and with a normal skin tone is more unsettling than the psychotic clown we all know and love.)
The villain reveal is a great one, too. It’s not somebody that we see all that often, a relatively obscure villain to anyone but fans of the series that birthed him, but he’s absolutely perfect for this book. Mark Waid’s knowledge of the DCU remains unparalleled, even as he’s able to take a quick dig at himself at one meta-moment.
I haven’t seen a lot of Dan Schoening’s work since IDW’s Ghostbusters series wrapped up, but he’s a good choice for this book. After years of chronicling adventures of characters that looked almost, but not QUITE, like Bill Murray and the boys, he’s got a good eye for near-caricature that suits his depiction of Al very nicely. He also has a light touch with his line, crafting a book that looks almost like a cartoon, which is entirely appropriate.
Bizarro: Year None #3 Title: How Do I Look? Writers: Eric Carrasco & Kevin Smith Art: Nick Pitarra Main Cover: Nick Pitarra
Jimmy Olsen spends a day with Bizarro on his Bizarro world, and the two of them each begin to realize just how different from Superman he actually is. In the meantime, Bizarro Lois and the others on her world began making their moves to change things about the planet they’re essentially trapped on.
You know, when they said “Kevin Smith is writing a Bizarro origin story,” I bet a lot of us were expecting a sort of goofy, silly exploration of a character that more often than not is played for a joke. We were wrong. Moments of humor in this issue have become few and far between, and the exploration of Bizarro has never been less amusing. It’s like we’ve delved into an exploration of the Bizarro from the first few scenes in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, a deeply troubling creature that’s every bit as strong as Superman but possesses none of his kindness or humanity. It’s actually a bit frightening.
The really baffling thing about the book is where it belongs, in a publishing respect. The solicits for this series have referred to it as the “official” origin of Bizarro, but those same solicits are written in Bizarro-speak, also calling the series “terrible.” So it’s not official, we got that. It’s also not labeled as an Elseworlds, although it could be. But honestly, as dark as this story has gotten, I’m wondering why the heck it’s NOT marked as a Black Label comic. It would fit there much more than most of the Superman books that have carried that particular sticker.
Supergirl: Survive #4 Writers: Ethan S. Parker & Griffin Sheridan Art & Main Cover: Rod Reis
Finally having reached a planet with a yellow sun, Kara and Kal-El are beginning to taste the power that being a Kryptonian truly brings with it. But despite their power they’re still stranded, with no way to get to the distant planet Earth that is their destination…until they encounter another visitor to this world who may be able to help them.
As they did with the Lantern Corps and Lobo in previous issues, this month Parker and Sheridan bring in another DC character to build out this other universe. This time, it’s one who has links to the Superman family to begin with, and he falls into his role quite naturally. As an Elseworlds, one is forced to wonder whether his gregarious nature is going to turn out to be a long con and he’s really up for some supervillainy, but so far there doesn’t seem to be any overt indication of that, and I’m glad. It would be a pretty tired trope for this character to go bad, and it’s about time poor Kara got a break.
Another couple of time skips in this issue and we’re watching as Kal-El grows from baby to child, with a personality beginning to develop. So far, he’s coming across as a fairly typical kid, albeit one with remarkable powers. He gets frustrated, he gets scared, and he turns to Kara – his protector, his only family – when that happens. Like this month’s guest star, Kal-El could go in many directions, but we’re definitely getting the sense that Kara is doing the best she can to steer him, which can’t be easy with a super kid.
Once more, I’m really impressed with this book, and I want to see this iteration of the DC Universe explored more and more.
Superman: Father of Tomorrow #5 Title: Strife Writer: Kenny Porter Art & Main Cover: Danny Earls
One issue from the end, Father of Tomorrow takes another step in the right direction. As the sorcerer Lex Luthor makes his move on Metropolis, Jor-El confesses the events that led to his exile on Earth and why he came alone. Luthor, meanwhile, faces off against Lois Lane’s father Sam, who has become this world’s Captain Atom.
My favorite thing about this whole series has to be Luthor playing with magic. It’s intriguing to see him push his genius in this direction rather than science, but he avoids coming off as just a Dr. Doom clone. This is still Luthor through and through, with all the pettiness and ego that implies. He points out of the hypocrisy of Sam Lane’s anti-superhuman stance now that he’s turned himself into one of the world’s powerhouses. He is faced with an extremely real threat and shrugs it off because, you know, he’s LEX LUTHOR, so what could possibly touch him? It’s a great new angle for a classic villain.
The reveal about Jor-El’s past works well, and it gives his position on Earth a little added flavor of tragedy, although I feel like it’s something that could have come earlier in the series. It does explain his urge to “fix” things in a way that’s suitable. My big problem with this series to date has been people opposed to Jor-El “fixing” Earth without actually providing much evidence that there’s any downside to his changes. We still don’t get any of that this issue, but we don’t dwell on the idea that his changes are bad either, so on that front I’m gonna call this issue a draw and look forward to next month’s finale.
Superman: The Stranger #1 Writer, Artist, and Main Cover: Wes Craig
The newest “Black Label” series featuring the Man of Steel dives back to the Golden Age. In a Metropolis where people are struggling to get by, young Clark Kent is desperately trying to get a job as a reporter while, at the same time, using the bizarre powers he has to patrol the city at night as Superman, defender of the defenseless. But a chance encounter in an alleyway sends him questioning where the real villains may lie.
I’m very much on the fence about this book. First of all, the vagary of the Black Label imprint continues to be an issue. Ostensibly a line of “mature” comics featuring the DC heroes, the Superman books in this series have very rarely had any content that would mark them as such. The “17+” rating on the back cover in tiny little letters doesn’t seem appropriate, and I can’t find anything that makes me think this shouldn’t be an Elseworlds, since that imprint has returned from the dead.
That’s more of a fault of editorial than the comic itself, but the comic itself leaves me with concerns. Frankly, it feels like we’re just exploring some well-worn territory. A Golden Age Superman? Seen it numerous times since the Golden Age. Superman versus corporate greed and corruption (as embodied, of course, by Lex Luthor)? It’s so familiar you could draw it in your sleep. I need something more original to justify the $5 price point of this book.
That’s not to say there’s nothing promising. Clark, honestly, seems to have more to distinguish him from other incarnations of the character than Superman himself. His thirst to work at the Daily Planet has him settling for a job at the very bottom of the pole, and I’m not talking editorial. And despite the fact that his name is, as usual, “Clark Kent,” there are some ruminations in this book that call me to question whether he was actually raised by the Kents or if his Earthly origins are different than what we’re used to. That question remains dangling at the end of this issue, which is fair enough, but I’m hoping that we return to it in the future, because so far there’s little to set The Stranger apart.
Legion of Super-Heroes #1 Title: Who Killed the Future? Writer: Joshua Williamson Art & Main Cover: Hayden Sherman
I wasn’t necessarily planning to write a review of this book. After all, this column is “Superman Stuff,” not “Superman’s Friends Stuff.” But the Legion is, in many ways, as much a Superman spinoff as Supergirl, Steel, or Krypto, and I don’t hesitate to write about those. Plus, even though Superman doesn’t actually appear in this issue…well, he’s all over it.
I am on the record as saying we do not need yet another reboot of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and I am standing by that statement. But if you’re gonna do it, Joshua Williamson has found a good way in. The book begins with the murder of R.J. Brande, a name familiar to Legion fans, whose death is being investigated by the unlikely duo of Brainiac 5 and Tenzil Kem. As they search for the facts behind Brande’s death we are introduced to this version of the future: how super-heroes are outlawed, how anybody who develops super powers is required to register them with a peacekeeping force called the Persuaders, and how many people don’t believe the legendary “Superboy” ever even existed. From there, we glimpse at the lives of three very familiar super powered young people, and the shape of this story begins to come into focus.
What’s making this story work for me, along with a healthy dollop of faith in Williamson as a writer, is Garth Ranzz. We see a Lightning Lad here with a thirst to be a hero, a craving for justice, and a locker whose contents could very well have been my own. A one-page glimpse into the legend of Superboy at the beginning serves to frame his desire for a different, better world, and even in one issue that craving feels infectious. It’s going to be rough on him when this issue’s last-page revelation hits home, but I feel like he’s going to be resilient.
And that drive, that thirst seems infectious. Imra and Rokk both appear here as well, and although none of our proto-Legionnaires interact in this first issue, we get the sensation that they’re already linked, and that the threads that link them and that will draw them together go back 1000 years to the age of heroes.
I liked this first issue very much, and I’m anxious to see how Williamson is planning to tie it into the revelations from this summer’s Superman Annual. But I don’t know if I’m planning to review every issue of this book. It’s not a Superman comic, after all. Except for in all the ways that matter.
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
If you can remember back a full seven days to my previous Geek Punditry column (#194: Can We Just Let Bad Guys Be Bad?), you may recall that the discussion was spurred by the announcement of a new Netflix miniseries adapting John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden. The book lovers among you will not be surprised to learn, then, that as I spent some time pondering the changes being made between the book and the show, I got a hair up my nose to give the book another read. This was a little difficult, however, when it came to my attention that I suffered from a chronic condition shared by over 7 billion people on this green planet of ours: I don’t actually own a copy of East of Eden.
And I feel like it’s judging me for that.
I own books, of course. I own a LOT of books. And the recent shenanigans by people like the bastards at Anthropic have made me more adamant than ever that owning as many books as possible is a good thing. That said, I DO have a limited amount of storage, and I’ve drifted more towards eBooks for most of my casual reading. I still love physical books, but unless it’s a keepsake (like a signed edition or something written by a friend of mine), something that’s unavailable in eBook format, or a book I need to complete a collection, I’m usually satisfied with the electronic version. So I decided to look into how much the eBook of East of Eden costs.
$12.99. And I looked at that $12.99 with the same sort of distrust that you look at the current prices at whatever gas pump is nearest to your house.
Look, I am a writer, and I believe wholeheartedly in paying writers what they’re worth. That said, I also believe that anyone charging more than ten bucks for an eBook is gouging you, because there are virtually none of the production, shipping, or storage costs involved with creating a print book. And when it’s a book that’s nearly 75 years old, the incredulity just rises.
That afternoon, I happened to be taking my son on our biweekly trip to the local library. While we were there, I thought, I should just check the book out. That’s what libraries are FOR, after all. They are a vital part of our community, and by NOT checking out books, I am doing them a disservice. It was such an obvious solution. So after convincing Edward that he actually had to follow ME through the stacks for a change, instead of me racing after him on a frantic search for the kitty pictures hidden around the children’s room as part of the library’s monthly scavenger hunt, I tracked the Steinbeck book down and looked at it.
I reeeeeally looked at it.
East of Eden is Steinbeck’s longest novel. And by “longest,” I mean it clocks in at about the same page count as Stephen King can turn out on a typical Sunday in October – it’s hefty. Let’s be clear about this: I do not mind a long book. I am by no means intimidated at the idea of reading a doorstopper. But I am also realistic, and I had serious doubts about my ability to finish the book and return it to the library in a timely manner. And even though the good people who work at the St. Charles Parish Public Library (Destrehan Branch) are uniformly kind, friendly, and helpful, I also reread Stephen King’s The Library Policeman a couple of months ago and I didn’t want to risk it.
Yeah, yeah, “it’s just a book” — SOME OF US CAN’T TAKE THAT CHANCE.
Anyway, I told myself, I’m an English teacher. I really should OWN a copy of such a seminal work in the canon of American literature. I should just get a paperback instead. So I looked it up: $20.
Then I went back outside to stare at the gas station again.
I remember a time – a time not all that long ago – when most paperback books fell in the $5.99 to $7.99 range. And sure, East of Eden is a huge book, clocking in at over 600 pages. But I started to look around at the NEW release paperbacks as well, many of which would take a full three or four whacks to kill a mouse, as opposed to the one thump that East of Eden would require, and I saw that $20 was about the average price these days. Part of that is because American publishing has all but abandoned the mass market paperback: the smaller sized and more affordable book that was ubiquitous for decades, small enough to fit into a largeish pocket, the glorious format upon which most people born before the turn of the century learned how to love books. Sadly, after making books accessible to the masses for nearly 100 years, this format has become almost nonexistent. If you ask publishers and distributors why that is, a lot of them will tell you that “the market” was no longer purchasing them, was no longer interested in them. As a member of “the market,” however, I can tell you that I was never surveyed about this decision. I never reached a point where I thought, “You know, I’m going to buy this larger version of the book that costs twice as much.” I just noticed that the smaller, less expensive versions were no longer being published for some reason.
Although I have no statistics, quotes, or data, I firmly believe that the push away from mass market was spurred almost entirely by a publishing industry that wanted an excuse to increase its prices. And again, writers deserve to be paid. But I don’t believe for a second that, in the vast majority of cases, the inflated price tag on these books has equaled an increased cut for the person who actually created the book. Almost universally, the added revenue being collected is going into the coffers of the publisher, which of course provides the invaluable service of deciding which books they want you to spend money on.
I also believe – without statistics or data – that this format shift is also at least partially responsible for the decline in literacy in America. Look, there are a lot of reasons that people might not want to read books: social media, video games, other media drawing their attention, being afraid of being labelled a “nerd,” difficulty finding books that match their interests, their mother read Danielle Steele that one time she got hit by an ice cream truck and there’s no WAY they’re taking THAT risk, and so forth. But I think the fact that books are no longer cheap enough to be an impulse purchase makes every single one of those problems even worse than it already is.
The funny thing is that while traditional publishing is doing everything it can to make it harder for people to become a part of their audience, comic book publishers are doing the OPPOSITE. I’ve written at length about DC Comics and their “Compact Comics” line, (In GP #119, GP #124, GP #164, and GP #178, but who’s counting?) so I’ll just do a quick recap here. DC now has a line of paperback editions of some of their most popular stories and graphic novels in a smaller format – ironically, about the same size as most of the paperback novels that have shoved mass market paperbacks into their grave. These Compact Comics collect the same stories that are published in traditionally-sized graphic novels, which usually have a price point ranging anywhere from $20 to $40, depending on the length. DC’s Compact Comics, however, have a uniform price tag of $9.99. And this format has proven to be a MASSIVE hit, selling out printing after printing not only in comic book stores, but in big box bookstores and other places that people buy books, like Walmart and Target. The line is so successful that nearly every other major comic book publisher has responded with their own line of smaller-sized bargain-priced paperbacks, and the result is an easily-accessible, affordable series of books that is appealing to both old and new readers alike.
Size-wise, these two books are everything you could want. Content-wise…well, one of them is.
Compact Comics also blow the argument for a $20 paperback out of the water. While a traditional book may have to pay a designer, a cover artist, and a few other people besides the author, a comic book has many, many more hands than that: multiple writers and artists, colorists, letterers, editors, and so forth. And while each of their pieces of the pie may be smaller than those of a single author who has written a single novel, the color pages and the paper that holds those images is also of a better stock than your usual paperback. The production cost for a Compact Comic is inarguably higher than that of a novel, and yet DC can afford to sell them for half the price.
To put it another way, if I have $20 in my pocket, I can buy Steinbeck’s East of Eden, or I can buy a copy of Mark Waid and Alex Ross’s exquisite graphic novel Kingdom Come AND have enough money left over for compact anthology of comics from Oni Press’s Rick and Morty series. And I’m sorry, but Steinbeck never ONCE included a plumbus in any of his novels, so this isn’t even really a contest.
If you look hard enough, though, you can probably find one in Shakespeare.
As a teacher, a writer, and a reader, I hear the phrase “literacy crisis” thrown around on a daily basis. Authors are desperately hustling to try to get readers. Readers are finding themselves in a cultural wasteland as it becomes more difficult to find people in your daily life that you can share your love of books with. Teachers are crawling behind students on hands and knees BEGGING them to read just a chapter or two of The Great Gatsby, because there’s a scene where a woman gets hit by a car, maybe because she’d read a Danielle Steele novel, I dare you to prove that she HADN’T. In fact, EVERYBODY seems to be doing anything they can to try to get people reading again.
Everybody, that is, except for the companies that have established themselves as the de facto gatekeepers of the entire world of literature: the publishers. Rather than making books available and attractive to as many people as possible, they seem to be on a quest to identify micro-cohorts of potential readers and squeeze every drop of cash out of THEM, rather than make reading appealing to the masses.
It’s an insane practice, but that’s the world we live in.
I broke down and got the Kindle version of the Steinbeck book, by the way. At $12.99, it would take me almost three years of late fines at the library to offset the cost, but by then I should be almost finished reading it.
The conclusion of Kingdom of Zod drops today (assuming you read this on Sept. 30), but I won’t have time to get to the comic shop and write a review before my admittedly self-imposed deadline on this column, so it’s going to join the overall September wrapup you guys can expect next week. Today, I wanted to go back a couple of years to 2024, and the eight-issue Kneel Before Zod series written by Joe Casey with art by Dan McDaid.
The series was touted as Zod’s first starring series, although it’s kind of unclear whether it was intended to be a miniseries or if it, like so many comic books in the modern marketplace, was structured in such a way that it could keep going if the sales permitted. Regardless, it’s one of the darkest stories in the main Superman continuity you’ll find. As the series begins, Zod has founded a “New Kandor,” a planet where he intends to restore the glory of Krypton with his wife Ursa and their son, Lor-Zod. But things fall apart almost immediately, as Zod finds himself forced to exile his child (who went off to share the Sinister Sons miniseries with Sinestro’s boy) and his new planet targeted by an alien invasion.
The first half of this series places Zod in the unusual role of defender, trying to protect his world from the invading aliens. But Casey does it in an effective way, maintaining the general brutality and evil nature of the character. I’ve written recently (in Geek Punditry #194) about how modern media has a disturbing tendency to try to excuse villainy, something that I think is somewhat damaging to the culture as a whole. Casey doesn’t do that. Zod may be the protagonist here, but that doesn’t make him a hero. While the flashback scenes that showcase Zod’s past may help to explain the way he is today, these scenes are presented for the purpose of illumination, not justification, and that makes all the difference.
The reason I think this was probably intended to be an ongoing series is that it takes a drastic turn about halfway through, starting an entirely different storyline with Zod in space, alone, until he finds and takes command of an army of villains. It goes from a story of a man protecting his home to the origin of a sort of cosmic pirate clan, a drastically different story that feels as though it was intended to be the next stage in a longer arc that got cut short. As such, this second half of the series isn’t quite as engaging as the first, feeling less complete and more unfinished.
Dan McDaid’s artwork comes from the Keith Giffen school in many respects. The linework is detailed when need be, sparse when appropriate, and he usually incorporates the nine-panel grid that Giffed so often used. It helps with the pacing, and somehow (despite the fact that Giffen would use these techniques in silly books like Ambush Bug), McDaid’s use of it adds to the sense of menace.
I wish Casey had been given just one more arc on this book to try to tie things up more neatly. As it is, it just kind of ends, dangling Zod in space, where he remained until his reemergence following Absolute Power took him on a slow march to the story that’s happening in the Superman comics right now. There’s connective tissue here, but I feel like there was supposed to be more, and it’s a shame we didn’t get to see it all.
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
With the whole “Kingdom of Zod” storyline in high gear over in the main Superman comics, I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at some of the more classic General Zod storylines over the years. This proved to be troublesome, though, when I realized that most of Zod’s characterization is actually based on the movies, specifically Terrence Stamp’s portrayal of the character in the first two Christopher Reeve films. Prior to the movies, Zod was a rather generic “evil” Kryptonian from the Phantom Zone. Since the movies, he’s gained much more depth, but that depth is all based on the cinematic portrayal. What’s more, I already covered some of the best Zod storylines back in the original “Year of Superman” project.
So I turned to the New 52 era, and that month about two years in when the regular titles were given over to “decimal” issues featuring not the heroes, but rather one of their traditional foes. Essentially, they were one-shots that weren’t TECHNICALLY one-shots. So let’s take a look at that era’s version of Zod from Action Comics (Vol. 2)
Action Comics (Vol. 2) #23.2, because integers know what they did. Title: DC Comics Unleashes Zod Writer: Greg Pak Art: Ken Lashley Main Cover: Gene Ha
This quick read is less a story and more of a series of snapshots from the life of Dru-Zod, beginning in his childhood and ending with his expulsion into the Phantom Zone. There’s interesting stuff here, showing young Zod with his parents, scientists, and how a cataclysm leaves him to fend for himself. A year later, a semi-feral Zod is found by Jor-El and Zor-El and reintegrated into society, but the damage, it seems, has been done.
From there we get to what I think is this issue’s primary failure: the biggest timeskip of out of several. We go straight from lil’ Zod playing Tarzan to a fully grown adult Zod already commanding an army. The rest of the book – the bulk of the issue, in fact – is made up of exploring Zod’s rise to power as a military leader on Krypton. Pak’s story is fine and Lashley’s art is great, but this is an era of Zod that has been covered extensively over the years. There are lots of different stories about “General” Zod, both before and after Krypton’s destruction. And look, I get it, the point of this issue was specifically to detail the history of the New 52 version of Zod. Technically speaking, it was uncharted territory. But is it really uncharted if you’re following a course set by people who just got there in a different way? What I’m getting at is that I wish Pak had spent more time in those in-between years, because the first two scenes of the book are some of the most interesting. We’re very used to seeing Zod as a fascist, a sociopath, and all of the other things that make him one of Superman’s most memorable villains. This is one of the few glimpses of him BEFORE that.
That said, the glimpse is pretty good. Those few scenes at the beginning are bookended with a flashback at the climax of the book, showing us the fate of Zod’s father that had previously been skipped over, and it’s a harrowing moment. It’s more demonstrative of who and what Zod is than any of the military stuff in the rest of the book. I don’t think this particular version of Zod is in continuity anymore (much of the New 52 stuff is of dubious canonicity at best), but either way I think there’s room to explore here.
Alas, explore they did not.
I think there’s room to pick at Zod a little more, though. In 2024, Joe Casey came in with an eight-issue series called Kneel Before Zod, which is far more relevant to what’s happening in the Superman books right now. I haven’t read that one since it first came out, and it feels like maybe next week would be a good time to go back and do that again.
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
In this day and age, if you collect anything related to pop culture, it’s almost inevitable that you’re going to wind up with some Funko Pops in your collection. Some people like to be derisive about them, others call them “Millennial Beanie Babies,” but the simple truth is that if it’s not something that hurts anybody, then whining about it says more about the person doing the whining than anything else. What I like about Funko is the fact that they cover such an incredibly diverse array of properties and characters all in the same line. When I was a kid, I was the sort who liked to mix and mash his action figures and make my own crossovers, and it always kinda bugged me that so many of them were in such vastly different scales from one another. Sure, G.I. Joe could interact with the Star Wars characters easily enough, but having them meet He-Man made it seem like the “Power of Grayskull” was nothing more than a massive overdose of steroids. Super Friends was a little better, although it always bugged me that Robin was taller than Snake-Eyes. And working in the Thundercats? The stuff of nightmares.
With Funko, though, any character from any universe is in the same scale as any other, and I admit, that’s what made me a fan. In recent years I’ve pulled back on collecting them just because of the sheer volume, but I still try to get my hands on any Superman or Superman-related characters I can find. It’s going to take a few posts to get through them all, so I’m going to start today with some of the more standard Superman figures in my collection.These are just the Funko Pops I’ve got of your basic Superman. You wouldn’t think one would need too many of those. You would be wrong.
On this first row, we’re going to start with a sort of archetypical Superman. This was one of the first Superman Funkos ever produced, and I actually wound up with several of these in my possession when the TV show Krypton debuted. Prior to the beginning of the show there was a week-long trivia competition similar to the defunct HQ Trivia app with a cash prize each night and several runner-up prizes. I never won the top prize, but I got runner up multiple times, and each time I got the same package including a World of Krypton graphic novel, t-shirt that didn’t fit me, charging bank that looked like a Kryptonian crystal, and one of these Funko pops. I gave a couple to friends, one is in Eddie’s toys, and I kept one at home and one at work. Anyway, next to him is a figure labelled “Classic” Superman in our favorite “hands on hips” pose, and to the right is a “First Appearance” Superman, based on how the character was designed in Action Comics #1.
Speaking of Action Comics #1, that was also the subject of this Funko Pop Comic Cover figure. The s-shield is slightly different, as aficionados would be quick to point out. While I’m on the subject of oversized figures, there’s also this Clark Kent popping out of a phone booth, and the jumbo 12-inch Funko next to him. I believe there’s a variant of the jumbo figure with red eyes, like he’s using his heat vision, but I don’t have that one.
Here we have figures based on specific comics or scenes, starting with another Clark Kent in mid-transformation. That “Superman Pose” with the shirt being pulled open to reveal the S-shield is a classic for a reason. Next to him is a Superman based on Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. You can tell by the grimace. It’s not my favorite depiction of Superman, to be honest, but I do love having him on the shelf. I’m more enamored of the next one, Superman bursting chains in a tribute to the classic Neal Adams cover to Superman #233.
Some more story-specific figures here. We’ve got a Superman based on Mark Waid and Alex Ross’s Kingdom Come, which of course is one of the greatest Superman stories of all time. Next to him is the bearded, black suit Superman from the 2015 Lois and Clark miniseries by Dan Jurgens and Lee Weeks. I love this design, possibly because it’s just from such a great story, but I also think that the black suit and beard combo work well. And next I’ve got two versions of the holiday Superman: a full-size Funko and a miniature version that came from a DC Advent Calendar a few years back.
I call this next row the 90s Trilogy. In the middle we’ve got long-hair Superman, based on his appearance after the Death and Return of Superman. I’ve got him flanked by the versions of Superman from the story that came right after he finally got a haircut: Superman-Blue and Superman-Red. I just feel like these three all belong together, they’re so “of an era,” y’know?
I’ll close off this part of the tour with a few color variations. First up there’s a nice little Black and White Superman. This is not the only Black and White figure in the collection, but some of the others will appear best in other sets. Pink Superman was part of a line of figures released for breast cancer awareness, and on the other side is the Blackest Night version of Superman from that classic scene in which he, and other heroes who had died and been resurrected over the years, were transformed into Black Lanterns. If you’ve never read that series, why not? It’s great.
As I said, this is just the first of several Funko shelves. In future installments we’ll look at alternate versions of Superman, versions from other media, and of course, his friends and foes.
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
Back in June, just before the Supergirl movie dropped, I devoted a column to the first few issues of the longest-running series the girl of steel has had to date: Peter David’s 80-issue run from 1996 through 2003. At the time, I talked about the first five issues of the series, as well as the prologue short story from Showcase ‘96. Since then, I’ve been working issues of the series in my regular rotation of re-reads, and this week I wanted to check in on the series so far.
At this point, I’ve gotten through the first 24 issues of the series, along with its two annuals and the two issues of Resurrection Man that the title crossed over with in 1998. This is the first time I’ve read most of these issues since they first came out nearly 30 years ago, which is an appalling number that whoever is in charge of time should be immediately apologizing to me for. I find that, while I remember most of the broad strokes, it’s the little things that I’m really getting into this time around.
For example, the broad strokes in question include the fact that Peter David’s Supergirl is what’s called an “Earth-Bound Angel,” a sort of heavenly being that is created when someone who is utterly unselfish sacrifices themself to save the life of someone beyond redemption. In this case, the former is Supergirl (the Matrix version) and the latter is Leesburg resident Linda Danvers. The Earth-Bound Angel is created by fusing the two of them into a single being. Much of the story comes from Linda, whose past is far dirtier than you usually expect from a member of the Superman family, trying to navigate the fact that she’s now cast into the role of a hero, and attempting to reconcile two sets of memories that have become one.
This much I remember. The stuff I didn’t remember is where the book really shines: the conflict between Linda and her parents, particularly her mother, who struggles with the knowledge that her child has been irrevocably transformed, for example. Or the surprisingly large presence that Jonathan and Martha Kent have in these issues – surprising inasmuch as I didn’t remember them being in it quite so often, not surprising that they would want to take care of “Mae,” whom they raised as a daughter.
I’d forgotten a lot of the supporting cast as well. I remembered the demonic Buzz and the bizarre reboot of Comet (the Silver Age “Superhorse”), but I had forgotten characters like Linda’s struggling journalist pal Cutter, his ex-wife Andrea (who winds up with a crush on Linda), Linda’s best friend Mattie Harcourt, and the odd little boy named Wally who claims to be God and who, frankly, you struggle trying to argue with. Peter David had an uncanny knack for bringing in societal concepts and big ideas, concepts that were hot button topics at the time (and in some cases, still are today), and approaching them in a way that treats them as components of a story rather than an effort to make any sort of statement on the writer’s part. While one can probably figure out David’s political and spiritual beliefs with a deep enough reading of his work, that’s always subtext, and he never comes across as though he’s standing on a soapbox.
What’s more, David does all of this while dodging and navigating one DC “event” intruding into his story after another. Issue #3 was part of the Final Night crossover, then issue #14 was interrupted for Genesis (and believe me, that’s the kindest word to use for Genesis), and in issue #20 Supergirl had to leave town to help Superman deal with the Millennium Giants in his own titles. Some writers allow their book to be derailed entirely, while others give a crossover only the cursory acknowledgement and then ignore the fact that the sky has turned red. David is one of the few who really succeeded in striking a balance. In all of these issues, while Supergirl is dealing with the larger threats that are encompassing the DC Universe, we see the excellent supporting cast handling the trauma on their own, with lasting repercussions for the ongoing storyline that make these issues feel relevant and not just a bump in the road.
It’s also worth noting that original artist Gary Frank left the book less than a year into his run, making way for the man who partnered with David for most of the series, Leonard Kirk. And with all due respect to Frank, I think it was a change for the better. Gary Frank comes from a very highly detailed school of art, which is all well and good, but David uses a softer line and a more classic school of character design, without ever giving up the ability of the characters to emote or “act” on the page.
A little more than a quarter of the way through David’s run, and I’m enjoying it thoroughly. With the news that Sophie Campbell intends to bring back the Matrix Supergirl in the current run of the series, I can only hope she’s studied these issues intently, because there’s a lot of gold to be mined here. I’ll check in again later, maybe once I round issue #50.
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
It’s time once again for a healthy helpin’ of reviews. Here are most (if not all) of the Superman-related comics that hit the stands in August, including the first half of the epic crossover event Kingdom of Zod!
Absolute Superman #22 Title: Get Brainiac Part One: Metallo Writer: Jason Aaron Art: Juan Ferreyra Main Cover: Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola
Don’t you just love how DC stamps “A New Story Stars Here!” on the cover any time a new story is starting in an Absolute book? It’s a grand practice and I wish they’d implement it across the line. And with a book like this one, it’s almost a necessity. Even someone who reads the book each month like me might be a tad confused without that label there, because the story leaps right into the action feet-first. As the story begins, Superman is in Argentina facing off against a brutal, powerful cyborg that we soon learn (in case you didn’t guess it from the title of this issue) is the Absolute Universe version of Metallo. But as befits the Absolute line, although Metallo is familiar in many ways, when Superman gets a peek beneath the helmet, the face underneath turns out to be a very unexpected one.
The Absolute books, in my opinion, always are at their most interesting when they take the formula of the regular DC Universe and give it a twist, rather than those parts where they go off and do their own thing entirely, kind of like how Ra’s Al Ghul has been an arch-foe for Superman instead of Batman. Metallo is somewhat similar in that respect. Although the basic concept of a man rebuilt into a cyborg and sent off to fight Superman is intact, the man beneath the mask is a surprise and puts a very different spin on the dynamic between him and our hero.
Jason Aaron and artist Juan Ferreyra give us other twists as well. The flashback scene where we see Brainiac breathing life into this Metallo, for example, plays less like a scene from a superhero comic book and more like a segment of a horror movie. The darkness in certain corners of this world is so severe that it makes Superman stand apart all the more whenever he lets his light shine through.
I like some of the ways Ferreyra plays with the layout in this issue as well. There’s a two-page spread, for instance, of Superman and Metallo clashing with one another in outline, the panels appearing in the shapes of their bodies to tell the story. It helps not only make the pages stand out, but improves the pacing as Superman tries (in true Superman fashion) to attempt a dialogue with Metallo before either of them winds up beating the other to death. The last couple of pages are a nice emotional capper on the episode, and leave you with all the questions you need about where the rest of this storyline is going to take us.
Adventures of Superman: Book of El #11 Title: The Garden of the Promethean Giants Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson Art & Main Cover: Scott Godlewski
As we spiral into the final battle between the forces of Kryx-Ul and the heroes of the House of El, Superman finds a new ally, and in the way only Superman can, he tries to reach out to his enemy before it’s too late.
The frustrating thing here is that, after 10 issues that I’ve felt were somewhat lackluster, this penultimate chapter is the first one that I’ve actually found engaging. Maybe it’s a Lord of the Rings thing, but I’ve always had an affinity for scenes of our heroes girding for the “final battle” (as is promised on the cover), getting ready to fight for their lives, preparing to face impossible odds. When it’s done well, I often find it to be the most inspiring part of the whole story, and it’s the kind of thing that really stirs up the emotions just when you want them stirred up the most.
I also like how Johnson brought the story back around to Otho and Osul-Ra, although I’m more worried than ever that if there’s to be any lasting repercussions from this series, it’s going to be to shunt those two off to comic book limbo. It would be a shame to take them off the table, but as Johnson is the one who brought them into the mythos in the first place, it seems like he’s being the one that’s gearing up to put them off to the side.
I do feel like I’ve been harsh on this series, and although I do my best to be fair in these reviews, I don’t know if I’ve entirely succeeded here. This is a series that almost certainly will read better in its collected form than it has one chapter at a time (not unlike Kennedy’s original run on Action Comics, with the Warworld story that preceded this one). After it’s all said and done, I do intend to take a little time off then come back and read it as a whole to see if that improves my attitude towards the series. And if it does, I promise I’ll tell you all about it.
If it doesn’t, I’ll just keep my mouth shut.
Supergirl: Survive #3 Writers: Ethan S. Parker & Griffin Sheridan Art &Main Cover: Rod Reis
Having escaped the destruction of Krypton, Kara and little Kal-El have been recovered by representatives of the Lantern Corps, a peacekeeping organization made up (in this universe) of agents of all the different colors of the emotional spectrum. When Kara learns that the Lanterns plan to take the two of them to a place called Oa, she and Kal-El escape again, taking with them the means to recreate their home.
There’s a lot of good in this issue. Kara’s attempt at protecting Kal-El is pretty clever, and very much in keeping with the sort of solution a teenage girl would come up with in these circumstances. That said, there are limitations inherent in her plan, and Parker and Sheridan do a nice job of addressing them. We also get introduced to a new player in this issue, a different take on a classic Superman character that seems primed to play a larger part in this story. The Guardians’ interest in the Els is also intriguing. There seems to be an obvious logic behind what they’ve got in mind, particularly considering that the Lanterns were ordered to keep them away from yellow suns, but there’s definitely room for the story to throw us a curve ball.
The timeline is slightly confusing here. There are a few pages of time skips and the narration doesn’t help with keeping track of it, despite there being captions telling us how much time has progressed since “K-Day.” To be fair, the problem isn’t that it’s hard to figure out what order things are happening in, but things clearly happen within those time skips that I feel should have been addressed more directly. I’m not the kind of reader who demands that every single detail be spelled out, and a little mystery could be fun, but the combination of the elements here makes this a bit more perplexing than they need to be.
Rod Reis’ artwork is really sublime. If you look at that cover there, of a Blue Lantern Kara surrounded by…well, you can read what she’s surrounded by yourself. But it looks phenomenal, and with a huge chunk of the issue taking place in this environment, it’s really impressive that the all-blue world feels dynamic and engaging rather than monotonous. Overall, this book has been highly enjoyable.
Superman: Father of Tomorrow #4 Title: Vexed Writer: Kenny Porter Art &Main Cover: Danny Earls & Nick Filardi
After an encounter with Batman and Robin in Gotham City, Superman (Jor-El in this continuity, remember) finds himself facing unexpected adversaries in the American government. Lex Luthor, meanwhile, continues to pillage this universe’s magic users, bringing him into conflict with John Constantine.
I continue to have a complicated relationship with this story. On the one hand, I really like the world-building. Kenny Porter has done an incredible job extrapolating an Earth that has access to Kryptonian technology, and the differences and variations on the familiar DC characters is well-done. I particularly like his characterization of Lex Luthor, drawing on magic in this world to fuel his battle against Superman. Considering that magic is one of Superman’s few recognized weaknesses, it’s actually pretty surprising that the mainstream Lex hasn’t tried this sort of thing.
The motivations still lack authenticity, though. It’s a little better this issue than last, where the world seemed to turn against Superman for no reason. Here, we at least see that Batman is skeptical of Jor-El’s “gifts” because he doesn’t believe that humankind is ready for the responsibility that having such advanced technology will bring to them, an idea that is punctuated by a clever tie-in to his origin. The villains, though – Sam Lane in particular – seem to fall into the old stale “Villain doesn’t trust aliens” plot, up to and including doctoring footage to make the hero seem like the bad guy. It’s a cliche that we’ve seen far too often, and without an interesting twist on it, I don’t really need to see it again. It doesn’t help that the narrative still doesn’t seem to have decided if we, the reader, are supposed to be on Jor-El’s side or not. Hopefully we’ll have an answer to that before this Elseworlds wraps up.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #54 Writer: Mark Waid Art: Bruno Frenda Main Cover: Dan Mora
It’s the kind of wild, wooly tale that only Mark Waid can tell, and of course, it begins with the threat of nuclear war. The two countries of Qurac and Bialya stand poised to annihilate one another, and the cries of the damned have grown so powerful that the demon Neron is empowered to act. Abducting a squad of DC’s finest heroes – including, of course, Superman, Batman, and Robin – Neron puts together perdition’s first ever game of baseball. It’s heroes versus demons, and if the heroes lose, the war will be allowed to grow and take over the entire world.
It’s an insane kind of story with a very silver age sort of flavor to it. But Mark Waid being Mark Waid, he takes this ludicrous premise and uses it to tell a nice little character story. Superman is dismayed to find a baseball player he’d idolized in his youth is among the denizens of hell, and he reaches out the way that only Superman can. Hell may be a nasty place, but Waid convincingly makes us believe that Superman can make it better, even there.
I do have some continuity questions, which I know is kind of silly all things considered, but it’s the kind of thing that makes me wonder just how much DC’s history has been juggled around. Neron’s first appearance was in the Underworld Unleashed miniseries, also written by Mark Waid. In that series, it was clearly Neron’s first encounter with DC’s heroes. In this story, which is clearly set before that crossover (as evidenced by the fact that Dick Grayson isn’t Nightwing yet), they’ve obviously encountered them before. Normally I’d be questioning why nobody is paying attention to that sort of little continuity snarl, but it’s Mark Waid. He literally rewrote DC’s history last year. If he’s decided that their first meeting with Neron was earlier than Underworld Unleashed, who am I to judge?
Supergirl #16 Title: Kingdom of Zod Part One Writer: Sophie Campbell Art: Joe Quinones & Paulo Villanelli Main Cover: Guillem March
Kingdom of Zod, the two-month Superman family crossover event, begins here. Picking up immediately from the prologue in last month’s Action Comics #1100, Lois has summoned the Superman family together to investigate the new regime that has taken over the Kryptonite-rich country of El Caldero. Things are off to a rough start, though: although Superboy-Prime has been going through a redemption arc (and succeeding quite well, I have to say), Conner Kent hasn’t forgotten the fact that Prime killed him once, and the two young Superboys butt heads at the worst possible time. The team to investigate El Caldero is assembled, and since some non-Kryptonian operatives are going to come in handy when it comes to infiltrating a country whose riches are based on a literal mountain of Kryptonite, Supergirl summons her pals in the Super Force to lend a hand.
Incorporating an ongoing series into any sort of crossover always requires something of a balancing act, and Campbell’s story deftly walks that tightrope. The story advances the various plots that have been percolating in the assorted Superman titles for months now, primarily the El Caldero storyline from Superman Unlimited, but Campbell hasn’t abandoned the stuff that has made Supergirl fun to read on its own. Incorporating the Super Force doesn’t feel tacked-on or superfluous here, but rather like Supergirl is bringing in her friends because they serve a legitimate purpose in the story. I also quite like the direction Kara’s character is taking. Although the readers know that the missing Superman was found in the aforementioned Action #1100, the Superman Family does NOT, and Kara feels the weight of having to step into her cousin’s boots as leader of this informal team. It’s a good look for her, and Campbell gives it the appropriate amount of emotional weight without tipping into angst the way some writers would take it.
I can’t say as many good things about the artwork, however. Joe Quinones, whose work I quite enjoy, splits the art chores with Paulo Villanelli, whose work I’m sorry to say I find somewhat lacking. Not only Villanelli’s pages not as sharp as Quinones’, but the styles clash in an unpleasant way. I’m sure that a lot of extra hands jumped in to complete this storyline sandwiched between the giant Action #1100 and the one-shot Kingdom of Zod Special from next month that will serve as the bookends for this storyline, but I wish the artwork in this opening salvo had been a bit more consistent.
Action Comics #1101 Title: Kingdom of Zod Part Two Writer: Mark Waid Art: Montos Main Cover: Guillem March
In part two of the big event, the time-tossed Justice League team of J’onn J’onzz, Mary Marvel, and Booster Gold have recovered Superman from the timestream with the help of a Superboy plucked from Clark Kent’s youth. They don’t even have time to catch their breath, though, before they return to a present-day where the Superman family is invading an El Caldero controlled by Zod. As Supergirl’s friends take to the fight, Zod tries to interrogate a captive Lois Lane, but her sheer determination proves that even without the powers she inadvertently took from him, she’s still got a lot of Superwoman in her.
The Zod/Lois scenes are hands-down the crown jewel of this issue. He’s flailing around in rage as she – even while bound and technically at his mercy – expertly prods and antagonizes him into spewing his whole supervillain plan without it coming across as an Incredibles-style monologue cliche. Honestly, how has there never been a story about Lois becoming a Green Lantern yet? Even an Elseworlds?
I would have thought that the mystery of Superman’s time traveling had ended with his return and last month’s exploration of where he’s been in this year’s Superman Annual, but it turns out there’s still more to consider here: namely, why doesn’t he remember this adventure from when HE was Superboy? Waid doesn’t answer the question, but shines enough of a light on it for the reader to be confident that we’re going to come back around to this, and it’s going to be important.
Like the Supergirl issue, the artwork here is the weak point. It’s a darker, less clean look than we’re used to with the Superman titles, and it’s a style that doesn’t particularly suit these characters. Looking ahead, it doesn’t appear as though the regular Superman art teams are playing a big part in this crossover, and that’s a disappointment, because the writing deserves better.
Superman Unlimited #16 Title: Kingdom of Zod Part Three Writer: Dan Slott Art: Rachael Stott Main Cover: Guillem March
Part Three finally gives me what I’ve been waiting for: Superman for real back in the game. Even as El Caldero is exploding with Kryptonite, and even while the Kryptonite Plague is beginning to affect his non-Kryptonian allies, Superman does what Superman does best and finds a way to fight back against Zod’s regime.
This issue isn’t entirely about Superman, though, showing that this is a conflict that’s grown to a global scale. Dan Slott allows us to check in on all of our heroes across the planet as we see what’s going on, including the first meeting between our time-lost Superboy Clark and his cousin Kara. It’s a lovely moment that really ratchets up the emotion here, as we see a teen Clark’s reaction to learning he ISN’T the last Kryptonian. Similarly, Superman’s reunion with Lois and Jon is a fantastic moment. It’s quick, and it’s funny, and it plays perfectly into the personalities of all three of them. Rather than wring it out for emotion the way we’ve seen (for example) when Superman came back from the dead, there’s a quick acknowledgement from each of them that they’re together again, with the underlying message being that not a one of the Kent family ever doubted that this moment was going to come.
I make have spoken too soon about the artwork in this crossover. Rachael Stott isn’t the regular artist on this title, but she’s good enough to be. This is the kind of clean, energetic artwork that the last two issues were lacking, with some wonderful “acting” on the faces of our characters that help to build on the foundation of the script, the way good artwork is supposed to do. Just fantastic. I look forward to seeing more from her.
Superman #41 Title: Kingdom of Zod Part Four Writer: Joshua Williamson Art: Eddy Barrows Main Cover: Guillem March
Superman #41 is the last chapter of the crossover for this month, and holy CRAP, does Joshua Williamson throw us some curveballs as we go into halftime! The first half of the issue is concerned with the fight between a depowered Superman and a fully-charged Zod, and it’s as rough and brutal a fight between the two of them. The back half returns to the B-plot about Zod trying to use the Krypytonian technology to resurrect his wife, Ursa, and…well, I don’t want to go any further, but there are at minimum three moments in this issue that made me go, “WHAT?” This chapter takes things into an entirely different and unexpected direction, and once more the pieces on the board have been tossed all over the place.
Eddy Barrows, who HAS worked on this title in the past, is back on board for the artwork, and it’s just as good as Stott’s was on Part Three. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the problems I had with the first two chapters are resolved when we loop back around to Supergirl and Action Comics in September.
What I really am enjoying about this crossover in general is that, even though it’s a Superman story, it’s more of an ensemble piece. Kara, Conner, Prime, Lois, Jon – every one of them is playing a major role here. Secondary characters like Steel, Lana Lang, and the time travelling Justice League trio may not be showing up on every page, but their contributions are significant. This is a remarkably well-balanced storyline, keeping everybody in play and giving everybody something important to do. I’m enjoying the hell out of it.
Fingers crossed I’ll be saying the same thing in next month’s recap.
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
An intriguing side-effect of having children is that your sick days at work are more likely to be used to take care of the kid when HE’S sick than saved for yourself. Such was the case earlier this week when my son came down with a nasty stomach bug that sidelined him and had me calling in to take care of him. But on the plus side, in his illness all he wanted to do was lie around watching MeTV Toons, including Super Friends, which is how I happened to rewatch, for the first time in decades, the 1985 final-season episode “The Death of Superman.”
You have to admit, he’s looked better.
The final season of the show was titled The Super Power Team: Galactic Guardians, as a tie-in to the then-running Super Powers toy line, and as such most of the characters were characters who had action figures in the line, including the then-new DC hero Firestorm, who is actually the focal character of this episode. It begins in medias res (just like all great children’s entertainment), with the world mourning the shocking death of the Man of Steel. There was a massive funeral procession, ceremonies at the United Nations, and people wearing black armbands just as they would when DC Comics would kill him “for real” seven years later. In fact, I’m wondering now if they were deliberately invoking this episode when the comic book storyline was planned.
Everyone is naturally distraught over Superman’s death, but no one more so than the Super Powers Team’s newest member, Firestorm, who considers himself personally responsible. Firestorm is captured by Darkseid (the Big Bad for the final two seasons) who purges the young hero’s memory of Superman’s death. The two of them were on a mission in space where Superman was seeking minerals to cure Kryptonite poisoning, but Firestorm was distracted and, upon returning to his partner, found Superman dead of exposure to a Kryptonite meteor that Firestorm could have saved him from had he listened to Superman and stayed where he was supposed to be. As Darkseid plans an assault on the heroes, Batman and some of the others go to the Fortress of Solitude, where a Superman robot reveals that Superman had the ability to place himself into a trance to stay alive while being afflicted by Kryptonite poisoning. Hawkman recognizes the posture of the trance as being the same way he was found lying by Firestorm, meaning that he placed himself in the trance and there’s still a chance to save him. The Super Friends recover Superman’s body and revive him just in time to return and save the team from Darkseid, who goes fleeing back to Apokalips.
I have this same reaction any time the McRib goes away again.
This final season episode suffered from the same limited animation as most Hanna-Barbera cartoons (especially of the 80s). Not all of the voice acting is great either, with Darkseid sounding more like Toast from Histeria! than an actual menace. On the plus side, this was the era where they had Adam West voicing Batman, which was kind of cool, and Deep Space Nine’s Rene Auberjonois as Desaad was a treat. But the real surprise of the episode was the way they told the story. The world was legitimately mourning. Firestorm was an absolute WRECK. I watched this show faithfully as a child, and I have vague memories of this episode from back then, but I was surprised at just how DARK it was.
For all the silliness and camp that the Super Friends shows had, I’m actually impressed that with this episode (the second-to-last of the entire series, it should be noted) they told a real story with real emotional stakes. The ending is still a little pat, a little too easy to come by, but they did more with this than they did with 99 percent of the preceding Super Friends episodes, and that is greatly appreciated.
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
