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Post by mikelmidnight on Feb 19, 2019 12:50:29 GMT -5
This about as superficial a comment as you can get, but it really throws me off seeing Lois Lane with light brown hair - where does that come from? Is it a throwback to some earlier version I'm not familiar with, or a new twist thrown in by Morrison or Quitely or the colourist, for some (to me) inexplicable reason?
That didn't bother me, but one a similar note: I hated that Samson wore a version of Superman's colors. It made it seem as if he was imitating him when obviously he came first.
(I will add I loved the presentation of Samson and Atlas here, which was 100% true to their Silver Age appearances ... powerful and heroic in their own ways but marred by vanity and envy of Superman.)
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Post by rberman on Feb 19, 2019 13:00:16 GMT -5
All-Star Superman #5 “The Gospel According to Lex Luthor” (September 2006) The Story: Clark Kent takes a helicopter to Stryker’s Island to interview Death Row inmate Lex Luthor. But when The Parasite absorbs some of Superman’s strength and starts a riot, it’s up to Luthor to rescue Clark. Unsurprisingly, the robot dictionary that the prison allowed Luthor to build is actually part of an elaborate tunnel-digging escape plan, which involves a pun on the word “boring.” But Luthor doesn’t use the tunnel for himself, only to lead Kent to safety. Why is Luthor so nonchalant? What does he mean when he talks about “friends in high places”? Stay tuned…  My Two Cents: The talkiest issue so far, mostly a monologue by Luthor no matter what violence is unfolding around him. Luthor only has an hour with Kent and is determined to fit as many words into that hour as possible. Morrison’s Luthor is a sociopath, but a smart and articulate sociopath, reminiscent of Quentin Quire, who like Morrison himself adopted baldness (or nearly so) as a philosophical statement. Lex doesn’t get to choose his hairstyle, but he does get to choose the shape of his eyebrows. After commenting how many men sculpt their eyebrows to resemble those of Superman, Lex goes to pains to pencil on a clearly different eyebrow. This is the first comic book I can recall pointing out that Lex wouldn’t have just lost the hair on top of his head, but probably all hair everywhere.  This is also an unusually buff incarnation of Lex Luthor, hitting the prison treadmill and free weights with a vengeance, literally. He sees Superman’s presence as deforming the natural order of the planet and himself as the hero setting the balance right. It’s a better motivation than “You made my hair fall out while saving me from a chemical fire!” It’s also something of a Charles Atlas moment, tying into Flex Mentallo and the theme of personal transformation. Along the same lines, Luthor’s need to draw eyebrows on his face turns his daily life into cosplay with a transvestite overtone.  Kent for his part (never changing into his costume once in this issue) does everything but shout “I’m Superman!!!” at Luthor. What was the immense power source that allowed the Parasite to charge up? Kent even takes off his glasses and gets right in Luthor’s face, but it doesn’t matter. We can only see what we want to see, and in Kent, Luthor can only see bumbling Kent.  "Worlds within worlds" motif: Luthor says that prison is like a miniature world, just like Kandor. Morrison also explored this theme in the Arkham Asylum graphic novel. The notion of chaos transforming a confined population into a utopian community was also seen in the cruise ship segment in The Filth. Think also of Quentin Quire’s “Riot at Xavier’s” which was to be the first step in setting a new direction for the school in New X-Men.
  Details that need a magnifying glass: Kent, Lois, and Jimmy are in the press box at Luthor’s closed trial.  Kent saves Luthor from electrocution by a seemingly clumsy fall that pulls a dangerous plug out of the wall. A similar trick happened in issue #1 when Kent stumbled in a way that saved a pedestrian from a careening delivery truck. These are the same scenes that in Silver Age stories were accompanied by unnecessary expository thought balloons like “I’ll just trip here to unplug that plug, and no one will know that I’m really Superman!” Morrison is writing for an audience which knows these tropes by heart.  The Parasite here looks much scarier and inhuman than in previous appearances, more like one of ROM’s globular Dire Wraiths.  The Orpheus theme I mentioned previously rears its head again in the last few pages of this issue, as Luthor discusses the death of Superman while leading Kent down a stairwell to a hellish Stygian river on which Luthor's boatwoman minion will return Kent “back to the land of the living.” I suppose prison is a sort of underworld already, but other underworlds await in upcoming issues.  All in all, an excellent character piece rounding out Lex Luthor far beyond the usual megalomaniacal clichés. Morrison has previously argued for a Luthor that could do good in JLA, and will do so again in Final Crisis. I think he finds the idea of a truly evil human too Manichean. 
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 19, 2019 14:22:46 GMT -5
This is where I was talking about borrowing from Maggin and Bates; specifically, Maggin. This is (mostly) the Lex that Maggin presented in his two prose novels, released with the firs two Reeve films. His Lex did work out in the prison weight bench, he concocted all kinds of devices out of ordinary things (he even figured out how to extract a substance from the glue in his legal pad and make an explosive; but, didn't go through with it for fear of being denied paper and pen to write out his many ideas). His Lex has minions to do his bidding and be the butt of his jokes. he had files of escape plans and robbery schemes, to be carried out by hired goons and flunkies, to fund his various schemes. He also kept multiple cover identities for various purposes, some even altruistic.
Maggin's Lex was a genius who was socially alienated, whose only real friend (in his mind, stooge) is Clark Kent, who understands the alienation. Lex's father is an absent figure and Lex lacks the moral compass of Jonathan Kent. He years for attention and validation of his intellect, yet goes about it in the most self-destructive fashion. Clark tries to steer him towards better means, his entire life, either as the teen Clark or the adult Superman. he never stops hoping that Lex can change, while Lex can't see the real issue inside him, as it requires admitting weakness. he holds on to anger, over the death of an artificial lifeform, for which he blames Superman, though it was pure accident. That just allows him to push away the one person who really understands him and tries to help him. They are two sides to the same coin: intellect vs physical might, amoral vs moral, absent parents vs loving/involved parents.
Maggin's Luthor wasn't the cackling villain of the Legion of Doom. He was more rounded and entertaining. Donner captures some of that, with Gene Hackman's performance. Clancy Brown had a mixture of those elements, cackling Challenge Luthor, and the Byrne billionaire Luthor (while looking like Telly Savalas).
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Post by beccabear67 on Feb 19, 2019 14:24:31 GMT -5
I don't know anything about these creators but this strikes me as almost 'What If Superman were a European comic'.
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Post by rberman on Feb 19, 2019 14:45:35 GMT -5
I don't know anything about these creators but this strikes me as almost 'What If Superman were a European comic'. And indeed both the artist and writer are Scottish! They definitely draw from a different set of conceptual and aesthetic influences than the Americans. |
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Post by rberman on Feb 19, 2019 15:13:52 GMT -5
This is where I was talking about borrowing from Maggin and Bates; specifically, Maggin. This is (mostly) the Lex that Maggin presented in his two prose novels, released with the firs two Reeve films. His Lex did work out in the prison weight bench, he concocted all kinds of devices out of ordinary things (he even figured out how to extract a substance from the glue in his legal pad and make an explosive; but, didn't go through with it for fear of being denied paper and pen to write out his many ideas). His Lex has minions to do his bidding and be the butt of his jokes. he had files of escape plans and robbery schemes, to be carried out by hired goons and flunkies, to fund his various schemes. He also kept multiple cover identities for various purposes, some even altruistic. Maggin's Lex was a genius who was socially alienated, whose only real friend (in his mind, stooge) is Clark Kent, who understands the alienation. Lex's father is an absent figure and Lex lacks the moral compass of Jonathan Kent. He years for attention and validation of his intellect, yet goes about it in the most self-destructive fashion. Clark tries to steer him towards better means, his entire life, either as the teen Clark or the adult Superman. he never stops hoping that Lex can change, while Lex can't see the real issue inside him, as it requires admitting weakness. he holds on to anger, over the death of an artificial lifeform, for which he blames Superman, though it was pure accident. That just allows him to push away the one person who really understands him and tries to help him. They are two sides to the same coin: intellect vs physical might, amoral vs moral, absent parents vs loving/involved parents. Maggin's Luthor wasn't the cackling villain of the Legion of Doom. He was more rounded and entertaining. Donner captures some of that, with Gene Hackman's performance. Clancy Brown had a mixture of those elements, cackling Challenge Luthor, and the Byrne billionaire Luthor (while looking like Telly Savalas). I can totally believe that Luthor would have minions like his niece Nasthalthia, a child prodigy of evil. Buffoonish Otis did not make nearly as much sense. Miss Tessmacher is more understandable for assets other than her scintillating wit, but only if she's the belle du jour rather than his long-term mate. They'd get bored with each other pretty quickly. His riches might give her reason to stick around, but she'd be slipping out with other villains too as they entered Lex's orbit for a time. |
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Post by rberman on Feb 20, 2019 9:06:07 GMT -5
All-Star Superman #6 “Funeral in Smallville” (March 2007)
 The Story: Superman visits his parents’ farm in Kansas and goes on a romp to the moon with Krypto. Pa Kent hires three men to help with the harvest; they look respectively like Mr. Mxyzptlk, The Unknown Soldier, and future Superman Kal Kent, who calls himself “Calvin Elder.” They are part of the “Superman Squad” composed of Supermen from throughout the timeline, as seen in DC One Million. The three future Supermen are on the trail of a Chronovore (“time-eater”) which looks like a giant meatball on chicken legs.  The battle is won, but in the meantime Pa Kent has suffered a fatal heart attack. We see his funeral and his tombstone. Six members of the Superman Squad confer privately, and the Unknown Superman removes his bandages, revealing himself to be “our” Kal El in disguise, now living in the far future but come back to see his foster dad one more time. My Two Cents: Morrison is working his way through the various comic book titles of Superman history. This issue is an homage to Superboy, particularly to the stories in which he or Supergirl learned that he was not alone, not the last surviving member of his race after all, not forgotten by the future.   Pa Kent, not a religious man, nevertheless suspects that Kal’s entry into their family was the result of prayer. The arrival was said to be “one night,” which goes counter to most Superman origin narratives which place it in the daytime. Clark has lunch with Pete Ross and Lana Lang, who pretend not to know his identity. Lana’s tee shirt has a pink emblem in the middle, perhaps recalling the times she was a superhero too. This little cameo really deserved development into an issue all its own, and it doesn’t really fit with the “Superman Family” theme of the rest of the issue, but I guess there’s only so much you can do in twelve issues.  The first printing of this issue erroneously says that Kal Kent is from the year 853,500 (the 8,536th century, the 854th millennium), but my trade volume correctly has him say he’s from the year 85,250. But they failed to correct the previous panel, which still says Kal is from "851 thousand years from tomorrow" when he's really from 83 thousand years in the future. Compare below:   “Superman Prime” (the original Superman, living in the future) has a yin/yang for his chest insignia, tying this mythology into Morrison’s interest in Eastern religion. He appeared in DC One Million as well.   The future Supermen do not line up entirely with what we saw of them back in issue #2. Kal Kent did not have a partially shaved head in his previous appearance in issue #2; he looked just like Superman with a variant costume. Kal Kent has the same weird haircut that Morrison gave Quentin Quire in New X-Men. Also, the Unknown Superman’s burning question from issue #2 “Who was J. Lo?” (actress Jennifer Lopez) does not make sense if he in fact is our Kal El, surviving into later life and then traveling to the future.   The Mxyzptlk Superman reports that his line is the offspring of a wedding between a future Superman and a princess from another dimension. This wedding was depicted in DC One Million.
 Another death-themed issue, following on the Underverse/Death of Superman theme from two issues ago and the Styx theme from the last issue. Not a lot happens in this issue compared to others; mainly it's a promotion for the dynastic Superman Squad spanning hundreds of centuries, but nobody else at DC wants to (or perhaps dares to) write more stories about that. My head hurts trying to figure out what all this continuity-bridging and world-building means if All-Star Superman is an imaginary story.
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Post by chadwilliam on Feb 20, 2019 12:10:11 GMT -5
All-Star Superman #5 “The Gospel According to Lex Luthor” (September 2006)Kent for his part (never changing into his costume once in this issue) does everything but shout “I’m Superman!!!” at Luthor. What was the immense power source that allowed the Parasite to charge up? Kent even takes off his glasses and gets right in Luthor’s face, but it doesn’t matter. We can only see what we want to see, and in Kent, Luthor can only see bumbling Kent. Morrison's Luthor was the one thing which didn't feel right to me about this series - it's the way that as his arrogance increases in inverse proportion to his intelligence throughout this issue that helps explain why. Moments after bloviating about the "absolute respect" he's acquired from the other inmates (a speech which is interrupted by The Parasite screaming at how he's going to "gut" Luthor) an inmate attempts to shoot Luthor in the back of his head. Luthor is oblivious to this. Clark Kent's doing "everything but shout 'I'm Superman'"? Again, oblivious. And it might just be me, but I'm still pretty unclear as to whether the inmates attempting a breakout are chasing Luthor or Kent. In short, it's the way that Luthor is presented as oblivious to everything that's happening literally a foot away from him while simultaneously rhapsodizing about his brilliance that undermines the character. Maggin had a nice moment in one of his novels where an inmate attempts to make a name for himself by going after Luthor by (I think) taking a swing at him. Luthor patiently explains to the guy that he might want to be seen apologizing to him in front of the other inmates - he doesn't have to mean the apology, just that it might cause him trouble if he doesn't. The guy laughs, Luthor shrugs, they go their separate ways. The next morning, someone (not Luthor and not acting under Luthor's initiative) has carved the initials 'LL' into guy's forehead. Even though Luthor had nothing to do with the revenge, it tells you everything you need to know about revered Luthor is in prison - he's the one man who has a genuine shot at one day killing Superman and this Luthor, has earned the "absolute respect" of every inmate in that prison. He doesn't crave that respect and even seems to find it a nuisance. Morrison's Luthor however, is vain and needs to constantly remind others of how brilliant and awesome and loved he is. This stuff should be beneath him. One other thing: The issue opens with a recitation of Luthor's self-proclaimed heroes - "Attila the Hun. Genghis Khan. Al Capone. Adolf Hitler." This is a reference to the Silver Age when the 'Luthor Lairs' Luthor had scattered throughout Metropolis contained entrances adorned with statues of his heroes.  But Hitler? Another thing that leaves me cold. |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Feb 20, 2019 12:55:23 GMT -5
The battle is won, but in the meantime Pa Kent has suffered a fatal heart attack. We see his funeral and his tombstone. This is one of the few issues I disliked. The emotional core of it is the death of Pa Kent, but the story itself is simply too silly and too cosmic to leave room for that effectively. I figured that the Unknown Superman is actually from the future, but this was Kal-El pretending to be him. I still don't get the J Lo thing. It's a contemporary reference that was dated before the comic actually came out, and it simply isn't that funny. I don't know why Morrison even bothered with it. I will say one good thing in favor of this comic: it has the best Krypto scenes ever written. You may have more power and experience than I do ... but I've got my dog! |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Feb 20, 2019 13:02:38 GMT -5
Morrison's Luthor was the one thing which didn't feel right to me about this series - it's the way that as his arrogance increases in inverse proportion to his intelligence throughout this issue that helps explain why. Moments after bloviating about the "absolute respect" he's acquired from the other inmates (a speech which is interrupted by The Parasite screaming at how he's going to "gut" Luthor) an inmate attempts to shoot Luthor in the back of his head. Luthor is oblivious to this. Clark Kent's doing "everything but shout 'I'm Superman'"? Again, oblivious. And it might just be me, but I'm still pretty unclear as to whether the inmates attempting a breakout are chasing Luthor or Kent. In short, it's the way that Luthor is presented as oblivious to everything that's happening literally a foot away from him while simultaneously rhapsodizing about his brilliance that undermines the character. Maggin had a nice moment in one of his novels where an inmate attempts to make a name for himself by going after Luthor by (I think) taking a swing at him. Luthor patiently explains to the guy that he might want to be seen apologizing to him in front of the other inmates - he doesn't have to mean the apology, just that it might cause him trouble if he doesn't. The guy laughs, Luthor shrugs, they go their separate ways. The next morning, someone (not Luthor and not acting under Luthor's initiative) has carved the initials 'LL' into guy's forehead. Even though Luthor had nothing to do with the revenge, it tells you everything you need to know about revered Luthor is in prison - he's the one man who has a genuine shot at one day killing Superman and this Luthor, has earned the "absolute respect" of every inmate in that prison. He doesn't crave that respect and even seems to find it a nuisance. Morrison's Luthor however, is vain and needs to constantly remind others of how brilliant and awesome and loved he is. This stuff should be beneath him. I agree 100%. Morrison rhapsodised in his Superman 2000 reboot proposal about how brilliant and next-level intelligence Luthor was, but he has invariably (both here and in his Action Comics reboot) presented him as far more vain than intelligent ... and hardly meriting the title of Superman's arch foe. I actually preferred the closing notes of the animated adaptation of All-Star Superman, in which Luthor learned from his experiences with Superman-level perception. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 20, 2019 15:24:11 GMT -5
Morrison's Luthor was the one thing which didn't feel right to me about this series - it's the way that as his arrogance increases in inverse proportion to his intelligence throughout this issue that helps explain why. Moments after bloviating about the "absolute respect" he's acquired from the other inmates (a speech which is interrupted by The Parasite screaming at how he's going to "gut" Luthor) an inmate attempts to shoot Luthor in the back of his head. Luthor is oblivious to this. Clark Kent's doing "everything but shout 'I'm Superman'"? Again, oblivious. And it might just be me, but I'm still pretty unclear as to whether the inmates attempting a breakout are chasing Luthor or Kent. In short, it's the way that Luthor is presented as oblivious to everything that's happening literally a foot away from him while simultaneously rhapsodizing about his brilliance that undermines the character. Maggin had a nice moment in one of his novels where an inmate attempts to make a name for himself by going after Luthor by (I think) taking a swing at him. Luthor patiently explains to the guy that he might want to be seen apologizing to him in front of the other inmates - he doesn't have to mean the apology, just that it might cause him trouble if he doesn't. The guy laughs, Luthor shrugs, they go their separate ways. The next morning, someone (not Luthor and not acting under Luthor's initiative) has carved the initials 'LL' into guy's forehead. Even though Luthor had nothing to do with the revenge, it tells you everything you need to know about revered Luthor is in prison - he's the one man who has a genuine shot at one day killing Superman and this Luthor, has earned the "absolute respect" of every inmate in that prison. He doesn't crave that respect and even seems to find it a nuisance. Morrison's Luthor however, is vain and needs to constantly remind others of how brilliant and awesome and loved he is. This stuff should be beneath him. I agree 100%. Morrison rhapsodised in his Superman 2000 reboot proposal about how brilliant and next-level intelligence Luthor was, but he has invariably (both here and in his Action Comics reboot) presented him as far more vain than intelligent ... and hardly meriting the title of Superman's arch foe. I actually preferred the closing notes of the animated adaptation of All-Star Superman, in which Luthor learned from his experiences with Superman-level perception. I think that is down to Morrison's interests and writing approach not working with the character. He's deep into all his mystical mumbo-jumbo, while Lex is about science. Maggin was more of a science guy, especially Einstein and he created a connection between Lex and Einstein, as Lex idolizes the man. He wrote a comic story where Lex relives Einstein's life, on his birthday, while Last Son of Krypton has Lex stealing some newly unveiled Einstein papers, that have been locked in a vault, since before the man's death (and acts as the central mcguffin, to the plot). Part of his motive for stealing them is that he feels no one else is deserving of having them. Maggin also got deep into Lex's thinking processes and creativity, though he had more room (especially with two Luthor-centric novels). Morrison seems to lean to the whole quantum physics side of things, which too often seems more like miracle cosmic science than actual theories, though I haven't read up much on that subject, He also seems more interested in psychological weakness or quirks, with a lot of his characters; but, especially Lex. He seems to have latched onto Lex's arrogance, from SA stories and Challenge of the Superfriends (and the Donner movie) and just went with that. I also suspect Morrison didn't have much of an affinity to Superboy and certainly not Lana and Pete Ross. I have a feeling it was less a space issue as an interest issue. He seems more interested in having Superman face the death of Pa Lent, again. Krypto was fun. Morrison does do interesting things with animal characters. |
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Post by rberman on Feb 20, 2019 16:25:05 GMT -5
I also suspect Morrison didn't have much of an affinity to Superboy and certainly not Lana and Pete Ross. I have a feeling it was less a space issue as an interest issue. He seems more interested in having Superman face the death of Pa Lent, again. I know I already had my chance to wax eloquent about this issue... Thinking about this further, I can't for the life of me figure out why this story was set in Smallville. The action setpiece and main dialogue concern the Superman Squad and their Silver Age quest to stop the Chronovore from turning animals into entrees. This is a fine story, but it could have happened just as easily in Metropolis. Oh, and Pa Kent dies. OK... so what? There are a lot of places you can go with a "death of Pa Kent" story. It could be about Superman's own impending mortality. It could be about the death of the family-owned farm in the modern age. It could be about Superman launching Pa Kent's last message into space on a rocket, mimicking his own arrival to Earth. (There is a rocket ride coming up two issues from now, so maybe not that one.) Instead the punch line was about the Unknown Superman actually being "our" Superman, come back to see himself and his dad again. But again, so what? We didn't really know this silent Superman, and he doesn't interact with anyone, so the revelation of his identity falls flat. The most obvious "Superman goes back to Smallville as an adult" would be about how the old shoes don't fit anymore. Chris Claremont did a great version of this when Sam "Cannonball" Guthrie went back to rural Kentucky and found that his family had adapted just fine to his absence; he needed them to need him more than they do. What is Smallville like without Superboy? What are Lana and Pete doing with their lives here? We don't find out, which seems like a missed opportunity. Better yet, work the Chronovore into the story as a plot device that causes some character to suddenly be much older; that could work into either the Pa Kent or Superman mortality stories.  <iframe width="13" height="9.100000000000023" style="position: absolute; width: 13px; height: 9.1px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 5px; top: 568px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_25324630" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="13" height="9.100000000000023" style="position: absolute; width: 13px; height: 9.1px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 591px; top: 568px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_3010502" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="13" height="9.100000000000023" style="position: absolute; width: 13px; height: 9.1px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 5px; top: 965px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_63666235" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="13" height="9.100000000000023" style="position: absolute; width: 13px; height: 9.1px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 591px; top: 965px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_19229478" scrolling="no"></iframe> |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 20, 2019 17:48:05 GMT -5
This also illustrates the problem of a Superman series, basing it on pre-Crisis continuity/stories, when you've had 20 years of post-crisis, with Lana knowing Clark is Superman, since day one and being involved in his life. A big chunk of your audience is scratching their heads about these older ideas, rather than what they have read. It's a separate continuity; but, your audience has been trained to think about the characters differently, apart from old farts who witnessed both. Granted, by the 2000s that was a big segment of a dwindling audience; but, anecdotally, a lot of my contemporaries had given up on most newer superhero series and were looking at other things, either from the indies, or collections of older material. This series was one of my rare visits to mainstream comics, in this era.
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Post by rberman on Feb 21, 2019 6:06:29 GMT -5
All-Star Superman #7 “Being Bizarro” (June 2007) The Story: After Superman releases his baby Sun Eater near Jupiter, he’s beset by several amorphously humanoid super-beings. One of them copies Superman, becoming the Bizarro Superman we all know and love. Their planet becomes a square Bizarro copy of Earth. On Earth, more Bizarros invade the Daily Planet Christmas party. Following Jimmy Olsen’s brilliant advice, Superman turns a mountain on Bizarro-world into a giant mirror, and the light of the yellow sun reflected off it onto the night side of Earth defeats the Bizarros on Earth. But Superman is stuck on Bizarro World under a square red sun, unable to leave. He needs help from Zibarro, that one-in-a-billion Bizarro capable of full rationality.  My Two Cents: This action-heavy, plot-light issue is of course a Bizarro-themed story framed in terms of a zombie apocalypse, since Bizarro-ism here is an infectious process in which amorphous Bizarros and their human victims both turn into imperfect morons with bad grammar and bad tempers. They are not nearly so verbose as Lex Luthor was last issue.  The Planet’s resident blowhard Steve Lombard is immune to the Bizarro infection due to the drugs in his system. Another instance of the Morrison favorite theme “drugs are good for you.”  Superman decides to treat the invasion as if all the Bizarros were part of a single super-organism rather than individual entities. This is one of Morrison’s favorite themes as well; he writes at length repeatedly in Supergods about how the whole human race is really one trans-temporal organism of which we are all cells. The theme found its most concrete expression in the Sublime arc of New X-Men, though the notion of the Superman Squad dynasty is along the same lines. We can also draw a line to Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion, a single hero who appears as different characters in different books.  Morrison has said that felt that Superman stories had lost their way following the character’s death, resurrection, and marriage to Lois Lane, the latter a big fat mess tied to the television series Lois and Clark. Morrison’s attempt to write a series called Superman Now kept running aground on the “married to Lois” aspect, so with All-Star Superman, he has simply placed his story in a universe in which the wedding never happened. Superman’s nurturing of the Sun Eater is still puzzling. Isn’t it kind of a baby Galactus? There’s no dialogue to explain why he’s feeding it or setting it free instead of putting it in suspended animation or sending it to the Phantom Zone. 
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Post by zaku on Feb 21, 2019 6:51:07 GMT -5
This is a reference to the Silver Age when the 'Luthor Lairs' Luthor had scattered throughout Metropolis contained entrances adorned with statues of his heroes. But Hitler? Another thing that leaves me cold. And what exactly do these people have in common (except being "evil" according to some Americanocentric parochial point of view)...? |
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