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Post by driver1980 on Apr 26, 2024 7:24:11 GMT -5
The first issue of the greatest comic series ever written was published forty years ago today:  Five issues were published in total. I have much nostalgia for this as this is the earliest comic I remember reading (thanks, mother!). Sort of. The first issue was reprinted in a 1986 UK annual, alongside a Batman/Hawkman vs. Fadeaway Man story, and a Superman/Green Lantern story from DC Comics Presents. Now, nostalgia can be, well, nostalgic - and we’ll always find joy in the things we enjoyed when we first discovered comics. However, when I have revisited this, I have enjoyed it. It’s not cynical, it’s fun, and it’s so accessible. It moved along at a great pace, and features a great mix of art, colouring, etc. And a pretty solid story, too. I do find a lot of escapism in a story like this. It’s “our” world but also not our world, if that make sense. Even with the villainy, there’s a lot of hope here, and maybe I gravitated more towards DC than Marvel because DC felt more fantastical and optimistic while Marvel was more realistic (in some respects) but also cynical and dark. Not that any approach is superior to the other, but we like what we like. And I do have an affinity for the more fantastical and joyous comicbook universes. I would love to know how it did sales-wise back in the day. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2024 8:35:47 GMT -5
Oh, I love the Super Powers series.
Yeah, I was young and into the toyline bigtime as well, so I agree with your comment on nostalgia, certainly a factor for me I'm sure. But over time I find I still enjoy the series and here's why.
With all the more mature/refined comic book reading during that time, why would this hold up for me? Well, kind of the same reason I can pivot between say Watchmen and then go back to some early light-hearted DC Silver Age storytelling with Batman and Robin fighting an alien dinosaur in some other dimension. I like a wide variety of reading, and Super Powers kind of just hits that core "let's just bring the iconic team together in an all ages-ish fun romp". As you said, "It’s not cynical, it’s fun, and it’s so accessible".
Simple as that for me. Makes me want to go reread it now in fact.
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Post by driver1980 on Apr 26, 2024 9:02:20 GMT -5
Sorry to be cynical, but I imagine if they did this story today, it’d tie into countless DC books, then there’d be a III, IV, V, VI, etc.
I quite liked Metal as far as recent story arcs go, but, again, DC went to the well once too often, much like Marvel has done with its symbiotes and clones (I’m waiting for Marvel to do Symbiote Spider-Man Clone Wars II or something).
While they did do another Super Powers series, I like how accessible this 1984 one is, I actually read it in full in the late 80s as the annual I mentioned only reprinted the first issue. It’s just nice to be able to dip into an accessible story with no tie-ins or expectations of spin-offs.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2024 8:41:53 GMT -5
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Post by driver1980 on Apr 27, 2024 8:43:49 GMT -5
Thank you for sharing those. Two of those images are new to me.
Last hurrah, end of an era, whatever terminology we use, it’s so true!
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Post by jason on Apr 27, 2024 11:18:53 GMT -5
I loved the Jose Luis Garcia Lopez designs they used for the merch and the cartoon.
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Post by tarkintino on Apr 27, 2024 11:54:01 GMT -5
The heroes at this point were their classic selves, they smiled still, it was a last hurrah of the "house DC built" as we knew it. DC already moved many of its flagship characters away from the early Silver Age silliness by the end of the 1960s, as seen in Batman, Detective Comics, (Tales of the) Unexpected, Teen Titans, Showcase, Aquaman and other titles. At that time, Superman was on the eve of characterization revamp as well, and moving into the 1970s, the Justice League of America comic would steer toward serious themes that were not going to end with the heroes sitting around the table making light, jokey comments, as some early JLA titles would wrap-up. By the time Super Powers hit the stands, DC was years-deep into their revolutionary changes / hit titles that were as far removed from Silver Age as one could imagine, but yes, for continuity's sake, the yoke of a sillier, bloated past still lingered, hence the planning of the superb Crisis on Infinite Earths which debuted a year after Super Powers. At the time of its publication, I found Super Powers to be some odd outlier title, feeling every bit the toy promotional tool it was designed to be, and not in step with the regular DC titles of that time. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2024 12:45:24 GMT -5
The heroes at this point were their classic selves, they smiled still, it was a last hurrah of the "house DC built" as we knew it. DC already moved many of its flagship characters away from the early Silver Age silliness by the end of the 1960s, as seen in Batman, Detective Comics, (Tales of the) Unexpected, Teen Titans, Showcase, Aquaman and other titles. At that time, Superman was on the eve of characterization revamp as well, and moving into the 1970s, the Justice League of America comic would steer toward serious themes that were not going to end with the heroes sitting around the table making light, jokey comments, as some early JLA titles would wrap-up. By the time Super Powers hit the stands, DC was years-deep into their revolutionary changes / hit titles that were as far removed from Silver Age as once could imagine, but yes, for continuity's sake, the yoke of a sillier, bloated past still lingered, hence the planning of the superb Crisis on Infinite Earths which debuted a year after Super Powers. At the time of its publication, I found Super Powers to be some odd outlier title, feeling every bit the toy promotional tool it was designed to be, and not in step with the regular DC titles of that time. Yeah, but little Kal in the 80's was a young kid who grew up on Super Friends (both the show and the comic), a mix of the main titles at the time along with those "silly" Silver Age stories as reprints (loved my Adventure Comics digests), my Superman From the 30's to the 80's book which I read about a zillion times, etc. I had a love for ALL eras of pre-Crisis DC even though I appreciated there was this more "mature" stuff going on in say a New Teen Titans (like the Terra reveal, oh my that wasn't wholesome!). So yes, while Super Powers may have felt like an outlier in terms of mainstream storytelling at that time to an extent, I would still hold in a more timeless sense it embodied a world of heroes that would never quite be the same again. |
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Post by driver1980 on Apr 27, 2024 15:20:00 GMT -5
Amen to that final sentence in your post, @kal
I also believe it has a pretty solid story, with the villains given powers beyond their wildest imaginations. I am of the belief that toyline tie-ins and good stories aren’t mutually exclusive. If I was a writer asked to come up with a comic based on toys, I’d want to make sure it told a great story too!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2024 17:43:04 GMT -5
I also believe it has a pretty solid story, with the villains given powers beyond their wildest imaginations. I am of the belief that toyline tie-ins and good stories aren’t mutually exclusive. If I was a writer asked to come up with a comic based on toys, I’d want to make sure it told a great story too! I agree, and I'm sure there are different experiences out there, but I don't know that the mini-series was even primarily what made me want to buy the toys. As a kid who was already into Star Wars figures and then more the usual G.I. Joe/MOTU/Transformers around that time, I was just excited to see the classic DC characters rendered in a really nice action figure line. The major exceptions to the "classic" part being battle armor Lex and evolved Brainiac (so scary!), but I had seen those updates already in Action Comics the year before (I thought they were cool to be honest even though I also liked the classic earlier versions). I thought the mini-series was actually a solid story as well, and though I liked the connection to everything else per my comments above, I can definitely say I would have enjoyed it even if there was no toyline. So I totally agree with your statement they aren't mutally exclusive, it's a great point. |
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