The Old Heroes Home

 For years, as a little kid, I thought this was the infamous Adult Legion story...

So, last time I was expounding on my love for Superman as a comic book character and trying to argue a case for his relevance to today's cynical, media-savvy audience.One of the biggest obstacles to wider acceptance is the perception that Supes isn't "realistic" enough- that is, he lacks the psychological quirks, neuroses or alienation of Wolverine, Spider-Man and Batman (the latter having toppled into-ahem-"batshit" insanity in the last few years).

This image, from one of my favourite Wein/Dillin comics, certainly captures the godlike, fantasy qualities of Superman: the very qualities of being "too powerful" that Marvel fans found it hard to relate to.As the 70s progressed, however, that Marvel influence grew stronger and it became difficult to differentiate between the style of super-heroics at the Big Two:

The phenomenal success of Star Wars and the technology that had helped to realise George Lucas' vision had a massive effect on a moribund film industry. The late 70s saw Christopher Reeve's iconic Superman on the big screen:

 With a stirring score and a kitschy tone, Superman The Movie tapped into the nostalgia craze of the post-Watergate US. I was never keen on the slightly campy elements but there are many arresting images- particularly desolate, alien Krypton; and the quietly moving death of Pa Kent.

When Jim Shooter became EIC at Marvel, many of the long-time stalwarts at the House of Ideas moved to DC: Roy Thomas, Gene Colan, George Perez, Marv Wolfman...the early 80s saw a revitalization of many of the marquee names at DC , although the flavour of the books continued to be fairly indistinguishable from its competitor. These are the comics that remind of me of my first years at University and buying the Direct Sales comics first by mail order and then from specialist retailers, like Edinburgh's Science Fiction Bookshop (which I think appeared in a 1987 issue of X-Men!).

But just as the Direct Market began to see the indomitable and ultimately strangling rise of the Comic Shop, another movement would cause a seismic shift in how comics were perceived, from within and without the industry. The British Invasion of UK creators weaned on the 4-colour comics of the 50s and 60s would weld dark, adult sensibilities unshakeably to the idea of the Comics Auteur. Sure, there had been mavericks in comics before- Kirby, of course; Kane and Steranko in the 60s - but now the name and reputation of the Writer/Artist or the superstar team would promote comics to a greater extent than ever before:

In this story, Moore, the English magus, uses Superman's birthday party to tell the story of a fascist regime on Krypton, as a somewhat heavy-handed allegory for the rise of the Nazi party in Germany. The 80s was, infamously, the era of Grim and Gritty. The slogan of the day was "Comics Aren't Just For Kids Anymore". In the decade of Conspicuous Consumption, the funny books were being retooled as Graphic Novels, bound and collected and packaged for the coffee table. The silly long-underwear characters were reflecting the uncertainties of life for young (and not-so-young) adults in the days of Thatcher, AIDS, Reaganomics and Perestroika.

By now, I had moved to Glasgow, just a little too late to be part of the jangly pop era of Postcard Records, with the vaguest of dreams of being an actor, and I was attending comics marts in the city. I castigated Alan Moore for the bleakness and mayhem of the Vigilante but had a pleasant chat with Adrian Chase's creator, Marv Wolfman, on Glassford Street. He told me about Mac Ryan, the Flash Who (ultimately) Never Was; and about the Death of Supergirl (who'd had her own rather sweet but campy film adventure in 1984).
It was a drastic and shocking move for DC. Of course, we're a bit burned out by superhero death nowadays.But, it was a signal that, to borrow from Grant Morrison- of whom, more later-the epoch of Superman as "Sci-Fi Dad" was over. The madcap Weisinger Superman Family, with its Red Kryptonite, Kandorians, Super-Pets and Phantom Zone was dispensed with as childish and irrelevant. The hugely influential work of Frank Miller in The Dark Knight Returns portrayed Superman as a right-wing government patsy and stamped an indelible image of Bruce Wayne as an supernaturally vital and obsessive rebel. A millionaire revolutionary! How Eighties...

The next big change for the Man of Steel was a relaunch by Canadian superstar writer-penciller John Byrne, who,of course, had become massively popular with the X-Men and had taken a  retro aproach with the Fantastic Four.Byrne's Superman was promoted in the media as a Yuppie, foiling DC's attempts to undo the klutzy image of Reeve's Clark Kent with a reference to the hit book "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche" :

Byrne's stories were simplistic and rather humourless, heavy on his "super-powers-as-plausible-science" shtick.Nevertheless, he had a reverence for most of the Weisinger stable of characters and wasn't afraid to incorporate some of the wackier figures from the fringes of the DC Universe:

 For a couple of years, he wrote and drew  Superman and Action Comics and I followed them both, even when I moved back home to Chapelton for a while, just before the Garden Festival. A third Superman title was launched with an even more retro feel and incorporating some elements of the 50s tv show- which I've only seen fleetingly and therefore chose not to comment on in this series of blogs.

 I enjoy Ordway's work in period settings like All-Star Squadron or Power of Shazam; but his bulky, wrestler Superman doesn't appeal to me and his classic Americana seemed at odds with the Marvel-esque superheroics.

Sales on creator-driven comics from Marvel, specifically X-Men and Spider-Man, exploded in the early Nineties: a new collectors market was hungry for trading cards; variant covers; foil covers; holographic covers- and Superman was part of that movement. Event Storylines, crossing over through several titles over a number of months helped glut that market:

 I do like this quintessentially 90s cover by Dan Jurgens but it's very redolent of the pose'n'pin-up approach of that period. These are the comics that represent my drunken, bedsit 30s, as I tried- and occasionally succeeded -to get acting jobs.

Superman received unprecedented media attention for one marketing ploy in particular in the early 90s- which is where we came in, last week:

As I suggested previously, this is such a Marvel plot - in fact, I'd argue it's the plot of Steranko's famous Captain America issues from the late 60s. With the subsequent death/resurrection of Cap and Batman in recent years, I can't see how this stunt could be pulled again- at least for another decade or two (if there are any comics then...).
Then, there was this trip down Electric Avenue, towards the end of the Nineties:

Although Mod Wonder Woman had probably been the first superhero makeover, Marvel had virtually trademarked the concept of the New Look, with Spider-Man's black costume, the Grey Hulk and the negative FF- although those changes may have been about Jack Kirby's legal right to characters. Anyone who wanted to see the iconic red-and-blue "Union Suit" had to pick up a comic for kids *shudder!*

While I usually detest the cynical sensationalism of Lanarkshire's Mark Millar at Marvel, he wrote some sweet and clever stories of the animated Superman in this title. (But, really, come on! All Superman comics should be suitable for kids!). On tv, this iteration of Superman drew heavily on Kirby's Fourth World characters and an Art Deco sensibility worthy of Ordway.  It also paved the way for the permanent resurrection of Supergirl:

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Isn't that Gwen Stacy?

Although he'd produced Kingdom Come, the ultimate gloom-and-doom fable about Superman in the mid-90s, painterly illustrator Alex Ross teamed with animation supremo Bruce Timm for a series of beautiful, if rather solemn, "tabloid-size" comics, beginning with Peace On Earth, at the end of the decade:

An honourable mention should go to the pun-tastic Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. This romantic comedy tv show ran for three seasons and certainly features the most attractive versions of the Daily Planet's top reporters.

 It was a frothy, light-hearted take on the Man of Steel that borrowed heavily from the Byrne Era but its more down-to-Earth superheroics and the charm of its ensemble cast seems to me to be more true to the concept than the angsty trappings of the contemporary comics.

 So, despite not having the dark and dubious appeal of the outsider stars of comicdom, it would appear that the Man of Steel prospered throughout the grim and gritty age. But what significance does Superman have for a twenty-first century audience?

Next: Small Town Dude with a Big City Attitude

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