About six years ago, I had a pub conversation with a couple of young film-makers and comics fans about why Batman was more popular than Superman. I suggested thar some elements which informed the Nolan Dark Knight could be applied to the Caped Kryptonian to give a contemporary spin. A Latina Lois, with a podcast on internet radio; a sinister Wonka-esque Toyman; a dreamworld dwarf speaking backwards in the vein of Twin Peaks; a Prankster inspired by the boorish, self-injuring stunts of Jackass; and a Brain-iac insanity plague from Krypton that claimed Lex Luthor's wife.
Superman Earth One is a 2010 graphic novel written by J. Michael Straczynski and illustrated by Shane Davis. Despite having been less than enchanted with the Batman volume at Xmas, I thought I'd try this one in paperback. (In an attempt to get my senior boys to read at the end of last term, I found Mark Waid's Daredevil was popular and bizarrely a 1994 Zero Hour issue of Superman is also a hit. The equivalent for me at sixteen would have been something like this:
I thought Earth One might be a safe bet for my classroom, therefore).
As a device to revitalise and relaunch Supes in the C21st, it references youth media like Twilight. But it looks like an Ultimate Marvel comic of a decade ago. It is highly cimematic in style, presenting a youthful Superman with chunky belt and boots. The book explains why Clark chooses journalism when he is a super man in every field.
However, the chief antagonist is a new creation, the alien Tyrell, leader of a rival race of the Kryptonians who conspired with a third party to "assassinate" Supey's home planet. Tyrell is a unprepossessing character, with the fussy design of a 90s Marvel villain, such as Exodus. It's baffling when Supes already had Zod and Brainiac- even Starlin's Thanos xerox, Mongul- in his rogues gallery. The second half of the book is given over to the widescreen combat with the alien invaders.
Earth One was made redundant by 2011's New 52, in which Grant Morrison returned to the blue collar roots of the Golden Age Superman who fought corruption and graft. The story then drifted into an arcehtypal Morrison- psychedelic- 5th-dimensional fantasy.Is Superman culturally relevant at all, however? In future posts, I want to look at his recent animated adventures. But first, Spoilers ON for a review of a movie I saw a month ago...
Zack Snyder's Man of Steel seemed too embarrassed by the Deadbeat Dad of Superman Returns - and rightfully so- to even mention his name in the title. I realised I wouldn't enjoy it midway through the lengthy Dungeons and Dragons prologue. In addition to the distasteful 9/11 imagery of Zod's invasion, I was underwhelmed by the leading man: a 'roided-up charisma vaccuum poured into an absurdly long cape -and- onesie that resembled a cheap Chinese training shoe.
The ranting Zod had a distracting speech impediment and loyal Pete Ross was re-imagined as a fat ginger bully. Kevin Costner ,despite his bathetic death saving the World's Oldest Dog, was the best thing in it. I was also irritated by the retelling of Krypton's imperialist past in a series of vaguely Soviet friezes. An unfortunate melange of Game of Thrones, Men's Health and Halo: Reach, Man of Steel put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day.
MoS is in many ways very reminiscent of Earth One but actually a little inferior to it. I can't understand, after ten seasons of Smallville and the 90s Lois and Clark series, why it would be thought necessary to revisit Superman's origins yet again. However, the movie has served its purpose, which is to re-market DC characters to film audiences in the post-Avengers climate.
But what could a Justice League film say that Avengers hasn't said? I can see a logic in the mooted Supes/Bats film: World's Finest was a successful formula for decades. Which JLA story needs to be told, however? Surely a Wonder Woman, a Shazam- even a Batgirl movie - would have more worth than a homage to the Satellite Era? Some Fantastic Place hereby invites you cordially to respond.
Coming soon: The horror, the horror double bill!
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