OWC (Obsessed With Comics) is a new regular feature from David Valjalo (aka V), our resident comic book expert who will advising us on the best, the worst and the most bizarre in the world of the “funny books”.
It’s an exciting time to be a Superman fan. Warner Bros. have recently admitted they made a mistake with SUPERMAN RETURNS and are currently asking for writers to pitch “reboot” specs to them which should hopefully in the next four years or so result in a film worthy of the red, white and blue hero.
Although it’s a love or hate thing, Smallville Season 7 arrives on DVD later this month, Season 8 will be kicking a football into space soon and of course the fabulous All-Star Superman comic series is providing the best writing the character has seen in decades. Time for some of us to do our homework…
He’s been around for longer than most (but not all – Doc Savage and The Phantom got to the superhero check-in desk first) and he’s certainly one of the most iconic heroes operating in comics. With 70 years of material behind him it can be a daunting task deciding where to start with the Man of Steel but don’t worry Lois, we’ll think of something…
FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE CHARACTER, LET US BE YOUR GUIDE (All images link to Amazon)…
5. SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT
The origin of Superman and his ascension to guardian status has never been told better. A re-telling rather than a revolution, all the important things in the story are kept intact and given a fresh lick of paint. There aren’t massive chances taken with the narrative and it’s in a work like this that you realise there don’t have to be; the source material is as solid and well-plotted a hero’s journey as you could ask for. Mark Waid’s story brings together a good deal of influences from other retellings – a trying-on session reminiscent of that in the TV series Lois and Clark for example – making Birthright almost a best-of of Superman’s emergence tale. Leinil Yu’s art is a treat of muscular pencils, too. A great place to (re)start for the jaded fan lost in the funny-book wilderness.
4. LEX LUTHOR: MAN OF STEEL
Brian Azzarello turns his hand to Superman’s nemesis in a story centring almost exclusively on the chrome-domed megalomaniac. What stuns most about this piece is that Azzarello makes a story about a despicable egotist work, giving it enough humanity and prosaic push to grip the reader’s attention long enough to make a play for some quite affecting drama. A two-dimensional cliché for so long, it’s fascinating to see an accomplished writer grab on with both hands and drain some substance out of him. The expected themes of humanist desire and psychosis are here, but there’s also a sense that Azarello – perhaps with another 6 issues – could have taken Lex Luthor to some truly great heights. Know your enemy, dear readers…
3. IT’S A BIRD
Truth: Not everyone likes Superman. It’s understandable. Sure, the subtext is relatable for many: outsider/immigrant/adopted child/working man/do-gooder/hopeless romantic – but at face value there’s a lot to shy away from: tights/underpants-on-the-outside, Herculean physique, alien from another planet. Step in Steven T. Seagle and his dissection of the Big Blue. Seagle’s book reads like a memoir in pictures, a moving biography about the struggle of the mortal with a world that aspires to and heralds the immortal and the invincible. It’s A Bird is both the antithesis of a Superman story – downbeat, sceptical, morally conflicted – and the ultimate tribute to the character’s enduring legacy of hope and the need for salvation in a tainted world. For anyone walking into comic-dom a little sinister of the tights and flights genre, It’s A Bird is the book for you.
2. SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS
An absolutely charming, sentimental and beautiful book from creative powerhouses Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (Daredevil: Yellow, Spiderman: Blue – Captain America: White coming soon!). I’ll tout it as a companion piece to the first few (very good) seasons of Smallville as it tackles much of the same subject matter. Clark’s teen angst, his teen romance and teen heroics are all rolled up neatly into the first few seasonal chapters of For All Seasons. Where the book stumbles slightly is in the by-the-numbers final quarter where the super-villain boxes are mundanely ticked but it can’t hold the work back from greatness. Sale’s art is some of the most distinctive and attractive in the business and his iteration of Krypton’s Last Son is a delight. As with Frank Quitely’s work, Sale’s portrayal fuses a burly physicality with a distinct humanity.
1. SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY
A book that takes chances. And wins. Kurt Busiek spins a yarn about a Kansas native who’s named – hilariously – Clark Kent. It sounds like a gimmick and it is. A gimmick that gives Busiek license to take the reader and the character on a journey we’ve never been allowed to before. A journey that’s wholly grounded in our world – a world with a government, where romantic problems aren’t always wrapped with a splash-page and where being a superhero isn’t as simple a task as baking a wholesome country pie.
The way Busiek tells his story – a book for each segment of life from teen to OAP – provides a structure that tightens up the narrative arc of each segment and displays the writer’s ability with the fine balance of plotting and character development.
Immonen’s art is equally faultless. That old tormentor of the comic-book artist – Consistency – is well at home in Secret Identity and the style – a realist approach with some breath-taking two-page splashes – does justice to the book’s serious and grounded approach to the material.
Superman: Secret Identity is high-concept without the shallowness that usually accompanies such a claim. It’s clever, sincere, exciting and crucial. |
Note: All-Star Superman (glossed over excitedly last week) has kept it’s superior nose out of this hit-list because, well, who wants to read the same hyperbole twice?
Got some extra chump-change in your pockets and want to go further? Check out the Richard Donner (yes that Richard Donner) and Geoff Johns collaboration – Last Son – and tell V it wouldn’t make a great sequel to Superman Returns… For something a little more life-changing, try the Paul Dini/Alex Ross oversized project Superman: Peace on Earth.
