Earth One

[ProjectX2]

I have no interest in the JMS Superman one after his terrible two issues of the main Superman title.

Still looking forward to the Johns/Frank Batman one though.

 

[Zombipanda]

I have no interest in the JMS Superman one after his terrible two issues of the main Superman title.

BUT OMG HE'S SO BROODING AND SERIOUS!

That tells you it's MATURE!

 

[DIrishB]

The preview of Superman makes it look kind of stupid.

I haven't read the preview yet, but from some of the scenes JMS has described in interviews, I think it sounds pretty good.

I'm really looking forward to the Batman Earth One book...I love seeing Frank's Batman.

 

[DIrishB]

BUT OMG HE'S SO BROODING AND SERIOUS!

That tells you it's MATURE!

Just read the preview and I see what you're saying, but I look at it like this:

I see the "brooding and serious" aspect of this version as a sort of a reflection of his age. Don't forget, this is a very young Superman, early 20's at most. He's still shaking off the teen angst and coming into his own, figuring out who he is. He's also a fish out of water, coming into the big city for the first time, so a certain amount of leeriness and caution (even for someone with his powers) makes a certain sense. I think it'd be great to see a slightly more grounded Superman who suffers from some of the same emotional problems as regular people, who evolves as the series goes on into a character more akin to the mainstream DC Universe as he realizes the full extent of his powers and just how large a gulf that creates between him and humanity. Ultimately he'd probably become a much more emotionally distant Superman than the regular version or All Star version, for instance, but it'd give a chance to explore his alien nature versus his human nature. This has been done countless times with Superman, but its a key aspect of his character and story and shouldn't be ignored...really it just needs to be done in an original, revitalized way so as not to come off as a re-hash of a story we've heard a hundred times before. Specifically, I have no idea how that can be accomplished, not being a huge Supes fan, but I'm interested to see JMS' take on him.

And then, there's this:

and this:

and this:

Thats the best looking Alfred ever.

 

[Gothamite]

Most of my hopes for Superman: Earth One have been dashed after those stupid preview panels of a rude, creepy, sulky, emo Clark Kent heat-vision-raping muggers.

There are better ways of making Superman grounded and more of a believable human being with real, human, emotional problems. Birthright understood this. Jeph Loeb (who you all love to make fun of, without reading his seminal Superman work) understood this. Even Dean Cain understood this on the damn Lois & Clark show.

Making a character darker and more badass is not how to re-energise every single fictional character. Also, what the hell is JMS' fascination with Superman not using his powers? "No, Lois. I can't go to my job and earn money to pay the bills followed by coming home and having sex with you and then also fly around America learning about people; because I have to walk, so it'll take longer." "No, Ma, I can't stay here and help you with the farm and cook dinner and then fly to Metropolis in two seconds flat. I have to take the train so I can move slower and see things for longer." My balls.

This is going to be ****ing stupid.

 

[Zombipanda]

There are better ways of making Superman grounded and more of a believable human being with real, human, emotional problems. Birthright understood this. Jeph Loeb (who you all love to make fun of, without reading his seminal Superman work) understood this. Even Dean Cain understood this on the damn Lois & Clark show.

I forgot we aren't allowed to criticize an author without reading everything he's ever written.

 

[E]

I forgot we aren't allowed to criticize an author without reading everything he's ever written.

Right. I would've thought it would be OK to make fun of him/criticize him after reading what seem to be widely considered as two of the worst comic stories ever told, as if the writer having possibly written something decent before this makes them not crappy.

 

[Gothamite]

Of course you're all allowed to criticise him without reading everything he's ever written (he won an Eisner for the story I'm referring to, though, by the way). But I'm also allowed to criticise you for it, surely?

Welcome to the Internet.

 

[DIrishB]

Most of my hopes for Superman: Earth One have been dashed after those stupid preview panels of a rude, creepy, sulky, emo Clark Kent heat-vision-raping muggers.

There are better ways of making Superman grounded and more of a believable human being with real, human, emotional problems. Birthright understood this. Jeph Loeb (who you all love to make fun of, without reading his seminal Superman work) understood this. Even Dean Cain understood this on the damn Lois & Clark show.

Making a character darker and more badass is not how to re-energise every single fictional character. Also, what the hell is JMS' fascination with Superman not using his powers? "No, Lois. I can't go to my job and earn money to pay the bills followed by coming home and having sex with you and then also fly around America learning about people; because I have to walk, so it'll take longer." "No, Ma, I can't stay here and help you with the farm and cook dinner and then fly to Metropolis in two seconds flat. I have to take the train so I can move slower and see things for longer." My balls.

This is going to be ****ing stupid.

Eh, I'm more interested in the Batman one anyway, but I'll still check out at least the first volume of the Superman one. Like I said, I'm hoping the character evolves from what was shown in the previews to something more like the mainstream Supes. It'd be an interesting journey.

 

[E]

Of course you're all allowed to criticise him without reading everything he's ever written (he won an Eisner for the story I'm referring to, though, by the way). But I'm also allowed to criticise you for it, surely?

Welcome to the Internet.

:lol:

Nice try.

 

[Zombipanda]

Of course you're all allowed to criticise him without reading everything he's ever written (he won an Eisner for the story I'm referring to, though, by the way). But I'm also allowed to criticise you for it, surely?

Welcome to the Internet.

Because the Eisners are so indicative of quality.

I think we can all safely say that, regardless of what you feel about his collaborations with Tim Sale, Jeph Loeb has put out enough **** sandwiches that we should all be able to be derisive of his work with impunity.

As for his Superman work, I take it you're talking about All Seasons, or whatever it was called? I actually read that. It was good, probably the best thing he's put together, but I felt the same way about it as I did his Batman prequel stuff. It was generally a decent but unexceptional script that's strength came almost entirely from the art.

Eh, I'm more interested in the Batman one anyway, but I'll still check out at least the first volume of the Superman one. Like I said, I'm hoping the character evolves from what was shown in the previews to something more like the mainstream Supes. It'd be an interesting journey.

Honestly, I'm kind of burned out on Geoff Johns. I can't pinpoint exactly what it is, but his stuff just hasn't excited me all that much recently. Aside from his aborted Superboy project and his new run on the Flash, I haven't really been terribly impressed with what he's written.

As for Earth One Superman... I just feel like the angsty teen thing is done to death. Not all teenagers are angsty, and the ones that are have typically grown the **** out of it by the time they're in there early twenties. I just don't see it as a fitting disposition for Superman or Superboy or whatever he's supposed to be. As for the "conflict between his alien nature and his human nature"? Exactly what conflict is that? No one's ever really been able to explain that to me.

:lol:

Nice try.

Hah!

 

[DIrishB]

As for Earth One Superman... I just feel like the angsty teen thing is done to death. Not all teenagers are angsty, and the ones that are have typically grown the **** out of it by the time they're in there early twenties. I just don't see it as a fitting disposition for Superman or Superboy or whatever he's supposed to be. As for the "conflict between his alien nature and his human nature"? Exactly what conflict is that? No one's ever really been able to explain that to me.

I'd be the worst possible choice as I know hardly anything about Supes, hence my initial interest in this book.

 

[Gothamite]

As for his Superman work, I take it you're talking about All Seasons, or whatever it was called? I actually read that. It was good, probably the best thing he's put together, but I felt the same way about it as I did his Batman prequel stuff. It was generally a decent but unexceptional script that's strength came almost entirely from the art.

Certailny there wasn't a whole lot in the way of plot, but I would call the characterisations he gave to Superman, Lois, Lex and Jonathan Kent in that book nothing short of definitive. Moreso than Morrison in All-Star, by a long shot.

Honestly, I'm kind of burned out on Geoff Johns. I can't pinpoint exactly what it is, but his stuff just hasn't excited me all that much recently. Aside from his aborted Superboy project and his new run on the Flash, I haven't really been terribly impressed with what he's written.

Brainiac was terrific. Unfortunately, everything that happened as a result of it (New Krypton) was tired and boring. I want him to go back to those kinds of stories.

As for Earth One Superman... I just feel like the angsty teen thing is done to death. Not all teenagers are angsty, and the ones that are have typically grown the **** out of it by the time they're in there early twenties. I just don't see it as a fitting disposition for Superman or Superboy or whatever he's supposed to be. As for the "conflict between his alien nature and his human nature"? Exactly what conflict is that? No one's ever really been able to explain that to me.

His alien nature being the knowledge of him being different and more powerful than those around him and the human nature being his desire to be just like everyone else. Again though, I don't really see why there's any need to explore that side of him, when instead you could explore the reasons and motivations it took for him to do the very bizarre thing of putting on a cape and a leotard to fight crime and save humanity.

There's never, ever, ever been any need to make the Superman character "darker". There's an awful lot you can do with the character, exactly the way he has always been; by just updating him. They've done it with Batman, Bond, even Sherlock Holmes. They just haven't quite done it with Superman. The only thing to come close was Birthright and the comics industry preferred to just forget about it instead of heralding in a new continuity in its favour.

 

[DIrishB]

A new interview with artist Shane Davis explores the new Superman Earth One GN a bit more:

Linky Dinky Doo

Making a character darker and more badass is not how to re-energise every single fictional character. Also, what the hell is JMS' fascination with Superman not using his powers? "No, Lois. I can't go to my job and earn money to pay the bills followed by coming home and having sex with you and then also fly around America learning about people; because I have to walk, so it'll take longer." "No, Ma, I can't stay here and help you with the farm and cook dinner and then fly to Metropolis in two seconds flat. I have to take the train so I can move slower and see things for longer." My balls.

This is going to be ****ing stupid.

I don't know, after reading the new interview with Davis, I'm beginning to think this won't suffer from that same fate:

Focusing more on the character's moral issue of responsibility that his yellow-sun-fueled abilities, Davis revealed a few of JMS' ideas in writing this series, including questions of, "What would you do with these powers? What would you do to make a living?" As a young man, in pursuit of finding his way in the world and aware of his superior strength, speed, and resiliency, Davis revealed that in the first installment of the script, JMS challenged the character by having him try out for professional sports. "That shocked me," Davis exclaimed. "You never think of Clark Kent doing that. That set up the idea that maybe Clark wasn't the fumbling nerd we see him as." In stripping away some of the more mild-mannered behaviors and nuances of the Man of Steel to get to the heart of Clark, Davis said he was left with a character, "who knows he's not human, but everyone thinks he's human, and [he's] trying to find out who he is." For Davis, Clark's appearance in the book adds to his quest for identity in that he wears layers of clothes to hide who he is and blend into a crowd. To best explain where Clark is in his life, Davis described him as "not yet Superman, but not quite Superboy."

Its kind of nice to see that starting out, Superman was as lost, selfish, and morally corruptible as the rest of us (or close enough anyway). Now I know, the argument is "But thats not Superman", and thats true. But its how Superman could have begun, and this series could explore how and why Superman became Superman. Its been done before, but most Superman origin stories I read tend to gloss over the moral dilemma of why he should help the Earth instead of just taking over, merely because Ma and Pa Kent taught him well. Its a bit shallow, is all. I know there's more to it than that, but illustrating that wouldn't serve my point as well, so I won't.

As I previously said, for the most part Superman's always been the character he's always been, and its nice to see an attempt to actually give the character a longer arc to show how he decided to go from this to the classic, all-around-good-guy Superman, and why.

Granted, I agree with the sentiment that making him dark and overly serious isn't necessarily the way to go and harkens back to the late 90's uber-awesome-anti-hero craze, but my approach is to wait and see. A few preview pages doesn't really give the whole story.

However, the artist points out his tale isn't a baby Clark hurtling to Earth in a rocket origin, but rather "a coming of age story about decisions, responsibility and power."

See, this is why I'm looking forward to it. A chance to see Clark stumble and fumble through Metropolis, learning more about the people he'll eventually want to protect, making mistakes and learning from them, ultimately leading to him making the decision to become Superman. I think it could be very interesting.

 

[E]

I thought the Superman book was pretty decent. Nothing horrible. Doubt I'd want to buy it but it was a decent enough read.

I do love the concept of this line though. It lets writers tell stories that they feel like they can tell and gives them the chance to put more into it, rather than churning out forced, rushed scripts every month just to have something to release. This is what the Ultimate line should have been (and which they basically did with Ultimates).

 

[DIrishB]

I thought the Superman book was pretty decent. Nothing horrible. Doubt I'd want to buy it but it was a decent enough read.

I do love the concept of this line though. It lets writers tell stories that they feel like they can tell and gives them the chance to put more into it, rather than churning out forced, rushed scripts every month just to have something to release. This is what the Ultimate line should have been (and which they basically did with Ultimates).

Forgot this was out. I'll look for it this weekend at my LCS.

 

[Gothamite]

Maybe a spoiler or two. I don't think there is:

Neal Bailey from Superman Homepage wrote: Neal's Review:

3Story - 3: This is not a bad story. I think the problem is, it's not a DC Superman story. This is a Marvel Superman story.

The hallmark distinction between DC and Marvel (generally, with exceptions), is that the characters in the DC Universe choose to be heroes because it's the right thing to do, and they do it because they want to, while the Marvel characters have their powers thrust on them, and they use them only because they have to, or because it benefits them personally.

Superman chooses to use his power to do good because it's the right thing to do. Batman makes a solemn vow to essentially defeat evil because his parents were killed, and does so despite having no superpowers. Wonder Woman wants to make the world a better place, so she uses her gifts as an ambassador and a positive role model. Green Arrow, James Robinson's recent stories aside, uses his riches to stand up for the little guy because he cares to. Martian Manhunter, despite losing an entire race, seeks to understand and aid the humans. On and on and on. Sometimes you get a Booster Gold, but it's generally to throw the others into stark perspective.

Wolverine is cursed with his claws, and spends his surly days kind of accidentally falling into doing good. Spider-Man initially wanted to throw his costume away, and has done so many times since, and one of the big storylines he keeps coming back to is why he keeps doing what he does, and if it's worth it. The X-Men run and hide from the public, and cynicism pervades. Most don't want their powers, and many wish for a cure. It's considered almost a curse. The Hulk is constantly on the run, and I can't remember the last time he set out to do good as opposed to dealing with the problems his curse drops on his head.

Superman of Earth One clearly doesn't want to be Superman, and only becomes Superman when it's absolutely essential, after many lost lives and begrudgingly. He's more Spider-Man than Superman. He doesn't look for his opportunity to do good and slip into it like a glove when the opportunity arises, he comes to Metropolis a greedy little emo kid who is pissed off that he can spit fire from his eyes, and he crumples his costume in the closet like it's something to be ashamed of. He tries to make money by cheating at sports, cheating at science, and just generally doing dishonorable, disreputable things. The story resolves this, of course, making him realize his own selfishness and renounce it, but that's not the point, really, the point is that this is a Marvel mentality, not a DC mentality, and when I see a Superman that starts from a point of selfishness, it just never, ever rings true to me.

It seems he takes joy in scorching a robber. The Superman I know and love wishes he could help that robber first, and doesn't burn his face, he takes his gun and drops him at a homeless shelter with a warm meal.

The Superman I care for doesn't stand in an apartment building while it burns, picking up his clothes and running off while leaving the place to burn to the ground. He ignores his clothes, puts the building out, and finds the person who started the fire to bring them to justice.

There are easy, cheap shots I could take at this book. The fact that it's just another retelling of the origin that doesn't offer much new (which it is). The fact that the villain's motivation is rather paper-thin and odd (genocide for... what, exactly? Endless war with no motive?). There's the whole "Is Superman a menace? Should the public trust him?", but then again, in this case it's finally warranted, because I'd be afraid of this guy I see on the cover. I wouldn't want him protecting me. I'd flee from him. Then there's the suit made from barely enough clothes to half-swaddle a baby, but that's neither here nor there.

There are also many beautiful things. Though I disagree with the story design and many of the pieces of dialogue that were too clever for the panel they were in (IE, too many bubbles), the writing itself was exquisitely well paces, well executed, and the mark of a master at work, clearly. From the top to the bottom, this story ticked like a clock in terms of making the beats resonate, and even if I don't like the story, I will take a lot personally as a writer from the good work present in its construction.

There are elements which add to the mythos that I hope will be preserved. The idea of Martha and Jonathan finding Clark in the woods (where there are few people) is brilliant, even if I'm a bit perplexed by mountains in Kansas (as ever). I like the idea of a self-repairing ship to describe how it isn't noticed until it's ready for Clark to need it.

A giant alien invasion was done already, in Birthright, just recently, and though this is a better rendition, it's also repetitive. It also serves up cliché, which is unfortunate.

This is also the first actually supporting-cast Superman story we've seen in YEARS, and in that, I give a lot of the story a pass, in that it's incredible to see Lois, Jimmy, Perry, and Clark interacting again. God, I miss it, and I hope they do more of it in the future. The fact that it's in an alternate universe and only after most of a year's wait, and in one shot, is frustrating as hell, but that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the fact that it simply is.

All in all, this is a story that is very easy to read, but ultimately, it's just another retelling of an origin that has been so repeatedly retold (and only last year, no less) that there should be a truly compelling reason to do so. I don't find the extra-terrestrial villain or an angsty, reluctant Clark sufficient reason to do so.

He's hip, sexy, and moody, just like Dan DiDio proffered in his misguided attempt at promotion, but he's also reluctant, bitter, and violent. That's not my Superman, sadly, even if the writing was top-notch.

Exactly what I expected it to be. I wish there was a way I could read this once without buying it or downloading it illegally.

 

[Ultimate Houde]

I liked it.

 

[Zombipanda]

Maybe a spoiler or two. I don't think there is:



Exactly what I expected it to be. I wish there was a way I could read this once without buying it or downloading it illegally.

That's why the Barnes & Noble Library exists.

 

[Ultimate Houde]

I just read that guy's review

It's so biased about the things in it, like the fire scene, the bad guy's motivation, plus the characterization.

He wanted his Superman's origin to be told. Face it, it's a different origin with different things happening. This is by no mean the 'dark' version of an origin story at all, it's just not the 'boy scout' version either.

And the damn clothes are a major plot point. For ****s sake, that reviewer wanted something else.

So yeah, Gothamite will agree with him on most points.