Two books about supermen came out this week. One features the original Last Son of Krypton and the other is an original creation from the (sometimes warped) mind of Mark Millar.
DC
For three months J. Michael Straczynski has taken Superman down an unfamiliar road with little success in the character’s self-titled book. The basic premise is that Superman was away with the whole New Krypton thing for over a year and now he’s back and trying to relate to the “real” people of his adopted planet.
I guess this may go down as one of the more polarizing books in recent memory because there are fans who really love what Straczynski is doing on Superman. I hate it. I’m sorry if that seems like too simple a response, and I’ll share some thoughts, but I find this to be just terrible.
I don’t feel as though Straczynski has found the character’s voice; in fact, from the beginning, Superman has done and said too many things that have been out of character for him. I just do not buy that Earth’s most powerful being would be so irresponsible as to take a walk across the country and not tell people why he’s doing it. Add to this, forced humor, heavy handed moralizing, and great leaps of logic in terms of plot points (e.g. the press stopped following him in the first issue).
This last issue in particular has a very Bruce-sounding Dick as Batman comes to town to advise Superman that trouble may follow him as he crosses the country and that would be bad. Okay. So it’s bad for Main Street, U.S.A., but it’s okay when Mongul or Brainiac rain holy hell on Metropolis?
Of course, three pages later a whole lotta bad hits Cincinnati in the form of a piece of New Krypton that landed on Earth and can make people evil and/or super powered (it affects two characters differently). Okay, so Superman gets into some fisticuffs with some brute whose secondhand exposure to the rock gave him great strength. Supes and the guy wreck up the small town.
One woman is interviewed on the news and claims that the fight wasn’t good for her heart. Another guy’s house is destroyed and, although Superman fixed everything, he lost his wedding photos. Is this a joke? I’m surprised someone didn’t say, “I was working on a presentation for tomorrow—really sweet PowerPoint—well, I was just about to hit ‘save’ before the power went out. Thanks Superjerk! Guess I’ll work over the weekend!”
If there is a bright side to this run, it’s Eddy Barrows artwork. He draws a fantastic Superman and all of his characters have distinctive characterization to their faces. In this issue and last, Barrows has been able to do some action sequences and they are phenomenal. Unfortunately the scripts condemn him more to multiple sad-faced Superman expressions and people standing around on the street.
Icon
Then came the big event of the week: Superior. Which it was when compared to Superman.
For those living under a rock, Superior is Millar’s somewhat unique take on a super powered man with a cape who can fly, bend steel, and all that good stuff. The spin is that Simon Pooni, a kid afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis is granted a wish from a talking monkey named Ormon in an astronaut suit. Perhaps the wish is one buried deep down as Simon never verbalizes it. He is instantly transformed into the hero Superior.
Now I mentioned that it is somewhat unique for a reason. The rest of the book plays out like Big, the Tom Hanks movie where a kid becomes and adult because he’s tired of being a undersized boy. He’s stuck in the house, his mother thinks he’s been kidnapped, he has to escape, then he goes to see his best friend. I’m interested to see where the rest of the book goes—but I couldn’t shake that it took too familiar a path in the third act.
My preconceived notions were forgotten about five or six pages in as I became totally absorbed in Millar’s story. I was worried that I would be treated to some over the top shocks, but they weren’t there (except perhaps in some crudely realistic language from teenage bullies). Millar presents an extremely touching scene in which he narrates the onset of Simon’s M.S.; these pages ring with sincerity and reminded me of the writer’s strength as a storyteller.
Previously I have had a love/meh affair with some of Franci Leinil Yu’s artwork, but his work on Superior is magnificent. He continues to improve with each project. The scene with Ormon talking to Simon is just beautiful. The guy knows how to draw a monkey.
If you’re keeping score, Millar has written the superior man-with-super-powers tale.
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