Travels with Kal-El, in search of America (spoiler thread)

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

 

 

So, it begins this week...JMS is taking Kal on a hard-travelin' hero journey across the country to reconnect after losing...again!...his people.  Will it be awesome or cringe-y...or both?  Let's take the trip together!

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Since the trip is starting in my hometown of Philly (well, I was a burb boy, but still), I'll definitely be walking the first leg. I've got fairly high hopes, actually. Whatever the storyline's setup, it'll be a series of short stories where Superman is more on a human level and less on a one-more-superhero-beating-the-snot-out-of-one-more supervillain level. Some simple, heartfelt, and hopefully entertaining Superman stories. I'm in, at least for now.

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

It's interesting that Kal and Lex are both leaving Metropolis on journeys of self-discovery...sure, Lex's is more about finding more power, but still. And the human character is going into the cosmos while the superhero is walking from town to town. Maybe at the same time Lex is talking with Death, Kal can be talking with a goth chick in Columbus, Ohio. And only we'd know that they were talking to the same entity at the same time.

[Philip Portelli]

I feel that Superman realized that his people didn't share the same values as he did, so this journey is to re-establish and reaffirm his bond with the Earth and its people, who are his true people.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

We all need our peeps.

[Figserello]

Wha?

This storyline might well become one of the great fondly remembered ones, but I don't see the current market going for it.

.... unless JMS finds some way of including betrayal, death, the Gummint being mean to everyone, aliens getting their brains blown out and loved ones crawling out of their graves.

We'll have to see to what extent DC hold their nerve if sales start going down. This story would seem to be close to JMS's heart, and DC don't have a lot of superstar (or near superstar, like JMS) writers on their books at the moment.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Oh, Figs -- those are chick-shaped marshmallow candies sold at Easter in the states -- called Peeps. Which is also slang for our friends/family -- a shortening of people.

I think it'll go the distance -- it's planned for a year, and DC doesn't change course quickly. I don't think it'll set the world on fire, but I suspect it'll do fairly well.

[Figserello]

So they've said it will run for a year? The last year-long Superman story felt like an eternity to the readers, from what I could gather, and worlds lived and died in that one!

JMS's Thor would have been gob-smackingly slow in monthly form, but it was a good read when collected, and had its own tempo. There will be much moaning if this has the same pace. There's something 'off' that the storytelling is such a hostage to the monthly market.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I also get the impression that, while there's an overarching story, that these will be mostly done-in-ones and twos. Which might help with the pace a bit.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Rob Staeger said:

Oh, Figs -- those are chick-shaped marshmallow candies sold at Easter in the states -- called Peeps.

Chillin' wif mah peeps.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Thanks, Jeff -- great cartoons!

[ClarkKent_DC]

So, if this story is to run for a year, where is Clark Kent supposed to be during this time? He already was on a leave of absence during the last year-long epic, which just concluded!

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Don't know yet. I suspect it'll be worked out that he's covering his own walk across America.

I doubt the walk will take a year, DC-time. From what I can tell, real people planning to walk across the country seem to plan for about 6 months. Even walking at a normal pace, I imagine Superman could do it in two, just because he's tireless.