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!

[ClarkKent_DC]

Rob Staeger said:

Another thing that disappointed me is that we'd already seen a scene between Superman and a jumper recently, in All-Star Superman -- one of my favorite Superman scenes ever, as a matter of fact. Not saying that this one didn't make it a little dusty in the room, but I couldn't help but compare.

Not having read All-Star Superman (can't read 'em all, y'know), I didn't even know about that, so that doesn't bother me.

On the question of whether Superman would have let the girl jump, I figured, since he promised he would, sure he would ... but he would have made it very, very easy for the cops below to catch her.

[Rich Lane]

Like Bronson, those are no longer in the collective conscious of society. Gump is still within recent memory.

Doc Beechler said:

What about Steinbeck? Or Johnny Appleseed? Or Easy Rider? Or Kerouac? Or Pee-Wee Herman?

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Yeah, Gump is the current walking-across-America touchstone. Too bad it's *not* Easy Rider. then everyone would be calling Superman "Captain America," and we'd have no end of confusion.

I agree, Clark; he agreed he would let her jump, and not stop her. But you can slow someone without stopping them. And if you get a chance to read that issue of All-Star, definitely give it a try. (It's in issue 4, I think.)

By the way, Superman mentions a friend of his from years ago who was terminally ill and "checked out early." Who's he referring to?

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

And by the way, Doc, I like the "Travels with Charlie" allusion in the thread title. What a great book that is!

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

Thank you.

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

http://christophercummings.com/2009/04/13/what-makes-superman-super...

The All-Star Superman sequence we're talking about...five panels...

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Oops. All-Star 10 it was. Thanks for the link, Doc!

There's a little more to the scene than that -- or rather, some context to it. Throughout the issue up to this point, Superman has been overhearing hundreds of cell-phone conversations, and one of them that he picks up is the girl's doctor, trying over and over to reach her. It's always presented as one of several thought balloons, so the reader doesn't necessarily see their significance until he thinks about in in retrospect. It's woven into the story with an incredible amount of subtlety.

[Jason Marconnet (Pint sized mod)]

I read this issue yesterday. I liked it pretty well. I haven't read Superman in a long time. The last time I really followed Superman comics was in the mid-90s. Most of it was during the Reign of the Supermen arc. Anyways, this was a decent issue. I haven't decided if I'll stick around for the long term.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I can't help looking at this cover (Superman 704) and thinking Superman totally beat up this poor kid:

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I found part one of “Grounded” to be very well-written, yet very artificial… “artificial” in the sense that all of the supporting characters are two-dimensional for Superman to play against and the events are compressed to fit in a neat little literary package. It is very obviously fiction, which perhaps seems an odd comment to make considering we’re talking about a super-powered flying alien from outer space. On the other hand, perhaps it is because we’re dealing with a super-powered flying alien from outer space that JMS has (apparently, to my eyes) chosen to abandon the artifice of trying to present frame this story in “reality”.

For me, it works. See ya next issue.

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

http://bullyscomics.blogspot.com/2010/07/listen-to-your-heart-when-...

Thor comes across that grandpa with heart trouble...with different results...

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Great analysis, Jeff!

Jeff of Earth-J said:

I found part one of “Grounded” to be very well-written, yet very artificial… “artificial” in the sense that all of the supporting characters are two-dimensional for Superman to play against and the events are compressed to fit in a neat little literary package. It is very obviously fiction, which perhaps seems an odd comment to make considering we’re talking about a super-powered flying alien from outer space. On the other hand, perhaps it is because we’re dealing with a super-powered flying alien from outer space that JMS has (apparently, to my eyes) chosen to abandon the artifice of trying to present frame this story in “reality”.

For me, it works. See ya next issue.