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)]

Great link, Doc!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Aye, verily!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

SUPERMAN #702:

I’m warming up to JMS’s approach. I liked the clever parallels to illegal immigration, I liked comments on the auto and manufacturing industries, and I liked the way they were tied together in the end. I liked that Superman let Markey G steal the ball. That whole “Once I Built a Railroad” scene was like something right out of a Bruce Springsteen song. The one little thing that jerked ne out of the story through? Are we supposed to believe The Batman drove from Gotham City to Detroit in the Batmobile? PUH-leez! :P

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

Well the Batmobile does fly now...

Jeff of Earth-J said:

SUPERMAN #702:

I’m warming up to JMS’s approach. I liked the clever parallels to illegal immigration, I liked comments on the auto and manufacturing industries, and I liked the way they were tied together in the end. I liked that Superman let Markey G steal the ball. That whole “Once I Built a Railroad” scene was like something right out of a Bruce Springsteen song. The one little thing that jerked ne out of the story through? Are we supposed to believe The Batman drove from Gotham City to Detroit in the Batmobile? PUH-leez! :P

[Philip Portelli]

Then just say he took the Bat-Plane, for Schwartz's sake!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I would, but the Batmobile is picuted.

Doc Beechler said:

Well the Batmobile does fly now...

You're not serious.

I forgot to mention the cover. I generally prefer covers which reveal something of the story within, but I found this one both patriotic (without being jingoistic) and nostalgic.

Also, I've only just started watching Lost for the first time and I wasn't expecting a damn spoiler in a comic book!

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

Morrison established the flying Batmobile in his Batman and Robin series...

[Jeff of Earth-J]

You are serious.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I just adapted a comment I made on Mart's blog about this issue into a full-fledged blog post.

[ClarkKent_DC]

I kind of liked this issue, but I felt like they threw us a curveball with the whole aliens-hiding-in-disguise thing. It just seemed too -- what's the word? superheroey? -- for a story arc about Superman reconnecting with common folks, as if the writer, or his bosses, didn't have enough faith that slice-of-life tales with regular people could be strong enough to hold our interest.

Granted, I don't know that anyone anywhere promised that we wouldn't get that kind of stuff, and I can't say it wasn't entertaining, but it still seemed out of step with the avowed goal of this storyline.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I remember JMS mentioning the alien-in-hiding story in at least one of the interviews he did about the storyline -- from what I recall, he used it as an example to disprove the preconception that Superman would just be dealing with realistic, "non-super" situations for the next year. So I was ready for it.

Not sure if it's a change-of-pace story, or if this is the pace, though.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Rob Staeger said:

I just adapted a comment I made on Mart's blog about this issue into a full-fledged blog post.

I agree that the current JMS version Harkens back to the early "Social Justice Superman from the Golden Age" (as showcased in Superman in Action Comics Archives and the Superman Chronicles tpb series).