Well, that's art's good, of course. As for the story - it's competently done, I suppose. Morgan Edge is black, in this - is that new? Did the Flash change history in such a way as the character changed races? Overall, I'm just not warming to the new Superman. To be fair, I wasn't reading Superman comics before, so I guess I'm not the target audience.
Views: 428
You need to be a member of Captain Comics to add comments!
I liked it. It didn't knock me flat the way Action Comics did, but this seems like a good starting point for the Superman books. And yep, Morgan Edge being black is new. (When the relaunch was first announced, I thought they'd be doing that with a lot more characters than they wound up doing, to be honest.)
While the action in the book was fun, the real drama in the story wasn't "will Superman defeat the fire creature" so much as "how will Lois cover Superman defeating the fire creature?" Problem was, we also had Clark's write-up of the fight for the Planet, and, as Mart says in his review, not only wasn't the journalistic style very good, but it set us apart from the action, making it less exciting.
But I'm still willing to give this a shot. I feel like I got a lot of story for my money here, and I read Superman as much for the fictionalized journalism as I do the superheroics. It's not my favorite of the week (so far, that's Flash), but it's a really solid comic.
You know, I've never seen it commented upon that Lex Luthor in the Diniverse animated Superman series was African-American. One of the most famous comicbook villains ever getting that kind of refashioning in a mass-market show is a pretty big deal. Lex Luthor isn't a character like the Kingpin or Nick Fury. He's more on the level of iconic recogniseablity as James Bond or ... the Fonz!
None so blind, I suppose...
I know the ideal situation is when this kind of substitution happens and no-one cares, but I have a feeling that with Lex, something different was happening. People just didn't process that he was black.
That's something I've thought about the Diniverse Luthor; the darker skin and the facial features seem to lean toward that conclusion. Has Dini or anyone else connected with the show commented on this?
As for the first issue: I liked it quite a bit. I can't speak to journalistic style, since I'm no journalist, but this had plenty of action for me, and enough interaction between Clark and Lois to make me a happy reader. The new "crusading" Clark is growing on me, but it seems his updated personality has also changed his relationships with his Planet co-workers. Is there anyone who likes Clark besides Lois and Jimmy?
There's no question that he's black (or non-white, at least.) For one thing, a geek-driven show like it couldn't have resisted giving Lex red eyebrows, as the makers of Smallville gave kid-Lex red hair.
Besides - look at the picture...
It is interesting that it's never been commented upon. Lex in the cartoon had the stereotypical tough urban upbringing of cliched comicbook black people, and also the scientific smarts of other deliberately, studiedly non-stereotyped black people in comics.
What really set him apart is that he was an out and out villain with vast wealth, huge political influence and social cache, and the greatest hero ever for an archnemesis. That's what makes him a breakout representation of a minority.
And also hard for people to process, apparently, as he didn't fit any preconceived ideas of how minorities should be portrayed in superhero stories.
He illustrates how, if you genuinely want to make your representation of minorities look better, you have to work at it, and take positive steps to make your audience want to follow minority characters. Not just create some poorly supported marginal character that no-one will be interested in and then say that "well, we tried, but no-one was interested...."
That's something I've thought about the Diniverse Luthor; the darker skin and the facial features seem to lean toward that conclusion. Has Dini or anyone else connected with the show commented on this?
Bruce Timm based the animated Lex's design on Telly Savalas' appearance as Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and he and Paul Dini were both said to have been surprised that some fans mistook Lex for African-American.
Well, I was going to say that maybe he was Middle Eastern, which is next to Greece on the map...
This reminds me of Alan Moore's joke in one of the 1963 comics that his comics company was experimenting with a character whose skin would slowly be tinted darker and darker over several years as a brave social experiment. (But only until the redneck distributors in Alabama started to object!)
This works for me better than the milquetoast version. Clark here appears to be someone who's standoffish rather than spineless. I also like that it seems that he turned down the job as a TV anchor not so much because of his professed disdain for the job but because it would put his face out in front of millions, making it that much more likely someone would recognize the resemblance to Superman.
Don Collett said:
but it seems his updated personality has also changed his relationships with his Planet co-workers. Is there anyone who likes Clark besides Lois and Jimmy?
The problem is that the conceit of a straight up news story as the narration for an action piece doesn't work because it would be extremely redundant. You'd be reading a description of the events while the art would be depicting the same thing, and the two would trip over each other. Instead you get vague statements in the news report like "Superman responded" that would make no sense if you didn't have the art to go with them.
Rob Staeger said:
I liked it. It didn't knock me flat the way Action Comics did, but this seems like a good starting point for the Superman books. And yep, Morgan Edge being black is new. (When the relaunch was first announced, I thought they'd be doing that with a lot more characters than they wound up doing, to be honest.)
While the action in the book was fun, the real drama in the story wasn't "will Superman defeat the fire creature" so much as "how will Lois cover Superman defeating the fire creature?" Problem was, we also had Clark's write-up of the fight for the Planet, and, as Mart says in his review, not only wasn't the journalistic style very good, but it set us apart from the action, making it less exciting.
But I'm still willing to give this a shot. I feel like I got a lot of story for my money here, and I read Superman as much for the fictionalized journalism as I do the superheroics. It's not my favorite of the week (so far, that's Flash), but it's a really solid comic.
You know, I've never seen it commented upon that Lex Luthor in the Diniverse animated Superman series was African-American. One of the most famous comicbook villains ever getting that kind of refashioning in a mass-market show is a pretty big deal. Lex Luthor isn't a character like the Kingpin or Nick Fury. He's more on the level of iconic recogniseablity as James Bond or ... the Fonz!
None so blind, I suppose...
I know the ideal situation is when this kind of substitution happens and no-one cares, but I have a feeling that with Lex, something different was happening. People just didn't process that he was black.
I never did. I always figured he was Greek.
KSwolf said:
Bruce Timm based the animated Lex's design on Telly Savalas' appearance as Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and he and Paul Dini were both said to have been surprised that some fans mistook Lex for African-American.
Replies
I liked it. It didn't knock me flat the way Action Comics did, but this seems like a good starting point for the Superman books. And yep, Morgan Edge being black is new. (When the relaunch was first announced, I thought they'd be doing that with a lot more characters than they wound up doing, to be honest.)
While the action in the book was fun, the real drama in the story wasn't "will Superman defeat the fire creature" so much as "how will Lois cover Superman defeating the fire creature?" Problem was, we also had Clark's write-up of the fight for the Planet, and, as Mart says in his review, not only wasn't the journalistic style very good, but it set us apart from the action, making it less exciting.
But I'm still willing to give this a shot. I feel like I got a lot of story for my money here, and I read Superman as much for the fictionalized journalism as I do the superheroics. It's not my favorite of the week (so far, that's Flash), but it's a really solid comic.
You know, I've never seen it commented upon that Lex Luthor in the Diniverse animated Superman series was African-American. One of the most famous comicbook villains ever getting that kind of refashioning in a mass-market show is a pretty big deal. Lex Luthor isn't a character like the Kingpin or Nick Fury. He's more on the level of iconic recogniseablity as James Bond or ... the Fonz!
None so blind, I suppose...
I know the ideal situation is when this kind of substitution happens and no-one cares, but I have a feeling that with Lex, something different was happening. People just didn't process that he was black.
Figs,
That's something I've thought about the Diniverse Luthor; the darker skin and the facial features seem to lean toward that conclusion. Has Dini or anyone else connected with the show commented on this?
As for the first issue: I liked it quite a bit. I can't speak to journalistic style, since I'm no journalist, but this had plenty of action for me, and enough interaction between Clark and Lois to make me a happy reader. The new "crusading" Clark is growing on me, but it seems his updated personality has also changed his relationships with his Planet co-workers. Is there anyone who likes Clark besides Lois and Jimmy?
There's no question that he's black (or non-white, at least.) For one thing, a geek-driven show like it couldn't have resisted giving Lex red eyebrows, as the makers of Smallville gave kid-Lex red hair.
Besides - look at the picture...
It is interesting that it's never been commented upon. Lex in the cartoon had the stereotypical tough urban upbringing of cliched comicbook black people, and also the scientific smarts of other deliberately, studiedly non-stereotyped black people in comics.
What really set him apart is that he was an out and out villain with vast wealth, huge political influence and social cache, and the greatest hero ever for an archnemesis. That's what makes him a breakout representation of a minority.
And also hard for people to process, apparently, as he didn't fit any preconceived ideas of how minorities should be portrayed in superhero stories.
He illustrates how, if you genuinely want to make your representation of minorities look better, you have to work at it, and take positive steps to make your audience want to follow minority characters. Not just create some poorly supported marginal character that no-one will be interested in and then say that "well, we tried, but no-one was interested...."
Bruce Timm based the animated Lex's design on Telly Savalas' appearance as Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and he and Paul Dini were both said to have been surprised that some fans mistook Lex for African-American.
Wow! So much for my theorizing! :-D.
Well, I was going to say that maybe he was Middle Eastern, which is next to Greece on the map...
This reminds me of Alan Moore's joke in one of the 1963 comics that his comics company was experimenting with a character whose skin would slowly be tinted darker and darker over several years as a brave social experiment. (But only until the redneck distributors in Alabama started to object!)
Don Collett said:
Rob Staeger said:
I never did. I always figured he was Greek.
See?KSwolf said:
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next