This is the new origin for the DCnU Superman. Each issue takes place at a different point in his life, and each will have a different artist. This issue deals with the Kryptonian equivalent of “taking off the training wheels” when learning to fly. It features a Jonathan Kent younger than any I have ever seen.
I’ve seen this story re-told so many times this one needs to be extra good in order to rise above the pack. For me, it needs to be impressive enough to justify its existence. So far, it’s not.
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Another mini series that gives us his origin? How many is this since Man of Steel in 1986? Must be into double digits by now.
Maybe it's just me, but a different artist each issue is not a selling point. And I looked it up and it's a Hollywood screenwriter I haven't heard of. I will pass.
The point of having a different artist for each issue is a visual cue that each issue represents a different phase of his life (elementary school Clark is different from high school Clark, etc.). whether or not that approach works remains to be seen (although I will admit the art for the first issue was appropriate to the story).
I liked it! I thought Nick Dragotta's art was great, and I loved this take on a very human John and Martha.
I am also sick and tired of Superman origin stories, but I thought this one was a rare good one. Plus, I never pay attention to who screen writers or anyone beyond the directors of movies are (if I even notice that, actually), so I didn't recognize the name either. I actually normally equate a Hollywood name with bad comics writing, but as I said, I thought this one was pretty cool. I'll be back for the next one for sure.
(And THANK YOU, Jeff, for starting all these threads on current comics!)
ISSUE #2:
“Not your father’s Superman” is the phrase that keeps running through my head. Not just because teenage Clark Kent hangs out in a vacant lot drinking beer with his friends (although that does happen in issue #2), but because not only Pete Ross but the entire town of Smallville knows Clark’s secret.
When a local loser comes back to Smallville on a shooting spree, the sheriff asks Clark for help. Clark keeps what he knows to himself and tries to take out the small gang of three criminals himself. During the course of the attempt, he (accidentally) burns both arms off one of the criminals.
“Not your father’s Superman,” indeed.
ISSUE #3: This series reminds me very much of the kind of Superman-like series a company other than DC might publish (Mr. Majestic, Sentry, Supreme, etc.) to present their “take” on Superman. No need for DC to publish such a series because what would be the point? They already have Superman. But that’s what this series reads like to me. It’s kind of like watching a car wreck, but I must admit it is well-written.
In this issue, Clark Kent wins a vacation trip to the Bahamas. (On the first page Pa Kent reminds Clark to wear a condom… something I don’t think ever happened back in the Superboy series in Adventure Comics.) due to a bad case of writer’s fiat, the private charter plane (!) taking him to his destination crashes into the ocean enroute to his destination. The long arm of coincidence reaches out and the plane sinks near Oliver Queen’s yacht. Queen just happens to be hosting a 21st birthday bash for Bruce Wayne, and Clark is mistaken for the guest of honor making a grand entrance. (No one aboard has even seen Bruce wayne since he was 12 years old.) Oddly (I though) Sue Dibny is hanging all over Oliver Queen, raisning the question is she married to Ralph Dibny at this point, and if so, what’s she doing with Ollie?
Clark meets and sleeps with Barbara Minerva, the only one aboard who has twigged to the fact he’s not Bruce Wayne. Deathstroke the Terminator is also aboard, contracted to kill Bruce Wayne. Deathstroke slips a deadly neurotoxin into Clark’s drink, which has the effect of making him appear incredibly drunk (which fits because he’s been imbibing heavily all the day before). Deathstrokes attack is ineffectual due to Clark’s invulnerability, and Clark uses his super strength to “flick” Deathstroke hundreds of yards overboard.
The final scene shows Bruce Wayne, under the tutelage of Ra’s al Ghul, observing the scene via hidden camera.
ISSUE #4: Bruce Wayne. Oliver Queen. Lex Luthor. Dick Grayson.
Waitaminute… Dick Grayson? Yes, Dick Grayson.
In this issue, Clark encounters all of the above (and meets Lois Lane for the first time, too), but I think his meeting with young Dick Grayson was the most enjoyable. No, I take that back. It was the most surprising, but the most enjoyable goes to the first meeting between Batman and Clark Kent. That was a bit unexpected, too, but it has the outcome a meeting between Batman and a super-powered Kryptonian should.
I’m enjoying this series far more than I expected to.
This series is beginning to remind me more and more of John Bryne's Man of Steel for the 21st century, except instead of introducing Lex Luthor, Lois Lane and Batman over three issues, it introduces them all in one. No "decompressed" storytelling here! Also, Batman will certainly know Superman's sectret ID once he makes his debut, and Clark Kent definitely already knows his!
My one question: is America Alien in the same continuity as Grant Morrison's "New 52" Superman? It seems to be ad odds with the early issues of the Action Comics reboot.
My head hurts.
I've heard this was a series of done-in-ones, so I picked up issue 4 cold on the strength of some good reviews (and Jae Lee's art, which is gorgeous enough to need no introduction). Liked it a lot, especially the Dick Grayson scene. (Not sure about Clark interviewing a minor without any parental consent or involvement, but Clark's new at this; it's not like we saw Perry White publish the interview.)
Loved the peek inside Grayson's head as he sized up Clark ... and really loved his insights about the limitations of Bruce's scare tactics.
Hmmm.. was she ID'd as Sue Dibny in the scene, or just as Sue? (Or maybe her maiden name, which I think I remember is Sue Dearborn?) If she's called Dibny, I suspect it's just an editorial mistake. (It wouldn't be the first or even second one surrounding the surname, which has been misspelled Dibney and at other times conflated with Digby, Shrinking Violet's family name).
The series is a flashback to Clark's early years, and (in the previous continuity) Sue didn't marry Ralph until after he became Elongated Man... which was after Superman debuted in the previous continuity (and presumably this one... while we've seen Ralph as Big Shot in Secret Six, and we know he and Sue are married, we've never actually seen him in his Elongated Man identity).
Jeff of Earth-J said:
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