Superman: The Triangle Era omnibus ships next week. It comprises Superman #49-64, Adventures of Superman #472-486, Action Comics #659-673 and Superman: The Man of Steel #1-8. It is named for the sequential numbering of the four regular series which appeared inside a little triangle on the covers at the time, making "Superman" essentially a weekly series. That's all well and good, but it seems an arbitrary method for delineating the beginning of a collection, especially considering that the so-called "triangle era" didn't actually begin until Superman #51, seven issues in to the collection. What's more, it leaves a gap of 34 issues of Superman continuity (Action Comics #647-658, Superman #38-48 and Adventures of Superman #461-471) from the point at which the Superman: The Exile & Other Stories omnibus ended. that gap had some good stories in it, too: "The Brainic Trilogy," "The Day of the Krypton Man" and "Dark Knight Over Metropolis" to name a few. That's enough for another omnibus in the future, but why not release them in order?
Replies
Oh, man, that's awesome!
It's taken a while, but I've read a few more parts of "Time & Time Again" now. I'd forgotten this was a seven-part story! It seems like Jurgens is writing the spine of this one -- parts 1, 4, and 7 -- which creates the problem and then will eventually wrap it up, offering three Legion stories from different eras in a row. In the second one, it's set around the time of the 70s Legion-- in the Cockrum costumes, but before Blok joined the team, and possibly before he first fought the team as part of the League of Super-Assassins in issue 253, since the Legionnaires don't even recognize his name. (Superman had previously met some Legionnaires from their future in a Byrne issue of Action Comics: Blok, Sun Boy, Brainiac 5, and Invisible Kid -- the closest Legionnaires to the Fantastic Four powerset.) Together, Superman and the Legion work to destroy a Sun Eater, and Superman gets thrown back in time -- to the time of the dinosaurs, where he meets a stranded Chronos, and tussles with him for a bit, making a detour into a later prehistoric era (with wooly mammoths) and then landing at the time of Camelot, in the cliffhanger for next issue.
I love that even in these time-tossed stories, every issue devotes a page to check in on what's happening with the cast in Metropolis in the present day, giving everyone just a panel to touch base with their plotlines.
I'm still with you, Rob... it's just that I don't have a whole heckuvalot to say about these two issues. At this pace, rather than concentrating on Superman, I'm reading the stories from the POV of the guests, such as the LSH and Chronos. I'm looking forward to Superman #55 now that I know (thanks to DC Finest: Superman Family) that Merlin is actually an imp from the fifth dimension.
I just read the final to Time and Time Again, and man, that ending is a downer! Superman & the Legion team up and stop Dev-Em from destroying the moon...but then the Linear Man does it anyway? Ooof.
But meanwhile, there was a nice jaunt back to the days of Camelot, giving Jerry Ordway a change to draw a lot of castles and armor...and marking the moment when Etrigan was fused with Jason Blood. I also appreciated the nod to the Shining Knight!
All in all, though, I'm glad to be finished with this storyline. One of the things I love about this era is the time spent on the supporting cast and subplots, and relegating them to about a page an issue didn't allow for much action on that front. (But honestly, more than you'd think!)
I generally like Jurgens' work, but that story was indeed a downer, as well as a difficult nut to swallow. I think that it was a poor creative choice to have Linear Man's speech bubble appear on panel before the Legionnaries have even moved on. It makes them appear to be unattentive to the situation and makes me wonder why they did not attempt to stop his actions. It is difficult enough to explain why Superman himself falls so short of doing it.
Once again, Rob, I don't have much to say about the two issues in question (that you didn't already mention). I was a bit disappointed that no mention was made of Merlin being a magical imp from the fifth dimension ["The Black Magician," Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #53 (June, 1961)]. :)
Regarding the sub-plots and supporting characters, I'm more aware of "how the sausage is made" this time through than I was initially (nearly 35 years ago). There was one page in The Adventures of Superman #478 (p.7) in which all of the supporting characters' subplots are give a single-panel each in a six-panel grid). If Stan Lee had written this, on page eight he would have said something to the effect of, "Okay! Enough soap opera! Now back to the action!"
We only get one issue of post-T&TA action (Clark & Lois reunite! Foswell stays even longer at the Planet! The return of Baron Sunday, including a double-page spread of buff nude guys attacking a coroner! The debut of Tom Grummett on art!) before a fill-in three-parter by James Hudnall and Ed Hannigan ("Red Glass"), which I enjoyed a lot more this time around. (My guess is, it was used as a way to buy some time as everyone jammed on Man of Steel #1 and then got back to work on their own books.)
Red Glass is largely a dark dream-sequence story, in which Superman kills all his enemies, is hated by the world, and fights members of the Justice League and even the Doom Patrol(!). He kills Lois with heat vision, and gets attacked by Jimmy with Kryptonite. It's a humdinger.
And yet for me it works -- better than it did originally, to be honest. Waiting three or four weeks for the conclusion of a story where it's basically "all a dream" is a test of the reader's patience. But in one sitting, where Ed Hannigan's art goes bigger, with less dialogue, than most of the recent Superman stories? It feels epic in a way I didn't appreciate at the time. It's still, ultimately, a bit of a nothingburger... but it does it with style and bombast to spare. And Andy Kubert's cover for the second part of the story is an all-timer.
First of all, I'd just like to say I'm not real thrilled with Action Comics' redesigned logo (but it's better than the one which will soon follow).
Regarding Tom Grummett: he's one of my favorite artists who often ends up assigned to series I don't read.
Regarding "how the sausage is made": there's a feature in the back of the omnibus which illustrates how that tight issue-to-issue-from-series-to-series continuity is maintained.
And whatever happened to Elroy?
I'll be back later with my thoughts on "Red Glass."
"Let's see... I'll have the nothingburger, humdinger on the side, with extra bombast."
Although I know I read it, I do not remember this story at all. I did not even begin to remember as I read it, which is often the case. I agree with you that it reads better in a single sitting than it would on a weekly basis (obviously).
I've been wondering about Elroy, too! I *love* the idea of a jealous cat Superman can never win over, a little archenemy in his own house!
And yeah, Red Glass is the sort of story that would be told in an extra-sized special these days. It wound up being published in Action 666, which made me think of Detective 666 that occured some years later, where we see a bleak future with Damien taking over as Batman. I think Superman (or maybe it was Adventures of Superman) 666 finally did a Blaze/Satanus story to celebrate the occasion (something mentioned in that planning chart in the back of the omnibus, but either abandoned or the timing was changed), with Simonson art IIRC?
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
of 5 Next