Superhuman
Oh boy, today’s post has been a somewhat difficult one. It was late in the first place, and then disappeared into the digital void, even after saving. Oh, it can be such a difficult life, sometimes.
It was initially late because I’d planned to post perhaps the most hilarious* post in the Journal’s history. Unfortunately, for that I needed a screencap from Superman: The Movie, and some copy protection thing wouldn’t let me do that. On the DVD that I paid well-earned cash to own, for a film I have bought more than once. It’s absolutely true that DRM only punishes honest customers stupid enough to act legally, and also people who want to make fun of films on the internet.
What I’m saying is, Warner Bros. and WordPress (for losing this post first time round) are to blame for today’s entry being late, and you should all write to them to complain.
Ahem.
Anyway, onwards. Finally got round to reading the final All-Star Superman, and I think I’m going to need a little time to process it. I was a little, I don’t know, not disappointed with how it ended, more that I don’t think I quite get it yet. The more I think about it the more I like it, though, and it goes without saying that it’s still packed full of brilliance, and the series as a whole is one of the best Superman stories I’ve ever written [Edit 4/10/08: read, best Superman stories I've ever read. I'm not Grant Morrison, honest. Certainly after hearing about the story Mick hints at in the comments.] But the last panel did confuse me a bit. The “2″ is very clever and all, but it seems like it should be a gimmick ending to one of the earlier issues rather than a cap to the whole series. And it looks more like advertising for a second All-Star series more than a solid ending. And Quintum may be a funky addition, but he doesn’t seem significant enough a character to be the focal point of the ending, although I suppose he’s meant to be the manifestation of Morrison himself (although, in a couple of places, I got the vibe that Lex was meant to be the Scotsman’s avatar.)
Oh, bollocks to it, I don’t really want to moan about the comic because it was great. I suppose most of my reservations come from the fact that I don’t want it to be a 12 issue series at all. I want it to be ongoing, and I want to wallow in this fantastic world Morrison, Quitely and Grant have created for a hundreds of issues.
One thing (of many) that Morrison handled perfectly was the issue with Jonathan Kent’s death, probably my favourite one of the run. Only problem is, from what I can tell, there have been hints that Pa Kent is for the chop in the main titles, too. This is a very, very bad idea. Because bringing him back into the story, post-original Crisis, added an important and interesting element to Superman’s supporting cast. By removing him again, all we’re going to get is another excrutiating death scene that’s unlikely to have anywhere near the impact his death had in the movie, or in All-Star, partly because not every writer is as good as Grant Morrison, and partly because death is so incredibly underwhelming as a plot device in comics. It has none of the resonance it used to have. In fact, far from being affected by the drama of death, these days when someone buys it I don’t feel anything more than boredom, and disappointment that the writer can’t find a single thing new or interesting to write about instead. It’s just cheap and ineffective. And damaging to the character, too; Spider-Man’s diminished supporting cast, as always, being the biggest example of this.
Speaking of the web-slinger, not reading the main title (because, as I always maintain, I don’t have as big a stiffy for rehashing the Seventies that the rest of the aging comic reading (or writing) population obviously has) I don’t know whether Aunt May still knows his secret identity, or whether she’s gone back to being a dribbling moron. In retrospect, absolutely the best thing about JMS’ run was his reinvention of May Parker as a decent character, and it’s a damn shame to lose that.
Final point about All-Star: interesting how Morrison was very clear that Superman is the character, while Clark Kent is the disguise, while latter day takes have always been the other way round. Personally, like with Batman, I’ve always been more of the opinion that there are three character elements present. In Batman’s case, the scary vigilante mask, the playboy millionaire act, and then the real personality is a third person, the one who confides in Alfred and his adoptive sons, and who never wants anyone to go through the same loss he did. For Superman, you’ve got the mild mannered reporter, the optimistic inspiring hero, and the third personality is Kal-El, the more contemplative, perhaps more alien side, the last son (ho ho, these days) of Krypton. In fact, you could make a really creepy story out the idea that he really is a cold, unknowable, Sinestro-like alien, who has to integrate into human society for his own safety, and uses the two masks as a shell to achieve this. Doesn’t quite fit with the character, mind, although I wonder if that’s how Luthor sees him.
Speaking of which, I never got the dislike some people have for the lonely alien take we saw in Donner and Johns’ “Last Son”. I quite like the idea of having the inspirational human-like take in one title (Busiek’s at the time), but the more Kryptonian take in another. No reason we can’t have both.
[*^ it may not have been all that hilarious.]
