DC Retroactive: Superman – The ’90s 1 (October 2011)

I didn’t even know Louise Simonson wrote Superman in the nineties because, as I understood it, Superman was awful in the nineties until the late nineties.

If this Retroactive issue is any indication, Simonson’s Superman is pretty miserable.

Forgetting about how stupid a bunch of the details are—Cadmus Project, Underworlders, I mean… come on, Superman needs a supporting cast but not a silly one with a bunch of complicated mythology—Simonson relies almost entirely on expository dialogue. Simonson’s writing is slow, pointless and mercilessly dense.

But the writing isn’t even the issue’s worst part—Jon Bogdanove’s art is atrocious. While his layouts are fine—maybe even good in the Daily Planet newsroom scenes especially—the finished product is not. Bogdanove has no sense of scale—Clark’s 5’2”, shorter than the Guardian and sometimes Lois, buildings are double the size of cars, and so on.

This issue’s just a stinker.

CREDITS

Speed; writer, Louise Simonson; artist, Jon Bogdanove; colorist, Tony Aviña; letterer, Carlos M. Mangual; editor, Ben Abernathy; publisher, DC Comics.

DC Retroactive: Superman – The ’80s 1 (October 2011)

What a terrible comic book. Marv Wolfman’s writing is so lame, I’ll never even have time to mention how Sergio Cariello isn’t a particularly good artist.

So, if you’re unaware, Crisis on Infinite Earths is the most important thing in the world and Wolfman wrote it. If you are unaware, this comic will let you know. Not only is it the most important thing, nothing about Superman himself is particularly important. He gets visited by the Ghost of Christmas Future, who shows him every major DC event in the next twenty years. It means Wolfman doesn’t have to write an actual story for Superman, just a bunch of flash forwards.

Well, he does write a little stuff set in the eighties. An incredibly dumb Galactus rip-off shows up and Superman tries to fight him.

This issue’s so bad… it makes me never want to read a Wolfman comic again.

CREDITS

New Day, Final Destiny; writer, Marv Wolfman; artist, Sergio Cariello; colorist, Andrew Elder; letterer, Pat Brosseau; editor, Ben Abernathy; publisher, DC Comics.

DC Retroactive: Superman – The ’70s 1 (September 2011)

Martin Pasko knows how to write a good Superman story. Again, not up enough on seventies Superman to know how accurate a flashback issue he writes, but it’s a darn good comic anyway. Pasko brings humanity to the all-powerful character, both in the plot and how he ties it to Superman’s actions.

The stuff with Lois Lane–they’re dating somewhat steady here, but on unstable ground–is absolutely fantastic. Pasko’s dialogue and pacing are also particularly impressive. He fits a lot into the pages, sometimes so much penciller Eduardo Barreto has trouble fitting it all in.

Now, I’m generally familiar with Barreto but the effect Christian Duce’s inks have on the pencils are stunning. Barreto’s clear ability is still there, but the inks give this retro Superman a modern style. It’s beautiful superhero art.

Superman‘s easily DC’s best Retroactive so far. I wish this team did a regular series.

CREDITS

Death Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry; writer, Martin Pasko; penciller, Eduardo Barreto; inker, Christian Duce; colorist, Andrew Elder; letterer, Carlos M. Mangual; editor, Ben Abernathy; publisher, DC Comics.

Marvel Treasury Edition 28 (July 1981)

Was Jim Shooter paying himself by the word, because I don’t think I’ve ever read more exposition in a comic book. It’s terrible exposition too, but I suppose the sentences are grammatically correct. For the most part.

But what I can’t figure out is the artwork. The combination of John Buscema on pencils and Joe Sinnott on inks produces one of the worst eighties comic books I can remember seeing. Superman’s figure is strangely bulky, with a little head. But the facial features on everyone are awful. It’s a hideous thing to read.

The story concerns Dr. Doom trying again to take over the world, which is boring. The interesting stuff is Clark working at the Bugle and Peter working at the Planet. They should do a series. But not by Shooter, who makes Peter constantly horny.

Interesting to see the black chick after Clark though.

It’s an awful comic.

CREDITS

The Heroes and the Holocaust!; writers, Marv Wolfman and Jim Shooter; penciller, John Buscema; inkers, Joe Sinnott, Terry Austin, Klaus Janson, Bob McLeod, Al Milgrom, Steve Leialoha, Walt Simonson, Bob Layton, Brett Breeding, Joe Rubinstein and Bob Wiacek; colorist, Glynis Wein; letterer, Joe Rosen; editor, Milgrom; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man (January 1976)

It’s too bad this one doesn’t work out better, but at least it fails in an interesting way. Superman and Spider-Man simply can’t work together. It’s not so much the problems with them not matching powers—Lex Luthor zaps Spidey with some red Kryptonite powers to even the odds at one point—it’s the characters themselves, they’re too different.

The comic’s split into four parts. First is a Superman prologue, then a Spidey, then Doctor Octopus and Lex teaming up before the culminating team-up between Spidey and Superman. The first three parts work great. The fourth part barely works at all. Peter Parker and Lois Lane meeting up, professionally, it works great. Morgan Edge and Jonah getting hammered? Also great.

Superman calling Spidey “web-slinger?” Not great. Though Spidey gets away with calling him “Supes.”

The art hodgepodge makes it visually interesting, but not good.

It’s sadly charmless.

CREDITS

The Battle of the Century!; writer, Gerry Conway; pencillers, Ross Andru, Neal Adams and John Romita; inkers, Dick Giordano, Terry Austin, Josef Rubinstein, Bob Wiacek and Romita; colorist, Jerry Serpe; letterer, Gaspar Saladino; editors, Roy Thomas, Julius Schwartz, Marv Wolfman, E. Nelson Bridwell, Carmine Infantino, Stan Lee and Conway; publishers, DC Comics and Marvel Comics.

Superman: Secret Origin 6 (October 2010)

So after making everyone wait for months, DC put out this piece of crap?

I mean, it’s not terrible, but it’s garbage. Frank’s artwork is visibly hurried, with Superman looking different in every other panel and the Christopher Reeve likeness looking traced when he uses it here. Lois looks funny, more of the hurrying.

As for Johns, it’s like he was trying to see how many endings he could do in one issue to give Frank the chance to do full page panels.

It’s completely moronic conclusion to the last three issues too, but particularly to the last one, as General Lane is reduced to a cartoon joke. Lex is a goof too.

What’s funniest about the comic is how self-important Johns writes it. It’s clear no one edits his scripts.

I think it’s about a five minute read. People waited three months for a five minute read. That’s value.

CREDITS

The End; writer, Geoff Johns; penciller, Gary Frank; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Brad Anderson; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

Superman: Secret Origin 5 (May 2010)

Ok, so Johns finally did something completely unexpected. He made Superman the Hulk. General Sam Lane–I think that’s Lois’s father’s name anyway–is a psycho warmonger who tries to kill Superman.

Funny how John Byrne is known for Superman and the Hulk and Johns is playing with both here.

There’s some decent character scenes, not as much Christopher Reeve in the Frank art but some… A lot of the scenes play well. Superman posing for Jimmy seems really stupid.

But Johns doesn’t have a good narrative structure here or in the series overall. This issue, like the last, is sequential, while the first two issues weren’t tied by an exacting structure.

It’s like Johns can’t decide if he’s doing Man of Steel or something else. The confusion isn’t helping.

Some of the problem probably stems from Johns’s handle on Superman being a tad trite.

It’s a passionless mechanical story, completely unnecessary.

CREDITS

Strange Visitor; writer, Geoff Johns; penciller, Gary Frank; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Brad Anderson; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

Superman: Secret Origin 4 (March 2010)

Maybe I’ve surrendered. Johns doesn’t introduce anything new to the canon this issue, instead he just does a sequel to the previous issue. The Gary Frank Parasite is hideously wonderful too.

But back to Johns. He does a decent job this issue. Sure, he’s set up a disastrously bad idea, but once he’s writing in that idea, instead of about it, he does fine. A limited series about Superman’s first week in Metropolis (this issue would be the second in that wish) would be good. I’m sure Johns will screw it up next issue, but as a brief reprieve, this issue is welcome.

There’s a lot more of the Christopher Reeve referencing from Frank here, which certainly makes it feel part of a brand… But Superman doesn’t look like Reeve in the rest of the DC publications, so why here?

Oh, and Johns’s Luthor is uncharacteristically dumb. That’s a problem.

CREDITS

Parasites; writer, Geoff Johns; penciller, Gary Frank; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Brad Anderson; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

Superman (1978, Richard Donner), the director's cut

If watching Richard Donner’s director’s cuts have taught me one thing, it’s Donner probably shouldn’t have final cut. His director’s cut of Lethal Weapon, for example, is atrocious.

He adds about nine minutes to Superman and, much like Coppola’s revision of Apocalypse Now, it’s a testament to the original film it can weather the additions. For the most part, Donner’s additions are small–I think the longest sequence is Superman versus Lex Luthor’s weapon gadgets–but these additions all go into the rather iconic sequences at the beginning of the film. In other words, Donner intrudes on the film in progress… it’s kind of like talking during the movie (or a big CG Jabba the Hutt all of a sudden appearing).

Worse, director’s cut editor Michael Thau can’t compare to original editor Stuart Baird (Superman‘s just an exquisitely edited film, an aspect I don’t think it ever gets recognized). And don’t get me started on the awful new sound mix.

But it can’t muck it up.

If anything, the director’s cut just shows Superman is bigger than the director and his troubles with the producers. The elements–the cast, the script, the effects crew and John Williams–are in place. Donner does a great job directing the picture, no doubt, but it’s never fit in his filmography. He’s never made anything half as good as a film and nothing a quarter as good as a director.

So, even though none of the additions add anything, Superman succeeds.

Wonderment outweighs bloating.

Superman: Secret Origin 3 (January 2010)

DC never did a formal adaptation of the first Superman movie, so Johns gives it a shot here, with some modernizing and some adjustments for comic book continuity. The result, I suppose, depends on if you like the first Superman movie. Even with the silly Lex Luthor is a power mad bad guy (from Byrne)–it makes Smallville real famous too, which misses the point I think, it works.

But then I love Superman: The Movie.

Frank draws Clark to look like Christopher Reeve here, Johns has him bumble well like Reeve does in the movies… There’s really nothing new here. It’s just a really good adaptation of a movie, which I’m sure they’ll have to redo once the new Superman movie comes out (didn’t anyone tell Johns about corporate synergy?).

His biggest innovation is to make Metropolis an unfriendly city. That general unfriendliness will probably turn around once Superman arrives.

CREDITS

Mild-Mannered Reporter; writer, Geoff Johns; penciller, Gary Frank; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Brad Anderson; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.