Superman (1939) #235

S235

The issue ends with Superman in Metropolis Stadium attempting a heart-to-heart with his sand-double. It’s a really awkward moment, since the Colosseum’s full of people. O’Neil doesn’t get a single reaction shot in this sequence, after getting them in an opening action sequence at the Colosseum. It’s off. I mean, Lois should have a reaction, shouldn’t she?

There are other weak points to this issue–Morgan Edge being the J. Jonah Jameson of the DC Universe is problematic, regardless of if he’s just stooging for Darkseid–but there’s a lot of good stuff too, like Superman waving at a crowd of people to say hi to Lois. Or just O’Neil’s plotting, which allows for these nice action sequences without them taking over the entire issue before the big finale.

It’s solid, unspectacular.

O’Neil’s Superman seems way too nonplussed too, given the sand-double and losing his powers.

Superman (1939) #234

S234

Ok, here’s where it’s a little hokey. Both stories actually (there’s another history of Krypton back-up, which has a goofy villain reveal at the end). O’Neil has Superman trying to stop a volcano, but he doesn’t want to trespass on the land to do so. While I kind of get O’Neil making it “real,” he also makes it absurd. The villain’s the landowner who’s shooting his fleeing employees… pretty sure, even in 1971, you weren’t allowed to murder disobedient employees.

Otherwise, it’s a solid enough story. The sand-Superman is really creepy, Superman worrying about doing his newscast while fighting the volcano is amusing (though there’s a big plot hole when he talks, as Superman, and he’s still got his news commentary microphone on).

Nice artwork. Lots of thought balloons again, this time explaining how Superman’s thought process for combating the volcano.

Unfortunately, the back-up’s pretty weak overall.

Superman (1939) #233

S233

What a pleasure it is to read a Superman comic book where he’s not supposed to be perpetually thirty-one or whatever goofy age DC pins on him. The more mature Clark Kent, here becoming a television personality as the Daily Planet goes through changes, brings something else to the comic. I hate to sound like Joe Quesada, but a married Superman has different sensibilities.

The superhero antics–opening with a Kryptonite event–are a lot less sensational than the modern comics–it’s Superman versus gangsters. Gangsters in jets, but gangsters. The real boon to these scenes is the artwork. Curt Swan’s action sequences are fantastic. Even with O’Neil’s tight script–somehow, he gives Superman a lot of thought balloons but never makes them overbearing–it’s Swan who makes the issue feel like an experience.

And then there’s even a cute backup story featuring Jor-El and Lara getting together.

Superman (1978, Richard Donner)

I love how the end of Superman, with the spinning back of the earth, causes so much trouble for people. My fiancée–before Marlon Brando had even gotten the kid into the spaceship–made me stop the movie twice (I had to tell her to stop, though I love her line about Superman having just as many plot holes as the Bible) to make observations about its inconsistency. So, two major inconsistencies in the first ten minutes. I was more concentrated on Krypton’s apparent lack of atmosphere and the effect it’d have on the three criminals (wouldn’t they suffocate before the Phantom Zone got them?). My point being, Superman is rife with dramatic inconsistencies and silliness, the world-turning being one of the lesser ones.

I’ve probably seen Superman six times as an adult, maybe seven (this viewing is the fourth time since 2001), so it’s kind of hard to write about it like it’s tomorrow’s bread. I notice things, every time I watch, and sometimes I’ve noticed them before and sometimes I think I have or haven’t. Superman‘s an incredibly watchable film, because it works so damn well–I can’t think of a film where the music was more important than this one. John Williams’s score literally makes the film. Something about the epical storytelling and Donner’s use of cranes and his short on dialogue, but not short in running time scenes, makes Williams’s music essential. Without it, Superman wouldn’t just not work, it’d be funny looking. There’s music for most of the movie, with the exception of the Daily Planet scenes. The other superior technical aspect of the film is the editing. Donner shot some great coverage for the film and editor Stuart Baird puts it all together beautifully–that scene in the cornfield and the Superman finding Lois in the car scene are both editorially magnificent. I never thought about it before, but in a certain way (not narratively) Superman‘s got a lot in common with 2001.

Other things I noticed this time was Donner’s great close-ups of Terence Stamp at the beginning, which I’m sure I’d noticed before, but never really appreciated, especially since it’s a movie called Superman‘s first real scene. Glenn Ford gets better with each viewing… The infamous “Can You Read My Mind?” flying dance number, which has become, in the last couple viewings, my favorite scene in the film. Also a big fan of the interview scene and the helicopter scene from the cinematography angle. I think the last time I watched it, I appreciated Superman ignoring Marlon Brando for Glenn Ford (something Bryan Singer ditched in the latest “sequel”), and I appreciated it again this time.