tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post4635740014193931851..comments2024-02-22T02:31:34.108+00:00Comments on Too Busy Thinking About My Comics: Making Sense Of Straczynski & Davis's "Superman: Earth One" using Morrison & Quitely's "All-Star Superman" , & Vice-Versa Too! (Part 1)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-25171032996803180412012-06-26T10:10:28.282+01:002012-06-26T10:10:28.282+01:00Hello there:- Thank you for suggesting that someth...Hello there:- Thank you for suggesting that something of my enthusiasm for ASS was transmitted here. (It was generous of War Rocket Ajax to mention this piece.) I hope you'll have the time to track a copy of ASS soon. I've yet to hear of anyone not having enjoyed the book.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-79871577384142945672012-06-26T03:20:55.491+01:002012-06-26T03:20:55.491+01:00Came here from War Rocket Ajax, and wow, this make...Came here from War Rocket Ajax, and wow, this makes me wish I owned ASS. If only I'd read this during business hours, I could've gone to the library . . .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-57813132878976923762012-06-21T08:05:56.288+01:002012-06-21T08:05:56.288+01:00Hello Alex:- Thank you for the kind words. I hope ...Hello Alex:- Thank you for the kind words. I hope I've not led you astray and that you enjoy ASS as much as I did. I can certainly see why someone would choose to explore the darker side of Kal-El being an alien on Earth, as you suggest. I recall reading Jack Kirby's take on Superman as the loneliness alien on Earth in Forever People #1 when I was a very young nipper and it really did move me. <br /><br />The sequel to Superman Earth Man is out - I believe - in the second quarter of this year, following next month's Batman Earth One by Geoff Johns. Fingers crossed that things get better for the franchise, though SEO was apparent very profitable for DC, so they'll not be worried about what's between the covers too much one way or the other.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-70272521803423039772012-06-19T22:54:18.935+01:002012-06-19T22:54:18.935+01:00I am not even sure how I got to this article anymo...I am not even sure how I got to this article anymore - but I love it! Even that I am a huge fan of JMS and all he has done and of course I have bought SEO as soon as it got out. Now, you made me actually to buy ASS (just ordered it online). And you have made me to schedule a re-read of SEO... I remember, it left me rather cold after reading it (though I never was a huge Superman fan - he was too super for me, too little real and believable... and to be honest, would I be the writer, I would make him a even darker and a definitely lost character - common, how can a person feel, when you know you are actually alone... alone... in a strange world... but hey, it is not my take.) ;) I will let you know what my feelings are about both books later. - Btw, has there been a Part 2 to this story?Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02918669835243221198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-9753640503121843412011-05-11T08:35:58.154+01:002011-05-11T08:35:58.154+01:00Hello Zen:- EOS was the strangest thing. I've ...Hello Zen:- EOS was the strangest thing. I've obviously no problem with JMS telling stories which aren't to my taste. But to produce a work so sloppy and technical poor is another issue. And to think that this is how folks are supposed to be brought into the comics-reading fold.<br /><br />Birthright is indeed a fine piece of work. All Star Superman is indeed one of the finest examples of the sub-genre that can be found. Huzzah! It's good to know that there's a book like All Star Superman - no acronyms for me this time :) - which serves as an example of so much that's good about the character.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-91464377923814200502011-05-10T23:53:20.787+01:002011-05-10T23:53:20.787+01:00I think you hit the nail on the head here, Mr. Smi...I think you hit the nail on the head here, Mr. Smith. The first time I read Superman: Earth One, I was bored, but the more I thought about it, the more annoyed I was. I wasn't sure why, but I think you helped me figure it out.<br /><br />I think JMS is trying to do what Mark Waid did in Birthright: tell the story of how a young Clark Kent forged his two identities, mild-mannered reporter and superhero. Birthright was better.<br /><br />And All-Star Superman is brilliant. It's the story that made me a fan of Superman in the first place. Previously, I didn't really care that much, but Morrison and Quitely showed me just how awesome a character he could be. It's a shame about the initials though. ASS? Oh, well.<br /><br />-ZenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-83064462600619450122011-01-21T08:18:45.469+00:002011-01-21T08:18:45.469+00:00Hello Carol:- he's an incredibly dull super-vi...Hello Carol:- he's an incredibly dull super-villain/antagonist/person, isn't he? In fact, I say "he" because I truly can't remember his name. I find that remarkable, that the character is so dull that I can't even recall what he's called.<br /><br />A JMS super-villain title? The mind shudders. But then, the mind shudders about JMS's work over the past few years anyway. Either my radar is entirely down or his is, and, if it's him, it's just impossible to grasp why that should be.<br /><br />Of course, THE super-villain book is the Secret Six. I fear it would be a poor morning should I wake up to find Ms Simone is no longer on that and JMS is. That's a comic book fan's nightmare.<br /><br />Thank you for the generous words, Carol. I hope the day has been kind to you.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-39444721681890426882011-01-21T05:47:21.817+00:002011-01-21T05:47:21.817+00:00hi again, colin-
i'm working my way through y...hi again, colin-<br /><br />i'm working my way through your jms and superman pieces after his recent departure from, well, everything. i'm not finished with this piece yet, but i wanted to say how delightful i found:<br /><br />"To be immoral and dull is almost unforgivable."<br /><br />as much as the misanthropy makes superman: earth one unappealing, i wonder how much horrible a jms-driven supervillain title would be. i forgive them so much for the sake of the lively entertainment they provide. (one of my own moral failings).<br /><br />now back to reading!<br /><br />carolcarolhttp://www.theculturalgutter.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-56179740380714683012010-11-24T19:19:27.986+00:002010-11-24T19:19:27.986+00:00Hello Kynn:- I do think you're right; that see...Hello Kynn:- I do think you're right; that seems like a probable explantion for SEO. And yet, it does still worry me that the same problems which mark the graphic novel would have plagued a movie too. The lack of the full-on sensory overload that would've marked a big-budget JMS Superman movie might have disguised the problems discussed above a touch more, or at least for a while, but they'd still be there. I am of course not suggetsing that you meant they wouldn't be, merely that I'd be concerned if this material appeared in any form really.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-36515646589987304472010-11-24T19:07:18.691+00:002010-11-24T19:07:18.691+00:00It probably makes more sense to see SEO as the Sup...It probably makes more sense to see SEO as the Superman movie JMS wanted to write instead of the Superman comic he wanted to write.Kynn Bartletthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16242332808446766603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-37033289517960205962010-11-22T15:59:58.090+00:002010-11-22T15:59:58.090+00:00Hello Marc-Oliver:- I'm absolutely torn over h...Hello Marc-Oliver:- I'm absolutely torn over how I should make sense of Mr Straczynski's work these days. I remember being quite thrilled by the second and third series of Babylon 5, and I really do feel he had an impressive grasp of Peter Parker's personality until the later stages of his time on Spider-Man. But I do find it hard to believe that this believe is a man who's firing on a cylinders. Something is wrong, and it'll be interesting to see if we gain an insight on these matters so we might see if your hypothesis, and all the competing ones, nailed why things aren't as they should be.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-77440531457614286112010-11-22T15:41:36.491+00:002010-11-22T15:41:36.491+00:00Straczynski has said in interviews that he's b...Straczynski has said in interviews that he's been typing, what, 10 pages a day since he was, what, 12. With that kind of hard and joyless mechanical labour sucking the light out of his days, I guess he simply doesn't have the time left to do any amount of proper writing. All work and no play makes Joe a dull boy, so to speak.Marc-Oliver Frischhttp://comiksdebris.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-17068463352378053922010-11-14T16:13:50.143+00:002010-11-14T16:13:50.143+00:00Hello Emperor:- it's impossible to ever catch ...Hello Emperor:- it's impossible to ever catch up on all the reading to be done, isn't it? I heard a fascinating piece on the radio a few years ago about when the last time in history was that an individual could have read pretty much everything of any consequence that was available during their lifetime. The answers were varied, but somewhere around the end of the English Civil War was generally agreed upon. My in-tray is ALWAYS higher than my outtray.<br /><br />And yet there's a great deal to be said for reading work from able craftsmen who're apparently stuck in a bad run. What they were doing right before becomes all the more obvious when their less-succesful work is considered. But of course I understand why you'd have other things to do.<br /><br />Those sales figures are amazing, aren't they, just as the minimum of 17 000 copies for SOE in one month are amazing. If I were suddenly running a big comics company, I'd be signing JMS up to a graphic novel contract, but I'd be staying away from offering him a contract on a monthly unless it was already dead and buried and an irregular schedule couldn't sink it any further.<br /><br />I hope you'll always feel absolutely welcome to drop in and speak your mind here, Emperor!Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-52580796141125926492010-11-13T15:12:22.079+00:002010-11-13T15:12:22.079+00:00"actually I'd really recommend that you g..."actually I'd really recommend that you get hold of a copy of Superman: Earth One, and especially if you've been a big fan of the work of JMS. Because his work in Thor, Superman, Earth One and Wonder Woman is very much of a kind and distinct in some ways from work he's done before even in the superhero genre, and SEO is the most distinct book of this period."<br /><br />I'm afraid I won't be reading it and not because of what you said - I've been following the news, interviews, previews and reviews but at no point has anything made me want to read SEO, so your piece was more the cherry on the cake and my mind was largely made up (although if you'd been bowled over by it I might have at least considered it). The simple truth is I have a backlog of reading (including quite a few books - I'm already reading too many comics ;) ) and won't be picking up titles unless they appeal to me on some level and this doesn't<br /><br />Feel free to address some of the issues in future posts (I admire your restraint in not ruining future entries ;) ) I am mainly just talking out loud in response to your post, trying to figure out why his recent takes on superheroes leave me cold (and perhaps getting slightly closer to an answer for myself). It also seems I'm not the only one - despite plenty of press, <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=29328" rel="nofollow">the most recent sales estimates</a> show it is hardly setting the charts alight: Superman is selling under 50k and loosing a lot of readers, Wonder Woman is under 38k and falling. Of course, they might have picked up solid trade sales but he is leaving without enough issues to make a decent trade (although I assume he'll get his name on the others as the replacement writers are working to his notes). It is a strange state of affairs when a big name writer on possibly the biggest title is being outsold by 3 Batbooks and 3 GL ones (not including Brightest Day), plus 1 JLA.<br /><br />Anyway I look forward to your upcoming meditations on this issue.Emperorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02761570379917202477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-5866187751250358632010-11-13T13:49:31.027+00:002010-11-13T13:49:31.027+00:00Hello Mike:- but the glowing eyes in SEO are shado...Hello Mike:- but the glowing eyes in SEO are shadowed underneath a hoodie!! That’s innovation!!! Say what you like about Moore and Gibbons, but there were no hoodies on show in that famous Superman Annual.<br /><br />…..<br /><br />It’s a good question about why I’m comparing the two. Much of it is exactly as I said; these are books that shout at me so strongly that I can’t always clearly hear what they’re saying. But, as I hope to detail in the third and last piece on this comparison, there’s an absolutely fundamental difference between the two books which I think is very important indeed. It’s a difference which I couldn’t put my finger on any detail before I started yesterday’s piece, but the process of comparing the two has really helped me grasp some ethical issues that I think are worth mentioning. In essence, I guess the comparison wasn’t initially about the books so much as the effect they had on me, and then through the comparison I discovered a great more to talk about than I realised.<br /><br />I also think it’s really important to engage with commercial success and to pay it the respect that it deserves. Much of the criticism I read as a lad was of music, and the writers who dominated the weekly press in the UK back then paid little attention to what was insultingly called “commercial” records. And yet, looking back on the Seventies from the perspective of today, much if not most of the most vibrant and influential music of the period was exactly those records looked down upon and ignored. What’s more, in the commercial market, form and content can mutate under market pressures in ways which more exalted forms don’t. <br /><br />Finally, SEO has been lauded in a great many places as a well-written and even radical book. Its writer hasn’t been slow in praising its virtues and sales success. And I think that such confident words deserve to be examined through a comparison with work which has proven itself to be of quality. <br /><br />Ah! There you go, Mike, you’ve inspired a manifesto.<br /><br />……….<br /><br />I am indeed very interested in Birthright, and I really do intend to write about Mr Waid’s work in the near future. Indeed, I’m collecting notes at this very moment.<br /><br />Thanks for the kind and thought-provoking words, Mike. It is always good to hear from you.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-62861307718663426712010-11-13T13:19:03.727+00:002010-11-13T13:19:03.727+00:00Can we please put a stop to red-eyed badass Superm...Can we please put a stop to red-eyed badass Superman? I'm old enough to have read "For the Man Who Has Everything" in the Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told and gasped at the famous "Burn" panel, and young enough to see it repeated every three months. Enough already. <br /><br />Anyway, SEO holds no appeal to me. The pages you posted look lifeless. Shane Davis' work seems completely average. Not bad, but merely efficient. I'll buy a lackluster script illustrated by a good artist (which explains why there are more Jeph Loeb comics at my house than are necessary), but blah art can kill my interest quickly. You have to be Morrison, Gerber, or Englehart to make a Sal Buscema or Richard Case comic stand out.<br /><br />That begs the question: is it appropriate to compare SEO with ASS? (also: how immature am I that I still find the abbreviation for All Star Superman funny?) I know you're not making a facile comparison (ASS is good, SEO is bad) and I like the idea of creating a dialogue between the two. Still, ASS is the best Superman story of the modern era. Its only competition is Secret Identity, as far as I am concerned, and ASS is a more "pure" Superman story. Any Superman story will fall well short. <br /><br />Also, any thoughts on Superman: Birthright? I liked it, but it seems like it didn't have a very good reception. I've always found Byrne's Man of Steel dull, and that Waid put some more flavor into his semi-origin story.<br /><br />As always, I hope your day is enjoyable, and I look forward to your next post.<br /><br />- Mike LoughlinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-63189303449506357662010-11-13T11:44:20.825+00:002010-11-13T11:44:20.825+00:00Hello Emmet:- there's a great deal to admire a...Hello Emmet:- there's a great deal to admire about the Pitt novels, but they're so repetitive that in the end another one feels redundant. I too loved the Hippie collective, but there was always that by-the-numbers feel after book two. Joe loses another body-part, Joe is thwarted in love, Joe uncovers more exploitation, Joe tries - and succeeds - to cross NYC. A trilogy would have earned less dosh, I imagine, but created a truly impressive pulp fiction.<br /><br />Your comment on Superman's ever-changing nature has very much caused by brain to turn. I think there's one thing that links all the Supes up until now. To be continued ......Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-72126477189168879282010-11-13T11:23:38.598+00:002010-11-13T11:23:38.598+00:00I know what you mean about Joe Pitt. For me though...I know what you mean about Joe Pitt. For me though I enjoyed series as an indulgence. Plus the hippie collective of left-wing vampires still strikes me as a fantastic joke.<br /><br />I remember reading a piece by an oldschool Superman fan, oh some ten years ago, where he was spitting blood about Byrne's take on Superman. He felt it was a revolution, a complete abandoning of the themes of the Last Son of Krypton, to have him use his abilities for personal profit. <br /><br />Now I cannot point to a single era in comic history and identify a consistent portrayal of the character throughout. Still I wonder if that blogger is out there. I wonder how he would react to this latest reinvention of Superman, given repulsion towards Byrne's.Emmethttp://abookadaytillicanstay.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-33726984357556383482010-11-13T09:53:52.812+00:002010-11-13T09:53:52.812+00:00Hello Emmet:- it's a fine thing to be hearing ...Hello Emmet:- it's a fine thing to be hearing from you again, and it's reassuring to note that you're keeping up with that process of reading and reviewing a book a day on your blog. You'ev recently inspired me to read the last Joe Pitt novel, having stopped half way through volume 5 because I couldn't help but feel that the series was at least a third longer than it needed to be.<br /><br />I will indeed be referring to the Byrne take on Superman, which is an incredibly, incredibly mild revamp of the Superman mythos compared to the JMS take! The more I think of SEO, the more I'm convinced that it's the most radical and divergent take on the character that anyone's ever produced.<br /><br />And I appreciate the steer on Mr Hester's previous form. If it's good for thee, then I shall hunt it down.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-1670176546884458162010-11-13T09:46:40.320+00:002010-11-13T09:46:40.320+00:00Hello Emperor:- actually I'd really recommend ...Hello Emperor:- actually I'd really recommend that you get hold of a copy of Superman: Earth One, and especially if you've been a big fan of the work of JMS. Because his work in Thor, Superman, Earth One and Wonder Woman is very much of a kind and distinct in some ways from work he's done before even in the superhero genre, and SEO is the most distinct book of this period. It all forms a fascinating stage in his career and it really is worth experiencing. I mean that without any sarcasm. Earth One is a book so very odd that it's an education. It reminds me in some ways of Heinlein's later work, or indeed Claremonts, where there was no sense at all of editorial restraint or internal restraint either. I'd love to know how many re-drafts the script went through. JMS seems to be delivering a product that's unmediated even with reference with himself! I really would recommend it.<br /><br />I'll be touching on alot of what you mention in tomorrow's piece, so perhaps I might refer to what you've said then. I hate the apparent rudeness of not doing folks the respect of immediately responding; I'm always stunned to read blogs where careful and interesting comments are allowed to lie unanswered. I hope you'll forgive that. For that issue of JMS's story-telling reductionism is one that I'm still working through myself.<br /><br />The funny thing about the Superman of Earth One isn't that he's "emo" in the sense of the popular stereotype of the word, but that's he's something far worse than just a rather self-obsessed young person. But that strange take on Superman is still, as you so wonderfully say, as appealing as wearing THOSE clothes you mention with THAT condition.<br /><br />But you must read it! I may have got it completely wrong anyway and be spoiling your enjoyment of a book by a well-regarded writer. And anyway, I'd love to hear your opinion.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-89445748132384967992010-11-13T09:02:27.102+00:002010-11-13T09:02:27.102+00:00Excellent work as always. I look forward to your a...Excellent work as always. I look forward to your assessment of the latest JMS furore on Superman/Wonderwoman (although I am happy that Phil Hester has landed the latter - I loved his book Deep Sleeper.<br /><br />In many ways Earth One reminds me of John Byrne's Man of Steel. Particularly his insistence that Clark was a very macho character, using his abilities to excel in American football. <br /><br />If anything Earth One seems like yet another retread of what Byrne was doing in his neurotic attempt to assure us that Clark was all man. <br /><br />Compare to All Star with Superman being used as a symbol for hope.Emmethttp://abookadaytillicanstay.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-45486732158322665382010-11-13T04:01:52.498+00:002010-11-13T04:01:52.498+00:00I've been following the whole SEO business and...I've been following the whole SEO business and I have to say it hadn't got me excited enough to be bothered checking it out - your analysis confirms I should give this a miss. A pity because, as I've said before, I love JMS and would probably let him have a kidney if he wanted one (or if he didn't, but that is a much creepier concept - forced organ donation, there has to be a horror story in that). However, his recent comics ventures have left me flat.<br /><br />It does seem to fit a similar theme to the one we've looked at before: the superhero in the real world. It is something we've touched on before so forgive me if I repeat myself but it seems like JMS has got his own interpretation of works like Watchmen and Marvelman. In Moore's work he shows the impact having superheroes living in the real world would have (although it is still rather fantastical). JMS' spin seems to involved dragging the superheroes down to Earth - literally in the case of Thor and co. ("Thor and Co.: Vikings For Hire"). It couldn't be much clearer than it is with the "Grounded" storyline in Superman but you can also see it in his Wonder Woman reboot where Paradise Island is destroyed so she is raised as an orphan in New York. I remain unconvinced of this approach as it doesn't make them any more or less easy to relate to and it might just jettison their Ultimate Selling Point - it seems odd to take over such powerful characters with a tonne of story telling potential and then hobble them. Perhaps it plays to some desire to see the Gods dragged down to Earth, after all people there are a lot of publications that pander to the public's desire to see the "celebrities" knocked down a peg or two with intrusive stories and photographs. I much prefer Morrison's ASS (hmmm I have seen piccies of him in his undies but that isn't what I mean ;) ) which tries to get under the skin of what it feels to actually be Superman, not how Superman would feel if he had to walk a mile in our shoes (almost literally in the case of "Grounded").<br /><br />Oh and emo superheroes - it may appeal to a modern Twilight audience but we've had The Crow since the late 80s all moody and pained. I seem to recall The Poet in JMS' Rising Stars also did his fair share of brooding. Perhaps in SEO we are seeing the collision of "moodyhero" and "real world superhero"? If so, it's about as appealing as wearing vinegar-soaked undies when you've got a bad set of Chalfonts.Emperorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02761570379917202477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-5632814170980328322010-11-12T23:45:08.761+00:002010-11-12T23:45:08.761+00:00Hello tsmoreau:- thank you for the kind words; the...Hello tsmoreau:- thank you for the kind words; they are very much appreciated. The Millar book is progressing well, I hope: it's proving to be a fascinating process & I just hope I can do Mr M’s work justice.<br /><br />There's quite a few points you've raised that I'll be touching on in the second half of this piece, and so though I'm deeply tempted to mention them here, for your words have intrigued me, I hope you'll forgive me if I don't. Suffice to say, there are some remarkable and worrying ideas floating around in Earth One and you are, of course, quite right to identity self-pity and the importance of the self as two of the least-Superman-like of them, if I may put it like that. I'm writing about that self-pity and self-importance this very evening and I'm finding the process something of a challenge. These are ideas I'm not comfortable experiencing in a Superman comic. But it is a new start for a new generation, so I’m trying to remember that.<br /><br />The thing is that JMS has been talking about his longing to write Superman for a very long time now. Having been given the freedom to write Earth One, which he's recently said was the reason he came to DC, it would be remarkable if it was a cynical rather than a heartfelt exercise. Under those circumstances, why would he target a particular segment of the youth market in this way? And yet, it's such a strange book. It's such a very strange book indeed, and I’m torn between believing that it must be the product of a writer with a specific agenda and that it’s one produced quite carelessly. Luckily, I’m writing about the work on the page rather than speculating on its origins, but you and I are unavoidably drawn into thinking about such things, aren’t we? It’s unavoidable because the book is so peculiar. It’d be fascinating to buy the man a drink and ask him about his work here.<br /><br />I've done my best to make sense of JMS and his intentions and skills. I've actually read his "textbook" of writing for various mediums twice. I thought I owed it to him given that I've written some negative opinions of his work. Not because he'd ever be aware that I'd written anything, and whyever would he?, but because I really do want to be respectful of those folks I try to write about. But it's hard to make sense of Earth One, it really is.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-13677832234919833462010-11-12T23:23:18.056+00:002010-11-12T23:23:18.056+00:00Hello Darci:- thank you for the link! I'm stil...Hello Darci:- thank you for the link! I'm still digesting the news. One of the reason I started writing this piece was, as I said in it, to rid myself of my emotional response to Superman: Earth One; there's no point in getting angry about it. And so I'll do my best to simply nod to the news you bring me, put it away into my "that'll be interesting" file in my mind, and attempt not to ask any questions about whether the new graphic novels will be any better than the first one in this series.Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15246781681702128600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618879740460069575.post-17210977548665204602010-11-12T23:17:29.968+00:002010-11-12T23:17:29.968+00:00It's difficult to tell how much of the book is...It's difficult to tell how much of the book is by design and how much of it is JMS channeling the tropes unconsciously because that's the cultural detritus that's around to pull from.<br /><br />Really, I'm almost tempted to say this is all Alan Moore's fault. This looks to my eye like the current zenith (or nadir, depending on your perspective) of the "realistic superhero" movement. Like Dan Didio said in the PR for the thing it's "Superheroes for Twilight Fans". This is the way to relate to the kids these days, apparently: self-aware-self-pity.<br /><br />I'd like to say that this shows how tough the Superman idea is, that he, like Batman, is a diamond-hard-archetypal hero who can be thrown at any wall and never shattered. But I think that's just misplaced optimism. This really seems to be a pure cash-in. However, given the reading comprehension of the average comics reader (with regard to both traditional prose and comics grammar) I can't imagine that the works are doing much to resonate on a level beyond pure id anyway. Which I do lament, but whattayagonnado?<br /><br />As for why JMS did the book, all I can really think of is that he wanted to increase his profile with a Superman book. You're quite correct to say that from our perspective he has no reason to do so. However, given how insulated he seems to be from both criticism and comics-at-large and how... strange his mainline Superman take was, I genuinely think this book and that (now cut short) run is a window into JMS' views on Superman and superheroes in general.<br /><br />Many out there like the man's work, but from what I've seen of it, it largely relies on personal-drama-heavy chatty talking heads and stock-CG. He's a TV writer, not a comics writer, which is a major difference and which you delineate excellently in the post here.<br /><br />Keep up the great work Colin, I hope the Millar book is going well, and I look forward to part 2!tsmoreauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17182458983142857647noreply@blogger.com