I used to remember watching those classic George Reeves Superman TV Series and I'll be the first to admit, growing up in the 80's having watched the Superman Movies in color and well, most everything in color, the thought of a black and white Superman TV Series was alien (No pun intended) to me. It was really strange but I can still remember that TV series, I wasn't a huge fan of it, I was a couch potato, I'd watch anything they were showing at all hours of the day AND night. There I was watching an old black and white Superman TV show and I never admitted it but I liked it. "Strange Visitor from an alien planet" I think that's how the line went, it was something like that. Of course at the time I was already into comics but surprisingly I didn't have that many Superman comics. Which now seems a bit odd. Looking through my collection, I saw that I accumulated alot of Superman comics. There are some good ones, some not so good ones and some great ones, that's what I want to share with you.
The stories and art from the John Byrne Era started me off on collecting Superman, after he had left the title, it was creators like Roger Stern, Kerry Gammill, Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, Brett Bredding, Ron Frenz, Jerry Ordway, Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Josef Rubinstein, Dennis Janke, Stuart Immonen, Butch Guice and who could forget when Dan Jurgens killed Superman. I mentioned in my previous broadcast, I dropped Superman from my list after a while, mainly because a few of these creators themselves were dropped and then came a new wave of people who came in and again there was a change in terms of the creators telling the story of the Man Of Steel.
Well, even though I had decided to drop Superman from my list, I usually would keep track of what's happening with the title. Even though I was primarily a Marvel Comics Guy, I would still check out a few of the DC Comics titles. I think I was following the individual creators more than anything else. One day I read on Wizard Magazine that a new writer and artist was coming on board the flagship title of DC Comics. I was intrigued and decided to try it out when I read the name: Ed McGuinness. Ed McGuinness had drawn a Deadpool story a few years ago and a reviewer had said that McGuinness' art was very cartoony. For some strange reason, I never forgot that name Ed McGuinness and that review of his work. Well, I thought I'll just have a look, no harm to just get one issue and see just how cartoony his art is. Well, my first issue was this one:
I mentioned this issue in my previous broadcast on Superman, I didn't know what to expect when I got this issue. I was so used to reading the stories by Byrne, Jurgens, Stern and the rest and I wasn't sure about this writer named Loeb or this artist named McGuinness. Well I liked it, no I loved it and that get started on collecting Superman again. The artwork I believe was what caught my eye and then I just bought more and more.
I really liked the way Ed McGuinness drew Superman, bigger than life, all powerful, just the way Byrne had done during his run, it was a change and I enjoyed it. In this issue,
Superman returns to his Metropolis routine,
Superman is visited by Lana, which causes another fight with Lois. But
before Clark can deal with that problem, the Parasite returns. With
Wonder Woman's help, Superman stops the Parasite's rampage, but fails to
apprehend him. Lois, none to happy to see another one of Superman's
female friends in town, seemingly stomps out and right up to Lex Luthor. There was a lot of intriguing storylines crafted by Jeph Loeb, while they were enjoyable and all that, there was one which I disagreed with and it was the story from this issue:
Now this issue sports a beautiful cover, a really nice cover by Ed McGuinness and Cam Smith. I love this issue, it's a great issue to have BUT I was really shocked at the story by Loeb. In this issue, a ship from Krypton brings to the Kent farm a
rod giving off a faint signal much like readings Prof. Hamilton has
been getting from within the Phantom Zone. The professor and John Henry
Irons strap Superman into a device to translate the signals from the
isobar directly into Superman's mind. In this way, Superman learns the
"true" story of Krypton's last days from his father Jor-El. Superman
makes plan to follow the signal back through the Phantom Zone to
Jor-El's Krypton, and Lois insists on going with him. In one issue Loeb erased all the work that other creators had put in since 1987 when DC Comics decided that their flagship title needed an update for the future. What he did in my humble opinion was to destroy and disregard everything that had been done up to that point. He brought Superman's origins back to the silly years. In my opinion, it was disrespectful but that's just my opinion. I don't know if this was a decision DC Comics had decided on or it was Loeb who thought that Superman's Origins were too dark.
Strange thing is when Man Of Steel was released, we saw the so called darker and foreboding Krypton and not the Krypton Loeb had written. It's really not a huge thing but I just thought at the time, it was a bad a move, an unnecessary move. A few issue later, I dropped Superman once again, Ed McGuinness had left the title, so I left as well. Again it was Wizard Magazine that announced that another team would be taking over this title, well again I jumped back and it all started with:
Superman # 204. Written by Brian Azzarello, art by Jim Lee and Scott Williams. I was floored by the announcement that the art team behind Hush was taking over Superman, joined by the writer of 100 Bullets. This was a huge announcement, as I said, I jumped back into collecting Superman again. The synopsis for Superman # 204 was simple enough Superman flies into space to help Green
Lantern, but when he returns to Earth he finds that a million people
have mysteriously vanished.
We were off, the art was great and the story while a little slow was intriguing.
Superman # 205 where Superman tracks the origin point of the phenomenon that caused a million people to disappear and finds a country at war. The story slowly continues.
Superman # 206. In this issue, Superman goes up against Equus in the middle of a civil war. This issue introduces the villain Equus but the story was again moving in a very slow and confusing manner. Jim Lee and Scott Williams however delivered some really great artwork since # 204, i loved what they did. It was beautiful, you could not help but just sit there and marvel (no pun intended) at their work. It was good.
By the time Issue # 207 was released, despite the great artwork, the story was getting a little strange and muddled. The few other collectors I spoke to said , they might stay on for one maybe two issue because even though this was a hot title at the time thanks to Jim Lee and Scott Williams, the story was just confusing and many readers had said the same thing.
I decided to stay on this title until issue # 215, the finale where Zod is defeated and the missing people of Earth are returned home. Superman tells Lois the secret of where they have been. yes, Zod! That's him on the cover. Jim Lee was inked by a small team of inkers for this issue which included the likes of Scott Williams; Matt Banning; Eric Basaldua; Sandra Hope; Danny Miki; Tim Townsend; Joe Weems. After this issue, I dropped Superman again. I later read a review of this run by Azzarello and Jim Lee. Even though this storyline sold well, DC Comics sold a lot of comics but alot of fans were also put off by the storyline and how confusing it was.
Looking back at my Superman collection now, it has some high points and some low points. Some stories were just huge, they were blockbusters in size, some were not. Some were hits and some were not. Still, it was enjoyable to read these stories, enjoyable and memorable. I've been asked if the stories were that bad, why collect them, Good question I replied. Good Question. I'm still trying to figure that one out.
Thanks for dropping by for the 42nd Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast. Hope you liked it. Drop by again anytime, you're always welcome here.
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