Me: Yeah, I love Batman. He's my favorite. Superman's a close second.
Them: Oh, I hate Superman.
Me: Really? Why?
Them: He's way overpowered.
Me: Have you read a lot of Superman comics?
Them: I haven't read any.
ANY?! NOT A SINGLE ONE?! Then why, imaginary "them" do you have ANY right to give such a rock solid opinion? Why does your opinion end in an a period? It should end in a question mark! Like, "I hate Superman? Maybe?" because you don't know ANYTHING about him. If you don't know anything about him, how can you give an opinion?
I used to be like them, Reed, I used to hate Superman without knowing him. I used think he was stale and overpowered and his stories were bland. I mean, I didn't really start reading comics until I was around sixteen or so, seventeen, maybe, and then I just read Batman comics. And I started on good Batman comics, like THE LONG HALLOWEEN, HUSH, YEAR ONE, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, that kind, like, super legitimate and awesome Batman comics. So, of course, how oculd Superman with all his powers and his indestructableness possibly compare to Batman whose stories had mysteries and a question mark at the end because you don't know if Batman's really going to win this time. Okay, I mean, we know he's going to win but the question you have to ask is "what's he going to lose for winning?" I guess that was a confusing sentence. Sorry. What I mean is, while Batman is focused on solving this murder or finding that criminal, what is going to fall by the wayside? Who's going to get kidnapped or die or disappear while that Bat-attention is focused elsewhere?
I didn't think that question really applied to Superman. I mean, he has SUPER HEARING and he can, like, move faster than the Flash (arguably) who is supposed to be the fastest man alive (and Superman is an alien). So I'm thinking, how on Earth is Superman supposed to ever leave anything to chance? How is Superman ever supposed to be too late?
Let's bring this post back to focus by answering this question. That answer is found in SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC
So, anyway, SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC is all about how the true Brainiac has been trying to find Suerpman all this time but he's been failing and Supergirl is all freaked about him because of what he did to Kandor so Superman's like "Imma take the fight to him!"
FOREWARNED! SPOILERS AHEAD!
But what's cool here is this: Superman keeps losing. He'll break out of whatever trap Brainiac puts him in and then he'll knock Brainiac down or whatever and then Brainiac'll be like "foolish Kryptonian you are stupid because you lived amongst the humans on their stupid planet and their culture is primitive and disgusting" (he must have just watched an episode of the Jersey Shore - har har har! you didn't think you'd be getting jokes too, did ya, Reed?) and then he'll trap Supes all over again. And for me, as the reader, I was seriously wondering how Superman was going to pull this off. Because not only did Brainiac keep beating him and sticking painful looking metal needle things in his skull, but Metropolis had been turned into a bottle city and Supergirl was out of action at the moment. So then I'm wondering "how is he going to do this?" Brute strength wasn't doing much good because Brainiac just kept coming back. And I guarantee that any of his "way too many" powers would have had the same effect. So that leaves Superman with the greatest power of all....
Can you guess what it is, Reed?
...
That's right... HIS BRAIN! I've only really seen (in my limited Superman reading experience) Grant Morrison truly utilize the super smart aspect of the character. Most people are like: "Have him punch it really hard or fly really fast and then make some philosphoical rant about do-gooding!" But Geoff Jones did that too in making Superman use his brain to defeat Brainiac. He kicks Brainiac out of the space ship and into a swamp - because Brainiac's been in a mostly sterile environment for at least five centuries, you can imagine this was not good for him in the slightest. So then Superman saved the day!
But none of that is why I cried. And yes, I did cry while reading SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC, but I cry when I read things I find particularly moving. And comics usually move me. Sometime I'll have to tell you about ALL OF THE FEELINGS that overwhelmed me when reading BATMAN AND ROBIN: BORN TO KILL (so much Batfamily goodness).
No, the thing that got me was the answer to the question mentioned above: "How is Superman ever supposed to be too late?" Well in SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC, he was too late. And it cost him big time. Part of me doesn't want to reveal it to you but at the same time... I don't know, Reed, what do you think?
...
...
Okay, listen, MAJOR SPOILER! (And yet it came out in, like, 2008 or something so it's not really a spoiler but whatever)
Superman is too late to save Jonathan Kent. Clark is too late to save Pa. And Pa Kent dies. And I'm, like, what do I do now? Because then they show some funeral pages - just art, no dialogue - and BRUCE IS THERE. See, what you will learn about me fast is that I love the Batman/Superman-Bruce/Clark bromance almost as much as I love the individual characters. And seeing Bruce there, hidden in the shadows granted, showing his best friend support just kills me (like in IDENTITY CRISIS when Clark is one of the few people who attends the very small funeral of Jack Drake). And THEN Clark goes home and he looks through his father's memory chest of all this stuff that made Jonathan think of Clark as he was growing up and this line repeats itself in Clark's memory:
"...if there ARE people that need help, you do what you always do. Don't let ANYONE or ANYTHING get in your way."
And the last page is just a picture of Clark on the ground, head in his hands, crying.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, REED? SERIOUSLY?
It's just beyond words in its complete and utter fabulousness. Like, people hate on Superman and I want to say "read BRAINIAC, read ALL STAR SUPERMAN (please, it's amazing), read GROUNDED." Read any actual Superman story and you'll see why this character is the FIRST and the OLDEST superhero in history. He started the genre, for goodness sake! Superman is amazing (maybe not Bat-mazing, but as close as you can get!) If you don't believe me, you really just need to pick up a comic - but let me recommend you a good one, okay?
Reed, remind me to tell you about ALL STAR SUPERMAN sometime. Oooh! I have to tell you about the new ACTION COMICS: SUPERMAN AND THE MEN OF STEEL. That's just, like, beyond good. When Superman is in the right hands, it's not hard to understand why he's an international symbol of complete and utter awesome.
It's just one of the reasons I love comic books.
No comments:
Post a Comment