The New Superman: Earth One

[Ruby Spears Superman]

Who else has read this? I thought it was pretty good. A return to a more classic Superman. Simple and removed from the continuity problems of the mainstream version. My only real complaint was his reluctance to be a hero. Not to ruin it for anyone how hasn't read it:

SPOILER ALERT!


When the aliens attacked looking for him, he waited to jump in bothered me a little bit. Other then that, I thought it was a decent version of the character. I really like their take on Jimmy. I also like the fact that we aren't stuck with the same old rogues gallery. Lex hasn't shown up yet. Neither has Kryptonite. And I like the fact that Krypton was destroyed by outside forces instead just old age. And the mysterious benefactor who helped the aliens blow up Krypton is still a mystery though I think we can all safely assume it's probably Brainiac. 

[countryboylife]

I'm a fan of Krypton blowing up of old age. And I don't like Something Evil From Krypton Comes, because it feels old now.

That's a problem for me since the new Movie is Something Evil From Krypton Comes in the person of Zod and friends.

But I hope a new spin can be put on that. Ever optomistic.

So in short I didn't like the sense that Earth was getting hammered because it just so happened Superman was here.

That's something that Grant Morrison avoids. Brainiac attacks Earth because it's on his list, and it would have happened if Superman wasn't here.

I wasn't convinced by Clark who could do anything but becomes a reporter. Again Morrison has done that angle better.

I didn't like Ma Kent making the suit. I didn't feel that worked. Darn again Morrison in Action has done that better. ( If it had been me the suit would have come in a one size fits all in the space ship ... but the Jeans n t-shirt look was inspired marketing )

The good. I liked the art. I liked the modern reworking of the Kents finding the baby. I liked how Clark is SMART. I liked the way JMS made it clear that even 20 years wasn't any where near enough time for Earth-ians to work out even the basics of Kryptonian tech ( that Luthor did that in Birthright bugged me. ) And yes I like Jimmy being Clark's peer.

[llozymandias]

     It would bug me if Luthor were depicted as being unable to figure out kryptonian science & technology.  He is supposed to be a super-genius. 

[Ruby Spears Superman]

To be fair, Luthor hasn't even shown up in this version yet. So we honestly don't know what he would do.

[Adekis]

Who else has read this? I thought it was pretty good. A return to a more classic Superman. Simple and removed from the continuity problems of the mainstream version. My only real complaint was his reluctance to be a hero. Not to ruin it for anyone how hasn't read it:

SPOILER ALERT!


When the aliens attacked looking for him, he waited to jump in bothered me a little bit.

See, for me the reluctance you disliked "a little bit" is what completely ruined it.

There's a trend in modern Superman origins and comics for Superman to to be reluctant to keep being Superman as soon as the media turns on him. Dude, Spider-Man puts up with constant hate. Superman can handle a few xenophobes.

It happened in Birthright, it happened in Superman and the Men of Steel, but the worst example by far is in Superman Earth One, where he DOESN'T EVEN REALLY WANT TO BE SUPERMAN.

With great power comes great responsibility. There are people in the world who treat others like dirt and they need to be stopped. There is crime and corruption and social injustice and to me it is a huge part of Clark Kent's character, from the very first Siegel and Shuster comic, to WANT to do something about it. The guy in Superman Earth One doesn't. He gets pressured into it by his pushy parents and by an alien invasion, and even then not til the invader CALLS HIM OUT SPECIFICALLY.

When it takes that much to get him to do the right thing, you have a different character from Superman. I don't know who, but it isn't Superman.

Other then that, I thought it was a decent version of the character. I really like their take on Jimmy.

I liked Jim too. He's cool. It sort of bothered me that they switched his and Lois' defining traits though. Lois isn't afraid of anything, usually, and Jimmy can think fast on his feet. In Superman Earth One Lois thinks fast and Jim's the recklessly fearless one. I don't mind completely, it just seemed strange.

 

I also like the fact that we aren't stuck with the same old rogues gallery. Lex hasn't shown up yet. Neither has Kryptonite. And I like the fact that Krypton was destroyed by outside forces instead just old age. And the mysterious benefactor who helped the aliens blow up Krypton is still a mystery though I think we can all safely assume it's probably Brainiac.

The new villain was cool, and I'd like to see Tyrell again, if only in a different function. It's my understanding that the next book is going to use the Parasite, but in such a way that he'll be "bigger than Doomsday", which seems pretty great to me.

Yet the fact that Krypton was destroyed deliberately is bizarre and horrible to me.
It means Superman needs to be concerned with revenge. That's something that should never even cross his mind, but his spaceship's AI tells him to "Avenge" his planet's death. I'd say that's Batman's thing, but Batman doesn't kill and "Superman" never hesitates to kill Tyrell. He's not even Batman, he's the Punisher or something.

It's like this. Batman needed to be an anti-criminal to save his parents, because that's what they needed to survive that night. But Robin's parents only needed a safety net.

Krypton was destroyed by a natural disaster, a freak accident, and Act of God, and it's population was destroyed by the Science Counsel's refusal to listen to Jor-El despite his accurate findings, in other words, by corruption. Superman spends a lot of time fighting freak accidents and natural disasters, and when he doesn't, he fights corruption and crime. Now most of his desire to do good comes from his time in Smallville, but it thematically ties into the way Krypton was destroyed.

But if Krypton was destroyed on purpose by a person, and "Superman" doesn't hesitate to take lethal revenge on this person but doesn't care about fighting natural disasters or crime and corruption otherwise.. well, do you see what I mean about the character not resembling Superman very much?

People complain about the New 52, but that Superman has way more in common with the classic hero than the guy from Stracynski's book does. The only similarity there is the red trunks.

[nightwing]

It's like this. Batman needed to be an anti-criminal to save his parents, because that's what they needed to survive that night. But Robin's parents only needed a safety net.

I haven't read the book (and don't intend to) and it sounds like your thoughts are in line with what mine would be if I did, but this one passage bugged me.

Dick's parent's didn't die because they botched their routine; the trapezes were booby-trapped by criminals.  Yes, a net would have helped, but then why not say all Thomas Martha needed was bullet-proof vests? Or a worse marksman?  Or a jammed magazine in Joe Chill's pistol?  The Grayson's and the Waynes were both murdered; only the weapons differed.

I think it's great that Dick is less a "revenge" character than Bruce, but then I never jumped on the "Bruce as avenger" bandwagon, either.  If it was all about revenge, he could've hung up the cowl after Chill's death.  Bruce and Dick fight crime for the same reason, in my book: to keep others from going through what they did, or at least to achieve justice for those victims without the resources at the disposal of a billionaire genius master of combat and his similarly gifted ward.

Anyway, I guess the "reluctant hero" angle is an attempt to make Superman "complex" and "related" in the Marvel mold, but there are other and better approaches to take if you want to give him depth.  Plus *everyone* in comics, books and films these days is a reluctant hero, so the key to being original and distinctive would logically be to do something -- anything -- else.

[countryboylife]

     It would bug me if Luthor were depicted as being unable to figure out kryptonian science & technology.  He is supposed to be a super-genius. 

Sure but he's also human. Krypton - Siegel made this - is Millions of years more evolved.

So it's like a Caveman getting hold of a calculator, sure he might work out how to use it, do the math, but if he were to open it up and find the circuit board, his flint tools aren't going to be of any use, even if he is a genius it isn't enough.

So for me Lex making that leap would bug me way more.