Saturday, April 30, 2011
Walking with Superman: Day 283
As Superman approached the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, he expected to spend a little time in the coastal city of Benton Harbor, MI. Instead, he finds an empty field where Benton Harbor is supposed to be! There's no sign of bottles or Brainiac, just grass and the occasional wildflower--so what could make an entire city and all its residents suddenly disappear? To learn the shocking truth, Superman's taking a detour to the State Capitol building in Lansing, to meet with Benton Harbor's newly-appointed Emergency Manager, the mysterious Mr. Hamlin!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Walking with Superman: Day 282
It's been ninety days, so Superman's expecting his usual visitor from the 5th Dimension, even as he tours the Physical Measurement Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD. The last thing he's expecting is a visit from five Misters Mxyzptlk! The little bald one in the purple suit has turned the lab upside-down trying to find someone named "McGurk," while the one with the cigar and the orange jumpsuit is busy fiddling with the fundamental constants of the universe, and the one with the buck tooth has rearranged the Periodic Table to spell out "NaMRePUS"! Meanwhile, the white-haired twins in the business suits are putting on a piece of performance art--using an Earth-shattering amount of antimatter! Superman's a little out of his depth on this one, so it's a good thing he has help--as a very annoyed modern Mxy lends an extradimensional hand!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tempest in a Steel Teapot
I hope I have some time this weekend to talk at some length about "Action Comics #900," since there's plenty to say, but I think I ought to weigh in on the citizenship brouhaha.
It's silly.
It's not just silly because Superman is a fictional character and therefore no more an American citizen than Popeye or Mickey Mouse. It's silly because it's a non-issue.
This kind of story has been done before (he's eighty years old; what hasn't?), where Superman is conflicted about entering into politically tense situations because he's seen as an American and as a de facto agent of the American government. It was a component of "Superman: Peace on Earth," as I recall, and it figured into some of the Bialya/Qurac stuff in the '80s, and into a plotline in Rucka's "Adventures of Superman" a few years back. The point that Superman is a citizen of the world, belonging to the world, a hero to the world, has been made many, many times. Renouncing his citizenship (heck, the guy's home is already in the Arctic Circle, and presumably not Alaska) is simply a way of freeing him from being hampered by his apparent ties to the American government and freeing the American government from having to account for Superman's actions. One would think that would be a welcome relief, considering how often the guy seems to go crazy/evil/megalomaniacal. Global politics and the American government should not be a limitation on the good that Superman can do, and they shouldn't want to be.
The other side of this is the idea that Superman is somehow leaving behind or repudiating "Truth, Justice, and the American Way," and I really don't get that impression. He says "'Truth, Justice, and the American Way'--it's not enough anymore," but that doesn't suggest that it's wrong--just limiting, or limited. I hardly imagine that Superman is going to stop fighting for truth and justice; heck, this story is about Superman seeking the liberty to dedicate his life to the pursuit of happiness for all people, equally. He's declaring his independence from American politics. Put another way:
I'm slowly working my way through Elliot S! Maggin's Superman: Last Son of Krypton, and one thing I like is how he presented the Ethics of Sonnabend, the basic principles that have somehow found their way to every civilized corner of the universe in one fashion or another.
The final point is this: Superman is a citizen of the world, and frankly, that's how it should be. But I guarantee you that Clark Kent is still registered as a citizen of Metropolis, USA. Not only would it be pretty damn obvious for Clark Kent to renounce his citizenship at the same time as Superman, but there's no reason for it. Superman will still be the hero of Metropolis, Clark Kent will still report for the Daily Planet, and the status quo will remain basically in place as it has for decades. Not even Superman could budge that.
When you can hover above the world, you don't see political boundaries.
And that's the way it should be.
It's silly.
It's not just silly because Superman is a fictional character and therefore no more an American citizen than Popeye or Mickey Mouse. It's silly because it's a non-issue.
This kind of story has been done before (he's eighty years old; what hasn't?), where Superman is conflicted about entering into politically tense situations because he's seen as an American and as a de facto agent of the American government. It was a component of "Superman: Peace on Earth," as I recall, and it figured into some of the Bialya/Qurac stuff in the '80s, and into a plotline in Rucka's "Adventures of Superman" a few years back. The point that Superman is a citizen of the world, belonging to the world, a hero to the world, has been made many, many times. Renouncing his citizenship (heck, the guy's home is already in the Arctic Circle, and presumably not Alaska) is simply a way of freeing him from being hampered by his apparent ties to the American government and freeing the American government from having to account for Superman's actions. One would think that would be a welcome relief, considering how often the guy seems to go crazy/evil/megalomaniacal. Global politics and the American government should not be a limitation on the good that Superman can do, and they shouldn't want to be.
The other side of this is the idea that Superman is somehow leaving behind or repudiating "Truth, Justice, and the American Way," and I really don't get that impression. He says "'Truth, Justice, and the American Way'--it's not enough anymore," but that doesn't suggest that it's wrong--just limiting, or limited. I hardly imagine that Superman is going to stop fighting for truth and justice; heck, this story is about Superman seeking the liberty to dedicate his life to the pursuit of happiness for all people, equally. He's declaring his independence from American politics. Put another way:
When in the Course of [super]human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.I don't know; it sounds like the American Way to me.
I'm slowly working my way through Elliot S! Maggin's Superman: Last Son of Krypton, and one thing I like is how he presented the Ethics of Sonnabend, the basic principles that have somehow found their way to every civilized corner of the universe in one fashion or another.
Loosely translated into English, some of Sonnabend's ethical standards could be stated like this:In other words: Truth, Justice, and the American Way. The problem is not in the principles, but in how others interpret Superman as a tool of American political power or imperialist intent. And with at least one writer on the Superman books (the inestimable Chris Roberson) explicitly influenced by Maggin and the novels, I suspect that this point won't go unnoticed.
Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
We are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The final point is this: Superman is a citizen of the world, and frankly, that's how it should be. But I guarantee you that Clark Kent is still registered as a citizen of Metropolis, USA. Not only would it be pretty damn obvious for Clark Kent to renounce his citizenship at the same time as Superman, but there's no reason for it. Superman will still be the hero of Metropolis, Clark Kent will still report for the Daily Planet, and the status quo will remain basically in place as it has for decades. Not even Superman could budge that.
When you can hover above the world, you don't see political boundaries.
And that's the way it should be.
What are DC's editors doing?
The snarky answer is "writing Flashpoint tie-ins." But seriously, DC, you're paying an awful lot of editors, and I'm seeing more sloppy, basic errors slipping through than ever before.
I suppose I started noticing it when Perry White didn't know what 'passive language' meant and Lois Lane redrew state borders, but just in the most recent books I've read, there have been a slew of sloppy errors and sloppy writing in general. And it's the kind of thing that's up to editors, not writers or letterers necessarily, to correct.
So, three examples, all books I've read in the last two days. First, "Outsiders" #37, a book written by former editor Dan Didio, edited by Harvey Richards. I can forgive the comma splice in the first caption on the first page; it's page four--a full-page splash--that I'm concerned with. I'll chalk the sentence fragment in that first caption up to artistic license--totally acceptable--but it describes Doomsday as "The monster who murdered the greatest heroknown to man" (emphasis mine). Okay, a dropped space, not a big deal, right? But it looks sloppy and unprofessional; it would have come up in even a basic spellcheck search, and I have to imagine that the page gets looked over by at least one person after it's lettered. Isn't it the job of a decent editor to check the copy?
As I continued in reading "Reign of Doomsday," I came to James Robinson's "Justice League of America" #55. No spelling errors that I caught here, but there was a serious stylistic problem. The first page has fifteen 'bubbles' counting every caption and dialogue bubble. Within those fifteen bubbles, there are eleven ellipses. Robinson seems to be a really big fan of the separator characters, your ellipses and double-dashes, and I say that as someone who greatly overuses double-dashes. And perhaps it's my familiarity with those double-dashes that made them stand out so much for me this issue, because they are everywhere. They're overshadowed by ellipses on that first page, but even on that first page, a page where exactly two people have speaking parts, there are two people who end a sentence with a double-dash, interrupted by something else. Alan Scott, who is inexplicably Professor X, interrupts Jade, then interrupts himself, and sets the tone for "Justice League of America," the rudest comic ever.
Page two features Eclipso, who uses five ellipses in the span of three connected speech bubbles, then four more between four captions. The elliptical menace perforates Dick Grayson's narration on page three and even Alpha Lantern Boodikka's speech on the following pages. And then Supergirl ends a sentence with a double-dash, and it sets the ball rolling again.
The rest of the book features a "bubble ending in a double-dash, indicating sudden stopping or interruption" fifteen times in the remaining eleven story pages. This includes such interesting instances as Supergirl thinking "He'll kill Grayson, I w--," with no apparent reason to stop thinking, then saying "Me! Hit m--," somehow being interrupted in the middle of a single-syllable word. That particular disease hits Batman's next speech bubble, "That was too close f--."
Look, it's nitpicky, I know. But it's also a ridiculous excess of punctuation, and generally for no good reason. This is the kind of nitpicking that editors are paid to pick up on as being clunky and unnatural, and then fix it. 90% of the ellipses and double-dashes in this book could be replaced with commas, taken out entirely, or (heaven forbid) replaced with words, without losing an iota of the sense of urgency from the dialogue and narration of a book centered around fight scenes. It would have the added advantage of allowing us to see what Supergirl "w--," and not forcing us to believe that someone could be interrupted in the middle of a two-letter word1
But I might not have posted about it if not for Detective Comics #876, and this:
Batman is one of the smartest men alive. He designed these computers to be bleeding-edge, beyond-state-of-the-art, with his genius intellect and limitless funds.
And they can't spell acquired.
Seriously, I would think that the blaring red screen in the middle of the page might stand out to one of the three editors on this book. Apparently this either slipped past everyone who saw the lettered art, or letterer Sal Cipriano and editors Katie Kubert, Janelle Asselin, and Mike Marts are all unfamiliar with the concept of spellcheck.
Look, I don't want to be the nitpicky fanboy. I'm not trying to point out little continuity flubs; I'm not even criticizing fictional science content. I'm saying that these errors in basic English are sloppy and make DC Comics look terribly unprofessional. These comics pass through many eyes, and in some cases, many editors before I stand in line to pay my $2.99 for them, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect those editors to edit.
1. Yes, she was interrupted by a teleportation, presumably instantaneous. In which case, Robinson should have followed through on the trope (and the Star Trek VI reference) by having her say "--E!" on the other end. This suggests that she actually stopped speaking in the middle of the word "me."
I suppose I started noticing it when Perry White didn't know what 'passive language' meant and Lois Lane redrew state borders, but just in the most recent books I've read, there have been a slew of sloppy errors and sloppy writing in general. And it's the kind of thing that's up to editors, not writers or letterers necessarily, to correct.
So, three examples, all books I've read in the last two days. First, "Outsiders" #37, a book written by former editor Dan Didio, edited by Harvey Richards. I can forgive the comma splice in the first caption on the first page; it's page four--a full-page splash--that I'm concerned with. I'll chalk the sentence fragment in that first caption up to artistic license--totally acceptable--but it describes Doomsday as "The monster who murdered the greatest heroknown to man" (emphasis mine). Okay, a dropped space, not a big deal, right? But it looks sloppy and unprofessional; it would have come up in even a basic spellcheck search, and I have to imagine that the page gets looked over by at least one person after it's lettered. Isn't it the job of a decent editor to check the copy?
As I continued in reading "Reign of Doomsday," I came to James Robinson's "Justice League of America" #55. No spelling errors that I caught here, but there was a serious stylistic problem. The first page has fifteen 'bubbles' counting every caption and dialogue bubble. Within those fifteen bubbles, there are eleven ellipses. Robinson seems to be a really big fan of the separator characters, your ellipses and double-dashes, and I say that as someone who greatly overuses double-dashes. And perhaps it's my familiarity with those double-dashes that made them stand out so much for me this issue, because they are everywhere. They're overshadowed by ellipses on that first page, but even on that first page, a page where exactly two people have speaking parts, there are two people who end a sentence with a double-dash, interrupted by something else. Alan Scott, who is inexplicably Professor X, interrupts Jade, then interrupts himself, and sets the tone for "Justice League of America," the rudest comic ever.
Page two features Eclipso, who uses five ellipses in the span of three connected speech bubbles, then four more between four captions. The elliptical menace perforates Dick Grayson's narration on page three and even Alpha Lantern Boodikka's speech on the following pages. And then Supergirl ends a sentence with a double-dash, and it sets the ball rolling again.
Dick Grayson (Narrative Caption): Lucky. Just plain lucky. All the weapons on this craft...to fight Kryptonians...I can use them to fight--That's two pages. Two pages where one character's dialogue is interrupted by a narrative caption, and that same character interrupts her own narrative caption with another narrative caption! The next page features this interestingly unnecessary bit of punctuation:
Supergirl (Dialogue): Grayson!
Dick (Dialogue): I'm fine. Space-suit--just deal with--
Supergirl (Narrative): Sure. He's here for me anyway. I'm going to--
Supergirl (Narrative): Wait. No...
Supergirl (Narrative): ...it's not me he wants at all.
Boodikka (Dialogue): Ring? Why can't I--
Jade (Dialogue): Go, Jesse!...I understand using an ellipsis to link separated balloons or boxes; they demonstrate that a thought hasn't been finished, what in actual dialogue would be a hanging or pregnant pause. Such a pause is hard to accomplish directly after an exclaimed order.
Jade (Dialogue): ...Take my father away from this. Now. Please. Now.
The rest of the book features a "bubble ending in a double-dash, indicating sudden stopping or interruption" fifteen times in the remaining eleven story pages. This includes such interesting instances as Supergirl thinking "He'll kill Grayson, I w--," with no apparent reason to stop thinking, then saying "Me! Hit m--," somehow being interrupted in the middle of a single-syllable word. That particular disease hits Batman's next speech bubble, "That was too close f--."
Look, it's nitpicky, I know. But it's also a ridiculous excess of punctuation, and generally for no good reason. This is the kind of nitpicking that editors are paid to pick up on as being clunky and unnatural, and then fix it. 90% of the ellipses and double-dashes in this book could be replaced with commas, taken out entirely, or (heaven forbid) replaced with words, without losing an iota of the sense of urgency from the dialogue and narration of a book centered around fight scenes. It would have the added advantage of allowing us to see what Supergirl "w--," and not forcing us to believe that someone could be interrupted in the middle of a two-letter word1
But I might not have posted about it if not for Detective Comics #876, and this:
Batman is one of the smartest men alive. He designed these computers to be bleeding-edge, beyond-state-of-the-art, with his genius intellect and limitless funds.
And they can't spell acquired.
Seriously, I would think that the blaring red screen in the middle of the page might stand out to one of the three editors on this book. Apparently this either slipped past everyone who saw the lettered art, or letterer Sal Cipriano and editors Katie Kubert, Janelle Asselin, and Mike Marts are all unfamiliar with the concept of spellcheck.
Look, I don't want to be the nitpicky fanboy. I'm not trying to point out little continuity flubs; I'm not even criticizing fictional science content. I'm saying that these errors in basic English are sloppy and make DC Comics look terribly unprofessional. These comics pass through many eyes, and in some cases, many editors before I stand in line to pay my $2.99 for them, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect those editors to edit.
1. Yes, she was interrupted by a teleportation, presumably instantaneous. In which case, Robinson should have followed through on the trope (and the Star Trek VI reference) by having her say "--E!" on the other end. This suggests that she actually stopped speaking in the middle of the word "me."
Walking with Superman: Day 281
The Queen of Fables has captured Uncle Sam and Miss America, and through them she's made herself the star of America's story. Now, Superman leads a team of folklore heroes back to Philadelphia to put an end to the mad Queen's reign. Molly Pitcher, Hiawatha, John Henry, Casey Jones, Pecos Bill, Annie Oakley, and Paul Bunyan stand alongside Vigilante, the Celestial, Steel, Lois Lane, and Superman--but before they can take down the Queen, they have to make it through her strongest defenders yet: the Shadow Government! To rescue Uncle Sam and Miss America, the heroes will have to battle their way through swarms of black helicopters, shape-shifting reptilians, gray aliens, men in black, and other agents of the omnipotent force behind the nation's every conspiracy story. And while the League battles against the obvious foes, the Second Gunman waits out of sight, preparing to pick them off one by one with his magic bullets!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Walking with Superman: Day 280
The Queen of Fables has made herself Empress of the United States by capturing Uncle Sam and Miss America, and the country's only chance at freedom lies in Superman's League of Folktale Heroes! Casey Jones's train brings the team to their last stop before the final battle: Oscoda, MI, home to the giant lumberjack called Paul Bunyan! And while the towering woodsman is eager to join Molly Pitcher, Hiawatha, John Henry, Casey Jones, Pecos Bill, Annie Oakley, and the Man of Steel's other allies, the Queen isn't about to let them leave! The mysterious Mothman leads the charge against Superman's League, backed up by a squadron of blood-sucking chupacabras, brutally strong sasquatches, and countless other cryptic creatures! The League is finally complete, but will disaster claim them before they can finish their mission?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Thanks, Superman Homepage!
Wow. So, suddenly the vast majority of my hits are coming from The Superman Homepage, since sitemaster Steve Younis quite kindly linked to the Walking with Superman Contest. I've been reading the Superman Homepage regularly since I was on AOL dial-up, so this is pretty cool.
If you're a new visitor from the Superman Homepage--or elsewhere--welcome! Feel free to look around, comment on stuff, and enter the contest. And thanks for visiting!
If you're a new visitor from the Superman Homepage--or elsewhere--welcome! Feel free to look around, comment on stuff, and enter the contest. And thanks for visiting!
Walking with Superman: Day 279
The Queen of Fables has captured Uncle Sam and Miss America in order to take control of America through its stories! In order to stop her, Superman is assembling a team of heroes from America's legends--Hiawatha! John Henry! Casey Jones! And today they're on the banks of the Pecos River north of Pecos, New Mexico, where the Vigilante has assembled an incredible duo of western legends: Pecos Bill and Annie Oakley! But before this heroic journey can set out again, the Queen's forces arrive to make sure that they never leave New Mexico! Gangsters and bandits from Bonnie and Clyde to Billy the Kid surround our heroes, accompanied by an army of hoop snakes and rabid jackalopes!
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