Superman without Superman

So as you probably already know, the New Krypton story is going to be taking Superman away from Earth for a year or so. There are lots of people griping about various aspects of this. You all know how I feel about Superman by this point, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that I'm stoked. I've enjoyed the New Krypton story so far, and I plan to continue enjoying it.

One of the complaints I've heard from the beginning is that this glut of Kryptonians dilutes Superman's uniqueness. Superman, after all, should be the Last Son of Krypton, period. In some sense, I agree; I was a big fan of the Byrne relaunch status quo, and I was quite incensed when the Kryptonian Supergirl returned, when we had a perfectly good Supergirl already, who didn't expand the number of extant Kryptonians beyond 1.

But she grew on me (at first, like a particularly contagious wart), and I've revised my opinion based on how her character has developed. Supergirl, done well, provides an interesting insight into Kryptonians and teen superheroes and humanity and so forth, and that's great.

Plus, it's kind of hypocritical of me to like Linda Danvers and Kon-El and Mon-El and so forth, and then think that other Kryptonians dilute Superman's uniqueness. Sure, he might be the last official full-blooded Kryptonian, but what does that effectively mean? He's not the only one with his basic power set, he's not even the only "last member of an extinct species" superhero in the DCU--he's not even the only one on the Justice League (okay, maybe he is now, with J'onn temporarily dead). Superman's uniqueness is artificial, essentially a matter of nomenclature with no bearing whatsoever on the stories he's in.

Except, of course, when it's used as a source of angst or drama or whatnot. "I'm only a man in a funny red sheet," and that sort of thing. Krypton's explosion is Superman's Crime Alley, his Uncle Ben, his character-defining tragedy. And yes, it's going to dilute the impact of that tragedy on Superman if he's forced to think "I feel so alone in the universe, the only one of my kind...except Kara, of course. And the Eradicator, technically. And Krypto, after a fashion. And I guess Kon-El, at least halfway. And all the people in Kandor. And the hundreds of criminals in the Phantom Zone. Other than that, last of my kind."

What I like about this story is that I don't think it's going to dilute that uniqueness. First, I'm approaching this story the same way I approached the Electric Superman story--as a finite story that will eventually restore the status quo. Eventually, I imagine the Kryptonians will be placed back into the bottle, and everything will return to something close to normal. I don't know that I'd like that; I think it'd be interesting to have New Krypton floating around out there for all manner of new and cool cosmic stories, but status quo is god. We can suspend our disbelief that the Daxamites aren't waging destruction across the universe because they don't have any particular ties to Earth, our atmosphere is toxic to them, and they've been consistently portrayed as fiercely isolationist. Kryptonians have none of those issues, and consequently face the same set of problems as General Zod. In short, nigh-omnipotent characters must somehow be bound by limitations. Nigh-omnipotent superheroes are bound by morals and ethics, or they become Dr. Manhattan. Nigh-omnipotent villains rarely have such qualms (with Black Adam's code of honor being a rare exception, and making him often more antihero than villain). In order to hold up the audience's disbelief as to why the nigh-omnipotent supervillains don't just take over the universe or kill everyone, they need to be otherwise hampered--Zod keeps getting put back in the Phantom Zone, Superboy-Prime gets imprisoned by the Green Lanterns, Cyborg ends up locked in a gem or trapped in the Source Wall, and so forth. If the Kryptonians are going to be out as a race of superpowered spacefarers with something of a grudge against the Man of Steel and a desire to spread the Kryptonian lifestyle through any means necessary, then they're going to stretch the bounds of believability to breaking. New Krypton is temporary Krypton.

Second, there's the point that I think the authors are going for: being confronted with what Krypton and Kryptonians are really like is only going to make Superman feel more alone. It's been a point of most of the (scant) visits to Krypton: dashing any idealized views Superman might have about his long lost homeworld. We're reminded in each case that Superman's heroism comes not from his powers but from his upbringing and his strong moral character. Superman's exposure to Krypton will show him that he's just as much an alien among them--if not moreso--as he is on Earth. Superman's actual uniqueness will be underscored, even if his artificial in-backstory-only uniqueness is temporarily compromised.

The other complaint I've heard is that people don't want to read Superman comics that don't have Superman in them. I understand the complaint, but I also remember the last time Superman was absent from his own titles. And you know what? It was fairly good. There's plenty of story value in removing the central character from the venue and seeing what happens with the rest of the cast. Plus, Nightwing has tactile telekinesis, and apparently Adventure Comics hinted at a return of one of my favorite characters, so there's that. Again, folks, it's a story

My big reason for excitement? As far as I know, this story has never been done before. It certainly hasn't been done in the modern age. It's so rare to see a Superman story that hasn't actually been done a dozen times before that I'm waiting on tenterhooks to see how it turns out. I can understand people's complaints, but I think the promise of an original story ought to be intriguing enough to give it a shot. Plus, Greg Rucka's back, and he wrote one of the best runs on Superman that I've ever read. There's a lot to like about New Krypton so far, and I can't wait to see the rest.

My Male Chauva-list

Ice shows are more boring than opera, but less boring than ballet.

Admittedly, this is based on a small sample set. I just saw Disney on Ice, which may not be particularly representative of the art, but what Ive seen of Winter Olympics doesn't really entice me to find out otherwise. The fairies had the most impressive choreography, but the most insultingly trite, twee, and cliché story (and remember, this is Disney). My ballet experience consists primarily of a mind-numbing performance of the Nutcracker. I'd be willing to give the art another try, but I don't expect it to be much different.

Opera is a bit more complicated; I liked Die Fledermaus, and I've loved everything I've ever seen by Gilbert and Sullivan, but my understanding is that those are all operetta. Conversely, I was bored to sleep by a Christmas-themed opera partially about Good King Wenceslas, the name of which escapes me.

As an addendum, I generally like non-Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals, though I don't care for the Andrew Lloyd Webber stuff I've seen outside of Jesus Christ Superstar. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has the honor of being both a terrible story and a terrible use of the theatrical medium.

The Frogurt is Also Cursed

A little good news/bad news sandwich for everyone:

• Good news: I'll be doing a Recap this year. I've done the reading and gotten it all plotted out.
  
• Bad news: It'll be late. I haven't been able to start drawing yet, and I've got company coming Sunday afternoon, so I won't get to work on it until Monday (or perhaps even later--need to finish my résumé).
  
• Good news: It'll be a little longer than usual (like, maybe a 42-second recap).

Short thoughts in the new year

So, it seems I've been neglecting my blog a bit lately. It's been a crazy few weeks: term papers, graduation, moving out of my apartment, loads of cleaning, and the whole holiday shebang. My Internet access has been somewhat spotty; my time for reading comics has been even spottier.

It's a shame, too: I'd been reading quite a lot of comics before moving. Since then, all I've read is the first Phonogram trade. I'd share my thoughts on it, but I don't know that I have any. I felt most of the time like I was just beyond the horizon of understanding what was going on. Maybe if I knew a little more about the music involved or the whole 80s-90s British goth scene, I would have had an easier time of it. As it is, I didn't like it, and I have a feeling that once I read the appendix of references and re-read the story, I'll have a much better time of it. Anyway, I picked up the trade so I'd have some background for the new series, which I have high hopes for.

I read the first Spider-Man: Brand New Day trade, and it was all right. There was nothing particularly amazing about it, and while I really tried, I couldn't bring myself to buy the second trade. I liked the Mark Waid issues, though.

I finally read through several years worth of Transformers miniseries from IDW, and I've come to the conclusion that I don't really care for Simon Furman's writing. It's great in short bits, especially short bits where it can be really violent and set somewhat west of main continuity, but for the main title he's a poor fit. None of the characters have distinctive voices at all, in part because of the rampant Furmanisms. I haven't gotten around to the newest series or "Stormbringer," both of which I hear good things about, but I'm really left pining for the Dreamwave series, which was fantastic (at least, after the terrible first volume).

I'm avoiding Dark Reign. At some point, I should probably talk about my fantastic disappointment about Secret Invasion.

I don't have any ideas yet for the 30-Second Recap Contest this year. I'd like to come up with something, but it looks like I may be sitting this one out or coming up with it late. I don't feel too bad about that; I wouldn't want to win two years in a row (and I wouldn't imagine it to be possible). Now that I think about it, though, it'd be fun to see Maximum Carnage in crayon form...

Nextwave thoughts

I've been reading lots of comics recently--more than I have within the past few months, anyway--and I decided to give Nextwave another try. I read the first five issues or so, and my reaction was pretty much exactly the same as it was when I first tried it out: so what? I mean, yes, Nextwave has lots of crazy, fun ideas...but that's it. There's no depth or logic to the crazy ideas, rarely a rationale for the crazy ideas, and only the barest minimum plot to link one crazy idea to the next.

Maybe it's just me, but I read for the stories, not for the concepts. I had similar problems with 30 Days of Night and Full Moon Fever--books that read more like pitches than stories. Nextwave reads like a bulleted list of wacky concepts. I'm all for wacky concepts--whether it's Nikola Tesla fighting Thomas Edison's Lovecraftian demons with a giant steampunk mecha-suit or giant frog gods with reality-altering tongues or Skrulls trying to steal magic from faeries--but there has to be some kind of follow-through. Just throwing the idea out there in isolation is all right occasionally (for example, the crazy background or cameo characters in "Invincible" or the Star Wars flicks), but doing so repeatedly doesn't make for a story. It just makes for a bunch of throwaway gags or unelaborated ideas. The majority of the fun is in that elaboration, in the examination of the consequences of those crazy ideas, and nothing in those first few issues of Nextwave seemed to provide that follow-through.

I may go ahead and look at the rest of the series, but this experience hasn't made me interested at all. Where's the brilliance that people saw in this series?

Battle of the Bands!

Who would win: The Misfits or The Misfits?

A Question of Tremendous Importance

I love The Who, but I'm not too keen on the "Best of The Who" pack for Rock Band. The included version of "My Generation" is awful, and I really only know "Eminence Front," "Amazing Journey," "Baba O'Riley," "Behind Blue Eyes," "Going Mobile," and "Who Are You." I feel no particular yearning for a live cover of "Summertime Blues," and I'm just kind of ignorant about the other tracks.

So, should I drop the 1600 Points on the full pack, or should I just spend 800 on the ones I want?

A Holiday Question

Which comic book character, hero or villain, would you most like to see playing replacement Santa?