Post-Crisis DC: MAN OF STEEL by Byrne -- some rambly thoughts

Since January, every week three friends and I have been discussing Crisis on Infinite Earths and its crossovers, over Zoom. Having concluded that monumental task, we plan to move onto a discussion of the follow-up series, Legends, and its crossovers. But first, a palate cleanser with the DC trinity:  Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, and the various series that reintroduced these legendary characters to a new (and old) readership. First up, Superman: The Man of Steel by John Byrne, with Dick Giordano, Tom Ziuko, John Costanza, and edited by Andy Helfer. 

                       

At the culmination of Crisis, there was now a single Superman on a single Earth in a single universe. DC Comics had achieved the goal of once again making him unique. Now they needed to ground Superman, make him more relatable, not so much the overpowering hero with little to challenge him. I mean, when you can use super-ventriloquism to speak with other heroes in space, what can't you do? So, DC poached John Byrne, one of the most popular creators working at the time, from Marvel, with the mandate to overhaul the Man of Steel. And that's just what Byrne did. 

                        

The 6-issue series opens on Krypton, its people dying from a Green Death, radiation emanating from the interior of the planet and the destructive forces there that are threatening to destroy the planet, if Jor-El's calculations are to be believed. There is no doubt in Jor-El's mind; he's taken his and Lara's son, in order to send him to Earth, so that their boy might live. This is a sterile Krypton, a technologically advanced world eating itself, which, with the radiation known as the Green Death, also gives us a new, and logical, explanation of why Kryptonite (only green, now; no more red, gold, black, or whatever) would have such a detrimental effect on Superman. And very quickly, within the first few pages, we get the classic image of Kal-el's ship launching from the exploding Krypton, hurled toward Earth and his new life. From here, Byrne adds more familiar pieces to the Superman puzzle. 

                          

We meet Lois Lane, a strong, intelligent, driven reporter. A cautious Batman who utilizes the city of Gotham, and his knowledge of it, to his advantage while having a contingency plan for all eventualities, including the arrival of Superman. Lex Luthor, a ruthless businessman who believes everyone and everything can be bought. A Bizarro formed in an experiment utilizing Superman's stolen DNA. And a Lana Lang who needed to discover who she was in order to deal with the burden--that of his secret identity--Clark laid on her, while still in high school. These are all characters we've most likely seen before, but they are all different in subtle and not so subtle ways. It's impressive the thought that Byrne put into these characters, of how to update them and make them relevant for a 1986 world. And it's the little things that stand out, like when Lois, at Clark's apartment, comments on how little weight he has on his dumbbells (not much more than she uses to workout), which makes sense, considering Superman would have no idea what amount of weight on a dumbbell would be too heavy or too light for a regular human. Or, there's the scene in Gotham City, when Superman first approaches Batman and snags his line, only to find that Batman has disappeared. Superman mutters to himself that he didn't think Batman had the power of invisibility, to which Batman--standing atop a nearby skyscraper--proclaims that invisibility is a relative concept, achieved sometimes through a knowledge of the terrain. It's these details that really shine in this series and help it to hold up today. 

                      

One of the best things about Byrne's approach to Man of Steel, and Superman in general, was to model the character of Clark Kent/Superman after the characterization most people would have been familiar with at the time, Christopher Reeve's portrayal from the 1977 Richard Donner film, Superman. There are references laced throughout these six issues. Our introduction to Clark on Earth is in a football game where he's running for yet another touchdown, almost single-handedly defeating Smallville's opponent. This mirrors the frustration of young Clark Kent in the 1977 film where he is the waterboy/manager of the high school football team even though he knows that with his abilities he could run circles around any of the others on that field. We also get an almost direct homage with a flashback of Clark, as a toddler, lifting the family truck to get his ball from beneath it, mirroring the scene from the movie of young Clark catching and lifting the truck when the carjack shifts and tumbles away while Pa is changing the tire, just after they discovered him. 

 

But two of my very favorite scenes of Byrne channelling Christopher Reeve come when Superman saves a young woman from a would-be mugger and then turns to her and asks that she turn down her boombox, because "in a city [the] size [of Metropolis], consideration for others is the only thing that keeps life bearable," and when, in the opening of issue four, Lois arrives at Clark's apartment to pick him up for Luthor's gala and she sees the picture of Clark in his high school football uniform and is surprised by his physicality, and Clark tells her he still tries to keep in shape--the look on Clark's face is priceless and feels like it comes directly from Reeve and his characterization. For me, Christopher Reeve epitomized the character of Clark Kent/Superman and always will, so Byrne utilizing him as a template for this revitalized Man of Steel is more than welcome. 

"I still try to keep in shape..."

Ultimately, perhaps the most important aspect of Byrne's approach to Superman may be the fact that he focuses on Clark Kent as the main character, with Superman as the disguise. It's a subtle, but monumental, shift in what I feel was, and often times still is, the approach to the character of Superman. He's an alien, he has superpowers, the title of the comic is Superman, ergo Superman is the primary identity. But, for his formative years, until he turned eighteen, Clark Kent was raised by human parents, lived in a human world, was, for all intents and purposes, human, and his understanding of the world and his approach to life all stem from this, from the values instilled into Clark by Ma and Pa Kent. It is his humanity, his kindness, his desire to do good without expectation of reward that makes Superman the hero he is. There are plenty of other heroes with super strength, invulnerability, the power to fly, like Captain Marvel and J'onn J'onnz, the Martian Manhunter, but none of them are Superman. It's this goodness (and greatness) absent the ego that makes Superman stand out. So, focusing on Clark Kent as the prime identity, with Superman as the disguise, only makes sense, and it gets to the core of this character in a way that makes him far more interesting, in my opinion. 

                          

After reading and discussing Byrne's Man of Steel mini-series, my friends and I agreed that this is a foundational text, as far as the character of Superman is concerned. It introduces this legendary character, known the world over, in a way that allows readers old and new to have a solid understanding of who Superman is and who Clark Kent is, while also revealing the world within which he lives, along with the major cast of characters surrounding him. Lois Lane is here. Perry White. The Daily Planet. Lex Luthor. Metropolis. All the trappings that inform Superman's life. There's also Smallville. Ma & Pa Kent. Lana Lang. His roots in the American midwest that form so much of the ethos of Superman. And there's Krypton. Jor-El. Lara. And Kryptonite. The origins that created a superhuman icon and also spurred a need for him to belong and to be part of a community, while also containing the seeds for his destruction (whether one sees that as the Kryptonite or the stark, soulless reality of his people). And, of course, there's Batman, Superman's counterpart in so many ways, the yin to his yang and the one hero who might be able to contain Superman, if he went rogue. It's all here and all laid out by Byrne in a clear and entertaining way that grounds Superman and lays the foundation for all the adventures to come. It's pretty great.

--chris

Comics - Creator v. Character pt. 3

A re-run of part 3 of my series over at In the Mouth of Dorkness. Enjoy.

Comics – Creator or Character Part III: You mean actual people write and draw these things?

IN OUR PREVIOUS EPISODE:

Like most kids, when I discovered comics, I gravitated to those characters with which I was already familiar. For me, that included the Flash, G.I. Joe, Star Wars (from Marvel), and the Fantastic Four. And from there, it snowballed, with more titles being added to my pile every week. It was all about these colorful characters and the newness of this storytelling medium that combines words and art. But eventually, we all grow up and discover that there are actual creators behind the stories we love.

“BYRNE”D:

The first comic I remember picking up because of the cover art – both the content and the style – was Legends #1.

I didn’t know who that figure in the background was. And the only characters I really recognized were Captain Marvel, known to me better as Shazam, and the Flash. It was the Flash that caught my eye because I’m pretty sure I was aware of his demise at this point. But it was the art that hooked me and made me want to look inside. And was I in for a treat, because the book was indeed drawn by the same artist – John Byrne. Though, I do know that it was years (at least, it seemed like years) until I realized that Byrne had drawn the cover.

Thankfully, the story inside was as enjoyable as that piece of art was tantalizing, and I was haunting my local bookstore for subsequent issues, waiting what seemed like an interminable months-long trial for that final, late issue. I still pull out Legends every once in a while to re-read and reminisce about what it was like to be young and discovering these new and exciting characters on an almost weekly basis.

GEORGE PÉREZ:

It was around this point, maybe a bit earlier, that I was also introduced to the work of George Pérez. I was ordering back issues from those ads in the comics, mostly from Mile High Comics, and perusing the catalogs that were included with each order. Through the examination of these catalogs, I discovered that the Flash – MY FLASH! – had died in issue #8 of a series titled Crisis on Infinite Earths.

So, of course, I ordered that issue, plus all the others that were available. When I got that shipment and had a chance to see this book, I knew then and there that Pérez was my guy.

To this day, he’s still my artist of choice, even with all the other talented creators that have come along since then. There’s something about the way he draws characters – all the detail, and his exceptional attention to the body language of these characters – that speaks to me. I’m sure a lot of it is nostalgia, but there’s also his high level of craft at work, as well. Pérez is a master storyteller who is able to give readers their money’s worth with all the minutiae he packs into the panels, while never making things cluttered. His work is clear, crisp, and beautiful, and he has continued to grow as an artist during these decades that he’s been working professionally. And for that, as much as for anything else, he remains at the top of my list.

CAN I HAVE “MOORE” PLEASE?:

These examinations of the back issue catalogs also introduced me to another influential creator – whose work I have avidly collected since that time – Alan Moore.

Arguably the greatest writer the comic medium has ever seen, his work is imbued with an intelligence and a poetry rarely seen in comics. This first collection of his Swamp Thing work was my introduction to the estimable scribe from Northampton. And the first story in there, the brilliant “Anatomy Lesson,” which completely re-imagined the reality of Alec Holland’s relationship to the Swamp Thing without invalidating any of the stories that had come before, opened my eyes and showed me that comics could be so much more.

FOLLOWING:

Once these creators were on my radar, I began to seek out other work they’d done – Pérez on New Teen Titans and Wonder Woman, Byrne on Superman and the Fantastic Four, Moore on Miracleman, V for Vendetta, the Killing Joke, and Watchmen. It was a magical time, and I still have longboxes dedicated to these creators.

I pored through my back issue catalogs, hunting for their names next to any entry. It was an obsession, as comic collecting so often becomes, and it afforded me an opportunity to read some of the best comics produced in the past thirty years, bar none. The characters were cool, but it was the creators that made these comic books so enjoyable for me.

A NEW GOLDEN AGE:

The 80s was a new golden age for comics. You had the British invasion at DC, led by Moore – though the door to American comics was opened by creators such as Chris Claremont, John Bolton, and Barry Windsor-Smith – with the likes of Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Chris Weston, Warren Ellis, and Neil Gaiman following him – a movement that birthed such seminal works as the Sandman, the Invisibles, Transmetropolitan, and Preacher. While at Marvel, landmark runs on the Fantastic Four, Thor, and Daredevil, were being created by luminaries John Byrne, Walter Simonson, and Frank Miller. It was a great time to be a comic fan, to be on the ground floor of important works that would influence writers and artists for years to come.

Creators were ascendant during the 80s, and it would result in a new way of approaching comics –for the creators more than the companies – which would give us readers some of the best work within the medium.

But that’s something to delve into next time.