Tag: Superman

Superman: The Earth Stealers – a One-shot released smack in the infancy of John Byrne’s reboot run of the Man Of Steel – is an oddity of sorts.

It involves an absurd plot where aliens steal the Earth and Superman has to get it back and a resolution that feels right at home in Silver Age lore, but somewhat out of place in the post-Crisis world, where Superman is depicted as less almighty than he had been in the past. The Earth Stealers runs contrary to that, since it showcases Superman at his absolute super-est. The fact that the book is illustrated in part by Curt Swan – he who has drawn many Silver Age Superman – adds credence to the old-school vibe.

I am, by no means, giving this book a low grade as a result because The Earth Stealers is a fun ride. A largely self-contained story that has some cool Superman bits that would’ve been perfectly at home with a bygone era of the Man of Steel’s history, yet maintains the more grounded characterizations and interplay of the then-current time. It’s a clash that shouldn’t work, but it does because John Byrne knew his Superman and knew what should and shouldn’t work with its take on the character. And the artwork by Curt Swan and Jerry Ordway is top-notch stuff.

All in all, I found The Earth Stealers to be a quick, fun read that maintains the standard of the Byrne-era Superman while infusing just enough Silver Age antics to keep the whole thing from being silly. A good book worth checking out.

This comic book is also a piece of shit.

Continuing from last issue’s ridiculously retarded plot thread where Superman reveals his identity as Clark Kent to the world, we have the very unrealistic reaction of everyone being happy for him and his brave act, Perry White “firing” Clark Kent and hiring Superman as a staff writer… because that makes sense. And then he gets into a fight with Mongul on the…

You know what? I don’t care. This whole thing is fucking stupid.

Anyone remember when DC tried this outing of Clark Kent/Superman a few years back with that equally shitty TRUTH story arc? Anyone remember the reaction to that sort of thing. Perry fires Clark and Clark goes down on his luck… and that’s before shit hits the fan. Anyone remember when Marvel outed Spider-Man for that Civil War garbage and then everything went straight to hell with him? Does this fucking hack that people still believe is a good writer forget about the time he outed Daredevil and the consequences that came afterwards? Now, all of a sudden, Supes publicly does away with the whole secret identity thing and everyone is… happy for him? Why?

If this were a realistic situation, people would be genuinely pissed off about this… because the guy who was writing the news in their favorite newspaper was really the guy making the news this entire time. It makes you wonder if anything out of that newspaper could be considered legitimate news since they’ve been harboring someone who has been making the news that made the newspaper what it is, today. Honestly, that should’ve been the take we’d go with here. We’re living in an age of fake news this and sensationalist media that where everything is questioned and debated… why not play up on that by having people question the integrity of the Planet?

It wouldn’t have made this story any better, because fuck, nothing will… but it would’ve been an interesting take, at least.

The artwork in general isn’t anything worth mentioning. It’s fine for what it is and quite frankly, anything that doesn’t look horrendous is fine by my book. However, even if this had some of the most beautifully-drawn and colored comic panels in the history of comics, it wouldn’t be enough to turn this turkey dung into something worthwhile.

In conclusion, Superman’s current arc is still a piece of shit and I’ve spent enough time on this crap.

This comic book is a piece of shit.

So this is it, huh? This is the big issue where Superman holds a press conference and, after conferring with a few of his closest friends, he reveals the world that he and Clark Kent are one and the same and he’s going to be Superman from here on out.

Yes, we’re going back to this well again. DC because they figure if Superman does the outing rather than be outed by a third-party like the last time, this will turn out better… it didn’t. And also BENDIS because when it comes to costumed superheroes, the only card he has to play is the outing of the secret identity because he doesn’t believe in such things.

I’m struggling to read through this utter dreck and I find myself with an even bigger headache as I flip through page after page of some of the worst garbage imaginable. This whole thing comes off as a poorly thought out publicity stunt where we do the one thing and then move on to something else without rhyme or reason. One has to wonder if the fallout is going to invoke the same sort of consequence that begat Spider-Man or Daredevil when those IDs were revealed (and eventually retconned because they were fucking bad ideas.)

If this comes off as more of a crazed-driven rant than a review, then I offer a half-apology… but only because I thought I was reading something that was written by a competent writer and not some hack who got lucky with a bunch of Ultimate comics ages ago.

Oh well… at least the artwork is passable fare. Everyone looks like what they’re supposed to. It doesn’t look wretched. That’s fine.

In conclusion, Superman #18 by BENDIS is a piece of shit…