Ed Liu
06-16-2004, 09:33 PM
SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL
http://dccomics.com/media/covers/1576_180x270.jpg (http://dccomics.com/media/covers/1576_180x270.jpg)
Written and Pencilled by John Byrne
Inks by Dick Giordano
Colors by Tom Ziuko
Letters by John Costanza
STORY SYNOPSIS AND REVIEW
Harlan Ellison claims that there are five fictional characters who are known to everyone around the world: Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Robin Hood, Mickey Mouse, and Superman. If one aggregated all the comics, books, radio dramas, movies, animated projects, and live-action TV shows that Superman has inspired over his 66 year lifespan, one could probably assign a different Superman origin story per year and still have some left over.
The most recent comic book origin of Superman is in John Byrne’s Superman: The Man of Steel, the origin of the post-Crisis Superman originally published in six monthly comics in 1986, and now newly available in trade paperback form. At the time, Byrne’s new origin was considered revolutionary, and triggered non-trivial controversy among comic book fans at the time over changes to Superman’s life story.
No matter how old someone is or when the last superhero comic book they read was, almost everybody can recite at least the basics of Superman’s origin: last son of the dying planet Krypton, young Kal-El is rocketed to Earth (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/LeavingKrypton.jpg) where he is discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/ArrivingInKansas.jpg). He grows to young adulthood with an ever increasing array of strange powers, eventually donning the infamous red-and-blue tights as Superman (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/SupermanDebut.jpg). He lives a civilian life as reporter Clark Kent, gaining a love interest in fellow Planet reporter Lois Lane (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/LoisLane.jpg) and a sworn enemy in the sinister Lex Luthor (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/LexLuthor.jpg).
It will come as no surprise to say that all these elements are present in Byrne’s reboot. There are “where are we going?” stories, where the point is to show you something new and interesting; and there are “how are we getting there?” stories, where the point is to create an interesting journey to a clearly visible destination. The Man of Steel is decidedly in the “how are we getting there?” camp.
Byrne structures his origin of Superman around several key figures in Superman’s history, with each one defining the Man of Steel through his or her own perceptions and expectations. This narrative device serves to make Superman seem new and fresh by granting the reader the thrill of living vicariously through each character’s moment of discovery. It may also be a sly way to play off many viewer’s preconceived notions and definition of who Superman is and what he stands for. By spending little time defining Superman himself, Byrne allows readers to mentally fill in whatever blanks they like into his character. For the most part, this technique works; most readers will come away with their notions of Superman reinforced, for better or for worse.
Many of Byrne’s additions and changes are signs of their times, and most of them have aged quite well. Lois Lane has been updated to a fairly stereotypical 80’s career-driven woman who engages in regular verbal sparring with Clark Kent. Criticized at the time for being forced and artificially “modern,” Byrne’s 1980’s-vintage corporate raider Lex Luthor has probably become more timely than before. Indeed, in an era where corporate criminals are coddled by politicians (I refer equally to Kenneth Lay and Marc Rich, for those about to accuse me of political partisanship), one begins to feel that, if anything, Byrne didn’t go far enough. It seems positively quaint to see Superman being deputized to arrest Lex Luthor for reckless endangerment (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/ArrestedForWHAT.jpg), of all things, and for this to form the foundation of Luthor’s hatred for Superman.
Another distinctive addition to Byrne’s Superman is copious pseudo-science to explain away the more fantastic or unbelievable story elements, like Clark Kent’s “glasses” disguise and the practicality of a blue bodysuit for fighting crime. At the time, the addition of explanations meant to withstand scrutiny was the height of sophistication in the superhero comic book world. The true mark of Byrne’s impact on the medium is the fact that these sorts of explanations are now considered obligatory in the average superhero comic book today, even if some of them are amusing but unnecessary (did anybody really need to know how Superman shaves (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/SupermanShaving.jpg)?).
If there is a weak point to be found in Byrne’s work, it is probably in the dialogue and in his use of that distinctively comic-book technique: the thought balloon. The 1980’s was a time of real change in the comic book industry. Regardless of how one feels about their work in hindsight, writers like Frank Miller and Alan Moore began a real shift in the mechanics of mainstream superhero comic book dialogue. Thought balloons and exposition-heavy verbiage were both ruthlessly eliminated, replaced by journal entries or purely graphic storytelling (consider Miller’s Batman Year One for the former or Moore’s The Killing Joke for the latter).
Byrne clearly absorbed the idea of considering the superhero with more intellectual rigor, but still wrote his comics in the style and vocabulary of the comics that came before. Miller’s Batman Year One reads like hard-boiled detective fiction, or Hemingway writing superhero comics. George Perez, Greg Potter, and Len Wein’s Wonder Woman reboot sounds like another 80’s comic, but gets away with it because the overly florid and sometimes bombastic dialogue made the book read like a fairy-tale in comic book form. Byrne’s Superman: The Man of Steel reads exactly like one expects a comic-book to read like, with dialogue that’s often redundant and thought balloons that do less to inform a character’s state of mind as much as to deliver exposition to the reader in as direct a format as possible.
Before Byrne’s supporters (or worse, Mr. Byrne himself) deluge me with hate mail, let me emphasize that I am not saying Superman: The Man of Steel is a bad comic book. Considering the weight of history on his shoulders, John Byrne did a far better job than anybody had a right to expect, adding new luster to the oldest superhero of all. However, there are many modern comic book fans who recognize the importance of Siegel and Shuster’s contribution to the medium and the genre, but don't want to read their comics due to their older style and language. In another twenty years, I fear the same completely unfair fate may befall Byrne’s Man of Steel.
THE COLLECTION/EXTRAS
Like Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals, this reprint does a solid job of repackaging the original material, although perhaps not as worthy a job as the material might warrant. The paper is the same high-quality newsprint used in their monthly comics and many trade paperbacks, presumably to keep costs down. The glossy cardstock cover is perfect bound. In an era of "widescreen" superhero comics, it may be surprising to discover that there is exactly one panel in the entire book that spreads over two pages, but it doesn’t suffer from binding-related cropping or distortion.
Unlike Gods and Mortals, there has been no digital color enhancement of this material, probably because it was unnecessary. All of the artwork is reproduced cleanly, and Tom Ziuko’s colors fairly pop off the page, suffering only in comparison to the modern-era computer coloring found in many comics on the stands today.
A cover gallery is reproduced in the back pages of the book, including both variant covers of issue #1. The only other extras in the collection are two introductions by Ray Bradbury and John Byrne. Bradbury’s introduction is about Superman himself, though the closing paragraphs reveal that it was probably written for Superman’s 50th anniversary and was simply repurposed for this volume. Byrne’s introduction is more personal, describing his introductions to the Man of Steel in the 1950’s and a youth spent in the Silver Age of comics.
One point where this collection excels is in the price. $10 gets you the entire collection. In contrast, Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals adds one extra issue in largely the same packaging, yet is nearly double the price. This pricing scheme of $10 for Superman trades vs. $20 for Wonder Woman’s seems to be continuing, with Vol 3 of Byrne’s Superman and Vol 2 of Perez’s Wonder Woman being solicited now for release in September.
CRITIQUE
The opening to book three of the Man of Steel is tremendously effective, and a testament to the power of the simple nine-panel grid. The following images are end of book two and the start of book three (click for bigger versions):
http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/BookTwoEndThumb.jpg (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/BookTwoEnd.jpg)http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/BookThreeStartThumb.jpg (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/BookThreeStart.jpg)
The page on the left is bright, colorful, verbose, and uses relatively large panels. Most of book before it looks similar.
The start to book three immediately tells you that this section of the story is different. The nine-panel grid forces much closer cropping of the images, which Byrne uses to create an imposingly claustrophobic urban cityscape. Combine it with the slow “pan” down to street level, the much darker color palette, and the completely silent sequence and you get a powerful sense of space. Without any additional information, a reader can deduce quickly that this is NOT Metropolis. This is Gotham, city of the Batman, who gets a terrific splash page introduction afterwards:
http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/ImBatmanThumb.jpg (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/ImBatman.jpg)
Interestingly, this segue works even better when collected than it did in single-issues. Many modern monthly comics are criticized for being “written for the trade,” while many older comics get criticized for showing their creaky joints and visible seams if they ever are collected. The remainder of chapter three goes back to larger, verbose panels with the same darker color palette, but this introduction does a spectacular job of setting the mood of one of the finest chapters of The Man of Steel.
PREVIOUS TPB REVIEWS
Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=111495)
Note: Added cover to new printing of the TPB, collecting the mini-series.
http://dccomics.com/media/covers/1576_180x270.jpg (http://dccomics.com/media/covers/1576_180x270.jpg)
Written and Pencilled by John Byrne
Inks by Dick Giordano
Colors by Tom Ziuko
Letters by John Costanza
STORY SYNOPSIS AND REVIEW
Harlan Ellison claims that there are five fictional characters who are known to everyone around the world: Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Robin Hood, Mickey Mouse, and Superman. If one aggregated all the comics, books, radio dramas, movies, animated projects, and live-action TV shows that Superman has inspired over his 66 year lifespan, one could probably assign a different Superman origin story per year and still have some left over.
The most recent comic book origin of Superman is in John Byrne’s Superman: The Man of Steel, the origin of the post-Crisis Superman originally published in six monthly comics in 1986, and now newly available in trade paperback form. At the time, Byrne’s new origin was considered revolutionary, and triggered non-trivial controversy among comic book fans at the time over changes to Superman’s life story.
No matter how old someone is or when the last superhero comic book they read was, almost everybody can recite at least the basics of Superman’s origin: last son of the dying planet Krypton, young Kal-El is rocketed to Earth (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/LeavingKrypton.jpg) where he is discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/ArrivingInKansas.jpg). He grows to young adulthood with an ever increasing array of strange powers, eventually donning the infamous red-and-blue tights as Superman (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/SupermanDebut.jpg). He lives a civilian life as reporter Clark Kent, gaining a love interest in fellow Planet reporter Lois Lane (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/LoisLane.jpg) and a sworn enemy in the sinister Lex Luthor (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/LexLuthor.jpg).
It will come as no surprise to say that all these elements are present in Byrne’s reboot. There are “where are we going?” stories, where the point is to show you something new and interesting; and there are “how are we getting there?” stories, where the point is to create an interesting journey to a clearly visible destination. The Man of Steel is decidedly in the “how are we getting there?” camp.
Byrne structures his origin of Superman around several key figures in Superman’s history, with each one defining the Man of Steel through his or her own perceptions and expectations. This narrative device serves to make Superman seem new and fresh by granting the reader the thrill of living vicariously through each character’s moment of discovery. It may also be a sly way to play off many viewer’s preconceived notions and definition of who Superman is and what he stands for. By spending little time defining Superman himself, Byrne allows readers to mentally fill in whatever blanks they like into his character. For the most part, this technique works; most readers will come away with their notions of Superman reinforced, for better or for worse.
Many of Byrne’s additions and changes are signs of their times, and most of them have aged quite well. Lois Lane has been updated to a fairly stereotypical 80’s career-driven woman who engages in regular verbal sparring with Clark Kent. Criticized at the time for being forced and artificially “modern,” Byrne’s 1980’s-vintage corporate raider Lex Luthor has probably become more timely than before. Indeed, in an era where corporate criminals are coddled by politicians (I refer equally to Kenneth Lay and Marc Rich, for those about to accuse me of political partisanship), one begins to feel that, if anything, Byrne didn’t go far enough. It seems positively quaint to see Superman being deputized to arrest Lex Luthor for reckless endangerment (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/ArrestedForWHAT.jpg), of all things, and for this to form the foundation of Luthor’s hatred for Superman.
Another distinctive addition to Byrne’s Superman is copious pseudo-science to explain away the more fantastic or unbelievable story elements, like Clark Kent’s “glasses” disguise and the practicality of a blue bodysuit for fighting crime. At the time, the addition of explanations meant to withstand scrutiny was the height of sophistication in the superhero comic book world. The true mark of Byrne’s impact on the medium is the fact that these sorts of explanations are now considered obligatory in the average superhero comic book today, even if some of them are amusing but unnecessary (did anybody really need to know how Superman shaves (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/SupermanShaving.jpg)?).
If there is a weak point to be found in Byrne’s work, it is probably in the dialogue and in his use of that distinctively comic-book technique: the thought balloon. The 1980’s was a time of real change in the comic book industry. Regardless of how one feels about their work in hindsight, writers like Frank Miller and Alan Moore began a real shift in the mechanics of mainstream superhero comic book dialogue. Thought balloons and exposition-heavy verbiage were both ruthlessly eliminated, replaced by journal entries or purely graphic storytelling (consider Miller’s Batman Year One for the former or Moore’s The Killing Joke for the latter).
Byrne clearly absorbed the idea of considering the superhero with more intellectual rigor, but still wrote his comics in the style and vocabulary of the comics that came before. Miller’s Batman Year One reads like hard-boiled detective fiction, or Hemingway writing superhero comics. George Perez, Greg Potter, and Len Wein’s Wonder Woman reboot sounds like another 80’s comic, but gets away with it because the overly florid and sometimes bombastic dialogue made the book read like a fairy-tale in comic book form. Byrne’s Superman: The Man of Steel reads exactly like one expects a comic-book to read like, with dialogue that’s often redundant and thought balloons that do less to inform a character’s state of mind as much as to deliver exposition to the reader in as direct a format as possible.
Before Byrne’s supporters (or worse, Mr. Byrne himself) deluge me with hate mail, let me emphasize that I am not saying Superman: The Man of Steel is a bad comic book. Considering the weight of history on his shoulders, John Byrne did a far better job than anybody had a right to expect, adding new luster to the oldest superhero of all. However, there are many modern comic book fans who recognize the importance of Siegel and Shuster’s contribution to the medium and the genre, but don't want to read their comics due to their older style and language. In another twenty years, I fear the same completely unfair fate may befall Byrne’s Man of Steel.
THE COLLECTION/EXTRAS
Like Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals, this reprint does a solid job of repackaging the original material, although perhaps not as worthy a job as the material might warrant. The paper is the same high-quality newsprint used in their monthly comics and many trade paperbacks, presumably to keep costs down. The glossy cardstock cover is perfect bound. In an era of "widescreen" superhero comics, it may be surprising to discover that there is exactly one panel in the entire book that spreads over two pages, but it doesn’t suffer from binding-related cropping or distortion.
Unlike Gods and Mortals, there has been no digital color enhancement of this material, probably because it was unnecessary. All of the artwork is reproduced cleanly, and Tom Ziuko’s colors fairly pop off the page, suffering only in comparison to the modern-era computer coloring found in many comics on the stands today.
A cover gallery is reproduced in the back pages of the book, including both variant covers of issue #1. The only other extras in the collection are two introductions by Ray Bradbury and John Byrne. Bradbury’s introduction is about Superman himself, though the closing paragraphs reveal that it was probably written for Superman’s 50th anniversary and was simply repurposed for this volume. Byrne’s introduction is more personal, describing his introductions to the Man of Steel in the 1950’s and a youth spent in the Silver Age of comics.
One point where this collection excels is in the price. $10 gets you the entire collection. In contrast, Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals adds one extra issue in largely the same packaging, yet is nearly double the price. This pricing scheme of $10 for Superman trades vs. $20 for Wonder Woman’s seems to be continuing, with Vol 3 of Byrne’s Superman and Vol 2 of Perez’s Wonder Woman being solicited now for release in September.
CRITIQUE
The opening to book three of the Man of Steel is tremendously effective, and a testament to the power of the simple nine-panel grid. The following images are end of book two and the start of book three (click for bigger versions):
http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/BookTwoEndThumb.jpg (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/BookTwoEnd.jpg)http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/BookThreeStartThumb.jpg (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/BookThreeStart.jpg)
The page on the left is bright, colorful, verbose, and uses relatively large panels. Most of book before it looks similar.
The start to book three immediately tells you that this section of the story is different. The nine-panel grid forces much closer cropping of the images, which Byrne uses to create an imposingly claustrophobic urban cityscape. Combine it with the slow “pan” down to street level, the much darker color palette, and the completely silent sequence and you get a powerful sense of space. Without any additional information, a reader can deduce quickly that this is NOT Metropolis. This is Gotham, city of the Batman, who gets a terrific splash page introduction afterwards:
http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/ImBatmanThumb.jpg (http://www.edwick.com/TPBReview/SupermanManOfSteel/ImBatman.jpg)
Interestingly, this segue works even better when collected than it did in single-issues. Many modern monthly comics are criticized for being “written for the trade,” while many older comics get criticized for showing their creaky joints and visible seams if they ever are collected. The remainder of chapter three goes back to larger, verbose panels with the same darker color palette, but this introduction does a spectacular job of setting the mood of one of the finest chapters of The Man of Steel.
PREVIOUS TPB REVIEWS
Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=111495)
Note: Added cover to new printing of the TPB, collecting the mini-series.