Thursday, June 16, 2005

Sundry

I like the Shrew Review. Its author brings thoughtful intelligence to her reviews, and, more than any reviewer other than Devon at Seven Hells, she makes it clear why she does or doesn't like something. I disagree with some of her takes, but I think that's mostly because I'm more steeped (or is it mired?) in the pre-Crisis DCU, and that gives me a different perspective. In fact, I disagree with a lot of what she says. But the fact that I like what she says anyway is what makes her work impressive.

I have never said one even remotely nice thing about Marvel on this blog. Until now. One of the wisest things about superheroes I've ever read was said (with incorrect grammar) by Mr. Fantastic: "People like us who don't periodically reinvent ourselves are too quickly forgotten." Of course, it took a DC writer, Mark Waid, to have him make that wise meta-statement.

I kvetched recently about the snoozefest that is Superman's "storyline". But the most recent issue of Action (written by Rucka) actually interested me. Gods help me, I'm actually sucked in by the drama of the amnesiac best friend ex-president turned supervillian after learning the hero's secret identity from another ex-president turned supervillain plot. I just have to figure out how this will lead to Lana becoming Insect Queen again...

8 comments:

Hate Filled Poster said...

I found his reveal as villain funny after Fred Hembeck wrote this long article over at IGN about how everyone has turned on Superman before except him. Then he turns on Superman two months later.

Anonymous said...

Didn't Pete have an issue with Superman in the late 70s? His son was dying and Superman couldn't help (if memory serves, the LSH were involved as well).

Jhunt said...

I think Supes even revealed his secret identity to the little tyke. (I can't remember if he did it because he thought the kid was dying or not, a la "The Boy Who Collected Spider-Man"). Made kind of a neat little symmetry, with the fatehr and son both safeguarding the same secret, without the other knowing...

Scipio said...

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Jeff R. said...

Didn't Pete have an issue with Superman in the late 70s? His son was dying and Superman couldn't help

Almost. His son was kidnapped by aliens, and Superman couldn't help.

(Because the aliens had to fight a big interstellar war with some other bunch of aliens. [Jon Ross was the best video-game player in the world, apparently.] Because at some point in the future, according to the Legion, yet another bunch of aliens were going to show up and conquer the galaxy unless these two alien races had become the kind of master war-makers that years of fighting each other with Jon as one of the generals and join forces to stop them.)

(After Jon had been living among the aliens for a couple years, though, Superman went back and build the aliens a superintelligent evolving computer war simulation machine to train them up instead, and took Jon home, so he and Pete could be friends again.)

(Kind of makes ex-presidents in battlesuits seem reasonable, doesn't it?)

Brian Cronin said...

The son didn't know Clark's ID?

I thought he did.

Huh.

Anyhow, just for clarification's sake, Rucka writes Adventures of Superman.

But you SHOULD read Action Comics!

It is (in my opinion) Superman comics as they are meant to be written!

Fun comics with plots for Lois AND Jimmy (APART from Superman!)!!!!

Anonymous said...

Pete Ross's son Jonathan did indeed know Clark was Superman, and Clark knew he knew. Bob Rozakis said so in an Answer Man column.
--Josh

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