Comic Review: Superman Birthright

I've been meaning to read this story for years, and I finally got around to it last night.  In a nutshell Superman Birthright is a modern retelling of Superman's origin story, something that has since been done a lot.  At the time the mini series was meant to be a non-canon story, but was so well received it replaced the already established Superman origin story.  It was written by the Mark Waid, the man behind Kingdom Come and the current Daredevil series.  The art was done by Leinil Yu, who was also the artist of Mark Millar's incredible Superior series.

The Good

This mini-series did a lot of this well, one of the biggest highlights being that they explained the disguise, really well in fact.  Clark refused to use a mask, so his mother came up with the idea for him to wear layers to hide his muscles, bad posture and acting to seem mild mannered, keeping his hair well groomed because flying would mess it up, and very thick, strong prescription glasses to dull his otherworldly eye color.

The next strong point was Lex Luthor, everything about him was perfect.  In this story Lex is a genius in the field of...well everything really.  his origin is that he lived in Smallville, and was an outcast until an accident left him an orphan as well as bald.  After that he started his company in Metropolis, and created truly amazing technology by looking at planets and hypothesizing how something could survive on them.  His hatred of Superman is based on his obsession with alien life, and when he finally makes contact, he is treated as a lesser being.  So he decided to put together an elaborate plan to discredit Superman and eventually kill him as an alien invader.

Superman's power set was slightly altered for this mini-series as well, making him powered by multiple sources; the yellow sun charges him, but the powers themselves stem from the differences between Earth and Krypton's environment.  Basically everything about this mini-series is brilliantly written, well, almost everything.

The Bad

I have a few complaints about this series, interestingly enough it was basically everything I didn't like about Man of Steel.  The "S" shield, something that went from being a simple letter, to the El family crest, but in this series it was made into the Kryptonian symbol for hope, something I found kinda dumb, but not the biggest problem.

My biggest complaint with this series was how Pa Kent acted in the early issues.  Like the Man of Steel film, Pa Kent is responsible for for Clark hiding his powers.  And in the early issues he was very disproving of the idea of Superman, even to the point where he tried to destroy Clark's rocket to stop him.  He eventually turns into the Pa Kent we all recognize, but the whole point of Pa Kent is he helps Clark become Superman.  

The series was a bit slow in the early issues, but by part 4 the pacing got better and I ended up staying up until 3 AM because I couldn't stop reading.  But the early 3 issues were kinda disappointing, I felt like it was just an average storyline and didn't see why it was so well received.

The Verdict

The series was overall great, but it does suffer from the usual origin story problems, and this one in particular suffers a little more because it is such a well established character.  But the series proves itself thanks to the brilliant creative team of Waid and Yu.  Thus I give this mini-series an A-.

Movie Review: Man of Steel

       Normally I don't review new movies, but I felt that this movie in particular needed a review from someone who wouldn't knock it simply because it wasn't like the original movies.  As a fan of Superman since I was a child, it always bothered me that the whole time I was growing up we never got a decent movie...until now.  Man of Steel is is a darker, more realistic take on Superman similar to Nolan's Batman trilogy.  This movie also had the only director I felt could handle the visual style needed for a proper Superman film; Zack Snyder.  Because there is so much history for the character, and DC's recent reboot destroying all of that; I approached this movie as an Elseworld story (DC's Alternate Realities), as I urge all others to do as well.

The Plot

       As a reboot the plot is a retelling of Superman's origin story.  However the movie takes enough liberties with the story that even I was surprised when certain events happened.  Basically the movie starts with the destruction of Krypton, like every Superman origin should, but as soon as the rocket lands on Earth the movie fast forwards to an adult Clark, something I was OK with, but I did want some interactions with his parents.  Eventually we did, in the form of flashbacks, that were out of order.  The flashbacks were good, but I would have preferred if they were simply together as his childhood, then jumped to him as an adult.  The villain in this was General Zod and his army of Kryptonians, who in this movie had an actual reason behind their actions.  While the movie had a strong focus on Kal-El, Clark Kent took a backseat in this story.  The entire movie was about Clark trying to find a place in the world, and stumbling upon his heritage, eventually deciding to become Earth's protector.  Meanwhile reporter Lois Lane is hot on his trail investigating miracles that have been happening since Clark's childhood, and an alien ship discovered in Canada's frozen tundra.  Eventually She finds him and becomes the sort of middleman between the humans and Kryptonians.  The movie's climax is an all out battle between Earth and Zod's armies.  There is incredible collateral damage and quite possibly the greatest superhero battle seen on screen.  The ending sees Clark adopt his duel personality and step up as the public defender of Earth.

       Honestly I can't find much wrong with the story.  I felt it was a great Sci-Fi story and a very unique take on the most iconic hero ever.  The only problem I could say is that Nolan's hand is far too noticeable and Goyer's writing can be hit and miss, creating plot holes bad characters, and bad dialogue.  But this can be overlooked for the most part, however in some spots it becomes unforgivable.

The Characters

       The weakest part of this movie in my opinion were the characters, two in particular were unforgivable in how they were done.  The first was Lois Lane portrayed by the fantastic Amy Adams, however when it comes to Superman Amy Adams is more suited to another character, Lana Lang, Her Lois however was a little too sweet.  Lois is meant to be a bull headed, sarcastic, and almost masculine in her personality.  Amy Adams is simply playing the same part she usually does here, making Lois more of a damsel in distress than she should be.

       Next is Kevin Costner's Pa Kent, I'm all for making changes, but Pa Kent is the one that convinces Clark to use his gift to help people in every iteration of the character, and in some stories it is his death that gives him the push to become Superman.  Here Kevin Costner gives a boring performance and spends Clark's whole childhood convincing him to hide his powers, even at the cost of human lives...even his own.  That's right, Pa Kent dies in order to teach Clark a lesson to not show his powers.

       On the opposite end of the spectrum is Faora.  I was skeptical at first when I heard Faora would be replacing Ursa, and that she was to be played by a scream queen (female horror movie actor), but I was blown away by her in the film, she was Zod's number 2, and even got a rival in the army Colonel  in charge of the attack on the Kryptonians.

       Another character done really well was Perry White.  In the movie he is played by Lawrence Fishburne.  I never really got Perry, he was Clark and Lois' boss, but he never really did much for the story.  In Man of Steel however he proves that he is capable of much more than I imagined, he protects Lois when she is getting to close to a government cover-up, and even risks his own life attempting to save one of his employees, making peace with the fact he will die with her until Superman saves them both at the last second.

       Then there was Jor-El played by Russel Crowe.  I didn't expect much here because Jor-El is dead for most of the movie, and Russel Crowe is known for giving unenthusiastic performances, but here it really worked.  He was playing an emotionless alien in the beginning, who returned later as an artificial intelligence.

       The other characters were nothing really special in wither direction, they were simply what you would expect from a Nolan movie, so I'll leave it at that.

What I'd Change

       Like with every movie, there are things that I would prefer were different.  In Man of Steel many of my changes are already addressed in my review, rather than Amy Adams as Lois, I'd save her for Lana in a later movie, and instead use an actress known for being more sarcastic and headstrong; like Dexter's Jennifer Carpenter, in fact, she's perfect for it, I'd go with her.  Next I would move all the flashbacks to the beginning, in order, to make a more linear story and distance the comparisons with Batman Begins.  While on the topic of the flashbacks, Kevin Costner's Pa Kent shouldn't have happened, it was just wrong.  I know this isn't the comic version of Superman, but the Kent's shouldn't hold Clark back, they should be pushing him to be the man he is destined to be.  The last thing I would  change is the inconsistency with Zod.  In the movie the Kryptonians are all genetically engineered to fill a specific role.  Zod is to be the ultimate warrior who will to anything for the good of Krypton, even start a revolution to remove the incompetent leaders from power.  The problem is that Zod is beaten up...a lot, first by a scientist (Let that sink in), and later by the first naturally born Kryptonian in centuries who never got in a fight in his life.

Sequel Ideas

       If I was to make the sequel I would give Superman a little more personality.  the movie makes him the Boy Scout that everyone says he is, but I feel superman should be more confident, and even borderline arrogant.  In the first movie I'm okay with a more broody Clark, but now that he is more comfortable in his role he needs to be more confident as well.  This is alluded to at the end of the movie, but I want them to do more with it.

       As for the villain, I want Lex, I know all the Superman movies have only had 2 villains, and Lex was in all 5 of them, but Lex is Superman's arch enemy.  They can add another villain as well, but Lex is even set up perfectly; an army of unstoppable aliens almost destroyed his planet, now one is left and we are all supposed to accept him?  Honestly I want to see Lex working with the military to create a protector that can take down Superman if needed, but the superhuman they make turns on them.  They could use someone like say Metallo, or Parasite, then we get a big Snyder style battle, and end it with Lex in his exo suit fighting Superman in a massive showdown.  Lex can be played by someone with a commanding presence like say Jon Hamm, or Michael Fassbender, and for Metallo use Mark Pelligrino.

       Another character I want to see, that was alluded to in the movie, as well as the prequel comic, is Supergirl.  In the prequel it is revealed Supergirl crash landed on Earth years ago, and in Man of Steel her there is an empty pod on the ship that was meant to be her.  The movie could use her to fuel Lex's paranoia because she doesn't understand how the Earth works, or her own strength so she is bound to cause some problems.  Find a competent younger actress, like Chloë Grace Moretz, to play her and there you go, I just came up with an outline that would work really well.

       The biggest thing for a sequel however is not to follow in Marvel's mistake with Iron Man 2, and don't simply make a build up for the future Justice League movie, make it self contained, but with references to the other characters.  Though honestly I feel a Justice League movie that recasts everyone except Superman is a bad idea, especially since Green Lantern and Dark Knight Rises are still so fresh in our memories.

Final Verdict

       All in all Man of Steel is my favorite Superman movie to date, but it still isn't the one I've been waiting for, maybe the next one could be however.  Comparing it to other Superhero movies I have to say, it was better than Batman Begins, so a solid origin story that has the potential to be one of the best superhero franchises of our time if handled right, and definitely not deserving of all the hate the critics are giving it.  A grade this movie at an A-.

Editorial: Saving Superman

       Taking a break from the Halloween theme for the month I decided to write my first editorial article, where I rant about something that either annoys me, or I find interesting, in this case both. 

       Superman is one of my favorite superheroes, second only to Captain America.  Which is why it pains me so much that I haven't enjoyed his comic since the new 52 started.  Just to clarify, Action Comics can be good, but Superman's main series is horrible, its like the creative team over at DC sat around and thought, "How can we destroy Superman?" 

       First I would like to say the costume isn't the problem, Superman has changed his costume before (anyone remember the electric suits?  No, its for the best then).  The problem is that they decided to crap all over everything that made Superman, Superman.  First his marriage to Lois was removed, not only that, but now there is no relationship between them at all.  Jimmy is now his roommate, which actually could work, but all his relationships with regular people are that they are just there.  Every time I do read an issue of Superman, he seems to pull at least one new power out of nowhere, for example this month was a prelude to an event, so I picked it up, Superman can now use his super hearing to figure out the shape, size, and speed of an approaching danger.  He then combined his heat vision and super breath to gently transport people three miles away.  The sad part is all of this would work in an alternate universe, like Marvel's Ultimate series, but this is DC's main universe.

        Next they took away his job, but more than that the turned the Dailey Planet into a farce.  Clark's only job there is to cover Superman, if he tries to do any other story, he gets in trouble, if Superman is gone for a week, while he is on vacation, he gets in trouble.  And now he is an internet news blogger, so basically what I'm doing right now.  Lois is the head of the television department, and even has the balls to ignore Perry and text during a meeting, things Perry would never stand for.

       The writing style of this series is atrocious, its like it was written out of time, everything is narrated, which nobody has done in decades, so why reboot the series to make it more modern only to write it in a style of the 1950s.

       The biggest problem however is that every other Superman publication is good.  Smallville comes out once a week, and is the most traditional Superman series available, which is ironic considering the whole time it was on television fans complained.  The Earth One series is even better, but you only get one volume every few years, and in fact in that series he even has the red underwear.  Even other New 52 titles know how to get Superman right, he is the toughest hero around, and not even Batman has lasted more than a few seconds.  So why does the monthly Superman series suck so much?  My theory is that the reason Lex has yet to make his debut is because he is secretly the head of the creative team. 

       So how can he be redeemed?  The answer is simple, first reboot, something DC does every few years when they realize they need a clean slate.  Then get a team that knows Superman, or is known for working on stories that would work with Superman.  Next reverse all the changes made to his character, Martha made the suit, there is chemistry between he and Lois, and Jimmy is his friend.  Hell if DC doesn't want to reboot they could simply dive into the more personal side of Superman, and his relationships with those around him.  An interesting way they can do this is bring up the fact that Clark and Lex grew up together, and are friends, this could even be an interesting story arc in itself.  Though DC may have already considered some of this, because Scott Snyder and Jim Lee are now doing their own Superman title, combining DC's greatest writer and artist in one title, he's even getting  better suit.

       Though a lot of what is wrong with Superman today I feel can be blamed on the movies, I know they are the comic nerd Holy Grail, but think about it, only two of them are any good, and even those two are considered cheesy by today's standards.  Plus they are responsible for giving Superman some of his strangest powers, like time travel, or making copies of himself, or whatever the hell that "S" thing was in Superman II.  Then Superman Returns was released as a sequel to a film franchise the target audience never saw, and was boring.  But again I feel DC is fixing that and now Zack Snyder is making the reboot, and really he is one of the only directors that can make the large amount of CGI needed for Superman look good, and with Nolan's help this should become my new Dark Knight.

       While we're on the subject of Superman I want to bring attention to Volume 2 of Superman Earth One, my favorite Superman book of all time.  Volume two is to be released next week, so Halloween, and if the last one was any indication, it is set to be one of the better Superman titles available, just look at the cover art.