Six Things About Superman that I Miss, and Two that I don't

[nightwing]

Re: Cary Bates

I think Cary wrote a huge amount of the Superman books I read in the 70s...seems like it anyway...but the issues that from that period which stand out in my mind always seem to be written by others (like Maggin).  Two exceptions were Superman #300 and the immortal four-parter, "Who Took The Super OUt of Superman?".  But both were co-written by Maggin!

I have to say the book I most enjoyed him on was the Captain Atom revival in the 80s.  Not sure what if anything I expected from that book, but I thought it was terrifically well-written, at least for the first 12 issues.  Of course if I'd had any familiarity with the Captain from his Charlton days I may have reacted differently, since Bates' version was probably a radical re-imagining.


Re: Perry's Cigars

If he really did have one left in reserve, it's a shame Alan Moore didn't have him smoke it before the showdown in "Whatever Happened..."

Re: Robots

I agree it was a waste to have such a cool concept and only use it for "protecting the identity" stories (easily the most vapid and boring aspect of the entire mythos).  I wish they could've done more interesting things.  Surely Kal must've intended them for better things than covering his butt when Lois and Lana went snooping.  

There was one good story where Clark went back to Smallville and found it had been protected since his absence by a secret guardian who turned out to be the last of the Superboy robots.  ("The Secret Guardian of Smallville," Superman #284).

Thanks to the Grand Comics Database, I see that story was written by Cary Bates!  :lol:  So that's one in his column.

And oh, yeah, though Morrison has robots that *look like* robots in A*S*S, doesn't his Superman tell Lois he used a robot to fake a public Clark/Superman meeting in the past?  So somewhere there must be some that look more human.

That time he had Chameleon Boy call himself a "confirmed batchelor." Actually, this isn't a minus, because on rereading it, I laughed so hard I nearly embarassed myself. Did Cary Bates just not KNOW what "confirmed batchelor" was a metaphor for?

Not that there's anything wrong with that.  :wink:

[Kurt Busiek]

Re: Perry's Cigars

If he really did have one left in reserve, it's a shame Alan Moore didn't have him smoke it before the showdown in "Whatever Happened..."

As noted, it had already been smoked by then.

kdb

[nightwing]

Aha, so that's what your last post meant.  The link didn't work for me.

Shame the stogies are gone now; the new action figure would look great with one!  I could even have fixed up a special display with my giant DC bullet from the Hasbro Superman figure.  Something like: "DC Editorial.  Blowing Smoke Since 1986!"

[Kurt Busiek]

Aha, so that's what your last post meant.  The link didn't work for me.

Hmp.  This work any better?

http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=36731&zoom=4

kdb

[Bill 9000]

Ah, well ... can't say I really miss Perry White smoking the cigars. I mean, does even Perry's exteemed journalistic "collegue" J. Jonah Jameson smoke 'em anymore?

[Klar Ken T5477]

DC_ where the action is? I thot that was a Dick Clark thing back from the go-go checked era of music tv.

[JulianPerez]

I have to say the book I most enjoyed him on was the Captain Atom revival in the 80s. Not sure what if anything I expected from that book, but I thought it was terrifically well-written, at least for the first 12 issues. Of course if I'd had any familiarity with the Captain from his Charlton days I may have reacted differently, since Bates' version was probably a radical re-imagining.

I for one, loved the CAPTAIN ATOM re-imagining.

Re-imaginings are usually some snotty kid with no respect for his predecessors trying to fix something that isn't broke: see HAWKWORLD, MAN OF STEEL, et. al. There have only been three "re-imaginings" that I have actually liked in comics history: the first was the Black Panther in Don MacGregor's JUNGLE ACTION, where Don went back to the concept of the character, and created this incredible Wakanda world of rituals and mysticism that we had never seen before; a "re-imagining" in the original sense. The second successful reimagining was the twist Alan Moore gave to Adam Strange in SWAMP THING, where he was brought to Earth to help the infertile Rannian race reproduce, and instead of being seen as Rann's savior, he was despised for being a backward barbarian.

The third was the Captain Atom of the 1980s.

I for one, am absolutely crazy about Captain Atom's sleek, sexy bod. Whoever did the redesign did a great job (except for the "abstract" version of his atomic logo; at first it looked to me like he had a big carnation on his chest or something).

I am not against re-imaginings, provided it is "re-imagining" something that didn't have a distinct identity, and needs one, stat. This is why I can't find it in me to be outraged by the sci-fi channel remake of BATTLESTAR: GALACTICA. The original was, honestly, a lousy and derivative show (whoever it was in TV GUIDE magazine that called it "STAR WARS 1 1/2" hit it right on the nail) and if Sci-Fi thinks they can do better, well, sure, go ahead.

Same thing with the original Captain Atom. He was a vastly inferior Superman whose sole gimmick was being right-of-center. Nothing wrong with this, but Steve Ditko...okay, fine, the Russians are EVIL. We GET IT. Lay off. Jeez!

So, the way I see it, if they want to redo Captain Atom...go right ahead.

It helps that the concept was so sharply executed. My favorite all-time issue of the CAPTAIN ATOM reimagining was the one where he battles a new Doctor Spectro. The concept behind Captain Atom was that he was a "fake" superhero created by the government, and so consequently, this involved a falsified biography that had him fight "secret battles" before he revealed himself. This falsified biography included a "Doctor Spectro" who was a "foe" of Captain Atom. Imagine the great surprise when a REAL Dr. Spectro shows up!

This has Atom's bosses panicking. Why? It means that somewhere, someone knows that Captain Atom is a fake, and there never was a Dr. Spectro that fought "secret battles" with Captain Atom. In reality, it turns out Dr. Spectro intends to blackmail the government, and has no interest in fighting Captain Atom at all.

The dialogue in that story was absolutely priceless.

"What's wrong, Dr. Spectro? Aren't you going to 'taunt' me, like you did in our many 'battles?' "

Re: Robots

I agree it was a waste to have such a cool concept and only use it for "protecting the identity" stories (easily the most vapid and boring aspect of the entire mythos). I wish they could've done more interesting things. Surely Kal must've intended them for better things than covering his butt when Lois and Lana went snooping.

Agreed. Some aspects of the Super-Mythos that bother me don't actually bother me in and of themselves, but as a result of their execution.

This was already posted in a post I made a while ago about Superboy. The problem, the way I see it, with the Superboy stories is that Superman's characterization is exactly the same when he was a boy and when he was a man, and nearly identical kinds of stories were told between Superman and Superboy, the fact Superman was young didn't change anything about them. While there were lots of great stuff about the Superboy stories, arguing they're necessary to Superman is going a little too far. I would however not have a problem with Superboy, if his personality is different from when he is an adult, and the fact that Kal-El is young is used to tell different kinds of stories than a SuperMAN comic can tell.

Alan Moore made the Superman Robots interesting because he had them do things other than just be stand-ins; he the robots fall in love, go insane, and found their own civilization. If someone had the Superman Robots do the same, now THIS would be very interesting.

DC_ where the action is? I thot that was a Dick Clark thing back from the go-go checked era of music tv.

Lord, was that ad campaign ever trying too hard. NEW DC: THERE'S NO STOPPING US NOW! That was almost like a threat.

I'm not old enough to remember Dick Clark at his peak of relevance to pop culture; by the time I was coming up, he was already a nerdy, uncool old wet blanket; a friend of mine once described his program as "SOUL TRAIN for white people." However...my instincts tell me that Dick Clark, even at the HEIGHT of his popularity, was always kind of uncool.