A
comic review of art, storytelling, and theology.
COVER
GRADE: B
Art:
Nick Cardy
It’s
important for me to remember that the cover art has one purpose only: yell “buy
me!” as loud as possible. From that standpoint, this cover does a great job at
creating that initial spark. I’m really curious to open it up and see which one
of Superman’s neighbors leads a secret life as a monster. The art is fun with
the two characters just missing each other in and out. Plus there are a lot of
little details – like all the window blinds and the doorman and the perfect
placement of the moon to highlight the characters – that give the art an added
depth that oddly helps put the focus on the action where it should be. For
example, take a look at that building in the lower left side right above the
text box. That building looks terrible. Almost anyone with a ruler can do a
better job, but it’s far enough away that few people will notice it. Now if
instead 344 Clinton Street (Clark Kent’s home/the building Superman is flying
into) looked like that it would be so bad that it would completely draw your
attention away from Superman and the monster.
My
biggest complaint is that this cover, hints at an interesting thought (Superman
lives in the same building as a super-monster), but doesn’t really provide any
perilous plot points. That’s probably a blessing to the writer (normally the
author must shoehorn a plot around the cover picture or blatantly ignore it
which can upset readers), but it takes away a lot of the “buy me!” factor. The
flyby looks cool, but it would be a lot more menacing if the monster was simply
watching Superman saying “He doesn’t even know that we’re neighbors!” Now that’s
a cover that makes you think “What’s Superman gonna do?!?”
STORYTELLER'S
GRADE for "Bus-Ride To Nowhere": D+
Story:
Cary Bates
Superman
is on the hunt for The Quakerer, who turns out to be a super-evolved, time
traveling, humanoid, hunchback chameleon from the 420th Century gone
back in time to test an earthquake creating weapon in order to kill all humans
in the future. (Yeah...um...we'll get to that in a moment) Superman chases the creature back to its hideout which also
happens to be Clark Kent’s apartment. Since it’s a holiday weekend, only four
other tenants remain in the building, but which one is really the Quakerer in
disguise? It just so happens they all take the bus the next morning, but the
bus is transported to a prehistoric jungle. The passengers, one of which
recently saw Superman fly into their building, devise a theory that they’ve
been kidnapped in order to discover the identity of Superman. But which one is
the Quarkerer?
What?
A two-parter? I did not see that coming.
Just
to reiterate how much of a mess this story is, let me go back and breakdown the first
line of my summary: Superman is on the hunt for The Quakerer…
How
awkward is that to say! Quaker-er-er...Quaker-er...My mind automatically shortened it to the Quaker, but I
guess that would make people think of this guy:
(continuing with the first line of the summary)…who
turns out to be a super-evolved, time traveling, humanoid, hunchback chameleon
from the 420th Century…
How does Superman know all this? Well, our
future selves send a telepathic message back in time to Clark to reveal this
exposition that future chameleons are now 6’5” with human level intelligence
and a super shape-shifting ability that also allows them to manipulate the
structures they touch.
(more on that first line)…gone
back in time to test an earthquake creating weapon in order to kill all humans
in the future.
So
there aren’t enough resources in the future to test this earthquake weapon
which is why they have to bother us poor 1973ers (or should I add a couple more -er's on there?). Oh and our future selves can’t come help
because the future chameleons have disabled the future humans’ time machines.
Cuz…yeah…science…I guess.
Remember
what I said about the cover, where if the background is crappy then it
distracts from the main point? Well that’s happening in the story too. Because at
the heart of this mess of a backstory, a really interesting moment is about to
happen.
Clear
your mind of everything you’ve heard up until now and focus just on this plot
point: Clark Kent and all his fellow passengers of the morning commuter bus
have been kidnapped. Superman knows that one of four people is the kidnapper,
but the all passengers have also deduced that one of them is the alter ego of
Superman. How will Superman catch the kidnapper without revealing his own
secret identity?
This
story easily has the potential to be far and away the best story in this run so
far. But it’s ruined like filet mignon wrapped in feces. The chef was probably
a chameleon from the 420th century cuz feces are a delicacy in the
future to the Quaker-er-ers.
One
thing I really like however is that of the four suspects that live at 344
Clinton Street, two have previously appeared in the pages of Superman and two
will appear in future issues. I won’t say which it is because that might give
away the cliffhanger. I love when writers use cameo characters already established in the universe.
ARTIST
GRADE for Superman: C
Art:
Curt Swan, Murphy Anderson
When
I read a story and none of the art sticks out to me, for good or bad, by
default grade is a C. This issue has its ups and downs, but never sways too far
from average. I enjoyed some of the interesting angles, such as Superman
looking to the skies for the Quakerer.
And the middle half of the story is pure text-based explanation, but the artist pulls it off with some interesting views like listening in from outside Clark’s apartment
door, and the sunrise over Metropolis.
But
then we have some other problems. The artist tried to draw Clark’s
investigation of the primary suspects in an interesting way, but it turned out
to be a little too creepy to me.
Super-stalker! And
then part of the cliffhanger moment, the bus disappears…
…or
did it break in two? The art just made me more confused about what is happening here
with the bus. It’s not until a few pages later that it starts to get explained.
Maybe that’s the point, but the art shouldn’t be this confusing.
STORYTELLER
GRADE for "Up Pops the Atom": C
Story:
Elliot Maggin
Ray
Palmer (a.k.a. The Atom) takes his fiancée’s nephew Freddy to the Amusement
Park. (With how obscure Freddy’s relationship is to the Atom, it’s not a
surprise that this is his only appearance ever.) Freddy opens a Karmel Korn box to look for the prize
(a Cracker Jack ripoff) to reveal an Atom superhero figurine. A shady man
steals the figurine and Palmer follows. It is revealed that International spies
are hiding secret information in fake Karmel Korn prizes as a means to
transport the data out of the country. The Atom apprehends the spies all while
keeping Freddy unaware. Unfortunately Palmer cannot return the Atom figurine to
Freddy since it’s police evidence, and instead Palmer as the Atom pretends to
be the figurine for Freddy for the evening.
This
story is more a series of odd coincidences than a well thought out story. The
Cracker Jack prize provides a few opportunities for the Atom to masquerade as his toy
counterpart, but the whole smuggling secrets in Cracker Jack prized doesn’t
make any sense. If you’re trying to sneak them out of the country then why open
them while you’re still in the US? How ridiculous are the chances that Palmer’s
nephew is the one to get the Atom toy at just the wrong moment. The whole thing
provides a couple laughs but just doesn’t make any sense.
ARTIST
GRADE for the Atom: B
Art:
Dick Dillin, Dick Giordano
The
Atom follows a fairly standard comic panel layout which appears to be a good
thing because they one time the artist tries to breakout of the panels it gets
confusing.
So
the Atom jumps up and does a flip, or is it a back flip, or just a lot of
flopping around. And I think he ends up diving feet first. Well at least that’s
what I gather from seeing where he is in the next panel.
But
there are some good moments. I always enjoy the styles used to show the Atom
shrinking.
And
there’s some fun visuals for the Atom when he’s pretending to be a toy.
THEOLOGY
GRADE: A
There
are 7 people stranded in the middle of nowhere. One of them secretly captured
them all. And one of them can save them all at the risk of revealing his secret
identity as Superman. What should Superman do?
There
seems to be this fundamental good behavior that every parent teaches their
children: you should always tell the truth no matter the consequences, right?
So obviously the most morally appropriate solution is for Superman to reveal
his secret identity and save the 5 innocent bystanders, right?
But
why does Superman have a secret identity?
You
could argue that, much like celebrities, it allows Superman to have a normal life
outside of saving the world. But it’s more like a secret identity for a CIA
agent in another country. If their real names are revealed then not only are
they at great risk, but so are all their friends and family. So now our
scenario balances the lives of 5 innocent bystanders against the lives of dozens
of friends and family of Clark Kent. Although it wouldn’t be a big issue for
his biological family like Supergirl because…yeah…bullet proof, but I suspect
Ma and Pa Kent are not gonna be able to afford their new insurance rates.
So
what does the Bible say about telling the truth? Surprisingly
not as much as you would suspect. Here are the best examples:
Truthful
words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed. (Proverbs 12:19)
[God]
will destroy those who tell lies. The Lord detests murderers and deceivers. (Psalm
5:6)
So
stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of
the same body. (Ephesians 4:25)
There
are a few more verses you could pull but I really found less than 10 which is
not that many for a book with over 31,000 verses. We see that we should not lie,
but that’s not the same as telling the truth. Also the references to telling
the truth I’ve looked up are in relation to telling the truth to trustworthy sources
in the first place. It gets fuzzy because the truth is more often
synonymous with the Bible/Word of God or Jesus himself than it is about a
person telling the truth.
Of
further interest are the lists of virtues found in the Bible often given as
guidelines:
But
the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians
5:22-23a)
And
now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is
love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
In
view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement
your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence (often translated as
goodness or good character), and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge
with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient
endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly
affection with love for everyone. (2 Peter 1:5-7)
The
Catholics call out following seven virtues: prudence, justice, temperance, courage
(or fortitude), faith, hope, and charity.
It’s
odd that these are some heavy hitters and not one of them mentions truth
directly. You might think I’ve conveniently left out Philippians 4:8 from the
list. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of
respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.”
But here we’re supposed to think about it, not necessarily requiring blunt
honesty in all things. I might be missing some other obvious other examples,
but a good counterpoint to the idea of truth above all else is Ephesians 4:15. “Instead, we will speak the truth in
love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his
body, the church.” Speaking the “truth in love” to me is the most important expression of truth. This thought continues in verse 29. “Let everything you say be
good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear
them.” Truth is of utmost importance, but love is at the core. This is where so
many Christians get it wrong. We often bluntly expose people’s mistakes under
the guise of truth. The result is that we feel self-righteous and they feel
further alienated from what the Bible really identifies as the truth: that is Jesus.
We shouldn’t be ignoring the truth in favor of loving people, but we should be acting in love and filled with grace when speaking the truth.
So
while it’s not appropriate for Superman to outright lie here, he doesn’t have
to be bluntly honest anytime someone asks about Superman’s secret identity.
There’s a gray area where direct truth is
tempered in love and grace.
CLARK
KENT’S MONTHLY GOOF:
In a
surprise turn of events, it’s actually Superman who makes the goof this issue.
He’s been caught sneaking into his apartment building and now the tenants are
one step closer to figuring out the civilian identity of Superman.
EXCESSIVE
USE OF FORCE:
As a
little backstory, as Superman is chasing the chameleon from the 420th
Century, it flies into the smoke coming out of a factory smoke stack.
Apparently the chameleon has the power to transform things it touches as well,
so it transforms the smoke into a hand that attacks Superman.
Superman’s
solution once he escapes the smoke is to tie up the smoke stack.
Now,
at the beginning of the page, the writers are careful to explain that the smoke
coming out is actually factory pollution. So when Superman is tying up the
smoke stack, he is also saving the environment, right? Well, let’s first
imagine that this feat of strength is actually possible instead of the smoke
stack breaking into pieces as it’s twisted up. Where is that pollution supposed
to go? That factory is now full of smoke and any workers inside will need to
run for the hills. So let’s weigh the damages here: millions of dollars in
damages to a factory or severe health effects all bystanders or in Superman’s
case he did both. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just use his super breath to
blow the cloud away? Then if the pollution is really a problem Superman can
contact the EPA to get it resolved properly with minimal damages. But that’s
just me thinking about it while sitting in front of a computer. I might be less
sensible while I’m being attacked by a pollution fist.
DEAR
EDITOR (seen in #434):
Not
too much to mention in this fan praise. Although you may wish to skip reading
it if you don’t want to hear who one fan thinks will be the mysterious bad guy
revealed in part 2 of the Superman story.