Saturday Evening Cartoons: All-Star Superman (2011)

      All-Star Superman was released on DVD and Blu Ray on February 22nd, 2011. An adaptation of the acclaimed comic book series of the same name by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely the film is directed by Sam Liu and written, for the screen, by Dwayne McDuffie. 

     All-Star Superman opens with a classic bit of super-heroics, as Superman rescues Dr. Leo Quintum and his scientist, who are researching the sun from a genetically-enhanced time-bomb clone controlled by Lex Luthor. It turns out that, in doing so, he received an overdose of solar radiation, supercharging his cells but also, slowly, killing them off. In other words, Superman is going to die. Clark decides to make the most of his remaining time on earth, most importantly, revealing his identity to Lois Lane. Lex, who engineered Superman's demise, has escaped from prison and is carrying out his plans the hero's final humiliation and his own rise to power. 

     Meanwhile, Superman performs various heroic deeds as he prepares for his death, including finding a permanent home for the people of Kandor, giving Lois superpowers for 24 hours as a birthday present by using a formula he created from his DNA,  confronting (and ultimately saving) two lost Kryptonian astronauts, answering the "Unanswerable Question" posed by the The Ultra-Sphinx, and fighting off an invasion by the Subterranosauri caused by Samson and Atlas. The film greatly condenses the original miniseries. There Kal-El had to complete 12 labors before he died, much like Herucles. The film cuts six of these completely and dramatically changes a seventh, which undercuts the mythological feel of the comic. Two major subplots, involving Superman traveling to the Underverse and traveling back in time to meet his father, are also cut which is a shame as these were some of the more emotionally resonant chapters in the comic. It also cuts out one of the comic's most iconic moments, where Superman saves a young girl who is about to commit suicide. 

     Nonetheless, the film does a good job bringing the story to the screen and preserving its central themes. Indeed, I found that I better understood the comic (I had only read it once) after watching the film. One of the main thematic threads is Lex Luthor's envy of Superman. He has pursued power and knowledge all his life, but compared to Superman's abilities (which he didn't have to work to attain), all of his efforts seem to pale. As he tells Clark Kent when he comes to interview him in prison, "Doesn't his very existence diminish you? Diminish us all?" But, despite everything, Superman does not resent Luthor, he instead feels regret that this man has wasted his own talents on his hateful, self-centered pursuits. 

     Unfortunately, there are also some strongly transhumanist themes here. In some ways this was always sort-of inherent to the character but it is brought to the fore-front here. This is most apparent in Dr. Quintum's P.R.O.J.E.C.T. lab which "engineer(s) new forms of humanity ... for the eventual betterment of mankind." Dr. Quintum is the kind of character who might easily be a villain in another story, but to Morrison he is an inspirational figure. This issue also extends to Superman himself. Because he can't have children with Lois, he eventually figures out how to use artificial insemination so that Lois can bear a son like him. The movie does change this, which I get to shortly. 

     The presence of these themes is mitigated by the film's much more traditional central themes of mortality and sacrifice. Kal-El must come to terms with his imminent death. Like the hero he is, this serves not as a crushing blow but as a motivation to do better. When he flies away for the last time to repair the broken sun, he is prepared to lay down his life for the people of earth, even if the film suggests that he will ultimately survive. It is this sacrifice that inspires Luthor to make amends, in some extent, for all his wrongs, analyzing the heroes DNA so that he can figure out a way for Lois to bear a "son" like Superman. This is probably the biggest change form the comic, where Superman figures it out himself. I like this better as it shows that Superman's greatest power has always been to inspire others. 

     The film does a good job bringing Frank Quitely's unique art style to life. It is somewhat streamlined, as you'd expect, but many of the iconic moments from the book are nonetheless rendered beautifully. The voice cast is excellent all around. James Denton does a fine job as Superman, evoking that duel sense of down-to-earth humanity and unwavering moral uprightness and optimism that have made the character so endearing. Christina Hendricks is a fairly solid Lois Lane though, as in the comic, she is not given that strong of material to work with. Anthony LaPaglia is excellent as Lex Luthor and Morrison's take on the character is one of the most unique and interesting that I've read. 

     In the end, All-Star Superman, though not a perfect adaptation, does get to the essence of the comic it's based on and even makes some subtle improvements though it also shares many of the original story's flaws.

Score: 7/10

Thoughts on the Snyder Cut (Video)

     So I watched the Snyder Cut of Justice League the other night and decided to do a video giving my initial thoughts. 

     Upon further reflection I still feel that the film is not good but is easily better then the theatrical cut as well as Man of Steel and Batman v Superman (which I just re-watched). There are definitely some contrivances with the way Steppenwolf is called to the earth initially and, as I address in the video, I am not convinced that the League's becoming united is adequately developed.  

Score: 6/10

Saturday Evening Cartoons: Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (Fat Tuesday Special #2)

     Superman/Batman: Public Enemies was released on September 29th, 2009. Directed by Sam Liu and written by Stan Berkowitz it is an adaption of a story arc from Jeph Loeb & Ed McGuinness's run on Superman/Batman comic.

     In the first few moments of the film it is established that Lex Luthor has become the President of the United States because a financial crisis (this movie was released the wake of the 2008 housing market crash and following recession) has eroded public trust in the major parties. Most superheroes are seemingly on board with this in the interest of democracy and the hope that Luthor's desire for power and prestige will lead him to make decisions in the public interest. Superman and Batman however, are convinced that Luthor has some ulterior agenda that is not in the interest of the country.

     The main plot involves a kryptonite meteor that is headed toward earth, which Luthor plans to eradicate using nuclear missiles. He sets up a meeting with Superman, ostensibly to form an alliance, where the Man of Steel is attacked by Metallo. Batman shows up to aid his friend and both barely escape with their lives. Luthor then has Metallo killed (off-screen) and frames the two heroes for his murder using footage taken from their fight. He puts out a one-billion dollar bounty on Superman. As a result of this Superman and Batman are attacked by a myriad of supervillians most of whom are defeated rather easily by the heroes. The rest dispersed by an energy blast from Captain Atom who, along with Katana, Black Lightning, Power Girl, Starfire, and Major Force arrive on the scene to arrest Superman and Batman. Once again they escape.

     Clark and Bruce begin investigating Metallo's death and looking into Luthor's plan to stop the meteor, as they suspect foul play. Power Girl, torn between her loyalty to her team and to her friends eventually side with the world's finest. Batman figures out that Luthor ordered Major Force to kill Metallo and convinces Captain Atom and his team to stop hunting him and Superman. They then go to Luthor's base in the mountains to retrieve data on the meteor. There they are attacked by Hawkman and Captain Marvel.

     Meanwhile, Amanda Waller discovers that Lex has been juicing with Kryptonite, causing him to lose his grip on reality. His missiles, she finds out, were never intended to stop the meteor, which he wants to hit earth so he can rule over whatever remains of society. This raises all kinds of questions. How is Luthor able to maintain his mask of sanity in public? Why, after all this time, does he recklessly reveal this to Waller? How has no one discovered his madness before this? Why, after the initial attempt to stop the missiles fails, does he furiously attempt to come up with a new plan?

     Batman and Superman eventually break into the base but Luthor escapes them. Waller gives them the data on the meteor which they take to the Japanese Toyman, who has designed a spacecraft to destroy it. Luthor shows up and destroys the controls, causing Batman to pilot the ship manually. Superman, believing that his friend has sacrificed himself, destroys Luthor's battle suit in a fit of rage and Captain Atom shows up to arrest the traitorous president. Of course, it turns out that the spacecraft was built to withstand the impact and Bruce survives.

     As the story is incredibly rushed the emotional of Power Girl's torn loyalty, Major Force's betrayal, and Batman's sacrifice is basically nonexistent. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is a film that essentially functions as an excuse to show the titular characters duking it out with various other DC heroes and villains from Metallo to Power Girl to Banshee to Captain Marvel. As such you would think the plot would be fairly straight forward but it's not, it's confusing, convoluted and ultimately makes no sense. This wouldn't really be a problem if so much screen time wasn't devoted to the plot machinations.

     Public Enemies is not without it merits. The action scenes are pretty well done, though many of them are rushed and lack satisfying conclusions. Batman and Superman have a lot of chemistry and it's always fun watching them play off of each other. The cast is great, especially Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly (reprising their roles from the Batman and Superman animated series respectively). The animation is pretty decent although, as a matter of personal preference, I'm not a huge fan of Ed McGuinness blocky art-style and this streamlined version of it it even less appealing.

     In the end Superman/Batman: Public Enemies can't decide if it wants to be as a simple excuse for superhero action or a functioning narrative story. As a result it doesn't end up succeeding at either.

Score: 6/10

Saturday Evening Cartoons: Reign of the Supermen (Fat Tuesday Special #1)

     When I reviewed The Death of Superman last year I was pretty enthusiastic. Finally, we had a decent adaptation of this story. I was excited (but also trepidatious) to see what they would do with the second part of the story, Reign of the Supermen. It's a very long, complicated story, one which is, I think, impossible to do justice in a 90 minute film. With that said, it should not be surprising that this film is a serious step-down from its predecessor.

     I should point out, however, that The Death of Superman was far from a perfect setup for this. For one thing, though it does an admirable job of giving the film emotional stakes, all things considered it was a mistake to adapt this story when this version of Superman has barely been established on screen (The Death of Superman was the first solo Superman film in the new DC animated universe). This is a story that explores the emotional toll of Superman's passing and it worked a lot better in the comics when there were 10 years of post-crisis Superman stories to build on.

     Beyond that though, the focus just wasn't always in the right place. The film, like the comic, should have ended with Superman's death (or perhaps his funeral) instead, they writers decided to end it by teasing his return (both literally and figuratively) in this film. This undermines a lot of the emotional weight that his death brought to that film. It also means that Reign of the Supermen starts off on the wrong foot. Instead of feeling triumphant, Superman's return in this film comes across as perfunctory.

     A big part of the problem, as I hinted earlier, is that there simply isn't enough screen time to do this story justice. In retrospect, it should have been a three part story. This way you could end the first film immediately after Superman dies in his battle with Doomsday. Then you would use the second film to explore the emotional impact of his death and also to establish the four new supermen. Finally, in the third film you could have the conflict between Superboy, Steel, Eradicator and Cyborg Superman come to a head before the real Superman returns to set things right. As it is, everything is rushed and under-cooked.

    With all that said, the film isn't terrible. There is a lot of good action, the four Supermen have well established personalities, even if their motivations are barely explored, and the plot is surprisingly coherent given how condensed the story is. Rainn Wilson's take on Lex Luthor even grew on me a little.

     In the end, Reign of the Supermen is a largely disappointing conclusion to this story. In retrospect, I'm not sure it really could have turned out better without delaying the story until later on and expanding it to three films. It's not a bad film exactly, but it's largely forgettable. I'd recommend mostly because it serves as a functional conclusion to the superior first part.

Score: 7/10

Comic Reviews: Detective Comics and Daredevil (Saturday Evening Cartoons)

Sorry this is late, I was crazy busy last week.

Once again, I reviewed Detective comics...

... and I reviewed Chip Zdarsky's first issue of Daredevil.

I also read:
Spider-Man/Deadpool #45 features solid art from Jim Towe, more fun writing from Robbie Thompson and is a fairly satisfying end to the Blastaar arc. Its basically just a slug-fest, but since when is that a bad thing in a Marvel comic?

Batman #64, written by Joshua Williamson instead of Tom King for "The Price" crossover with the Flash. It's an intriguing, though depressing, opening so far.

In Avengers #14 the vampire war finally begins and it's mostly worth the wait.

Deadpool #9 is another darkly fun tale from Skottie Young. Nic Klein's art, reminiscent of Micheal Gaydos work on Alias fits the satirical noir story really well.

Star Wars #61 is pretty mediocre. Subpar art, overly "hip" dialogue and a pretty uneventful story make this issue a pretty poor end to the current arc.

Star Wars Age Of Republic Anakin Skywalker #1 is a fun throwback for fans of The Clone Wars, even if the story is a bit rushed. Cory Smith's artwork is solid.

Comic Reviews: Detective Comics and Star Wars (Saturday Evening Cartoons)

Once again I've done two comic book video reviews over the past few weeks.
First off Detective Comics #996

Secondly, Star Wars #60

I also read:
Star Wars Age Of Republic Special #1, which was ok. The three short stories were mostly superfluous and each one is successively less good then the last, but it's worth reading for the Mace Windu story (though maybe not worth the $3.99 cover price). The Asajj Ventress story has the best art of the three, courtesy of Carlos Gómez.
Spider-Man/Deadpool #44, which is good fun. Spidey, DP and the Eternals fight Blastaar and a brainwashed Ransak in the Negative Zone. What's not to like?
Batman #63, which was frustrating. Bruce is still stuck in some kind of illusion and, aside from emphasizing that he's upset about Selina leaving him and Dick getting shot, I'm not sure what the point of this is.
Avengers #13 continues the series solid run so far. The story, a flashback about the original Iron Fist, is bonkers in all the right ways and Andrea Sorrentino kills it with the art. With that said, Aaron really needs to stop stalling and get back to the main plot.

Saturday Evening Cartoons: The Death of Superman (2018)

     The Death of Superman was released on digital on July 24th and on Home Video on August 7th. Directed by Jay Olivia and written by Peter J. Tomasi, it adapts the famous 1992 Death of Superman story-line from the comics.

     I was highly skeptical going into The Death of Superman. DC had already attempted to do an animated adaptation of this story with the mediocre Superman: Doomsday from 2006. The reason the original story had such an impact was that it killed off this beloved, established character so Doomsday had a disadvantage because the version of Superman featured in that film didn't have any long established canon so the audience didn't have the same emotional attachment to him. This film alleviates that problem somewhat as it exists in a connected movie universe. Despite this I was still really unsure. The characterization of Superman in the DC Animated Movie Universe up to this point had been pretty inconsistent and his relationship with Lois Lane, an integral part of the emotional weight of this story, had barely been established as Superman had been romantically involved with Wonder Woman (à la Geoff Johns Justice League). To make matters worse, the trailer for the movie made it look pretty awful.

      Despite all of these reservations I still held out some hope. The films in the DC Animated Movie Universe have gotten increasingly better since the incredibly forgettable Justice League: War. Justice League vs. Teen Titans and, in particular, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay were both really solid comic book films. When I finally sat down to watch the movie I was kind of blown away by how good it was. I'm not saying it's a great film but it exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations.

     The film has really solid writing. Wisely, it focuses on Clark's relationship with Lois but, unlike in the comics, Lois doesn't know that Clark is Superman at the beginning of this story. His arc is learning to trust her with his secret, so when he finally decides to tell her, mere minutes before going off to fight Doomsday, it makes it all the more tragic when he dies. The film also takes time to establish how important a force Superman is in people's lives. Whether it's Bibbo Bibbowski getting Jimmy Olsen to take his picture when he shakes hands with the Man of Steel or Hank Henshaw assuring his fellow astronauts that Superman will come to their rescue as a comet hurtles toward their ship, the film really makes it clear that Superman is a source of hope and inspiration.

     The film also does a good job slowly building up to the fight with Doomsday. As in the comics, there's no attempt to tie him to Superman's origin or make him a creation of Lex Luthor (as in Batman v Superman and Superman: Doomsday). He's simply an alien monster. It's precisely this vague ambiguity that makes the creature such a palpable threat for Superman. A character who's is invulnerable by his very nature could only be defeated by a force of nature such as Doomsday. As the story progresses it becomes more and more clear just how dangerous Doomsday is. We first see him kill a few Atlantean soldiers but by the time Superman faces him he has nearly destroyed the Justice League. This helps to create an increasing sense of dread.

     Finally, The Death of Superman does a good job setting up the sequel, Reign of the Supermen, organically. Hank Henshaw, John Henry Irons, Eradicator, and Superboy (Conner Kent) are all introduced throughout the course of the story but it doesn't feel forced or shoehorned in. Hank Henshaw is in the spacecraft which the meteor containing Doomsday crashes into on the way to earth. The kryptonian birthing matrix, which I assume is connected to Eradicator, is shown when Superman shows it to Lois for an interview for the Daily Planet. John Henry Irons is one of the scientists investigating the fragments of Apokolips technology which Superman recovered after his fight with members of Intergang. These fragments lead Superman to Lexcorp, where Luthor is experimenting with Earth/Apokolips technology to create a clone of Superman (presumably Connor Kent).

     As with most of these DC direct-to-video efforts, the animation is just ok. It shines the most during the fight scenes, with are incredibly energetic and also have a good sense of weight and scale. I'm not of fan of the costume design in these movies, based on Jim Lee's New 52 designs, but that's more of a personal pet peeve then anything else. The voice cast is all solid. Jerry O'Connell has really grown on me as Superman and Rebecca Romijn (best known for playing Mysitique in the X-Men movies) makes a really spunky, no-nonsense Lois Lane. The always dependable Rosario Dawson also did a good job as Wonder Woman. The one weak spot is Rain Wilson who is simply miscast as Lex Luthor. Perhaps they wanted to go for a Jesse Eisenberg vibe (though I can't imagine why), but the character isn't written that way and Wilson's high register sounds out of place coming from this masculine looking business man.

     The Death of Superman isn't breaking any new ground for the genre but it's a solid adaptation of the classic story and a step in the right direction for the DC Animated Movie Universe. I'd definitely recommend it to any fan of Superman or superhero comics in general.

Score: 8/10

Saturday Evening Cartoons: Super Sons, Volume 1: When I Grow Up

I decided to go back and read Peter J. Tomasi's Super Sons as the series is concluding with a miniseries that started earlier this month...

     Spinning out of he and Patrick Gleason's Superman run Super Sons focuses on the friendship/rivalry between Jon Kent and Damien Wayne. The two characters have very different personalities. Damien is a rather egotistical, rebellious teen, while Jon is a really good kid, though lacking in Damien's confidence. Like their fathers this causes them to have difficulties getting along, except, as 10 and 13 year old boys, they lack the maturity to see past their differences. This is the main focus of this book, from a character perspective.

     The story opens by showing a creepy kid controlling his family members, who seem mortally afraid of him. Then, we see Jon and Damien fight some unidentified bad guys in a forest. Finally, we cut to to two days earlier, where Jon tries to stand up to bullies at school only to have Damien, disguised as bus driver, show up and scare them off. The first few pages jump around an awful lot and I'm not really convinced that this nonlinear storytelling really works for this story. We don't get back to the fight in the forest until the third issue, by which time (especially if your reading monthly) you may have forgotten about it. In addition to this, we're already switching between two different story lines, with the creepy boy and his family opening each issue.

      Back at the Kent Farm Superman is called away on League business and, as Batman won't let him go out on patrol, Damien shows up and convinces Jon to come with him to investigate break-ins LexCorp without their parents permission. Reaching LexCorp, they are caught trying to break in by Luthor. Damien pushes Jon off of the building in order to distract Lex, who has to save him (this is before Superboy has learned to fly). After hacking into Lex Corp's security footage, Robin and Superboy make their escape.

     Damien tells Jon that he has found footage of the break-in. It is revealed that the same creepy kid who we saw torturing his family is responsible. He and family gained superpowers during the breakout of the Amazo virus (in Justice League Volume 6). Although the cure removed most people's powers, 5 percent kept them, including this boy's family. Afterward, they became a superhero team but disappeared after a battle amongst themselves. Investigating fursther, Jon and Damien find corpses of family in the warehouse where the younger son (calling himself Kid Amazo) was holding them captive. Jon, feeling they are in over their heads, decides to go to tell his father. Damien, wanting to investigate further on his own, is unhappy with this.

     Jon finds the daughter, who apparently survived, hiding outside the warehouse and, simultaneously, Damien determines that there's a body missing. At this point, an Amazo bot, which has Batman's appearance and skills attacks Jon while another, with Superman's appearance and skills, attacks Damien. They are subdued by their fathers' doppelgangers but the girl, who has telekinetic powers over machines, shuts them down. The girl, named Sara, explains that her brother, Reggie, had held her family captive for weeks. Possessing the power to multiply himself, Reggie's powers increased when he stole Luthor's Amazo armor and he began splitting himself into Amazo powered creatures. The bodies that Jon and Damien found were actually doppelgangers of Sara's real family who Reggie killed over and over again while they were forced to watch. But Sara was able to escape.

     Once again, Jon wants to go and get help but Damien disagrees, calling himself, "the world's greatest superhero.” They are then attacked by Amazo duplicates of themselves, bringing us back (finally) to the action scene that opened the story. It is then revelaed that Sara is also an Amazo bot as Reggie attempts to control her. She tells them that they need to find Reggie before he kills the real Sara, and agrees to buy them time. Chased by their Amazo doppelgangers, Jon and Damien are eventually overwhelmed and captured.

     As Kid Amazo explains his plan to defeat the Justice League and take their powers, Lex shows up and frees them. They take Sara and family to safety while he fights the Amazo bots. They return with Sara who uses her power to separate Reggie from the Amazo armor, defeating him. Lex promises to help her develop her powers as Jon and Damien sneak off once again, only to be caught by Lois and Alfred, who discovered that they snuck off on their own.

     In the last issue Damien stews about being grounded by Batman while Jon is yelled at for using powers to do chores, which his parents forbade him from doing as a punishment. He is upset about having to move to Metropolis and runs away to Gotham to talk to Damien. Damien teases him for being a crybaby about moving leading to a fight which is broken up when Alfred shows up. Alfred tries to counsel the two super sons, telling them that they must learn to trust each other as their fathers have and emphasizing the importance of seeing from someone else's perspectives. Finally, Batman and Superman show up and Clark tells Jon that, while it's natural to be apprehensive about moving to a new place, its something they need to do as a family. He also gives Jon permission to go on adventures with Damien, saying that he'll find a way to make Lois understand.

     Once again, I think that Tomasi really knows these characters. Not only had he written Jon Kent for 16 issues, he also written Damien in Batman and Son during the 52 era. He also does a great job with characters like Alfred who, after discovering that Damien has snuck off on his own declares, "At least when master Richard snuck out, he had the decency to construct a pillow dummy." There are some confusing elements to this story. For some reason Lex doesn't seem to know who Superboy or Robin are. Surely they've been around long enough for him to be aware of their existance and connection to Superman and Batman. I'm also not sure why Superboy doesn't know about the Amazo virus, especially since he seems to understand what Damien is talking about but then questions it when they talk to Sara. I understand the need to give readers unfamiliar with the Justice League story the necessary exposition, but this came off as a little sloppy.

     It was also a surprisingly dark story. I was hoping to maybe give this story to my 8 year old sister to read but its clearly much too violent. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, some of my favorite comics are very adult, but superhero comics have always, traditionally, been aimed at a younger audience and it troubles me that you now have to go out of your way to find kid-appropriate books, especially ones that aren't comedic in nature.

      The art by Jorge Jimenez and Alejandro Sanchez is quite good and fits the material well. Jimenez has a very exaggerated style that sometimes rubs me the wrong way but it works here. He also, at times, struggles with facial work in some of the wider panels, but these kinds of problems are few and far between. The last issue in this volume was drawn by Alisson Borges with colors by Hi-Fi Design. Borges pencils are even more cartoony then Jimenez but it's not too distracting as the last issue is basically a one-off, taking place after the main plot has been resolved. The plotting throughout the story is quite creative, particularly the panel breakups during the action scenes.

     Super Sons, Volume 1: When I Grow Up is a solid start to Tomasi's run. I'm exicited to see what else I missed, especially as the quality of the current Superman title has flagged considerably in Tomasi's absence.

Score: 8/10

Saturday Evening Cartoons: Superman, Volume 4: Black Dawn

In the fourth volume of Tomasi and Gleason's run on Superman a lot of the plot threads they had been building up are finally paid off...

     It begins with relative calm, as Clark and his family enjoy a pleasant evening. Then Batman shows up Damien, questioning why Superboy's powers have not developed further. Because of his unique Kryptonian/human physiology, Batman believes that Jon should be on his way to becoming even more powerful then his father, yet his development seems to have stalled. The reason for this is revealed in this arc.

     Batman believes that environmental factors may be contributing to Jon's issue. He decides to investigate their neighbor Cobb's cow, to see if her milk may not be what it seems. He is proven right as milk turns into black goo and envelops him. Clark, wondering what Bruce has gotten up to, decides to investigate himself, taking Damien and Jon along to find him. Their search is interrupted when a giant alien monster attacks Hamilton. After a fierce battle, Jon kills the monster, much to his father's chagrin.

     Damien then inadvertently informs Superman that Jon and Kathy's adventure in the Dead Man's Swamp (back in Volume 3). Clark is disappointed to find out that Jon disobeyed him and then hid it from him. He goes to search the Dead Man's Swamp for Batman on his own, leaving Jon and Damien behind. Damien urges Jon to continue the search on their own, leading to a fight between the two super-sons. Kathy shows up to break it up and revels that she has telepathic powers, strangling Damien with her mind.

     Lois, who has seen the alien attack on TV, decides to investigate herself. After talking to Cobb, who feigns ignorance, she goes to town where she finds a secret lair with monitors showing Jon. Someone has been watching him. Then Candice, who runs the local paper, shows up despite seemingly having been injured during the attack. Suspicious, Lois pepper sprays her and runs back home only to find Candice there along with the mayor and other townsfolk. Realizing that something strange is going on, Lois tries to alert the Justice League only to find that Mayor Goodman has stolen the communicator. They try to capture her but she is able to escape using the Batmobile, which Bruce left behind.

     Superman, still searching for Batman, finds him, Robin, Frankenstein, and the Bride, along with others, being kept in stasis in the labyrinthine pathways under the cellar of house in Dead Man's Swamp. As Lois drives away from the house, Mr. Cobb shows up and telepathically dismantles it. He tells Lois that he's preparing her and her family for a new world. When she tries to shoot him he crushes her weapon telepathically. Hearing her scream, Superman flies off to see what's wrong. Her confronts Cobb, declaring that never really trusted him.

     Cobb claims, again, that he was only trying to protect Jon and Kathy and he refuses to tell Superman where Jon is. When another alien monster emerges, Superman restrains Cobb and goes off to face it. He finds Mayor Goodman and some of the other townsfolk fighting with the creatures. They use lethal force and try to persuade Superman to do the same. Calling themselves The Super Elite, they say that "he" taught them to and that "he" will teach Jon as well. As the fighting continues Lois, seemingly, loses a leg to flying debris and Superman cauterizes the wound.

     Jon, strapped to chair, watches all of this in horror as a mysterious person, quickly revealed to be Manchester Black (the villain from Joe Kelly's semi iconic Superman story What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way? which was later adapted into the 2011 film Superman vs. The Elite), talks to him. It is then revealed in a flashback that Kathy, Mr. Cobb and the Super Elite are actually aliens. Kathy watched her home planet be decimated by the Kroog (the same race as the alien criminal from the Super-Monster) and Black offered her and her grandfather protection. The Super Elite are his new team, they how they came to join with him is never really explained.

     Back in the present Cobb is shaken by what has transpired and demands to talk to Black. Clark has taken Lois to hospital where the staff are blind to what's happening, believing the alien attack to be an earthquake. Clearly Black is messing with peoples' heads. Superman then discovers that there is an entire network of tunnels beneath Hamilton where Black and the Super Elite are hiding their ship. Manchester Black then shows up along with Jon and he and Superman fight. It is revealed that Black has rendered Jon's powers inert by scrambling his brain. He tries to persuade Jon to kill Kroog but he refuses saying “I'd die first”.

     Mr. Cobb and Kathy then show up and fight against Black who kills Cobb. Superman then frees Batman, Robin, Frankenstein and the Bride as Black mind controls Jon, making him attack Superman along with the Super Elite. Batman and Superman try to talk him down but he is too far under Black's control. As Jon and Black quickly subdue Frankenstein and the Bride Baman tells Clark that the familial bond between he and Jon might be able to overcome Black's and influence and Superman draws Jon away from the fight.

     Then, the quantum reactor in Black's ship is disrupted and begins giving off arcs of space-time. This allows Jon to sees other timelines and he is able to break free of Black's control. He tries to kill him but Lois intervenes and Jon sees that her lost leg was an illusion conjured by Black. He and Kathy then defeat Black by combining their powers into a telepathic attack.

     After the battle the Super Elite agree to stay and guard their ship to keep the rift that has been created from worsening. They realize that Manchester Black was wrong and they help to rebuild Hamilton to make amends. Kathy, left without any mentor, also decides to stick around. Manchester Black, though still alive, seemingly has no neural activity and is left on ice in the Fortress of Solitude. It is revealed at the end of the book that he transferred his consciousness into Kathy's cow, Bessie.

     Like Multiplicity this arc feels a little rushed. There's a conflict of ideas set up between Manchester Black and Superman that is never adequately explored. Once the Super Elite see what Black is capable of, they immediately turn against him. The writers seem to assume that Superman's position, that killing is always wrong, is the correct one and needs no justification. I'm kind of ok with that as I do generally wish more modern Superman stories would simply allow the character to be himself without a lot of psychoanalytical hand-wringing, but if your going to bring these issues up you should probably do a little more to explore them.

     Jon goes through a bit of a character arc here. He's is afraid of using his powers which allows Black to more easily manipulate him by making it look like the people he cares about will suffer if he and Superman don't take more drastic action. Ironically, it's only when Black forces his powers to fully emerge that he sees that he can control them. He reveals to Kathy at the end of the story that he is no longer afraid. Taking Kathy's hand, he then takes flight for the first time.

     Tomasi and Gleason are at their best when writing the small human moments like early on in the story, as Clark does work on the farm and takes a minute to appreciate his family and the home they've made for themselves and then near the end when he and Lois watch Jon and Kathy fly up into the sky. Their are also small moments and lines dispersed throughout the story where their grasp of these characters really shines through. Lois shouting "Jonathan Samuel Kent" to get through to her son before he murders Black is just perfect. So is Superman's speech to Jon after he kills one of the alien monsters, "Listen, son. One day you're going to have to choose what to do with your own fear... whatever you choose, right or wrong, it's going to change people's lives. It's going to change the world and it's going to change you."

     The art is pretty good but, once again, it was drawn by two different art teams. Patrick Gleason penciled the first two issues, then Doug Mahnke did the next two and both worked on the final issue. It's somewhat distracting but, at this point I'm used to it. At least, in this case, Mahnke's issues tended to be the darker, more action driven ones, providing a contrast to Gleason's, which are the quitter more character driven ones. It's really distracting in the final issue though, where you literally have Mahnke's art on one page and then Gleason's on the next. Inkers include Mick Gray, Joe Prado, Ray McCarthy and Jaime Mendoza while Wil Quintana and John Kalisz provided the colors for most of the story, though some of it was done digitally by HiFi Design.

     In the end, Back Dawn is an important chapter in Tomasi and Gleason's run on Superman, even if it's middling in quality.

Score: 7/10

Batman #50 and other comic reviews (Saturday Evening Cartoons) (Video)

I did a bunch of video reviews for recent comics this week...

Batman #50 by Tom King

Superman #1 by Brian Michael Bendis

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #21 by Jody Houser

Daredevil #605 by Charles Soule

Wonder Woman #50 by James Robinson

Hopefully I'll get back to Tomasi's Superman next week.

Saturday Evening Cartoons: Superman Reborn

     The first big crossover of Tomasi and Gleason's run, Superman Reborn, sees their Superman title crossover with Dan Jurgen's Action Comics. Like most comic book crossovers it's a mixed bag. It does push forward certain story threads that have been building since DC Rebirth. We see more of Mr. Oz for one thing but, more importantly, this Superman's intrusion into this timeline is finally reconciled and the real identity of the Clark Kent doppelganger that had been stalking Superman's family in Action Comics, is revealed.

     Long story short: It's Mr. Mxyzptlk. Having been captured by Mr. Oz during his most recent attempt to mess with the Man of Steel, Mxyzptlk is imprisoned for an undisclosed amount of time, only to escape using Superman's old trick of saying his own name backwards (Kltpzyxm). Continually pursued by Oz Mxy disguises himself as Clark Kent and cast a spell on himself so that he would believe he really was the mild mannered reporter. Seeing Superman and his family makes him remember who he is however and he plots to exact revenge on Superman for seemingly forgetting about him for all the years he was imprisoned by Mr. Oz.

     The story opens with him arriving at the Kent's house and leaving a "present" for Jon: a photo album which causes the house and its inhabitants to begin fading from existence. When Jon disappears Superman and Lois go to the apartment of the Clark Kent Doppelganger to get answers. They eventually discover that he is Mxyzptlk, who challenges Superman to a game in order to get Jon back. He brings them to some kind of inter-dimensional plane, where they begin to lose their memories of Jon, and of being married.

     Meanwhile, Jon has come in contact with the life-forces of New 52 versions of his parents, trapped, it seems in the dimensional rift where Mxyzptlk has brought Jon. After he is freed by Clark, who then completely looses his memory of Jonathan, Jon is able to free the New 52 versions of Lois and Clark, but he doesn't know that they are not his parents and doesn't understand why they don't recognize him. He pleads with them to remember him and they decide to try. This leads (somehow) to their merging with their pre-Flashpoint selves.

     The implications of all this is that there are no longer two versions of Superman and Lois Lane existing simultaneous in the current DC continuity. There just the Pre-Flashpoint versions which now also lived through most of the events of the New 52 continuity, though I'm unclear which ones or how this all fits together. Rebirth revealed that some mysterious entity (many think it's Doctor Manhattan) stole 10 years from the lives of every DC character. Superman has now gotten that time back.

     If your confused by all of this don't worry, I think everyone was. It's unfortunately the nature of continuity driven stories. My real problem with this crossover is that too little story gets stretched out over 4 issues. I mean essentially what happens here is that Mxyzptlk kidnaps Jon, reveals himself to Superman and is then summarily defeated by Jon through some kind of magic/sci-fi mumbo jumbo. There's threads of a really interesting story here. Superman and Lois both struggle to maintain there grip on reality and its possible that their life, as they know it, will come to an end. But the emotional impact of this never really takes affect because the story is more concerned with "fixing" the continuity.

     The art is pretty solid, though once again two different teams worked on it. Patrick Gleason (pencils) and Mick Gray (inks) worked on the Superman issues while Doug Mahnke (pencils) and Jaime Mendoza (inks) did the art for Action Comics. Both artists really go all out with the trippy Mxyzptlk stuff. Its excessively bright and vibrant but also has a surreal, reality bending quality to it. Steve Ditko (R.I.P.) would be proud. With that said,the two artist's styles don't really blend perfectly, with Mahnke's being more realistic and Gleason's much more cartoony. some of Mahnke's facial work from Action Comics #975 is honestly pretty bad. The proportions are off and the shape of characters' heads appears really inconsistent. There's also a back up story in this issue written by Paul Dini with art by Brian Churchill. Churchill's art is generally much more consistent then Mahnke's and he does a lot of cool stuff with Mxyzptlk. 

     Overall, while I'm glad the overarching plot finally moves forward, Superman Reborn is lacking in a solid, human story and feels overly long and overblown for what it is: a 60's style superhero romp that (more or less) solidifies the current continuity.

Score: 6/10

Saturday Evening Cartoons: Superman, Volume 3: Multiplicity

     Superman, Volume 3: Multiplicity collects three different stories. The first is a crossover with Swamp Thing from the first Superman Annual. Being a Swamp Thing story, this gets pretty tripy at times. It starts with the fields around Superman's farm dryin up. After some fruitless investigation, Swamp Thing shows up. He believes that Superman is causing a disturbance in The Green because their is some kind of anomaly between him and the earth. He offers to cleanse Superman but Clark is initially reluctant and the two (of course) end up fighting. In the end Superman sees reason and allows himself to be "bonded" with Swamp Thing, who fixes the anomaly through some scientific mumbo jumbo. The artwork by Jorge Jiménez, Alejandro Sanchez is really beautiful, though there is some inconsistent facial work. The story, unfortunately, isn't great. There is simply no reason for the fight between Superman and Swamp Thing, so the whole thing feels contrived and, in the end, anti-climatic.

     The main story collected is Multiplicity, sees Superman get mixed up with the Justice League Incarnate, a multiversal (is that a word?) version of the Justice League created by Grant Morison for his Multiversity miniseries. The story begins with Clark meeting Red Son Superman, who warns him that someone called Prophecy is coming before being attacked by an army of humanoids called the Gatherers. He then overhears that the Gatherers are planning to capture Kenan Kong, the Superman of China.

     It turns out that Prophecy is trying to capture Supermen throughout the multiverse who are on his "Lyst." After defeating the Gatherers, Clark and Red Son Superman are met by the Justice League Incarnate who are also investigating Prophecy and the disappearance of the Supermen. Clark decides to team up with them to stop Prophecy. They travel to the various earth's to try and warn the Supermen there before they are captured but the Gatherers keep thwarting them so Superman comes up with a plan to take the fight to Prophecy. He allows himself to be captured so the League can track him to Prophecy's location.

     This story is delightfully absurd. Superman uses music (yes music!) to lead the Justice League International to Prophecy and he and the other heroes get some really inspiring moments. I can't compare it to Multiversity as I didn't read that book, but I am guessing that it is far less meta then Morrison's story. For me, this is a good thing. I don't want a lot of self aware weirdness invading my Superman book. Multiplicity also includes some set up for later on as we learn that Prophecy was capturing the Superman in order to take their power for himself so that he can stop a greater looming threat that he knows is coming.

     This arc was drawn by like six different artists including Ivan Reis (on #14), Clay Mann on (#15 and 16), Ryan Sook, Ed Benes, and Jorge Jiménez (all on #15) and Tony S. Daniel (on #16). Because of this the art is kind of all over the place but they sort of make it work by having different artist tackle different Earths in the multiverse. I still found the radically different art styles from page to page a bit distracting though.

     The final story is a one-shot entitled "Dark Harvest" which sees Jon and his friend Kathy Branden search for her grandfather, who has gone after their prize cow Bessie who went missing in the woods. There, they run into some increasingly bizarre situations and are followed by a mysterious dark man, who at one point grows giant and tries to catch them. They are saved by Mr. Branden, who has found Bessie after a long search. He assumes that something in the swamps waters must have caused them to hallucinate.

     The art by Sebastian Fiumara with colors by Rob Stewart is really quite strong and has a harsh, sketchy quality that really fits the tone of this story. They do some really cool things with perspective for the more trippy, hallucinatory scenes and the use of light and shadow is really effective. This story reads like something you'd release in October despite it's April release date. It's sufficiently mysterious and creepy but there's little in the way of character growth or real drama, which is unfortunately true about all the stories in this volume.

     I think DC's twice-a-monthly shipping schedule hurt a lot of there rebirth titles and it definitely shows here. We spend most of this volume dragging our feet and teasing the larger story without moving it forward. With that said I think that Tomasi and Gleason's characterization of Superman is still spot on. There's a moment in the Multplicity story where he tells Kenan Kong, "it’s in places like this that hope burns brightest.” That's Superman. He also does a good job portraying the family dynamics between Clark, Lois and Jon, though there's sadly very little of it in this volume.

     In the end this third volume of Superman is a relative low point in Tomasi and Gleason's run. The overarching story is stalled and, unlike the last volume, the individual stories told here feel pretty inconsequential and dramatically inert. There are nice moments and the art is pretty solid overall but this volume is pretty skip-able when it's all said and done.

Score: 6/10