Joe Kelly Superman Run?

[ExoKnight]

Just out of curiosity, how long was Joe Kelly writer of Action Comics? Was it five years? I know alot of people didn't like Joe Kelly on JLA, but reading some of his Superman material that has been collected in tpb, I quite enjoy his version of superman. Godfall was a blast to read, he did a nice job six volume (Endgame to Return to Krypton). Anyone has any opinion on Joe Kelly run? Worth tracking down the rest of it?

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

He was on about 4 years (Action #760 to #810). Issue #775 is brilliant. The stories before then are pretty fun, too. Beyond #775, I think he had some good stories there, too, but I also think he may've gotten a little bored with the assignment after a while, and began either repeating himself or forcing elements into the book that didn't really fit. 'Harvest' (#802-805) started off interestingly enough, but had one of the worst endings ever; and 'Supergirls' (#806-808) was just an abomination. Bottom line: there was a GREAT story, some good ones, and some areas where you might wanna be careful where you step. All in all, kind of a mixed bag.

[Young Avenger]

About Action #775, was it a stand alone issue or part of a story arc? I heard great things about the issue and I'm interested in reading it. Has it been collected on a TBP?

[ExoKnight]

Collected in Justice League Elite Volume 1.

[ExoKnight]

What issue did Manchester Black die in? Also, how did he die?

[Bat-Mite]

Don't remember the exact issue, but I think it was during a small crossover.

SPOILER:
In the end, Manchester Black tries to piss off Superman enough to make him kill him, and therefor prove Superman is a hypocrite. Of course, Superman doesn't do that, so Manchester Black gets to see what a great guy Supes is, so he ends up committing suicide.
/SPOILER

[cactusmaac]

Issue #766 of Action Comis is also really good.

One of the best Superman\Batman team-ups I've read.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

Don't remember the exact issue, but I think it was during a small crossover.

SPOILER:
In the end, Manchester Black tries to piss off Superman enough to make him kill him, and therefor prove Superman is a hypocrite. Of course, Superman doesn't do that, so Manchester Black gets to see what a great guy Supes is, so he ends up committing suicide.

But Manchester Black reappears in Justice League Elite, right? So did he die at the end of that maxiseries? How?

[ExoKnight]

I think Manchester Black appear in JLElite more as a dream sequence then him being actually alive. If you pick up the tpb vol. 1. Joe Kelly mention during his introduction that Manchester Black was a one/two trick pony and he intentionally killed him off so he couldn't be used by others.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

I think Manchester Black appear in JLElite more as a dream sequence then him being actually alive. If you pick up the tpb vol. 1. Joe Kelly mention during his introduction that Manchester Black was a one/two trick pony and he intentionally killed him off so he couldn't be used by others.

I see. Manchester Black was a GREAT villain. It was a pity to see him die during Kelly's run.

Thanks for clearing that up.

[astronato]

Last night I read a Joe Kelly Superman/Batman story that is featured in the recent Batman/Superman Greatest Stories Ever Told tpb and I really disliked it. It was "Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before". The dialogue was excruciatingly bad. "Edgy" jokes about sausage parties, brokeback mountain references, Lois cursing. All of that would be fine with me in another book but in a Superman/Batman story it just seemed very out of place. Was his Action run like that story?

[Joe Acro]

Don't remember the exact issue, but I think it was during a small crossover.

SPOILER:
In the end, Manchester Black tries to piss off Superman enough to make him kill him, and therefor prove Superman is a hypocrite. Of course, Superman doesn't do that, so Manchester Black gets to see what a great guy Supes is, so he ends up committing suicide.
/SPOILER
You left out the part where he
mind-wipes Lex Luthor.

[PatrickG]

Sometimes. That was more like his Superboy run.

His Action run was generally a lot more serious but it did TEND to have that whirlwind tour quality.

I don't think Joe Kelly or most people in comics consider a line about a group of guys being a "sausage party" to be edgy.

And most readers anymore see Lois as someone who curses. Anything stronger than "damn" wouldn't actually see print in a Superman comic. And lately, DC seems cautious about the word "damn" coming out of the mouths of Super-Family characters, so much that a Superboy line from INFINITE CRISIS was relettered by the second printing, even though "damn" has been a staple of Superman's own vocabulary for a decade or more.

[PatrickG]

Sometimes. That was more like his Superboy run.

His Action run was generally a lot more serious but it did TEND to have that whirlwind tour quality.

I don't think Joe Kelly or most people in comics consider a line about a group of guys being a "sausage party" to be edgy.

And most readers anymore see Lois as someone who curses. Anything stronger than "damn" wouldn't actually see print in a Superman comic. And lately, DC seems cautious about the word "damn" coming out of the mouths of Super-Family characters, so much that a Superboy line from INFINITE CRISIS was relettered by the second printing, even though "damn" has been a staple of Superman's own vocabulary for a decade or more.

[astronato]

And most readers anymore see Lois as someone who curses.

I don't understand what you mean there.


And I didn't think it was edgy. I thought it was juvenile.

[JaeYu1]

I'm a huge fan of Joe Kelly. I really enjoyed his run on Action Comics, JLA, JLA Elite & Superboy. Superboy ended lamely, but I blame it more on that damn Joker cross-over that everyone was forced to tie into. You could tell Kelly wrote that last issue through gritted teeth.