Action Comics #9 - Issue Discussion Thread

[Mr. Holmes]

Plus it's more of a jab at DC back when Superman was first created, not the current regime.

[notorious_g3]

I would actually be happier with Action Comics (or Superman) if THIS was the guy we had as Superman instead of the jerk we're stuck with.

Seconded! I too prefer the back-up... "Tell me, what happens when, one day, you do what you think is 'The Greater Good' but the world sees it differently?" This is the story I want to read! And I agree, David Palmer all day long...

[Clairaudient Freedom Soldier]

Make mine Calvin Ellis, Superman done right ... let's go.

[manduck37]

Yeah, I loved this issue as well. I was surprised to see Morrison taking so many shots at DC. You had not only the lawsuit but changing Superman to be more "relevant". It was interesting to see Calvin Ellis with all the classic Superman elements and personality doing battle against a reimagined Superman desinged to be relevant. Then wrapping it up with that "I guess you're Superman done right" comment was pretty ballsy. Gotta give GM a ton of credit there.

[J. Robb]

I too prefer the back-up... "Tell me, what happens when, one day, you do what you think is 'The Greater Good' but the world sees it differently?" This is the story I want to read!

It brings back that old problem of Superman analogues being more interesting than the real thing, because they're not boxed in by his status as a corporate icon.

[NotSuper]

I like how Morrison uses the system to subvert the system. That way his ideas about Superman and the rights of creators are transmitted to the public. Of course, Roberson's approach is also good.

[greatmetropolitan]

You can't expect every writer who isn't Morrison to write like him.

I meant that it was a masterclass in how to tell a good story and tell it well, not that I wanted other writers to suddenly adopt Morrison's voice or style.

[Flash Gordon]

I loved this issue, I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of Calvin Ellis's world in future issues or Multiversity.

It wasn't really tied to the coming of age story Morrison's been writing, but yet it still was. This issue masterfully dealt with a loss of innocence through the SuperDoom story. The corruption of a pure and equal idea, which both says a lot and also couples nicely with the rest of the ongoing story.

[Desaad]

I like that the Super-Doom stuff was loose enough that, yes, it's very obviously a commentary on what DC has done to the Superman creators, and all the talk and controversy centering around creator rights - that's been the comic zeitgeist for the last year or so, I think - but it's also about the way ideas in general are constantly revamped, remolded from their pure essence into something that fits what the public needs.

I mean, you look at what was said here; they got screwed out of their rights, yeah, but the Little Man's corporation wasn't just changing the character willy nilly, he was changing the character into 'what [our] world wanted'.

It's as much a commentary on a society that prizes trauma and weakness over virtue and strength, vigilantism over real goodness. On US, the people who refuse to buy Superman, who have seen his star fall and fall and fall over the years under criticisms of being unrelatable, too powerful, too perfect, too whatever.

It's a cautionary tale for 'us'. The Superman of Earth 0 is 'our' Superman, DC is going to brand that character in such a way as to most appeal to what we want, or at least what we think we want. So it's time to grow up, or maybe remember our childhood, and believe again in pure good and right and virtue. Because if ever we have the technology to make ideas tangible, we're screwed.

Speaking of, does that sound familiar to anyone? Look at the design of the device Clark, Jimmy and Lois build; it's a Lantern battery, in blue (the color of hope).

Dig the way he's defeated; on one level, references to the phantom zone ("like a ghost") but at the same time, he's defeated the way any idea might be defeated; he's been tuned out.

I don't think Morrison is looking at Cal Ellis as "Superman done right" in a sense that is any way reductive of the work he's doing on the main character; I think he's saying that this is what HIS Superman is going to GROW into it. He's not quite there yet, he's still finding his way, still getting his footing, still letting the injustice get to him emotionally, he hasn't learned to distance himself quite yet to be maximally effective. It's an interesting point, really; I'm in med school currently, and it's something that really only comes with time, not being saddened or disgusted or scared or at least taken aback by what you see. It's something we need to learn, but it's not very HUMAN. It's a coping mechanism.

I thought the backup was fine, but nothing mind blowing. It had some solid voices, all the characters were well written, but Superman's ham fisted solution to the problem was a little disappointing. I was hoping he would have found some way to get around using his super powers - worse, his super FRIENDS - as a political tool, separating those two arenas (or at the very least only utilizing his intelligence, with the advanced predictive algorithms of Brainiac).

[Desaad]

I loved this issue, I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of Calvin Ellis's world in future issues or Multiversity.

It wasn't really tied to the coming of age story Morrison's been writing, but yet it still was. This issue masterfully dealt with a loss of innocence through the SuperDoom story. The corporation of a pure and equal idea, which both says a lot and also couples nicely with the rest of the ongoing story.

On another level entirely, I think he's hinting at a number of things here; the Teetotal Man as a transformative figure in the lives of every iteration of Superman across a multi-verse.

What I'm thinking is that he's a modern version of C.W. Saturn, and that exists across the multiverse as someone who is trying to corrupt the ultimate good -- which we all know to be the idea of Superman.

So he nurtures the development of the idea, but in such a way as suits him. In this world, he turned the purely good Superman created by Clark, Lois and Jimmy (whose morals made them weep) into SuperDoom (success!). In our universe, he presumably is trying to systematically demoralize Superman, rather than actually kill him, by destroying Suicide Slum (via GlenMorgan), and I suspect the installation of the Brainiac program as an aid from the 2-parter (unless anyone can think of a more plausibly negative thing that came out of that -- I know Brainiac currently seems benevolent, but Morrison tends to recycle his ideas a bit, and this is just the set up we had in Earth 2 until Brainiac was revealed to be the mastermind villain).

In that way, I suppose, it is quite damning to associate him with the DC comics corporation, but of course casting corporations in a villainous light is HARDLY anything new. It actually borders on cliche (and it's nice to see Morrison do the opposite in his Batman Inc, no matter how far fetched it is!).

On a less directly plot basis, I'm convinced that the "Superman Done Right" comment is saying that this is a Superman 1. Who escaped the little man's influence 2. the Superman our Clark will grow into, or at least the type of Superman he will grow into (race notwithstanding).

[Desaad]

Plus it's more of a jab at DC back when Superman was first created, not the current regime.

Lampooning the company you work for is hardly anything new. PAD does it all the time, Giffen does it all the time. Ain't no thing.

It's that Roberson came out and publically said he thought that the company was immoral, in the wrong, and that he didn't want to be associated with it anymore.

[wyokid]

lampooning the company you work for is hardly anything new. Pad does it all the time, giffen does it all the time. Ain't no thing.

It's that roberson came out and publically said he thought that the company was immoral, in the wrong, and that he didn't want to be associated with it anymore.

pad???????

[dupersuper]

Seriously. TAKE. THE. MAN. TO. THE. HOSPITAL. Then chat in the waiting room.

Yeah, especially when you can fly there and back in an eye blink.

pad???????

Peter David

[NotSuper]

I would actually be happier with Action Comics (or Superman) if THIS was the guy we had as Superman instead of the jerk we're stuck with.

Nonsense. This character is merely an evolution of the Golden Age style Superman in Action (and if you hate Superman as he was originally portrayed, aren't you just going along with those who want to alter him?), the social activist becoming a leader rather than a corporate or national tool.

[Tenacious_AA]

I liked the beginning but then the rest was boring.
I don't like the idea of Superman being president. That's a intensive job, most sups can't handle a intensive job and superheroing, it just doesn't pan out that he made it all the way to president.
Plus the fact he is black and the current president is black, makes it look very political. I'm not a fan of the current president so it makes it hard to be a fan of this character even if its a different name. This issue didn't win me over.

The Earth 2 issue was a bust for me too, it seemed like it will be a retelling of Trinity, so at this point I'll probably drop any Earth 2 issues. Even though I liked the costumes they had for the three.