When Words Collide - Jan 14, 2013

[Mr_Wayne]

so this is a superman that doesn't correspond with morrison's pre-new 52 visions of him, but wait, he shouldn't be a man of the people (which he was in his original action 1 debut), but wait the artist is the problem because he's just not good enough (like he was in identity crisis???), but wait, this superman should hold to the same mythos as batman in the pre-52 version, but wait, lex luthor isn't terribly bad yet ( and shouldn't have the opportunity to grow into an evil guy) but wait why isn't morrison leading to my own personal (misinterpreted) vision of superman which is a composite from various unrelated works published prior to the new 52?
Dear cbr, in the future can you please provide meaningful articles that are not crafted by someone with add and actually have some verifiable comic background from at least the past 10 years? 5 years?! Please???????? None of us enjoy these whiney nit-picky extremely personal type of ramblings.

this!!!!!!

[Rithmomachy]

Morrison's Action has had some flaws, but it's been a brilliant run, as far as I'm concerned. The biggest problems have been the inconsistent art and the horrible effect of putting the LoS two-parter in the middle of the first arc, but both of those can be overlooked, IMO. It's not like the entirety of Morrison's Superman has had the same artist, so even though multiple artists in individual issues is distracting, it's less significant when you consider the whole work. The interruption of the two-parter absolutely killed the momentum of the first arc and was a terrible decision, but it was rectified in the trade collection. If you read them in the intended order, the entire run reads much more coherently and doesn't feel nearly as herky-jerky.

As for the rest of the criticisms in the article, I haven't read Morrison's entire Superman oeuvre, but it seems to me that most of what you don't like is inevitable from the fact that it's essentially a prequel to the rest of what he's done. If Superman is to eventually transcend his physical nature, then of course in his earliest adventures he has to be physical. Putting Action in the context of the whole saga also makes Captain Comet a brilliant and powerful piece of "foreshadowing" (aftshadowing?) showing that Superman's progression to transcendence isn't an inevitable triumph but could have been a disaster or a tragedy. It's the fact that it's Superman who's becoming a god that makes the story what it is, and it's the fact that he started out as a physical, human (apparently) "scrapper" that makes the transcendence sublime. It's sort of a reverse Christ story.

That's just one element of what makes this a great run, IMO. I also love Clark struggling with his identitity, and despite what you say, I love the slightly low-key, not quite fully fledged Luthor. I love the potential the Anti-Superman Army has for the future, while still calling back to classic Silver Age stories. (And doesn't it make a sort of sense that a group of Silver-Agey villains is responsible for propelling Clark from a Golden-Agey Superman to a Silver-Agey Superman!) And I love the fact that even though it's a prequel of sorts, the entire saga is threatened by Vyndktvx. The only thing I hate is that name.

[Trilipush]

Rithmomachy: I wish I wrote that post. Right on the money.

[Beorn]

"Superman isn't a guy who wears t-shirts and jeans and workboots and threatens corrupt businessmen. He's not a hesitant young man who wears space armor and waits for things to happen to him. He's a demi-god who saves planets and retreats into the heart of the sun to be reborn for the future. That's the Superman Morrison is more comfortable with. That's the one worth reading about."

Why would I buy a Morrison Superman story that's just a rehash of a previous story of his? Morrison's writing a story about a young (and different, New 52 Clark's origins are quite different when it comes to a few fundamental values ie. Ma and Pa Kent being quite dead) inexperienced Superman finding his feet, and connecting with humanity for the first time as Superman. Especially after the latest issue, I hope we see hum rising up to to help Superman as he has helped them, kinda like his JLA run.. Can't wait though, really loved this run.

No disrespect Timothy, your opinion is valid, but I if you're a Morrison fan disappointed with the fact that he didn't go with the obvious story/repeat what's been done already then you should probably find a new creator to drool over.

[PL36]

When the book was first announced, I figured that Morrison would take us through Superman's evolution from the "Scrappy Underdog Champion of the Oppressed" to the more modern and recognisable version of the character. I thought that at the beginning of the arc, Superman would be unsure of himself and his place in the world, embodied by his limited superpowers (just a guy who is really strong and can jump a long way).

As the series progressed, I foresaw Superman undergoing a Morrison-style metaphysical shamanic ascension (returning to Krypton through time travel/ meeting the pre-reboot Superman/ meeting godlike superbeings that resembled Siegel and Shuster) in which he would learn to become the more well known "Man of Steel" persona and gain his more fantastical superpowers. I figured that the final issue would culminate with him donning the New 52 costume and becoming the one true superman (thereby justifying the series being a prequel and legitimising the reboot).

But I was wrong. None of that happened. Instead, we got a deliberately fractured tale about Superman battling an evil imp. It just feels like a missed opportunity for Morrison to give the character a definitive origin (in the same way that All Star could be seen as Superman's definitive ending).

I like Morrison's work and I liked Action Comics but in my own personal canon, Superman: Birthright remains Superman's origin.

[pkastner]

This is pretty spot-on, Tim. Although I think mess on the art side of things hurts this series way more what Morrison has done. Almost every issue, there's a back-up or fill-in artist that makes me go, "wow, I wish this guy was drawing the whole series." I can see how DC thought it was a good idea to put Morales on this series. He does seem ideal for a "Superman as Springsteen" approach. But his execution has been terrible. His design-sense is awful and his inability to complete one whole issue has absolutely destroyed this series. (And I say this as someone who has enjoyed his art in the past.)

[cgh]

"This wasn't what I expected so I don't like it." No wonder Morrison is giving up on superheroes for a while. He doesn't do slavering fan-service.

[mdg1]

"This wasn't what I expected so I don't like it." No wonder Morrison is giving up on superheroes for a while. He doesn't do slavering fan-service.

I honestly don't understand this statement. After all, why does anyone buy a new title these days?

1. Because you like the character
2. Because you like the creative team.
3. Because you are interested in the solicited story.


In each of those cases, you come at the book with expectations, based on prior experiences. And if the expectations don't match the reality, is disliking the book such a surprise?

Indeed, I'd say continuing to buy the book even though you dislike it is more fanboyish than voting with your wallet.

In my case, I find T-shirt Supes insufficiently inspiring, so I dropped the book.

[cgh]

I honestly don't understand this statement. After all, why does anyone buy a new title these days?

1. Because you like the character
2. Because you like the creative team.
3. Because you are interested in the solicited story.


In each of those cases, you come at the book with expectations, based on prior experiences. And if the expectations don't match the reality, is disliking the book such a surprise?

Indeed, I'd say continuing to buy the book even though you dislike it is more fanboyish than voting with your wallet.

In my case, I find T-shirt Supes insufficiently inspiring, so I dropped the book.

Of course, if you simply aren't enjoying something, don't read it. But the writer of this article stated it as some sort of larger, objective fact that this run "went awry" when many people loved it because it felt so fresh and unexpected. I tend to get annoyed when people state an opinion as though it's a fact that is objectively provable, like it's on the same level as the prime number theorem or something.

He also didn't like it because it wasn't what he was expecting from Morrison - he wanted confirmation for what he already knew, like a warm down comforter of a story (in other words, confirmation bias). Morrison has often stated his desire to shake people out of their doldrums and I guess this Superman run did it for this guy.

Finally, coming at a book with expectations is one thing, but coming at it hoping for a repetition of the past is another. That's fan-service, and it's the death of creativity. No creator wants this, but unfortunately a lot of fans do.

[toddx77]

I liked Morrisons run in the beginning and was hoping that Superman would stay in his Jeans and T shirt longer as I liked that for a starting outfit. I love Birth Right and Secret Origin (Preferred Secret Origin) so wasn't really sure how I would feel about another Superman Origin story so soon. While it does not beat Secret Origin or Birthright I enjoyed it but towards the middle it wasn't as strong and the current story arc I am not really liking. I was really looking forward though to a book basically about young Superman saving people and doing good for Metropolis while everyone got to know him.

[mdg1]

Of course, if you simply aren't enjoying something, don't read it. But the writer of this article stated it as some sort of larger, objective fact that this run "went awry" when many people loved it because it felt so fresh and unexpected. I tend to get annoyed when people state an opinion as though it's a fact that is objectively provable, like it's on the same level as the prime number theorem or something.

I thought Timothy was clear that he was stating his opinion:

So here's my thinking on that topic, knowing that we still have one more issue left to go and Morrison has a strong record with endings, so there may be more substance in the completed series than what we've seen so far. But most of the flaws of "Action Comics" can't be saved by even the best imaginable ending. These fault lines run pretty deep. The foundation is irreparably cracked.

The problems, as I see them:

Emphasis mine.

I also think we disagree on a fundamental premise of yours... you say "repetition" I say "consistency". But I'm in no mood to argue the point.

[halj2814]

This run has been perhaps slightly underwhelming, but I think the expectations were a bit too high as well. To think this would be on the same level as All-Star (or better) was unrealistic. All-Star Superman is a hall of famer, a rare gem that can never be duplicated. So, he didn't try to and created this version of Superman instead. It's been a bit disjointed in pacing and art but I think reading it all at once will help the experience. Did it fall a bit short of "redefining Superman for the modern age"? Yes, but it's still been a very enjoyable and clever re-imagining/telling of the Superman mythos. The new Braniac/Collector, Xadu, the Phantom Zone, Krypto, the 5th dimension stuff, Meteor Man, etc. has all been hitting the right nostalgia chords while still having a fresh perspective. I don't mind the new Luthor either, he's just kind of an unlikable smart guy who happens to not like Superman, it's a bit dull when he's just over the top evil for the sake of evil. I still think Inc. is better and that this Action run falls short of Morrison's pantheon but it's still one of the top 5 New52 titles so far.

[Brian from Canada]

My biggest issue (pardon the pun) with Morrison's Action Comics is that he seemed unable to reconcile its setting five years before a universe that we were experiencing as it was unfolding.

The jeans and t-shirt, leap instead of fly Superman that debuted in the series offered a glimpse into what could have been, and we saw some attempt in Perez's first story to connect the social consciousness, but what followed in Action was not leading into Superman at all. Lex Luthor vanished from the books until Morrison figured out the path for him. Brainiac didn't follow up, and the taking of the ship for Superman's fortress was not followed up with a story that linked fortress to fortress and space ship to Watchtower.

Morrison jumps from ideas to ideas, focusing on the fantastic. Action Comics needed someone in the 52 to really lay groundwork with another writer. It was a bad fit: Morrison would have been better on Superman with someone else on Action, or a book relatively disconnected from the rest of the DCU, such as Flash, Stormwatch, etc. that only peripherally interacted with other books.

[Kurosawa]

I loved a lot of what he did and what he meant to do, but I think the social crusader, Champion of the Oppressed Superman was just abandoned too quickly. It went from have a strong promised direction to being all over the place. Now all the Superman titles are doing the same thing, and they're going to add a third title to further muddy the waters, although with the inevitable Lee delays it won't last 10 issues with him on it anyway.

Superman needs a strong editor with a real vision.

[Rithmomachy]

Hard to argue with any of that, Kurosawa, though I do think when you read straight through in the corrected order it's a lot more coherent than it seemed. I think Morrison had a strong idea of where he wanted to go with the story and how to get there, but I think because he had to get from his ideal starting point (jeans-wearing social crusader) to the armor-clad, super-powerful sun-god-in-the-making that would mesh with both DC's vision and his own Superman saga in just five years of story time and a dozen and a half issues of comic, he had to compress a lot of the Golden Age stuff or merely allude to it. Still, part of his job was to set a table that others could dine at, and although that didn't work out with Perez and Giffen, Lobdell has him back in jeans again in Superman (if temporarily) and Justice League has alluded to his social crusader aspect I think. So there's potential for those things to carry forward.