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Azzarello's Superman

22:51 / 13.04.04

After a disappointing run on Batman, Azzarello seems to be working on an even more unlikely character. The run starts next month and while whatever small obscure details have been discussed I can't deny it doesn't look promising.

Azzarello talks about the book here

I've been mostly disappointed by the "GREAT SUPERMAN" stories including the Moore stories and I can only really remember being stunned by Joe Kelly's "What's so funny about truth justice and the american way?" I'm hoping this is better than his other Superhero stories.

So let the speculation and anticipation begin.

23:32 / 13.04.04

Not wanting to sound like a big pessimist but Really don't see the appeal Azzarello has as a writer - I've tried both 100 bullets (first two trades) and his Hellblazer stuff and couldn't find anything that made me want to keep on reading his stuff, let alone buying it - So, am I missing something? If so, what? Why is Azerello worth reading and is 100 bullest's his best work ATM?

01:02 / 14.04.04

Azz is a writer of moments. Scenes that stand-up on their own but generate a big so-what in the end. He's not the best storyteller. His dialogue is usually cool though, and he works with some fantastic artists. SUPERMAN will be a big deal despite him - Jimmy Lee's the star there.

14:58 / 14.04.04

I agree that Azz. isn't as great a writer as he's cracked up to be. He seems to do the Raymond Chandler thing, hardcore crime stuff pretty well, but it all feels kind of one-note to me after a while. I'll be curious to see how he handles a Superhero. His Batman run was pretty poor and boring, I thought. It was literally like 100 BULLETS, just with Batman in it. I got the first four 100 BULLETS trades and while they're beautifully drawn, the story kind of rambles on. It's like SIN CITY in that every guy is either a loser or tough mother fucker, every woman is a hottie femme fatale or down-on-her-luck babe, and everyone talks that 'we're so cool Raymond Chandler' street talk. But it works for SIN CITY, and it bores me with 100 BULLETS. So we'll see how Supes goes.

Jim Lee seems much more suited for Batman than Supes. This'll be interesting.

18:48 / 14.04.04

Am I alone in finding Jim Lee's work to be generally unremarkable? I mean, there's nothing wrong with it per se, it's just straightforward, competent, essentially transparent (in the sense of it not standing out or getting in the way of the story) superhero art. Functional and inoffensive, certainly, but nothing to increase the likelihood of my buying a particular book. So I don't really get the hype; is Lee's massive popularity just post-90s/post-Image momentum, or am I some kind of acultural phillistine?

19:53 / 14.04.04

I agree with you for the most part - Lee is like the best of that Image style, which is slick & fun, but not really all that deep or seriously high-quality. So I think his appeal is partly the Image-90s retro, and partly that his work is just fun, slick comic book/superhero art. It's like more style than substance, for the most part - although Lee has been admirably trying to give it slightly more substance in the past few years (witnesses his watercolor bits in his recent Batman run, his 100 BULLETS watercolor pin-up). In interviews he's given about approaching Superman, he's made statements that make me genuinely think he's trying to challenge himself and expand his art style. I give him a lot of credit for that - how much does, say, John Byrne try to challenge himself artistically?

20:43 / 14.04.04

Am I alone in finding Jim Lee's work to be generally unremarkable?

Image artists are generally slick and very dynamic. Like a mid-period Butch Vig album production.

It also sells because some people still associate them with the collector's market, such as it is.

I think this'll be quite good, underwhelmed as I was by the fairly lacklustre, but very smartly drawn, Batman gear Azz cooked up.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

10:40 / 15.04.04

Image artists are generally slick and very dynamic. Like a mid-period Butch Vig album production.

Spot on. Yikes.

I've been having a bit of a 100 Bullets Rennaisance in my neck of the woods so I'm very charitable these days on my opinion of Azz's writing. He's got this almost operatic ability to juxtapose foreground action, background action, and subtext, a terrific knack for story construction (Check out the opening panel of "Chill In The Oven" and then the closer four issues later. Gifted.) and, as everyone's noticed, a truly love it or hate it ear for dialogue.

It seems for most people he's hit or miss. If you're feeling him, he's one of the best rides in town. He's got a very idiosynchratic ear and an insanely dense plotting style (I feel like I'll have to read 100 Bullets four times a month, all the way through, just to really be able to keep up). He also has most of his characters lead each other on with call and response Hard Boiled Punnery, but I don't know, it grows on you.

It's truly its own little universe of style that one loves or one hates.

I'm looking forward to it.

20:19 / 28.04.04

First issue of this out today!!

19:03 / 29.04.04

Eeeh...it was ok. Very talky, which I don't necessarily mind, but it was a little muddled. The whole "do you read minds" thing was interesting....the bit with Superman asking indirectly if the priest would inform about stuff someone told in confession was sort of muddied and not so clear.

Also, the story should have started with big lettering saying "ONE YEAR FROM NOW." I've read many people on message boards all confused saying 'what was he talking about?' 'was he talking about Our Worlds At War, referring to the big battle or major horrible event that took place?' I mean, stories in the comics news press about Azz's run refer to the fact that the story arc starts a year from now and then you find out that 1,000 people disappeared around the world one day, and the story goes and fills in the blanks through flashbacks... but that wasn't super-clear in the story. I'm surprised editorial didn't make the letterer put "One Year From Now" on the first page.

And the thing with him hearing "save me", rushing out to space to find Green Lantern in trouble and then being like "Oh, he doesn't need me after all, I'll just leave him alone, the 'save me' must have been coming from somewhere else, like maybe earth, millions of miles away" was weird and kinda lame.

Jim Lee's art was ok -- he's far more suited for Superman than Batman. Superman shows his limitations more, with Batman he can cheat with shadow, be more stylized, dark and 'kewl.'

What did others think?

20:06 / 29.04.04

I read through some of it in the store, but it didn't strike me as a must-have, certainly nothing I can't wait to read in the inevitable TP if it gets good reviews overall.

Keith, like a scientist

23:41 / 29.04.04

I definitely thought the writing on this was muddled. Very confusing. I keep thinking that I had missed an issue or an entire storyline. Started to make some sense at the end, but still the setup to this storyline is pretty weak.

Let's hope it gets better as the plot thickens.

Art was top-notch, of course. Hard to deny Lee.

03:55 / 01.05.04

The writing is just rambling and very disconnected but I'm still interested in seeing where it goes.

I liked the art. I don't see why Risso couldn't draw this instead of that horrible Batman story. Lee shined in a few places but I'm not a fan and could do with another artist.

05:54 / 01.05.04

On the whole I liked this issue quite a bit, and maybe it's just me but I think Azz has a much better take on Kal El than Batman... thoughts?

10:09 / 04.05.04

Never read Superman but it was next to the til when I was buying my comics so I got it...

Seemed to setup the premise quite nicely but I was wondering , are all the Superman books in the same continuity ? Doesn't Superman talk about Lois disappearing ? Isn't she is one of the other books ?

Spyder Todd 2008

18:32 / 04.05.04

I haven't read any 100 Bullets (yet), but I really liked Banner. However, the Batman run was downright awful. I found it nearly impossible to read on a monthly basis.
I'm not a Supes fan, but I'll probably read this in trade eventually. Whatever.

20:14 / 04.05.04

Well, I am a fan of 100 Bullets, and some of Azz's earlier crime stuff was nice. But his Hellblazer was criminally bad in my opinion, and his Batman was completely off. But taking a look at some previews, his Superman looks better than his Batman already.

On the same note, did anyone see Lee's interview in Wizard about Superman? I was not a fan of Lee's Batman art, and I disagreed with a couple things he said in the interview, but I felt a lot of it was spot on about Superman. Now I have to find my copy again.

02:20 / 29.05.04

I'm beginning to see why people hate De-compressed storytelling in comics.

Two months, two comics and nothing has happened. If anyone if you didn't pick it up, you didn't miss much in part 2.

Cowboy Scientist

04:29 / 29.05.04

I don't see why Risso couldn't draw this instead of that horrible Batman story.

I live in the same city that Eduardo Risso (Rosario, Argentina), and I go to his studio frequently. I asked about this a while ago, he said that he hates superheroes. DC offered him most of the main characters. He only acepted to draw Batman because it's more "believable" than the others.

He(Azzarello)'s got this almost operatic ability to juxtapose foreground action, background action, and subtext, a terrific knack for story construction

Almost every time, this is Eduardo's work. In the first issues, Azzarello would put detailed descriptions of what's going on in the panel, but then -asked by Risso- Azzarello started to loosen up a bit, and describe only the foreground action.

And this is completely off-topic, but I am gettiing this out of my chest. Buenos Aires (our capital) doesn't look as pictured in X-Force 119. That looks like a jungle village, while it really is more like New York.

Also, we don't say "Ole".

04:44 / 29.05.04

The whole thing seems like they're trying to take the thunder off of the Loeb/Lee/Williams run on Batman and apply it to Superman, hoping no one noticed that it's Azzarello instead of Loeb. Seriously.

03:14 / 30.05.04

But the industry press and so on rate Azzarello higher than Loeb; Azz wins awards an' t'ing. Loeb gets 'old pro' respect.

Anyway, I'm really quite enjoying this. The two plots thus far unearthed place Superman under extreme duress, which is cool.

06:50 / 30.05.04

Well, I'll say this and then leave it alone so as not to derail this thread, but I'm enjoying Azzarello's writing on Superman much more than I did on Batman. For one, Batman does not smile. He does not make witty repartee back-and-forth with Killer Croc, of all characters. It was 100 Bullets in a batsuit.

Spyder Todd 2008

18:54 / 03.06.04

Agreed, except that I still haven't read 100 Bullets. It was cool in Dark Knight when Bats was old and crazy and retro-silver age, but modern Bats just didn't work like that. (Plus the whole Bruce not talking to his parents on the night they died thing seemed outside continuity to me.)