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All-Star Superman

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03:59 / 24.11.05

that was a fair impression of the comic.

unlike some reviews around the internerd that couldn't
barely GET the issue for what it is.

yawn - thing's buddy

08:43 / 24.11.05

empty's the right word.

13:38 / 25.11.05

As someone said above it's a great trailer for the Absolute All-Star Superman hardback that should be available for Christmas 2010 at the earliest. Not enough here for me to keep trudging down to the store every three months though.
Also...

Well I'm here wih none other than Lex Luthor himself, who happens to be celebrating his fiftieth birthday! (turns to Luthor) Well Mr Luthor you must feel like those poor people who have birthday's around Christmas. After all we've barely gotten over celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Superman's arrival. Bet you wish you'd aged as well as he has!" (Luthor doesn't laugh.)

Aeschylus it's not, but I wish GM would take a bit more time to dramatize Luthor's feelings rather than just have him blurt out "I'm getting old, so I've got to really kill Superman!" It feels like its the writer talking instead of the character. (And why does he want to kill Superman anyway? 'Because he's the villain' isn't good enough.)

All in all, very pretty but more like a snack than a good wholesome meal.

Are Being Stolen By Bandits

14:57 / 25.11.05

why does he want to kill Superman anyway? 'Because he's the villain' isn't good enough.

But it is! It really, really is, particularly in the type of imagination-heavy, internal-logic-lite Silver Age comics this seemed to be trying to replicate.

15:44 / 25.11.05

Yeah! its trying to distance itself from marvel style emotional exposition, ASS isnt about soap opera its about superman flying on the surface of the sun an stuff.

16:31 / 25.11.05

Giving characters reasons for their actions doesn't mean you're turning it into soap opera. Should we see 6 issues on Lex Luthor's emotional state? Hell, no! But right now he doesn't feel like real character, but rather a plot device. Now this is definitely in keeping with old-style comic books (hence the term 'comic book character') but I thought the point of ASS was to use the raw imagination of the silver-age but leave behind the less mature aspects.

16:32 / 25.11.05

I thought it was great. Loved the line about Lex's aging spider's webs. It's a toy box of SF & Superman ideas. It was a light read to a certain extent but I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the rest of the run.

17:53 / 25.11.05

Does anyone have the latest Wizard? Apparently, Morrison drops a couple of details in it (e.g. the new powers in issue #1 were an homage to Electric Superman). I'd like verification before I add it to the annos.

20:03 / 25.11.05

go. go look again at the panels where clark saves the old guy crossing the street. pay attention to what happens to the guy's hat, pipe and newspaper from one panel to the next. it's smile inducing.

20:40 / 25.11.05

Clark is a TIDY superhero

21:47 / 25.11.05

hahahaha loved it! Clark is deliberatly pre-planning every "clumsy" action (and he's fast!).

call me stupid (please do!), but why the title "Faster"?

miss wonderstarr

22:41 / 25.11.05

I thought it was "...than a speeding bullet", and presumed we'd have "Stronger" next. But maybe I'm thinking too much, or not enough.

Kingdom Come also used snatches of the classic Superman slogans, didn't it? "Never-Ending Battle" was the final part, as I remember.

Sorry, this is a weak post.

23:27 / 25.11.05

Not at all, Kovacs. Even if the "faster than..." is incorrect, that's one view I'll gladly take for myself (but it seems pretty spot on).

Never been too much of a Supes fan, and in 20 years I've only watched the Super films (I and II) for the first time recently, so my knowledge of Superman is really weak, so these kind of small little treasures slip away from me sometimes.

I only wish there was some type of temple forum for each comic Grant writes, trying to speculate the methods and magical-semiosis paths he used (assuming he uses his mutating "insert-yourself" model on almost every comic he writes...). I remember him saying some effect when writing AllStarSuperman...

00:08 / 26.11.05

"Faster than a speeding bullet"

I was confused at first too. Was the stroy so named because of his race from the sun to the moon to save the kid and meet Perry's countdown? Or what? Then I asked myself why "the speeding bullet" was ommitted.

Luthor fired the speeding bullet.

Supes caught it, but like all bullets, it was designed and aimed to kill. And now Superman's racing against time.

01:45 / 26.11.05

Yeah makes a lot of sense. All his Strenghts will be the very source of his future Weaknesses and Challenges or defeat, perhaps...

Super's in a lot of trouble now that he's REALLY more powerfull...

04:46 / 26.11.05

Luthor clearly [in his past incarnations] acts out of anger and envy for not being the most powerful guy in the planet and fear of having a demigod alien stopping his every criminal act...

that's enough for a motivation, innit? this is the distilled version. Pontius Pilate and Prometheus in one guy. and I suppose the issue with both Lex and Supes in jail will cover the subject.

Sparrow, there's this on Grant's meeting with the Superman guy that inspired ASS #1's cover and some other traits. and I read elsewhere [very recent interview] about working on Supes having re-ignited his "internal sun"...

miss wonderstarr

09:01 / 26.11.05

It does seem the most obvious interpretation; that the titles refer to Superman's powers. The trouble with this reading is that the formula will run out soon: all we've got left is

"More powerful..." [than a locomotive -- I thought it was "stronger than a locomotive", but apparently not]

"Able to leap..."

"Look, up in the sky..." and then "It's a bird", "It's a plane."

So there's not really much mileage left in that idea.

NB. Kingdom Come ran like this:
Strange Visitor
Truth and Justice
Up in the Sky
Never-Ending Battle

Derived from the 1952 "Adventures of Superman" TV show, which I must have watched on re-run because I remember this introduction:

Voices: "Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!
It's Superman!"
Announcer: "Yes, it's Superman, strange visitor from another
planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities
far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can
change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in
his bare hands; and who, disguised as Clark Kent,
mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan
newspaper, fights a never ending battle for truth,
justice, and the American way."

09:38 / 26.11.05

Mario, the latest issue of Wizard has a Director's Cut Commentary from Morrison on ASS #1. He does say that the new power is a nod to the Electric Blue Superman, and also that he will get some more actual new powers as well, as the story dictates. It's probably worthwhile picking up if you're doing annotations, with tidbits like Jimmy being a cross between Tin-Tin and the preppy, golf-punk style. "He's got to stay in fashion but also look kind of out of fashion as well."

It's Wizard's Best of 2005 issue as well, and ASS #1 got best single issue of the year and We3 Best mini. To quote Michael Bluth, I'm fine with that.

Plus info on how to charge the sigil on Robbie William's new album cover. "The sigil on the CD cover is actually a two-dimensional circuit designed to accelerate the global evolutionary process, among other things - the idea being that when you press the Robster's fingertip, you help activate the circuit along with millions of others."

Our Lady Has Left the Building

10:02 / 26.11.05

Hang on. What new power?

miss wonderstarr

10:46 / 26.11.05

"Extending his own bioelectric field."

"You've manifested ONE new super-power and OTHERS may appear."

10:51 / 26.11.05

Yeah, when he drags the shuttle away from the sun, he's controlling magnetic and bioelectric fields, like he could as the Electric Blue Superman. For an example, see JLA #7(?) when he creates magnetic poles on the moon to stop it from crashing into the Earth.

12:51 / 26.11.05

OK, so it looks like the Electric Supes thing is the only real tidbit about issue #1. I'll add it to the wiki later today.

12:59 / 26.11.05

Read it this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it. Am kinda burned out on Superhero stuff, what with the huge-everything-is-tied-in-universe-foreveraltering crossovers going on right now, and working in a comic shop is aggravating that burnout, BUT, man i loved this book. Its so great to see a large and in charge Supes, Lex is even cooler than his Morrison JLA run version and SO many great throwaway ideas. And Morrison a=has nailed the characterization to the wall.
Larger than Life Superpowered Shenanigans, Cant wait for the next one.

Keith, like a scientist

13:30 / 26.11.05

Also, in the Wizard director's commentary article, they highlight the part where Clark trips and catches that guy's coffee. I never quite understood if that panel had another level to it, but Grant makes a comment that leads me to believe that this was similar to Clark bumping into that guy in the epilogue. Maybe everyone else understood this, but it seems that Clark tripped over that purse on the ground so that the man with the coffee wouldn't trip and spill his hot coffee all over himself. Doesn't seem life threatening, but I guess it's just nice.

14:01 / 26.11.05

anything else worth noting in that Wizard GM director's commentary?

14:03 / 26.11.05

>> and I read elsewhere [very recent interview] about working on Supes having re-ignited his "internal sun"...

What does this mean? That Supes will solve the problem of having too much solar energy in his cells by discovering/igniting a power energy source within himself? Just speculation of course, and I doubt we're supposed to know just what GM's statement on this means, but I was wondering what others thought it meant... where was this very recent interview?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:37 / 26.11.05

I assumed Morrison means his own creativity was ignited by working on Supes, FW.

Keith, like a scientist

17:31 / 26.11.05

anything else worth noting in that Wizard GM director's commentary?

I'll see if I can scan it tomorrow at work, but the only other choice bit was sort of a SPOILER:

"Oh, [going to prison] is definitely what Luthor wants. We actually see that in issue #5, Clark Kent gets trapped in prison with him during a prison riot. There where we find out a lot of what Luthor is up to and his motivation is."

SPOILER bits end.

13:33 / 27.11.05

>> go look again at the panels where clark saves the old guy crossing the street. pay attention to what happens to the guy's hat, pipe and newspaper from one panel to the next. it's smile inducing.

Love it. Just priceless.

I notice Clark shows Lois his "S" on the street - the door to her apt. is on the street, it's not like they're inside or something in the building in a hallway outside her door. I guess he hopes that no one will walk by on the sidewalk seeing him display his costume under his shirt (or he'll just assume that they'll think it's a joke).

"He's not my idiot!"

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

14:51 / 28.11.05

"Planet to finger Luthor"

16:40 / 28.11.05

in the Wizard director's commentary article, they highlight the part where Clark trips and catches that guy's coffee. I never quite understood if that panel had another level to it, but Grant makes a comment that leads me to believe that this was similar to Clark bumping into that guy in the epilogue. Maybe everyone else understood this, but it seems that Clark tripped over that purse on the ground so that the man with the coffee wouldn't trip and spill his hot coffee all over himself. Doesn't seem life threatening, but I guess it's just nice.

Yeah, I never quite got this. Why does he slip, as it does look like the guy drops his coffee because Clark slips. And why does he slip the second time?

17:08 / 28.11.05

He's dropping the papers from his own folder. I suppose it's just part of his act to be constantly falling over and bumping into things. Makes it more believeable when he does it to save a guy on the street's life.

20:59 / 28.11.05

Yeah, I understood it was his own papers, but I still don't see why. Maybe it's just a character thing, as Mr Tricks suggests.

15:04 / 29.11.05

I wondered about that last panel. Originally I figgered Morrison just wanted the iconic image of Superman ripping his shirt off and exposing his "S" but I'm wondering if in issue #2 Superman will have revealed his identity to the whole world? It would seem the thing to do if he's putting his house in order.

17:04 / 29.11.05

I'm 50/50 on weither Lois will even believe Clark at first and instead will need to be flown to his fortress for Kryptonian milk & cookies.

As for anyone else noticing. It seems easy to assume that with super hearing and vision Clark would time it so no-one with-in miles would be looking in that direction.

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