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All-Star Superman

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22:53 / 18.01.06

I actually laughed out loud at that half-million-ton key. In the best way, of course.

Quitely's drawings of Superman are a bit different than in the first issue - leaner, more boyish in a way.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

23:01 / 18.01.06

It's a simple detail, but I quite liked Superman's footprints in the frost, as they're first entering the Fortress. Small, didn't notice it at first, but quite beautiful.

00:03 / 19.01.06

Is that the Not-Quite-So-Infant Universe of Qwewq sitting there in Superman's armory? (page 9, panel 2)

I keep rereading this, and love it more each time. I laugh out loud when the absurdity hits such beautiful pitches.

The shape of his body and face have altered slightly, and his eyebrows are heavier. I think Quitely may have been slightly interested in Brandon Routh's physicality and facial cues when drawing this.

I enjoy an exotic look to Superman, like the Mediterranean, heavily Greek-looking Superman of late-60's Kurt Schaffenberger.

This is going to make an extraordinary hardcover.

00:08 / 19.01.06

Could that spiky blue globe be Solaris?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

00:37 / 19.01.06

Oh gods! The horrible angst of the Adolescent Universe of Qwewq! Locked up inside some hideous blue-clad authority figure's "armoury," never able to go out to the Brane Prom! The woe!

Also: the Mirror of Truth pages. Even with Clark's glasses and posture on, the mirror shows him for who he is - Superman. A fairly unconventional characterization for today's standards, but then again, this is the Superman of the Silver Age.

I like that the paranoia gasses that Lois is subjected to only heighten what's already there; she goes into the adventure with a lot of doubts and indecision. This is a Lois who's very hurt by Kal's revelation.

Morrison's really pulling in the Moore, though; Lois sounds a lot like Liz Moran trying to deal with her immortal husband. And the Superwoman gear looks so much like the Miraclewoman gear...

16:22 / 19.01.06

Solaris is on the chessboard, I think. Off to the right.

"...How is he?"

"Batman?

Great.

You know Batman."

was great. As was pretty much the entirety of this issue, which I liked a great deal more than the workaday #1 (well, maybe it's the intercuts of said that just detracted from the experience; it'll be interesting to see if Grant can make the newsroom team interesting - yeah, I know, signal watch, that guy Steve Lombard seems alright, but it's always been quite the dullest aspect of some quite notably dull comics I accidentally read when I was younger. I understand there may be some narratological necessity in grounding it a bit, too.)

Anyway, a fat bit more substantial, and better than what I thought it'd be, alla which was pretty hawt as was. I loved it very much.

Haus of Mystery

16:47 / 19.01.06

Much better than issue 1. Fucking dinner this was.

17:07 / 19.01.06

The editing of the Superman logo was less prevasive as well...

"Sketcher" linework in a few places...

still a great read with a cliffhanger that bleeds oh-so naturally into the next issue.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

18:08 / 19.01.06

Nice use of the "Superman Blue" capes on the robots.

yawn - thing's buddy

19:08 / 19.01.06

Page 6

3.

"Okay, Frank, I'm shameless. Let's go with an ASS SHOT. no details on the panties." *

-------------------------

ASS 2:

yummmmmmmmm (with deadgirl for dessert, fuck yeah)

-------------------------

*See VV in ASB&R(tbw) - these kinda scenes are pretty common in the All Star universe, eh?

Also: I presume supes leaves dat key under the mat, yeah, cos it'd be a cunt to carry round even for him I reckonsis.

Keith, like a scientist

19:47 / 19.01.06

regarding the chessboard, I'm a bit confused. What's with that pseudo-Bizarro (only the symbol is on the correct way)? I thought that in this All Star continuity, the Bizarros are still to come? Didn't we see the proto-Bizarros in issue #1?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

20:01 / 19.01.06

Possibly, the Bizarro Plague is a return? An invasion, perhaps, from Htrae? Bizarro World suddenly turned expansistic?

Either that or Luthor tries to recreate Bizarro and accidentally POISONS THE WORLD!

20:06 / 19.01.06

I can't quite see the "12 labors of hercules" myth-structure-narrative pattern even though with 2 issues now. I mean, I can understand vaguely in a sense of hero's journey, but I thought Grant would use more of a Apollinean (is that written right?) myth/mytheme approach to it (like the little more self-transparent structure in Seven Soldiers). #1 made me think it'd be more on that similar vein with the hot-sunny and gods' fire stealing imagery and guardian angel underlines.

I think my imaginative capacity is running low perhaps. I've never been a Supes reader, and after #1 I thought Grant would bathe the world with lighthearted epic sunny side up with care narratives. 'Till now I got hit in the heart with a few themes and these sorts of symbolic underlinings as I read them. I still feel that might be for this distance I've always had with Supes somehow mixtured with my fan's nature for GM.

There are the most intelligent people I've ever had the chance of reading in a forum (or most of the internet for that sake) here in Barbelith (I was convinced by that after reading many of the 7 Soldiers threads). I would love to see some people's take on these issues so far like they did with Seven Soldiers and others where you all show an incredible understanding of GM's mindscape and method.

20:29 / 19.01.06

Well, one of Hercules's labors was to steal the apples of the sun (god).

Another was to steal the girdle of the queen of the Amazons...

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

20:29 / 19.01.06

Well, I haven't detected the Twelve Labours of Superman either, not exactly, but I'd argue the myth patterns are there, and starkly transparent in their own way...

1. Prometheus stealing Fire. Which I think is reinforced by Quintum also building super-people in a similar fashion to Prometheus & Epimetheus building mankind.

2. Bluebeard or Eros & Psyche - dress it up with paranoia-inducing vapours if you like, Lois goes nuts and tries to reveal Superman's secret (if you like, consider her trying to find the last secret she's convinced he has, as he's just come out as a Kansas Farmboy - paranoia mixed with the crusading journalist personality), and breaks his trust because she doesn't feel she can trust him.

3. I can't say, obviously, the issue's not out yet - but Zeus takes a wife? Any myths off the top of the head about being raised from mortality to immortality where something goes? I'm going with Phaethon and Helios/Apollo's chariot off the top of my head.

The difference I've noted so far in both issues is that Superman saves the day. He saves Quintum from being punished by the Gods (Luthor's human bomb) for his hubris, and he doesn't reject Lois (Eros disappearing once Psyche catches a glance) or turn out to be a butcher (Bluebeard) - he accepts and explains her bizarre behaviour ("What have I done?" "Interesting way to discover I've become immune to Green Kryptonite radiation. Tickles.") - in both cases, Superman changes the ending of the myth, even as the structure remains.

I like that these comics have - so far - certainly part of an overarching plot, his terminal illness, but both issues are seperate and distinct from each other (but building off one another). More modular from what we've seen than Seven Soldiers has turned out to be.

20:52 / 19.01.06

The chessboard is likely an old artifact, or tells the future of unseen movements - it's unknown if this Superman has fought SOlaris yet, but that does appear to be a sun on the side of his 'villain's on the board. The Bizarro may be an older Bizarro or a sign of Bizarros to come.

The Bizarro plague is going to be another case of Quintum's plans getting out of hand and infecting the world - remember, he's making half-assed Superman clones by the truckload.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

21:09 / 19.01.06

LDones: The Bizarro plague is going to be another case of Quintum's plans getting out of hand and infecting the world - remember, he's making half-assed Superman clones by the truckload.

Twice as many Superman for half the cost of the leading competitor's Superman!

There's a President Lex's Choice joke in there somewhere, as well.

ONLY NICE THINGS

23:03 / 19.01.06

I can't say, obviously, the issue's not out yet - but Zeus takes a wife? Any myths off the top of the head about being raised from mortality to immortality where something goes?

Zeus and Ganymede? That might spell FINE TIMES for Jimmy Olsen...

23:17 / 19.01.06

>>>> Zeus and Ganymede? That might spell FINE TIMES for Jimmy Olsen...

If it really is that Supes that play pranks on Lois and puts Olsen through all kinds of hell and humilliation, we can expect Superman making Jimmy get some VD. These are different times after all... :P

23:28 / 19.01.06

>>>>>> 2. Bluebeard or Eros & Psyche

That was something I hadn't thought about. GM turns the solitude aspect, the hidden part-room, the exile and secret into something deliberately open, revealing and with a gift in the end. Like you said, with a twist on the original aspect of the myth in the end. Pretty cool, we're seeing a Superman where his secret identity is not so much about hiding a shameful introspective part of yourself in some sense (like most of the superheroes I remember back in my days). Superman is pretty confident and cool about opening himself with Lois (except on the dying part though).

GM got lotta balls to make Superman even more powerful in this comic. Goes against every complaint that you can't make interesting a guy who's a god.

23:37 / 19.01.06

I like how the Fortress of Solitude is lit only in tones of blue and red. hehe.

So clever, they are!

The Natural Way

08:40 / 20.01.06

Did no-one notice the Kent slouch Supes adopts in front of the mirror? The man interrogating the God, and, as usual, he ain't saying nothing.

10:24 / 20.01.06

This was the shit, although the J.Lo gag was, IMO, very unfunny. Shame really, 'cause Grant is more than capable of making me laugh... I mean, last time we were playing swingball...

12:56 / 20.01.06

damn the J.Lo thing was a joke? It was completely lost on me. What's the deal here? That she'll be forgotten one day, what?

12:59 / 20.01.06

That's not it at all. Jennifer Lopez is the Wyld Stallyns of the DCU.

13:17 / 20.01.06

damn the J.Lo thing was a joke? It was completely lost on me. What's the deal here? That she'll be forgotten one day, what?

You really need me to explain?

Okay, it's a tense scene, and Lois, at the height of her paranoia, visits a sinister red room and is suddenly confronted by the creepy Unknown Superman of 4500 AD. In true oracular style, he tells her she can ask him three questions, questions that are likely to be of great import considering he is from the future and knows everything there is to know about Superman's past. Then, after Lois has asked her first question, he butts in with a question of his own, a questions so important the "FUTURE MUST KNOW", a "GREAT CONUNDRUM".

"Who was J.LO?"

It's banal, it's silly, it's totally tonally off. It's at odds with the rest of the scene to an absurd degree. Hence humour.

13:17 / 20.01.06

sorry, I'm lost. Still.

EDIT: sorry, hadn't read Boboss' post. Yeah, even still, didn't thought it was funny yet. Absurd humor, as much as I like it, is always lost on me when comes to GM's comics, where half of the things I used to think was supposed to be absurd joke was actually part of the story... :\

13:32 / 20.01.06

You're from Brazil, right? [shrugs] Maybe it's a cultural thing. I can assure you most British readers would get be able to seperate the gag from the rest of the craziness.

13:34 / 20.01.06

That wasn't a dis by the way.

13:48 / 20.01.06

Don't know if that's quite it. 90% of the culture/ entertainement I buy is pretty much from outside Brazil (and about 50% is from England, even if it is from decades ago).

EDIT: sorry, had to put this in. cue for "FOR BRITISH EYES ONLYYYYYYYY!!!"

Was a bit put off by the fact that in Supes' (that I don't know anything past the films, which I only saw this year. Not a big fan...) universe there are people named Kal L and Jor L... I honestly didn't think it was a joke (came through my mind the absurdist dry wit, but even then not funny enough for me to accept it as a joke. Movin' on then... (or else people will start attacking GM like that 'we3:save' thing).

I would like to extend the myth-narrative-structure talk though. Papers gave me wonderful mindjuice for to think about (and now I'm seeing the #2 as a very tantriky issue in a sense, though not quite ready to dwell on it though).

14:00 / 20.01.06

Well I found the J.Lo gag funny.

I mean what is J.Lo? Is that even a name? Poor future Supes is confused by it. It is funny (amusing at least), that in this far flung future the name J.Lo will have survived and be thought to be of some importance. This is like when our present day archaeologists find some artifact in a dig, and then attribute some ritual sarcificial importance to it, when in reality it could just have been some kids toy.

So WE can laugh at this because J.Lo is a joke. Ahaa....

14:09 / 20.01.06

I stand corrected.
(even though it was a weird and absurd place in the story to put it. Though it makes it funnier but a bit not-so-in-place with Superman and all. Which makes it even more funny. And a lot more out of place with Supes; and ad infinitum...)

14:48 / 20.01.06

Yeah, I think there'll be a payoff on the J-Lo thing.

And it won't be quite what you might've expected.

"Will [we] ever marry and have children?"

"The terrible truth is before you."

So, he's the kid? I think perhaps he is. Like the unknown Superman; didn't notice the ? symbol until I read about it somewhere. Possibly Jog, which I know I keep linking, but really - find me a better comics review site.

The Natural Way

15:48 / 20.01.06

I thought the J. Lo thing actually heightened the sense of paranoid madness. It's insane, absurd and the last thing Lois needs to hear as the robots round the corner.

17:08 / 20.01.06

>>>So, he's the kid? I think perhaps he is.<<<

Not Lois and Clark's child (he's from the year 4500, after all) but a descendant.

The J-Lo joke is a little silly (and I usually dislike pop-culture reference, because I think it dates the material), but I still thought it was cute and funny. J-Lo sounds like a Kryptonian name, no wonder the Unknown Superman is curious.

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