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All-Star Superman

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22:00 / 17.07.06

Cool, never noticed it in NXM (I looove Barbelith for this reason. Always new things!). Raoul is very much in key with those two -- although a bit more to Atlas, I think. He makes more of a arse of himself than Samson, I figure.

I liked the pirate angle, since is being brought back like a western hero, and because there's a certain angle of a distant unfulfilled adventurer (reminds me of that line in X2, "the good guys stick around"... Our "Son of Sam" :P here seems the kind of guy who's always on the run, while Supes is trying to show Lois he's a sticker now. Samson would want to keep on cruising or would forever be longing for it, while Sups is Ulysses trying like hell to stick by Penelope for good -- I just love The Odyssey, and Joyce was right when he saw every plot-story motif in history in there, just look at this issue: Superman can't even leave his 'household' for two minutes to go do his job saving Krull without having two guys on his Penelope... of couse, the thing here is Sups not having any son to protect his banana-stand while he's out, so his 'good-son'-insurance is Lois herself and his trust on trust... and, of couse, on himself. The guy is Superman, why would he worry?)

edit ps: I forgot to mention why was the unfulfilled adventurer profile was important here afterall. It's all pretty hand-to-hand with midlife crisis and wanting to 'sail away' ("to fulfill my role and fill my hole!", Atlas could say), restart anew, very Lester-Burnham-like, very much in key with most hero-figures/ wish-ads popping up lately (or that have always saturated in the media, from dream-adventurous-cars to fuck-it-all-tourism-packages-dreamy-islands. How would I know? I'm young as hell).

(and I saw a post earlier mentioning that a banged up car is a shitty ad. Are you kidding me? That freeway chase in Matrix Reloaded and BadBoys2 were THE dream-ads that ad-execs couldn't do in prime-time (altough I saw recently a ad where piles of wrecked cars were thrown from the air -- narrated by Gob from Arrested Development)

16:55 / 18.07.06

Here's a Radio 1 Superman documentary. Includes contributions from GM...

23:42 / 18.07.06

Amazingly, Morrison was the most interesting one (with rare pearls from Spacey).

11:27 / 19.07.06

the horrible orange drink

shit, steady on. can't they kick you out for saying things like that?

14:15 / 19.07.06

It's a Glasgow t'ing. I am leaving Glasgow of my own volition, shortly.

00:50 / 20.07.06

A banged up car is a shitty add for a car.

Cowboy Scientist

06:43 / 20.07.06

Hey, I found this:

a la A*S 2.

07:25 / 20.07.06

I don't know. The cinetic charge and speed bursts that a crash imply/represent are the fullfillement of most of the ads we see. I mean, if a car chase or a speeding car is a symbolic erection, the smash-through is an explicit penetration shot (a Superman pin-up) and the crashing car is the violent white-hot orgasm for the enduring unstoppable object.

I mean, car companies must line up when a huge big-ass blockbuster film goes on to do something like Matrix2, BadBoys2 (it's Michael Bay. Ads are the only thing he knows in this earth) and LethalWeapon4, those fast take-everything-with-fortitude cars bangin' everything up on what your earthly car would have stopped and died on the first bump.

08:01 / 20.07.06

God, I'm loving this comic. When Lois' caption appeared in #2 I knew for good this would be excelent enough to the point of becoming a Lois Lane's POV/comic-book if necessary.

(and love even more when on the new cover our Sups appears to hide in his secret room a dirty little secret sinister big wank kitchen -- with it's big woman posters and everything mid-issue -- and that it all turned out to be such greatness and no real monstruous dirt for our almost-Rosemary (SuperSatan/HiddenGeek)).

Again with #2, I love that Lois' kryptoniteBlast just tickled. Even though some might see it as a "girly can't killy-killy BigMan" scene (that's how my brother took it, believe it or not), it seemed to me more about killing all the weird adolescent fear and geeky misogynist anxiety represented usually in those things (I recently saw Smallville for the 1st time. Kryptonite=Women on Lana's neck/breast-lace? C'mon!). And also sounded like a furious couple fighting and the girlfriend throws something intimate-vulnerable-shaming against the boyfriend, and they survive to it (or that maybe it isn't that much of a secret room's big shame -- "it's okay"). It's such a primal scene. It's so... Superman.

10:15 / 20.07.06

nice one, NM. the Lois bust reminded me of her DC One Million self...

01:36 / 23.07.06

Love the bizarre list of "LL" names in that documentary linked above...and the use of Laurie Anderson's "Superman" song. I've never heard of 1/2 those LL names in the list they provide...must have been obscure characters from the 50s and 60s.

18:13 / 23.07.06

The Eisners: Best New Series
* All Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC)

full list of winners at The Beat.

14:23 / 24.07.06

Well deserved. This is Morrison's first Eisner, right?

16:09 / 24.07.06

"Eisners" (plural), right? Not trying to be snarky but didn't he win for 7 Soldiers as well? I ask b/c the article I read was less than clear. Much like this post...

13:33 / 14.08.06

Attention beautiful mutants! All*Superman #5 digi-inked and coloured hours to the dropdeadline *croak gasp wheeze* I don't think I can taste the coffee anymore...

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

14:11 / 14.08.06

Oh my land! I was just going to see when this was coming out. End of the month. And it's good to hear it's done on time and all systems go, Jamie. Thanks for the heads up.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

14:12 / 14.08.06

You've done a man's job, sir...

...well, I expect you have. Obviously I haven't see it yet, but well done in advance...

08:00 / 15.08.06

Nice one Mr Grant, you're doing sterling work on ASS. I await Supes Goes Oz with baited breath.

The only labor that includes a "descent into the underworld" aspect is the capture of Cerebus, but that doesn't really fit. Given that Supes actually loses in this issue, none of the Labors really fit.

Hmm, three-headed dog? Three weapons to kill a Superman. Possible link there perhaps? It's his metaphorical journey to the dark underworld of his subconcious. More likely I'm over-interpreting.

But I'd disagree that Superman loses, he wins because his super-buddy Olsen's got his back.

I enjoyed the Doomsday/Cadmus link up that partially connects with the JLU origin of the big spikey grey one.

Black-krypto tainted Supes scared of dying was weirdly tragic. Even with the solar-poisoning and all Superman has been quite calm about it all so far, setting his affairs in order and still zipping about the place to save the world. It's only under the influence of the black stuff that his fear breaks the surface.

Because he doesn't want to die. None of us do. But he's Superman so he doesn't let it get in the way of doing his job.

03:59 / 17.08.06

Jamie, thanks a lot for the update!

---

when Supes gets dragged 'down' to our level of impotence while facing an ultimate destiny, usually with a concentrated dose of misery, it's when he's the most vulnerable - as it's been said before. that's a great nuance

being obvious, that's my superpower.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

04:27 / 17.08.06

Golly, I could do with a dose of A*S.

16:39 / 25.08.06

Does anyone else feels like there's a lot of meta in here?

That a lot in here was a joke/play of how we readers "P.R.O.J.E.C.T." (and get to be X "for a day")?

Of how Quintum went on that sort-of-like paperverse technology from the Filth?

That Superman's strenght-efforts at releasing that black-poop from that pinkysh vaccum bowel was a representation of how Superman is affected when we want to see him getting nasty and all fighting and touchy and using physical strenght (wich his death and heavy-metal-spiked fight was just a logical next step from that?)?

That the entire first page was a Superman's fan reading moment being baited into humiliation (in the end, we and Olsen are just bad dressed tranny-psychopaths "talking to ourselves"/ re: Lucy Lane and "you were America's Sweetheart" comment -- I know what it means, but I just felt...).

Sorry if I'm bringing some totally off material here. I caught this when reading after a night out with MJ and now I'm seeing it again when sober (there's some other stuff as well, about the Unified Field, LandGod's zee-zee-zee, Myth, some more DeathFear factors, some more meta, but I'm waiting to see if I'm just hallucinating all this).

ps: I'm quite surprised there's no mention of this comic book in the Temple forum. This is feeding it self up on mythological stuff big time (I just saw a Temple thread where the Black Sun is being discussed and A*S and other Moz's works are not even mentioned).

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

22:33 / 30.08.06

Re: All-Star Superman #5.

Mister Quitely bloody well outdid himself this time 'round. Two page spread that reminded me of the "cutaway" sequence in The Life Aquatic and a few photographs I've seen of set design for the Superman Musical. Outstanding! And he manages to make Clark look fat rather than built like Kal actually is.

Storywise - well. "Going down" continues to be a predominant theme in this series. "The Gospel According to Lex Luthor" really did me in. More once I've digested a bit and fired the book up for a second read.

23:17 / 30.08.06

Just for amusement value.

Nasthalthia is a Supergirl villainess, who first appeared in 1970. She's Lex's niece.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

23:56 / 30.08.06

I wonder if this story is going to bring in Supergirl at any point; possibly that's the ending - who can replace a dying Superman? Supergirl, of course!

Thanks for the heads up on the niece of Luthor.

Lots of eyebrow action this time 'round. Possibly a reference to the raised-eyebrow-and-wink endings of the Weisinger era. And this issue more clearly and spastically sets up Luthor as Kal's mirror image, between the eyebrow thing and his own death sentence.

00:20 / 31.08.06

Mister Quitely bloody well outdid himself this time 'round. Two page spread...

Agreed. That's a fantastic sequence. The panel where the roof collapses on Parasite is a jaw-dropper, too. I also enjoyed Clarks facial expressions ("how about this pair of fat girls?") and how every now and then "Superman" becomes visible (the punching bag page, heat vision). I was pretty surprised at how passionate Kal gets at the end!

Frank just gets better and better (although I was taken aback by Lex's amazingly pliable shins on page one). I'm already jonsing for issue 6.

...when did lex drop his eyebrow pencil?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

00:37 / 31.08.06

As an aside, map Lex's insidious eyebrow onto Ragged Robin showing us her Quimper Face.

I like how Clark expresses a lot of Kal's innermost feelings about Lex - "you could have been friends" and his honest but benevolent frustration with Lex (against Post-Crisis Superman's "Oh my god Lex is president" angst). Clark is what connects Kal to (the rest of) humanity, and Lex is there as a constant reminder that he's not part of humanity. Clark here isn't some thin mask between Kal and Lex, a cover identity to get in close to foil some latest plot - Kal is Clark in there, in a locked room with Lex Luthor, trying to understand Lex.

04:47 / 31.08.06

...when did lex drop his eyebrow pencil?

Mayhap it was on the tool tray Clark knocked over?

12:59 / 31.08.06

Kal does put something in or take something out of his pocket after he knocks the tray over, but it looks like the same black object thats in his hand at the bottom of the page. His own pencil he dropped when he tripped on the cord is yellow. Coloring mistake (sorry, Jamie)? Why would he take it in the first place? "Hmm, Lex's eyebrow pencil...I may have use of this later!"

14:12 / 31.08.06

Has anyone ever made reference to Lex having complete alopecia before, or has it always just been a bald head? I thought the eyebrow pencil thing was one of those trademark Grant Morrison moments where he does something with an old character that seems like it's so obvious, dozens of other writers SHOULD have thought of it by now, but yet no one ever has. It's such a small thing but I was delighted by it.

Amazing issue, maybe my favourite so far. Wonderful characterization of Lex and Clark - I love Clark's covert use of his powers. "That's some security system!"

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:20 / 31.08.06

Kal saves Lex's life in much the same way that he saves the old guy in #1 - making Clark look like an ass. So good!

Cameron - I'm not sure if I've ever seen anyone take that tack with Lex regarding his eyebrows, but it's a good piece of character work that justifies his line earlier about "the Superman Swoosh." If Lex didn't hate him so much he'd be a certified Supermanologist.

Query - anyone else think that the Parasite might have something to do with the cure for Solar Overload?

Leopold/Beppo in the super-suit and Luthor's casual escape plan, which he can't even be bothered to take.

"Friends in High Places" = Solaris?

Also: on art, and culture. Map the bibliobot and "Culture's a dirty word nowadays, but God knows I try..." onto the Museum of Forbidden Technology and "I hope none of your enemies find a way in here, Superman. Or any art critics."

Henningjohnathan

19:39 / 31.08.06

I wonder if this story is going to bring in Supergirl at any point; possibly that's the ending - who can replace a dying Superman? Supergirl, of course!

This is a great idea. Really, if there was an ALL STAR WONDER WOMAN, I think one central element should be that a woman is the most powerful, most benevolent and most advanced person on Earth and how the rest of MANkind deal with that fact.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

19:50 / 31.08.06

Henning: This is a great idea. Really, if there was an ALL STAR WONDER WOMAN, I think one central element should be that a woman is the most powerful, most benevolent and most advanced person on Earth and how the rest of MANkind deal with that fact.

I gather Adam Hughes will be writing and drawing an All-Star Wonder Woman comic, but I'm not sure if they'll go this root.

I'm not sure they'd bring in Kara to A*S; partly because this is obviously a Superman comic and that might be a bit out there - to end with Clark going off with Lois and Supergirl taking over - and partly because the current Supergirl in the zeitgeist is a bit, ah, dubious. Apparently, Mischa Barton's being thrown around as early casting if they do a Supergirl movie remake.

Hell, I'd still love it if Lois took up her own S-shield again and carried on the legacy at the end as a permanent Superwoman...

23:07 / 31.08.06

"literally boring it's way...": literary, literally!! Damn, that's the sort of sweet crazyness from Morrison (that's actually not that crazy, and actually quite lucid) that I like.

And I loved that this issue's finale (it's "cum shot") was so... so... vaginal, Clark meekly penetrating down and under the moist.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm feeling a lot of Ulysses' self consciousness here (the straight reference, the Meekly Malkuthian Leopold-Clark/Super, the dark odyssey-down-and-under throughtout generalized self-referential journey-aspects, and the Nasty-health bitch 'Kali'pso at the end, the manner in wich it's first present: "stately, plump, Buck..."/ A*S1: Adjective+Noun)

The eyebrow joke was stolen from Arrested Development's finale (down to the playing with "unintentionaly badly faked that ends up in a desired expression"). And hey! This is pure Prison-Ice-cream-sandwich Arrested Development...

02:41 / 01.09.06

there's a thing in SEINFELD too, when Uncle Leo opens a package with a bomb, burns his eyebrows off and Elaine uses her make-up to draw them, leaving the guy with a permanente angry expression. sidenote: a sitcom in which a statue of Supes appeared in the background in every episode and several refferences to the Superman comics and movies popped here and there.

anyway, Superwoman or Supergirl taking the mantle? a Morrison Super-epic seems to me more likely to show Earth's population absorving the extra solar energy to cure Supes and stepping a degree up in the evolution ladder as a side effect...

09:15 / 01.09.06

Pedant mode on: Sorry, Supes didn’t appear in every episode of Seinfeld (for example, see The Chinese Restaurant episode), though the show is loaded with Superman references and Seinfeld later made an advert (American Express, I think) which mixed him with an animated Superman. But the ‘every episode’ thing simply isn’t true, I’m afraid – loads of episodes took place out side of Jerry’s apartment, so there was neither the statue nor the fridge magnet in view, Though there was a nice moment when they showed Jerry and his on-screen girlfriend reading ‘Superman’ and ‘Supergirl’ comics respectively.

I’m threadrotting, aren’t I? I’ll shut up. Not got my limey hands on A*S yet, so nothing to say about it, so I’ll go away now.

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