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All-Star Superman

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04:29 / 05.01.07

The space bit and how it looks up against Kal's trip to the moon with Lois "Superwoman" Lane.

Oh, my God, the space bit. Superboy playing with his dog in space. How cool was that? Why on Earth can we not get this every month instead of whatever crap they're pushing in the regular monthlies?

The Natural Way

11:06 / 05.01.07

Chronovore = hydra! Of course! It would be easy wheel out the standard moan about how real appeciation of this book hinges on specialist knowledge of (Grant Morrison's) super-lore, but fuck that! That was great. The line about 'quiet, open spaces...etc' sums up supe's need for a Fortress of Solitude so very effortlessly. Just brill.

12:57 / 05.01.07

Never really thought of Krypto as a "familiar," but hey, it works beautifully! Also, Ma & Pa Kent's intention to have a child manifests. "Everything happens for a reason." Spirituality and magic(k) in Superman. Love it!

Clark's eulogy for his father = primo.

And now we know who the Unknown Superman is. Mxyptlk as good guy. Superman's greatest enemy/challenge: despondency/feeling everything is pointless, meaningless (a familiar Grant Morrison theme).

"I can save everybody!!!!!"

And yes, beautiful coloring here, especially the energy-crackles in the future Supermen's bodies.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

13:48 / 05.01.07

I suspect the true reality of the Unknown Superman is still up in the air; this read to me more clearly as a disguise for the purposes of the one adventure, though one that might inspire something in a few centuries.

I had a thought as I lay in bed last night, trying to drown out the landlord's television coming in from the floorboards of the universe and various anxieties - the rose, the rose, the rose! Mash that up against Moore's Batman giving "the man who has everything" a new breed of rose. And I remember something earlier in the series about Kal cultivating a new form of life...maybe just a new breed of rose never seen before on the Earth?

Hey, if Superman Prime was gestating in the sun for thousands of years, er, doesn't that suggest something about current Kal's medical dilemma? Especially with the line "Your solar powers are in their infancy," directed as it was at Superboy, and the suggestion that death is just another kind of puberty?

Spyder Todd 2008

14:45 / 05.01.07

Now then, since everyone has had the chance to read it, what does everyone else think of the other appearance of the Unknown Superman of 4500? Was that Kal-El in disguise as well, talking to Lois for some reason? If so, why was he so weirdly cryptic with her? If not, then we still don’t know what’s going on with him, do we?

I still love that a descendant of Superman married the child of Mr. Mxyzptlk. It’s a nice bit of symmetry, I think. And do we have any ideas about who was to the left and right of Superman Prime? A Supergirl descendant and another Superboy, from the looks, but has anyone seen them before?

Bizarro no am next! Maybe Brainiac and Kandor stuff soon? And now we’ve had a boy and his dog, but when do we finally get Kara and Streaky the Supercat? That’s what I want to know.

The Natural Way

14:50 / 05.01.07

One can only speculate as to the origin of The Unknown Superman!

And that can only be a good thing, right?

Papers, Supes current radiation sickness problem was never going to lead to death, though, was it? The appearance of his future self only serves to deepen the mystery.

15:01 / 05.01.07

One can only speculate as to the origin of The Unknown Superman!

Marriage is Grant Morrison Boy and I claim my £5.

Spyder Todd 2008

15:20 / 05.01.07

What if there have been lots of different Unknown Supermen of 4500? What if it’s like a crazy Superman fiction suit, that different men of steel put on at different times whenever they need to disguise their true identity? What if -*gasp*- anyone could be an Unknown Superman?

That would be awesome.

15:39 / 05.01.07

>> Why on Earth can we not get this every month instead of whatever crap they're pushing in the regular monthlies?

I would argue that Busiek's current monthly Superman run is far better than 'crap,' having a nice bright feel to it, as Busiek really gets the character and knows that Supes works best when you create really interesting situations to put him in/interesting villains/schemes, etc. Busiek is no Morrison, but his run on the title is the best it's been in years, w/great illustrations by the talented & skilled Carlos Pacheco.

Geoff Johns' and Richard Donners' (yes, THAT Richard Donner's) run on Action Comics has been....ok, but underwhelming, really. Quite weak and fluffy. Not much has really happened yet, though we are about to see our streamlined 'hopefully best marriage of movies & comics' new General Zod version 4.0/2007.

15:42 / 05.01.07

Busiek is no Morrison, but his run on the title is the best it's been in years

I haven't read the comic much over the years, but I'm liking Busiek's stuff.

Keith, like a scientist

17:59 / 05.01.07

gotta agree with everyone here...this issue was super special. the DC One Million stuff was unexpected and completely welcome. I completely forgot about the Chronovore line, but Golden Superman Prime brought a huge smile to my face.

for a long time, i couldn't figure out why this issue was taking place as a long flashback... but, of course, GM pulls it out with the 'it's in All-Star Superman's present, Keith, you idiot.'

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

18:03 / 05.01.07

Papers, Supes current radiation sickness problem was never going to lead to death, though, was it? The appearance of his future self only serves to deepen the mystery.

Well, yeah, that's what I was saying - the line about Superboy's "solar powers" being in "infancy" suggests that his body is just undergoing a new, abrupt change and it only looks like terminal cell atropeois (sp?). Also, Superman dying isn't a new idea and he's been resurrected in a different continuity before. It might look like death and not be death...

I love the idea that The Unknown Superman of 4500 is merely a fiction suit, probably worn by Supermen whenever they have to deal with their own past selves...

Spyder Todd 2008

18:14 / 05.01.07

Which means that the Unknown Superman that Lois saw might be... Lois herself?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

18:30 / 05.01.07

Dun-dun-dunnnnnnn!

But why would Lois ask herself questions better suited to Entertainment Weekly? Unless some years in the future Lois will suffer from pop culture related amnesia...

18:37 / 05.01.07

Or future-Lois just feels like messing with her past self. I don't actually think that's what was going on, but damn, it'd make me happy if that's how it shakes out.

Spyder Todd 2008

18:38 / 05.01.07

Meh. I haven’t gotten that far yet. But I’m still not completely convinced that the J Lo comment was just a throwaway gag. It sounds vaguely Kryptonian to me: Jor-L, Dru-Zod, Jax-Ur… Jay-Lo maybe?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

18:49 / 05.01.07

J-Lo was also a female counterpart to L-Ron in the Cluster, from the first Super Buddies mini, but that's neither here nor there.

22:48 / 05.01.07

Random thought. In DC1M, Superman Prime was the future incarnation of Kal-El. Doesn't that suggest that Superman HAS to survive?

Keith, like a scientist

23:59 / 05.01.07

i believe someone mentioned that above/earlier.

however, divergent timelines and all make these things unpredictable in comics-land.

Keith, like a scientist

02:48 / 06.01.07

time travel oddness: in DC One Million, Legion A Superman (Kal Kent, of the Three Ovals) says that "2 days ago" he fought the Chronovore with the Superman Squad. In his time frame, this would be before he saw Superman Prime emerge from the Sun as a Golden SuperGod... that means that Prime was traveling BACK in time, as well, to tell Kal Kent he had a gift and to deliver that gift. So how many years in Prime's future was that? Super kids from Reconstructed Lois? Nuttiness!

06:09 / 06.01.07

I may be dense but...who is the rather suspicious-looking old man who scowls at Clark as he leaves the diner?

Dan Fish - @Fish1k

08:42 / 06.01.07

Isn't that the Chronovore in human form, captured in Lana's photo, and subsequently spotted by the Superman Squad?

09:19 / 06.01.07

It's not exactly clear.

When the camera flash goes off, with the old man in position to be behind them in the photograph, Clark can hear people remarking that the old man was whisked off by the Kansas Superman, who we see a page or so later is actually Kal Kent, who says he was 'too late to save him'.

The Mxy superman says something to the effect of "The Chronovore ate this poor man's entire life..."

You can sort of see the guy age between panels, so the idea that he's a human host the Chronovore is 'riding' makes some sense.

The logistical clarity of a Morrison piece is often hazy. I don't tend to mind it much but I'm inured to it. Especially when the comics are this wonderfully good.

10:51 / 06.01.07

More iterations of the S-shielf, my favourite being the gleaming "broken yin/yang."

The golden Superman was one of the pages I got to flat and the chest insignia is described as exactly that in the script. Though I think it looks more like the logo to old UK Supermarket Safeway myself (which has in more recent times become known as Morrisons. Coincidence, or freakystrange tripped-out majicks?!!?!?)

What I really love about this issue is the whole generational thing. The fact that all these thousands of generations of Supermen, all righteous and brave and stuff, guys who leap from world to world and chain up 4-D monsters, started right here with everything Clark tells us in the funeral double pager. It's a great issue. It comes right smack bang in the middle of the arc and hits you full on with the real emotional core of the story.

Expansive and epic, but really small and personal at the same time. The last page really sums it up for me. That precious, imperishable flower from the farthest future laid in front of a unassuming gravestone in a tiny, out-of-the-way town.

13:59 / 06.01.07

>>>You can sort of see the guy age between panels,<<<

Ah, see, I didn't notice that until you pointed it out. The drawings of him are quite small and it's not immediately evident he's aging.

15:17 / 06.01.07

Yay, that was great! Funnily enough, I read DC 1,000,000 last night so the Chronovore line that made me smile last night made me squeal when I saw it in this book. How's that for a tasty bit of Supes synchronicity?

for a long time, i couldn't figure out why this issue was taking place as a long flashback... but, of course, GM pulls it out with the 'it's in All-Star Superman's present, Keith, you idiot.'

Is it though? I got an impression that this was a younger superman, and that the issue is a flashback, perhaps bought on by Clark's increasing realisation of his own mortality. The end of #5 made it look a bit like he was going home to Smallville, but I don't think so. Can anyone remember if Pa has been referenced as being alive in the series so far? I can't seem to remember it.

From the way Clark was talking to Pete and Lana, he had only been to Smallville briefly, not that he's been working there for years. Also, he assumes that he and Lana will have children, when it's clear that he's in love with Lois in the present day. This issue was All-Star Superboy and Krypto the Dog Wonder, set firmly in the past I believe.

15:20 / 06.01.07

Re: the aging, I didn't spot that either, but I just looked and yeah, he has a full head of hair in his first panel, then he's thinning and greying, then he's bald on top and white-haired. Very cool.

15:22 / 06.01.07

Tripple post, I know, but it is in the past. Jonathan says "He can fly in space now, Martha" like it's a new development, when as we saw in the rest of the series, it's something he does on a regular basis, and people know him for that (like with the moon base, or saving the astronauts).

I'll go now.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:45 / 06.01.07

Flashback/time-trip. Clark uses the Time Communicator to contact the Superman Squad - or they contact him - as he's dying (from his perspective) and they're hunting the Chronovore. He agrees to come with as the side benefit will be one last day with Pa Kent. The only catch is that as he's meeting his own past self with no memory of Big Clark being there, and therefore has to go in Unknown Superman Rebis-drag.

I totally missed the old man in the diner - and that clarifies for me why Lana saves the universe!

I love that Lana gets to do what Lois doesn't - figure it out on her own without it being contaminated by baggage. And her conversation with Pete clarifies that the secret identity is as much for Clark's benefit as it is for the Superman Family's protection. She's not stuck being mini-Lois in this while still preserving the Silver Age reality.

Keith, like a scientist

16:54 / 06.01.07

Flashback/time-trip. Clark uses the Time Communicator to contact the Superman Squad - or they contact him - as he's dying (from his perspective) and they're hunting the Chronovore. He agrees to come with as the side benefit will be one last day with Pa Kent. The only catch is that as he's meeting his own past self with no memory of Big Clark being there, and therefore has to go in Unknown Superman Rebis-drag.

Right, Papers, you explained it as I see it.

Otherwise, John, how could this issue qualify as one of All-Star Superman's Twelve Labors? It's not a flashback. It's A.S.S. traveling in time.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

17:29 / 06.01.07

Things are a little, ah, blurred because of all the time travel and the fact that the majority of prime players this issue can time travel, move at lightspeed, or shunt themselves through the Fifth Dimension. Hence Young Clark seeing "Calvin Elder" in his supersuit one panel before Kal Kent shows up behind him. Things could have been laid out a little more clearly but the disjointed nature of things might reflect our own lack of "5-D vision."

LOVE Kxy's 5-D S-shield, which you can only barely make out in a few panels...can probably only be seen properly from the 5th Dimension.

17:35 / 06.01.07

DYING CLARK IS THE UNKNOWN SUPERMAN

THE CHICK IS REALLY A MAN

BRUCE WILLIS IS A GHOST

THIS IS NOT HARD TO GET

18:03 / 06.01.07

Awesome Trips, that suits me just fine, I like it a lot. Yay! My nerd-brain is satiated by your continuity fix.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

18:03 / 06.01.07

Unclench those buttocks, darling. There has been some logistical confusion is all.

18:05 / 06.01.07

so asking about J-Lo is just part of the 'disguise' and dying Supes being the super-prankster he's always been...

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