I stick up for Superman. I really do. Last year, for his 75th birthday celebration, I rekindled my love for the character in various reading experiences. I felt like I was in the minority for my enjoyment of Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel", but I still find it to be an exciting viewing to this very day. A majority of my readings have been from the time period considered by many comics scholars as "The Bronze Age". I basically focused my project into material that fit between shortly before the release of the first Richard Donner "Superman" motion picture, up to "Crisis on Infinite Earths". Now let it be known I can't stick up for EVERY decision that came up during that creative period for DC. (As I mentioned in a past article... Steve Lombard, you weren't funny the first time, and you never WERE funny, afterwards...) But I'd say roughly between 1978 to 1984, the writing talents of Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Marv Wolfman, and even a bit of Len Wein still made my experience engaging. And it was also during this time that Curt Swan started increasing the dynamism of his penciling, and we even had dips in the artist pool by Alex Saviuk and Gil Kane! We even were gifted with a solid Superman crossover title, "DC Comics Presents"! ... But more on that in a relatively-near date. (Dropping hints for a week-long project in August...)
The one story people seem to recognize the most out of the pre/lead up to "Crisis" was the Alan Moore two-parter "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?", which wrapped up the two regular Superman titles, "Action Comics" and "Superman".
Some have called this one of the, "Greatest Superman stories ever told". Some have also called this a flash in the pan send-off to a character whose universe did NOT need altering, either from Moore's concluding story, or from the changes "Crisis" brought about. And after having read my share of stories in both "Superman" and "Action Comics" from the periods of 1984-1986... I'll be bold in saying that yes. Yes. YES, these changes NEEDED to be made, because the two books were floundering horrendously in that time span!
You know, I feel that the general "downfall" of the Superman reading experience was sort of heralded by the launching of "Superman 3" in the cinemas. That movie DOES stick true to the tropes of the "Bronze Age" storytelling of Superman on the big screen... but it more resembles those "Bronze Age" stories that are pretty bloody awful to read. Take the above example; In "Action Comics", the book essentially became an anthology title. Not TOO far removed from the anthology experience you had in the 30's and 40's for any comic, but when a comic book in the 80's resembles the goofier aspects of the "Silver Age"... Ugh. Just bad news bears, man. For this issue, I WILL give solid points for the Ambush Bug portion of the story, but that's just because Keith Giffin CANNOT write a bad Ambush Bug story! Seriously, his stuff still holds up after nearly 30 years! But a cruddy Mr. Myxyzptlk story does not help balance the scales, and a HORRIBLE Jimmy Olsen story only makes me want to punch my way through an armored truck.
Exhibit B: A story dealing with the lame concept of magical matchmaking throughout Metropolis. (And one thing I really DON'T get about Jimmy Olsen is how he is portrayed to be a "babe magnet". Lousy cape-riding groupie didn't even deserve the time of day with the scariest of women at your average Wal-Mart!) Like I mentioned in the previous example, this kind of story would've been expected... and not untowards... in the 1950's. In the 1980's? Er... What's happening over at that Marvel company, says the kid browsing the spinner rack?
Exhibit C: This issue was especially difficult to manage for me for three key reasons:
- I understand honoring the legacy of the creators of the character, but let's just be kind and say seeing Wayne Boring and Kurt Shaffenberger art in a 1980's book felt MORE out of place than the complaints sometimes issued against Curt Swan for this time period.
- Wilbur Wolfingham stories are even WORSE in my eyes than a Mr. Myxyzptlk story. At least the latter can be a mixed bag, but sometimes you can find your reading joy. But when you lead off with a story featuring an irritating W.C. Fields homage... Barf.
- Maybe my 2-day head cold didn't help my reading experience. It's hard to focus on a story when you have two questionable interview calls on the phone, and you can't stop sneezing or the nasal drainage. (Ah... the Metal Mikey TMI returns to the blog!)
The sad part of this period was that even Superman's namesake title... the title which earned him the honor of being the FIRST character to ever receive a solo book... wasn't spared the shiftless creative direction of this time span. One thing I've noticed about this reading was that it was also populated by writers I had not previously heard of, nor ever heard from again, afterwards. Huh... Maybe THEY were victims of the "Crisis" on our Earth-Prime? Anyways, example time:
Exhibit A: The main portion of this story, with Superman supposedly suffering from memory loss, and being hounded by policemen from the future... kind of wonky, but still, it took up a majority of the issue, and it felt equal to the more stable periods of the "Bronze Age" of the character. But we are stuck with ANOTHER back-up story that dealt with a hot dog vendor, and how HE'D manage being Superman. Just sling the artificial meat, and spare me your ideas of what makes a BETTER Superman.
Exhibit B: The worst crime of a comic is one that fails to elicit any reaction. I admit, a reading experience that makes me angry can be a negative mark for storytelling. BUT I'd sometimes rather feel that than work through an entire issue of a book, and come away feeling nothing. Not even remembering what the story was about the following day. I can still recall more than a few solid arcs and issues for the "glory years" of the "Bronze Age" of Superman, but the '84-'86 period is guilty of stories that just feel like stock material.
Exhibit C: Cool cover, right? You see that cover, and think, "What's going on with Superman?!? And does this mean Brian Bolland is going to work on a Superman story?!? KILLER!!!". Then you open the cover... and you end up being "Punk'd". To the very end of this period of Superman's time, I've found I can still speak fondly of Curt Swan's artwork. I know sometimes I've heard opinions that he was rather "flat" on the Superman titles this late in the game, but for this time period, Curt Swan WAS the Superman artist for me. The Man of Steel would experience the dynamism of the 80's comics period more after the "Crisis". But even a Swan supporter like myself can only be let down upon seeing his art after such an excellent cover. And the contents of said cover only appear minor to the grand story, dealing with rat lycanthropy. Yay... Were-rats...
I would like to think I presented a suitable case for saying that while I feel my time WASN'T wasted exploring this time span for the Man of Tomorrow. But when I started hitting those years leading into the big "Crisis", I don't feel it was Kryptonite, magic, or Alan Moore than destroyed the "Bronze Age" appeal of Superman. It was just a case of diminishing returns, and extremely sub par quality in the stories. But that point was moot, because the Anti-Monitor mucked with reality, and restructured Superman's life from scratch.
But that's another story for another day!
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