I have to say I am a little bit up in the air right now. This first issue had high points and low points. But I wonder if this is going to be a politically preachy book and that always feels more like homework than fun.
It is clear that Craig is setting up this Superman as a populist hero, looking out for the little people. This is a Superman without the Kents, without knowledge of Krypton, whose powers are slowly growing. He wants to do good; he wants to help people. Not having the Kents around is an interesting wrinkle because it means his ethics aren't the wisdom of Ma and Pa, it's internal.
And this harkens back to the earliest Siegel and Shuster stories where Superman was more about every day issues than intergalactic super-villains. Pick up any Chronicles and you'll read him fighting landlords, owners of unsafe mining communities, warhawk military men, abusive husbands, etc. I am not against a Superman fighting small crimes.
This comic seems to veer into a story where we will see Superman fighting bigots. And Superman fighting rich people. And Superman fighting bigoted rich people. And letting criminals go. I'll have to see where this goes.
But it came right on the heels of the message of Absolute Superman #23, where Superman doesn't bring evil rich people to justice but instead disperses their wealth. And now here where the knife-wielding robber is the victim allowed to go free, it felt like a double-down on messaging.
Craig's art is perfect for the story though, a mix of Fleischer Studios and Tim Sale. Really lovely stuff.
On to the issue.
'Relatives in high places' is a fun phrase to put there ... Krypton being very high and far from Earth. Bit this Clark doesn't know that.
It feels like the Depression so jobs are hard to come by.
The only job the Planet has is assistant to the janitor and Clark takes it.
This is a good page to show how small Clark feels in this big city. It feels like Metropolis here, big and bright and sunny. And there is Clark, someone small in it. He's dwarfed by it.
Words and images together is what makes comics a great medium. I was very impressed with the feeling this page invoked.
Much of the book is set up with a text column next to pictures, a sort of internal monologue of Clark.
We hear how his powers are growing. He can high jump. He is becoming invulnerable, surviving a gunshot (even if it hurt). This is Golden Age Superman, no flying, no vision powers, no super-hearing.
But he remains grounded. He is still human. He still gets hungry.
What I liked here was Clark worrying about his expanding powers. Will he ever be normal? That is another good hook. Pa and Ma were probably able to talk with him about this stuff, help him. This is a Clark who is all alone.
Hungry and worried. Very intriguing.
And then this series of panels. As the city gets dark he gets ready to help.
He hoped to make a difference at the Planet, exposing the truth to people (we hear about him revealing the truth about a sweatshop).
But if he can't do it there, he'll do it at night another way.
There was something almost 'Frank Miller' about this panel, the growing shadows, the deeper colors, the growing determination.
And then the ka-pow two page spread.
When a mugger with a knife accosts two people in an alley, Superman jumps in saying he is there to protect the people.
Amazing splash.
But Superman is surprised to see the robber is a very young Latino.
Superman lets him run off.
And then the 'almost victims' turn out to be rich racists. They say those people are disgusting. They say America for Americans. They offer him a reward.
Superman flies off.
So ...
Is this saying that the young kid with the knife had a valid reason to steal from those people? If he robbed those people would he be justified? What if he killed them? Why didn't Superman stop him from escaping?
And these people are horrible people. They are horrible. But that isn't against the law. Is this saying they deserved to be held at knife point, robbed, and potentially injured? Or killed?
I don't know.
This one scene, mostly the crook getting a free pass, just took me out of the good stuff that preceded it. No one wielding a knife on two people walking down the street is a good person. And yes ... the bigots aren't nice!
Here is where we learn that Superman was raised in an orphange. No Kents. No history.
I kind of like that last panel as well.
You can feel the sadness in him, shoulders slumped sitting on a rooftop.
So as much as I liked that first page of Clark being small in Metropolis, we get the opposite later on.
This is a Superman who realizes he has greater evils to fight.
Now we get an upshot of a bigger Superman in this city. Metropolis is now cloaked in darkness, giving it a more foreboding feel. It has such a different feeling from the earlier page. He isn't dwarfed ... he's defiant! It is a perfect counterpunch.
But what defines 'greater evil'? Will this become too preachy and political for me?
In the end we do see the greater evil.
Lex is a fascist, a racist, an isolationist except if he is bringing scientists over to help his cause.
He is blackmailing politicians to gain control over them.
Will he be an allegory for a real-life person?
There was so much to love about this book, the early part, the art, this forlorn Superman searching for his place in the world without 'Pa wisdom'. All good.
But the knife-wielding crook got to leave. Greater evils are people who simply might live in a nice high rise.
Will this be a political commentary with Superman in it? Or a Superman story? We'll see. I am in for the next issue.
Overall grade: B
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