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Comic books have been a guilty pleasure of mine for more than a decade. I first discovered them in the 1980s, when my brother sat for long hours with the boy across the street drawing tiny superheros. Mostly though they read TinTin which I found again in France along with Asterix. TinTin reminded me a great deal of the old Johnny Quest cartoons, but did not appeal to me all that much for some reason. I was too young to get into the literary references and there were no women to speak of for me to identify with. Also, to be honest, obscure literary references never had that much appeal for me. I can't abide footnotes or anything that gets in the way of my enjoyment of the main story, while for others they are like frosting on the proverbial cake - the best part. I guess that's an apt analogy - some people prefer the cake, some the frosting, some eat both at the same time, some like both, but eat one and savor the other.
At any rate, it was not until college that I *really* discovered and fell in love with the comic art form. Sat for hours in one of my dorm-mates rooms with her box of old X-men, Spiderman, Superman, and Batman comic books. Later, on my own, I discovered Sandman, Alan Moore's Watchmen, Frank Miller's Dark Knight, and others of that ilk. But my first love was those superhero comics. It was a love that I hid from the world at large. Stealing off to the comic book store on Cache La Poudre, the main drag from my small college in Colorado Springs, just at the foot of mighty Pikes Peak. The comic store was towards the end of the two lane street that also housed an eatry/used book store/ and independent movie house entitled Poor Richards. Few people from the college patrolled the comic store - so I was often on my own. I had a few friends at school who adored them like I did, we kept our love to ourselves, hidden in boxes beneath beds and in closets only to be shown to people who understood and shared our passion.
Paul Theroux famously or rather infamously wrote in one of his many travel books that comics were pedesterian past-times for the uneducated or illiterate. The man clearly never sat on the floor of his dorm room, back hurting, pouring over illustrations and dialogue bubbles.
He and others like him are the reason most comic fans keep their love to themselves. A private guilty pleasure to only be shared with like minds and hearts.
Superman:Doomsday or more commonly known as The Death of Superman is one of the few comic arcs that hit mainstream. It lead up to the gut-wrenching "Death of Superman" and crossed the front page of numerous papers when it first hit the shelves of comics stores across the country (this was before book stores started selling comics or graphic novels). Selling out and bringing comic sales to an unprecedented height. The final issue containing Superman's Death was wrapped inside a black bag with the Superman signal on the front, the cover of the book hidden from view. It had two variant covers - a black one and one with Superman's cape swinging like a flag on a bunch of rubble. The second cover was the most popular. This was back in the early 1990s or thereabouts, before I moved to NYC, when I was still living in KC making guilty trips to the comic book store. So it was with a bit of nostaglic glee that I watched the history unfold on one of the features of the Doomsday DVD. It is detailed in a little documentary feature. Takes about 30 minutes to watch, maybe a bit longer - and includes interviews with the writing team, which included Louise Simonson, one of the few female comic book writers in the biz at that time, who wrote superhero comics. She also worked for a brief period of time on X-Factor (an X-men book) back in the late 1980s. The art is realistic, with lots of lines, well defined anatomy, and every emotion explicitly expressed. It is as close to a photograph as one can get in some ways without the smooth photo image.
I remember that arc - because it was the first time I collected or got interested in Superman comics. I collected them from the beginning of the Doomsday arc up to Superman's return and eventual marriage to Lois Lane. They'd originally wanted to marry Superman and Lois that year, but got derailed because of the tv series Lois & Clark - which did not want the comic to marry Lois and Clark until they did it or better yet, have do it at the same time. Lois & Clark was in its first season at this point. As a result, the writers sat in a room with a scraped story board, exhausted, and wracking their brains for an idea, any idea to fill the pages of four different books - which included at that time: Man of Steel. Action Comics. Adventures of Superman and I think Superman. One of the writers, suggested as he always did at this point in the proceedings - "I know, let's just kill him." And instead of telling him to go take a nap or shrugging it off, they leaped on the idea. "Why not?" It's not like it hadn't been done before. No. The real challenge would be how to make it convincing and heart-wrenching to a cynical and somewhat sap-proof contemporary readership. They'd have to find a way to convince their readers they really meant it. And at the same time, tell a new story about both the universe and characters. Not as easy as it sounds.
( Plot Spoilers on the comic arc )
The story took a few years to unfold. The marriage occuring around the time the tv show's did. And like all good stories - was told in a series of chapters, some better than others.
Having read the original, albeit many years ago, I was eager to see what they would do in the film. I love animation. So the film - animated - was a must-see for me. It also was by one of my favorite animation directors Bruce Timm, who had directed and wrote JLA, Batman Beyond, Batman, and Superman cartoons. And...it featured the vocal talents of Adam Baldwin (Superman), James Marsters (Lex Luther), Anne Heche (Lois Lane), Swoozie Kurtz (Mrs. Kent), and Ray Wise (The Editor and Chief of the Daily Planet).
The film surprised me. It was much better than expected. Not your average Superman cartoon. The main characters are - oddly enough Superman and Lex Luthor. Doomsday is wisely only used as a device. The real story takes place, much as they did in the books, after Superman's death. It starts with Lex Luthor - who tells the tale in flashback - he is our narrator, with Marsters husky and somewhat wry vocalization, an excellent contrast to the stalwart baratone of Adam Baldwin, which sounds clear as a bell. You can hear the years of smoking in Marsters raspy delivery, which is a bit like the purr of jaguar or panther. Lex himself moves a bit like one. Or maybe the hiss of a snake. We, like Lois Lane, are repulsed and intriqued by Luthor. All lean lines, and jagged edges.
( spoilers on the Superman:Doomsday Film )
The fact that both stories work, the graphic novel original and the animated film - demonstrates how you can tell a story more than one way. That is one of the benefits of comics - the story can be retold from multiple angles. There is no one way or one story. Or one universe. It is unlimited or as unlimited as our imaginations. Canon in comics is what we decide to make it. It is also one of the benefits of adaptations - as John Le Carre once stated in regards to a film version of one of his books, in this instance The Constant Gardners, "the best films adaptations are not close or replicas of my novels, but rather a new take on the work from a completely different angle, an interpretation as it were. I don't expect to see them do my novel exactly as I wrote it. They aren't me. Nor do I want that, for that is uninteresting to me. What I want to see is a new take on it." (not exact, paraphrased). Timm succeeds in doing just that with Superman:Doomsday. Providing a new and innovative take on an old tale.
Highly recommend to anyone who loves Superman comics, animation, and a good yarn.
At any rate, it was not until college that I *really* discovered and fell in love with the comic art form. Sat for hours in one of my dorm-mates rooms with her box of old X-men, Spiderman, Superman, and Batman comic books. Later, on my own, I discovered Sandman, Alan Moore's Watchmen, Frank Miller's Dark Knight, and others of that ilk. But my first love was those superhero comics. It was a love that I hid from the world at large. Stealing off to the comic book store on Cache La Poudre, the main drag from my small college in Colorado Springs, just at the foot of mighty Pikes Peak. The comic store was towards the end of the two lane street that also housed an eatry/used book store/ and independent movie house entitled Poor Richards. Few people from the college patrolled the comic store - so I was often on my own. I had a few friends at school who adored them like I did, we kept our love to ourselves, hidden in boxes beneath beds and in closets only to be shown to people who understood and shared our passion.
Paul Theroux famously or rather infamously wrote in one of his many travel books that comics were pedesterian past-times for the uneducated or illiterate. The man clearly never sat on the floor of his dorm room, back hurting, pouring over illustrations and dialogue bubbles.
He and others like him are the reason most comic fans keep their love to themselves. A private guilty pleasure to only be shared with like minds and hearts.
Superman:Doomsday or more commonly known as The Death of Superman is one of the few comic arcs that hit mainstream. It lead up to the gut-wrenching "Death of Superman" and crossed the front page of numerous papers when it first hit the shelves of comics stores across the country (this was before book stores started selling comics or graphic novels). Selling out and bringing comic sales to an unprecedented height. The final issue containing Superman's Death was wrapped inside a black bag with the Superman signal on the front, the cover of the book hidden from view. It had two variant covers - a black one and one with Superman's cape swinging like a flag on a bunch of rubble. The second cover was the most popular. This was back in the early 1990s or thereabouts, before I moved to NYC, when I was still living in KC making guilty trips to the comic book store. So it was with a bit of nostaglic glee that I watched the history unfold on one of the features of the Doomsday DVD. It is detailed in a little documentary feature. Takes about 30 minutes to watch, maybe a bit longer - and includes interviews with the writing team, which included Louise Simonson, one of the few female comic book writers in the biz at that time, who wrote superhero comics. She also worked for a brief period of time on X-Factor (an X-men book) back in the late 1980s. The art is realistic, with lots of lines, well defined anatomy, and every emotion explicitly expressed. It is as close to a photograph as one can get in some ways without the smooth photo image.
I remember that arc - because it was the first time I collected or got interested in Superman comics. I collected them from the beginning of the Doomsday arc up to Superman's return and eventual marriage to Lois Lane. They'd originally wanted to marry Superman and Lois that year, but got derailed because of the tv series Lois & Clark - which did not want the comic to marry Lois and Clark until they did it or better yet, have do it at the same time. Lois & Clark was in its first season at this point. As a result, the writers sat in a room with a scraped story board, exhausted, and wracking their brains for an idea, any idea to fill the pages of four different books - which included at that time: Man of Steel. Action Comics. Adventures of Superman and I think Superman. One of the writers, suggested as he always did at this point in the proceedings - "I know, let's just kill him." And instead of telling him to go take a nap or shrugging it off, they leaped on the idea. "Why not?" It's not like it hadn't been done before. No. The real challenge would be how to make it convincing and heart-wrenching to a cynical and somewhat sap-proof contemporary readership. They'd have to find a way to convince their readers they really meant it. And at the same time, tell a new story about both the universe and characters. Not as easy as it sounds.
( Plot Spoilers on the comic arc )
The story took a few years to unfold. The marriage occuring around the time the tv show's did. And like all good stories - was told in a series of chapters, some better than others.
Having read the original, albeit many years ago, I was eager to see what they would do in the film. I love animation. So the film - animated - was a must-see for me. It also was by one of my favorite animation directors Bruce Timm, who had directed and wrote JLA, Batman Beyond, Batman, and Superman cartoons. And...it featured the vocal talents of Adam Baldwin (Superman), James Marsters (Lex Luther), Anne Heche (Lois Lane), Swoozie Kurtz (Mrs. Kent), and Ray Wise (The Editor and Chief of the Daily Planet).
The film surprised me. It was much better than expected. Not your average Superman cartoon. The main characters are - oddly enough Superman and Lex Luthor. Doomsday is wisely only used as a device. The real story takes place, much as they did in the books, after Superman's death. It starts with Lex Luthor - who tells the tale in flashback - he is our narrator, with Marsters husky and somewhat wry vocalization, an excellent contrast to the stalwart baratone of Adam Baldwin, which sounds clear as a bell. You can hear the years of smoking in Marsters raspy delivery, which is a bit like the purr of jaguar or panther. Lex himself moves a bit like one. Or maybe the hiss of a snake. We, like Lois Lane, are repulsed and intriqued by Luthor. All lean lines, and jagged edges.
( spoilers on the Superman:Doomsday Film )
The fact that both stories work, the graphic novel original and the animated film - demonstrates how you can tell a story more than one way. That is one of the benefits of comics - the story can be retold from multiple angles. There is no one way or one story. Or one universe. It is unlimited or as unlimited as our imaginations. Canon in comics is what we decide to make it. It is also one of the benefits of adaptations - as John Le Carre once stated in regards to a film version of one of his books, in this instance The Constant Gardners, "the best films adaptations are not close or replicas of my novels, but rather a new take on the work from a completely different angle, an interpretation as it were. I don't expect to see them do my novel exactly as I wrote it. They aren't me. Nor do I want that, for that is uninteresting to me. What I want to see is a new take on it." (not exact, paraphrased). Timm succeeds in doing just that with Superman:Doomsday. Providing a new and innovative take on an old tale.
Highly recommend to anyone who loves Superman comics, animation, and a good yarn.
