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Another week, another round up!

Another week, another round up!

The world has been reborn. Last month’s release of DC Universe: Rebirth #1 kicked off a new era of storytelling for the publisher.  The house that gave us Batman and Superman is looking to make up for the mistakes of the New 52 canonical reboot, reinstating old plot points that were erased from their timeline and even bringing back […]

The world has been reborn. Last week’s release of DC Universe: Rebirth #1 kicked off a new era of storytelling for the publisher.  The house that gave us Batman and Superman is looking to make up for the mistakes of the New 52 canonical reboot, reinstating old plot points that were erased from their timeline and even bringing back […]

This past weekend, DC took over a panel room at Special Edition NYC to discuss their DC YOU relaunch titles.  Panelists included Gotham Academy writer Becky Cloonan, Midnighter writer Steve Orlando, Action Comics writer Greg Pak, Black Canary artist Annie Wu, Black Canary writer Brendan Fletcher, and Constantine: the Hellblazer co-writer Ming Doyle.  While no new titles were announced, the panelists were in great spirits as they discussed their respective series, offering insight into the future of their books.

First up was Midnighter‘s Steve Orlando, who reassured fans that he was not here to ruin the lives of countless presently despondent Authority fans by separating Midnighter from his long-time lover, Apollo.  At the beginning of The Authority, Midnighter and Apollo have been a couple for five years.  Orlando said he wanted to dial the clock back and explore how Midnighter and Apollo got together in the first place.   In addition, he offered the most quotable quip of the day when he revealed the covers of issues 2 and 3, summarizing the second issue as follows:

“If corporations are people, then they’re people we can punch.”

Next, we had Gotham Academy‘s Becky Cloonan.  The first trade of her, Brendan Fletcher’s, and Karl Kerchl’s series releases on june 23rd, which happens to also be Cloonan’s birthday.  She told the audience that Gotham Academy‘s next issue, which comes out this week, would explore the mayhem that ensues when Batman’s son Damian starts going to school with Maps & co.  She and Brendan also teased an upcoming plot point for the series.  Dr Kurt Langstrom, more commonly known as Man-Bat, is going to be a chemistry professor at Gotham Academy!

“Maps! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

Greg Pak discussed his new Action Comics arc, which began this past week.  In this story, Pak deals with the consequences of Superman’s secret identity as Clark Kent being revealed in Gene Luen Yang’s Superman series, which begins at the end of June.  Clark Kent’s costume has gotten a bit of a redesign centered around a neat S t-shirt that incorporates black into the traditional yellow, red, and blue.

He also showed off some fantastically designed covers for issue 42 and 43:

Finally, although Constantine: the Hellblazer co-writer James Tynion IV was not in attendance at the panel, co-writer Ming Doyle was there to take the reigns and quell any doubts about the return of the hellbound detective.  Doyle said that she and Tynion had given Constantine a “hot, young de-aging,” trading in the deteriorating body of the old Constantine for a new model that reflects the series’ new lease on life.  She made a point of saying that their Constantine is indeed bisexual, distancing them from the controversy surrounding the NBC TV iteration of the Hellblazer. Finally, Doyle took a moment to highlight Riley Rossmo’s art on the series, which breaks “DC house style” in interesting and exciting ways.

One of the biggest complaints about Special Edition NYC this year was the distinct lack of panel rooms.  Panels were hosted in one of two large booths, and the only thing that separated them was a thin curtain.  Audio from both rooms overlapped with one another, leading one guest to comment that it was “like being in two panels for the price of one.”  More accurately, it was like being in no panels although you were in one.  It did lead to a great moment in the middle of the DC panel, though:

Panel room 2 got their crowd to chant “Hey DC, what’s up with the Twix?!” at us. Maybe conjoined rooms aren’t so bad @DCComics @comicsbeat

— Alexander Lu (@Waxenwings) June 7, 2015

Nick Lachey probably never expected this kind of fame.

A week that brought horror in Boston and shame in Washington also includes an unlikely positive: according to court records, it was 75 years ago today when Superman debuted in Action Comics #1.

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Grant Morrison’s run on Action Comics has been met with both high praise and no small measure of bewilderment. But this is a legendary run – you just need to think five dimensionally.

When Morrison was announced as the writer of Action Comics #1, back in 2011, there was a great deal of excitement within the comics community. The man who had given us one of the greatest Superman books of all time, All-Star Superman, seemed a poetic choice as the architect of this brand new history. Morrison spoke of his love for the original Golden Age character, his socialist roots and desire to do good in the world; Superman as a folk tale, before he became the centrepiece of our modern mythology. The young Kal, standing proud and over-confident in his American jeans and self-branded t-shirt, cape flying behind him as he raced from one adventure to the next.

Action Comics, set five years behind the current day Superman comic, was to show us how Kal went from farmboy to international hero – from brash young man to a wiser one – but also to introduce all the pieces of the puzzle that make him who he is. There was fan outcry at the pre-publication revelations that Clark and Lois would no longer be a couple, and that Clark’s parents would no longer be alive. Comic fans, strangely adverse to change in a constantly recycling continuity, were outraged at the lack of a romantic plot with Lois, perhaps inadvertently recasting her in their minds as in existence only to please the leading man. The lack of parents of course linked this Superman much more strongly to his Golden Age roots, and removed him too from any existing connections to the world he found himself living on. An alien alone.

As Morrison’s run kicked off, with newspapers still fascinated by the jean-clad Superman and somehow missing the alarm bells that usually come with any mention of “socialism”, it soon became clear that Morrison’s ambitions were far greater than previously stated. This was not to be merely the introduction of the character, but the making of him – joining up pieces of a fragmented puzzle to show the whole, a Superman for a new generation of readers that brought the best of every previous incarnation along for the ride. Perhaps not surprising given the writers similar treatment of Batman, but the sheer scale of this particular endeavour given the extremely tight timescale is rather phenomenal.

Unsurprisingly, many readers were somewhat lost at various points – because when I say fragmented, I am being quite literal. After only four issues it was necessary for artist Rags Morales to need a break to catch up, and another plot was inserted with both the baby Kal’s escape from Krypton, and a future Superman returning to a point in time not long after the previous issue. The change in art style thanks to Andy Kubert for this two issue interlude helped underscore the time difference, and in issue seven we were back on our original track. These interludes became a signature of Morrison’s run, with further adventures spending time on the Superman of Earth 23 – and a meta teaser for Morrison’s upcoming Multiversity – as well as a Halloween trip to the Phantom Zone, and of course the obligatory issue zero with its genuinely heartwarming tale.

But here’s the thing: Morrison planned a short six issue run on the comic. When the first artist change came up, he told me that:

“…for me it hits the long term collections of it to have things done like that but at the same time it brings back a lot of the freshness and improvisation of doing comics again and just responding to that and also sometimes you know they’ll be like we need a two part filler here – okay I’ll just come up with something, and it might not necessarily fit it in to the middle of this but okay, you need a filler.”

And yet, every little aspect of this comic – from the future plot to the Phantom Zone to the appearance of the little teetotal man in the first panel of issue one – suggests a much grander plan. If I was uncharitable I’d chalk this up to a mild case of fibbing, but I know that’s not the case. Of course it’s likely that someone with so much knowledge of the DC universe would subconsciously drop little things in to the narrative that might turn out to be useful later – but for a six issue run? It’s a marvellous little contradiction that is completely in keeping with the unfolding story itself, perhaps demanding that it be told.

So we have the initial plot, the tale of Clark finding his feet as an investigative journalist and being a superhero in a world without superheroes – for he was the first – while the world reacts with suspicion, just in time for the Collectors to appear on the scene labelling Earth as a doomed planet. Clark is also receiving communications from a secretive person named Icarus, while Lex Luthor attempts to negotiate for his own life with the incoming alien threat. Superman of course saves the day, after pushing himself further than ever before, and the people of Earth are happy to have their own personal saviour. Kal even gets a shiny new suit out of it.

This alone woud be a solid little arc, establishing Kal as an accepted hero, uniting him with Brainiac and his Fortress of Solitude, placing Lex, Lois and Jimmy on our radar of people to look out for, and… well, also hinting at the involvement of the 5th dimension, casually mentioning a missed visit that is later revealed to be the Legion of Superheroes, foreshadowing the appearance (and constant invisible presence) of Krypto, a suggestion that the small man is the devil, and the introduction of Nimrod who we know will shoot Superman in the brain in the future because we’ve seen it in a past issue, as well as the K-Men who don’t actually quite exist yet because they’re from the future also, and the future form of Eric Drekken and the existence of the “First Superman”.

All in all, it’s a good job Morrison stayed on to write more as while those plot bunnies would have given any writer much to play with, it’s clear that by now there was a greater plan in mind. In the first 8 issues, the fragments were already starting to tug apart, and I was reminded of Morrison’s fondness for telling stories that can only be told in comic form. In comics, unlike say films or games, each story is already a four dimensional experience – the reader is in control of the pacing and movement through time, even able to reverse time or skip from one time to another. With comics, the one thing that sets them apart from all other media – for me – is the gap between the panels. What happens in the gutters is completely unique to each and every reader, from the simple movements of a character across time, to the shifts between place, person and stories. When a writer chooses to increase those gaps, not only between sequenced panels but between issues, between pages, and between stories being told simultaneously at different time points, the story becomes even more interactive. A co-creation between creators and readers alike.

The fragments can be jarring, until you read further and more gaps are filled. This is partly due to the nature of the Big Bad, a 5th dimensional bastard named Vyndktvx, but it also serves to both explain the multitude of artists on the book, and to fill in those five years between issue one and where the character is supposed to end up. Five years over a handful of issues results in snapshots in time, little episodes that are important in the forming of Superman himself rather than an exhaustive chronological list. Superman was hated and feared – but not for long. Superman gave up his Clark Kent identity – but not for long. Superman is exasperated by the perceived inactivity of the other superheroes – but not for long. Superman plays can and mouse with Lex Luthor – but not for long. Superman interacts with Lois and Jimmy – but not for long. And so on. We know who Superman becomes, we have seen that story before in a million different varieties. But for this Superman, what is important? The chance to say goodbye to his father. The return of his faithful hound who never left his side. The children who found shelter in his cape. His landlady who gave everything to help him survive. That Kents never give up and that no matter what, he’ll never really be alone.

This is not the Superman of All-Star Superman. That Superman was older, matured, and a perfect focus of the Silver Age made real. This Superman is born from the pages of the Golden Age, each issue showing another edge of the same character while introducing the instruments of his incredibly complex life. He’s just a man who will never give up – the message at both the beginning of issue one as he threatens a corrupt businessman, to the end of issue eighteen where he hugs his dog and jokes about his hard won fight for both his life and the entire universe. An alien alone perhaps, but one who is very human. All-Star Superman was a god you could believe in; Action Comics Superman gets shit done.

Having Superman face off against the devil, a jealous little man from another dimension who poses as dealer, bartender and lawyer, is a neat touch. Vyndktvx is not only attacking Kal at the end of the run but has been attacking him all his life, sometimes in ways that Kal will never know and perhaps never should. He is even the figure responsible for the Super-Doomsday, an “unstoppable killer franchise from a parallel reality” that is perhaps a shade too close to our own little Earth. Commentary on Superman as corporate symbol would appear to be in conflict with Morrison’s previous comments on Superman’s heritage, but not when you look between the lines. Vyndktvx’s pledge to “make coins of” Superman, and his subsequent failure is a clear illustration that Superman the mythic symbol of our age lives beyond corporate lines and greed. His past may be murky, but Superman’s ability to inspire is unstoppable. At least, in the hands of Morrison.

The revelation that the universe was born from Mxyzptlk’s hat, and subsequently that many worlds were destroyed by the multitude, the three dimensional interpretation of the multispear, is an interesting play on gods toying with their creations from above – and of course a parallel of the ability of creators to manipulate their own paper universes. That Kal is a favourite of his 5th dimensional audience for his ability to not be controlled – alongside his father – places him at the centre of the story for reasons beyond him simply being Superman. His angering of a petty god leads to his life being irrevocably damaged, neatly fitting in with the New 52 changes and perhaps hinting at a deeper message.

This is an ambitious run, all the more so for how everything does in fact tie together in the end. Even the smallest throwaway comments in the early issues are given meaning in later reveals, while the back up strips by Sholly Fisch (and the Action Comics Annual #1) are uncannily in tune with the main comic as well as giving deeper insights into Kal’s humanity. As time and story starts to slide sideways, with Vyndktvx breaking the fourth wall, the creators themselves appearing alongside the hand of god, and angels tumbling from the sky, the time slips start to collide with the whole picture becoming clear. With the arrival of the final issue I spent a few hours reading the entire run first, and the effect is rather like standing back from a tapestry to see all the threads intertwine.

Honestly, I could spend thousands of words picking out all the links and meta-touches here, and still it would do no good – because what you, dear reader, insert in between those gaps and how you read the comic, through the manipulation of time and touch, and what you decide it all comes to… well that’s what makes the comic.

But I defy anyone not to have a little sniffle at the return of Krypto, and for the boys who borrowed Superman’s cape.

Ha-la Kal-El, ha-la-la!

Action Comics #1-18
Writer: Grant Morrison
Pencillers: Rags Morales, Brad Walker, Andy Kubert, Gene Ha, Travel Foreman, Cafu
Inkers: Andrew Hennessy, Mark Propst
Colourist: Brad Anderson, Art Lyon
Cover Artist: Rags Morales, Brad Anderson
Letters: Steve Wands, Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Matt Idelson, Will Moss
Publisher: DC

[Laura Sneddon is a comics journalist and academic, writing for the mainstream UK press with a particular focus on women and feminism in comics. Currently working on a PhD, do not offend her chair leg of truth. Her writing is indexed at comicbookgrrrl.com and procrastinated upon via @thalestral on Twitter]

Forty-nine storage rooms.

One hundred ten buildings.

Six thousand, two hundred ninety-one trunks.

Millions of items, any of which could be worth millions.

In the 8/8/11 New Yorker, a Talk of the Town piece by Nick Paumgarten revealed that there are 6,291 unclaimed trunks of personal belongings in dank storage rooms below Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, a large apartment compound in New York.

These trunks date back decades to the 1940s, when the buildings opened, and of course the reasons they’ve been abandoned vary; the owners of some have died, but most likely most of those reasons will remain as mysterious as the contents themselves.

That is because it does not seem that anyone plans to open them. Well, some have been opened and some have burst open, but the article doesn’t say if there will a systematic cataloguing of the rest of the mass of material.

Which is why I promptly called Rose Associates, the property manager cited in the article.

Thus far, most of what has spilled out of trunks seems worthless—old clothes, canceled checks, ‘70s LPs. But I’m willing to wager that at least one of those trunks, and quite possibly several, contains an original copy of Action Comics #1 (featuring the debut of Superman), Detective Comics #27 (debut of Batman), or any number of other ultra-rare, mega-valuable comics, not to mention other kinds of valuables.

The companies that own the residential complex have been tasked with finding a more profitable use for this storage space. Given the understandably skeeved attitude of the property manager quoted in the article (who describes the air in those rooms as “unsanitary” and who said “I hate to think about the stuff that would come running out” when trunks are moved, etc.), I figured it would be worth a shot to ask if a writer could do research there. For all I know (the article doesn’t say), they might be planning to pulp those trunks.

I didn’t hear back from Rose. I don’t seem have great luck when it comes to New York institutions.

(I proposed holding a signing for Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman at the Bronx Zoo both because of the bat connection and because Bill [Finger] lived in the Bronx when he co-created Batman. They said no. More on this in a future post.)

No matter. I will likely try again. After all, in most cases, searching for an Action #1 is as futile as searching for a Bigfoot in your bathtub, but that doesn’t mean one will never be found; and this is a scenario where the odds seem way greater than most any other I can imagine.

The location is right. (New York was the capital of comics.)

I've explored the multitude of book covers that manage to show Superman without showing Superman.

Another super-cover phenomenon is the multitude of book covers that pay tribute to and/or spoof Action Comics #1, the comic book in which Superman debuted. That image is not necessarily mainstream but is certainly very well known among pop culturists.

Most of the homages I've seen are on the covers of other comics. But this new one shows it may be more mainstream than I've believed...

...from becoming homeless.

This not only makes you feel good but also makes you wonder how many more copies of Action #1 are out there, waiting to be discovered.

As someone who grew up loving the (first two) Christopher Reeve Superman movies, I had high expectations for Superman Returns (2006).

Too high.

I found Brandon Routh more sympathetic than many reviewers, but thought the rest of the major players were miscast. In fact, the only aspect of the film I truly liked was the tribute to the first appearance of Superman, a tribute that the majority of the audience would not have picked up on.

Here's the scene:

Here's the object of the homage:

No, it's not a coincidence.

Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman includes an illustration of a man looking at Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman and therefore the most valuable comic book in history. (Of the 200,000 printed in 1938, only 100 are known to still exist.)

Whenever I speak to students (or any group, really), I show that scene followed by a picture of the actual cover:

Then I suggest that kids get permission to look through their grandparents’ attics and basements. If they find an original copy of it, I urge them to call a lawyer (if they don’t live with one) because that comic will pay for college.

On 4/1/10, I was honored to speak at Wheeler School in Providence, Rhode Island, for the second time in two months. It was a different presentation but at one point I did (re)show Action #1.

A boy who had seen me present the first time raised his hand.

He said he’d done what I’d suggested. He looked for that rare comic. And, he claimed, he’d found one.

It did not seem to be an April Fool’s joke.

The room itself suddenly felt adrenalized.

In front of the whole group, I asked him questions about it. He said he’d come across a pile of old comics and Action #1 was one of them. I asked if he was sure and he said yes.

After my presentation, I spoke privately with the student and the Head of the Lower School. I asked the Head if I could contact the family to find out just what they’ve got. If it was indeed this Holy Moley Grail of comics, I’d be happy to refer them to a trusted contact at a comics assessment company. The Head graciously put the family and me in touch.

The boy’s family had given the comics to his uncle but his mom kindly e-mailed me a photo of one of the issues, presumably representative of the bunch. I was not surprised to learn the reality. The comic is from 1969 and it’s generally worth between $5 and $20:

So, it’s banned books week. I have a few links I’ve been sitting on for a while trying to find a way to look at them together but I think this week has given me the nudge. Banning books is bad. Challenging books is an exercise in free speech and a totally appropriate way of giving community feedback on library selection policies. Lumping challenged and banned books together confuses two different issues, to my mind. For some reason thinking about free speech and libraries makes me think about union issues. There have been a few in the news lately and not so lately and I apologize for not getting to them sooner.

• I read in Library Journal that the Jackson County libraries in Oregon will be re-opening. You may recall these libraries were in in areas hard hit by the drop-off in lumber industry work and general poverty conditions and the county could not keep them open. Now they can. What happened? The county outsourced the running of the libraries to LSSI, a library services company based in Maryland. Library workers from the system have to apply for their old jobs. What does this mean? It means no unions for employees anymore — the union had also submitted a proposal for re-opening the libraries. It means that a larger percentage of the library’s budget will actually be leaving Jackson County, not staying in it.
• In Vancouver BC the librarians have been on strike for 70 days and my apologies for not discussing this sooner. Check out the library website, bleak huh? I’ll be in Vancouver next week. I’d like to go to the library. If I have to cross a picket line, I don’t think I’ll go, or maybe I’ll just go and talk to the picketers instead. Here’s a Flickr photoset from Day 64 of the strike and a nice black and white set. The union, CUPE 391, has their own photo area and have a website and blog to get out not just their message, but responses to the messages put out by their adversaries.

You can read more about this sort of thing over at Union Librarian.