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CBG SATELLITES
The ADD Blog by Alan David Doane
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All Star Superman
And whilst it seemed that the ALL STAR line was intended as DC's
answer to Marvel's several-year-old ULTIMATE line revamps of 40
year-old characters with a modern sensibility with the first issue
of ALL STAR SUPERMAN hitting the stands, that now seems in question.
If the ALL STAR range is actually more along the lines of what some
pre-press states an excuse for big-time creators to work on big-time
superheroes free from the monthly grind of cross-overs and strict
editorial interference then that makes a little more sense. But when
you already have titles such as JLA CLASSIFIED and the forthcoming
BATMAN and SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL books, why all the hoo-ha? Just for
the sake of money? Well, naturally. But don't expect me to award it
creative plaudits on a purely financial basis.
Grant Morrison has never really had any awkward moments. Every run on
every title has either been congratulated or misunderstood. You either
love it or are left confused (But sure it must be great if you were
just a wee bit more clever). Coming off genre-redefining runs on JLA
and NEW-X-MEN, Morrison announced another dream project, ALL STAR
SUPERMAN. Now joined at the hip with Frank Quitely, the two seemed a
natural pairing on the title. Quitely's epic, chunky, depth-filled
insanity proved he could do grand even back on AUTHORITY. And
Morrison's entire career seems to have been building to such an
obvious creative choice. So we get 12 issues of continuity-free
Superman by two of the industry's creative giants.
So why am I left feeling a little empty?
The issue begins with a one-page rundown of Superman's origin. And
whilst it is fair to say that pretty much anybody picking up a
Superman comic knows the story
that's kinda half the point of this
entire exercise. It's a disdainful brushing aside of half of his
story. If it's merely an exercise in space-saving, that's fine, but
why is this being launched as a ground-up revamp? Miller and Lee are
retelling Batman's origin at a slow and measured pace, it would be a
shame for there to be no inter-title editorial guidance. And from a
selfish perspective, it would have been nice to have seen both
Morrison and Quitely's take on Krypton and Kent's early days. An
opportunity missed, by any rate.
From then on, it's a rapid dive straight into the world of Superman
with nary a moment to stop and collect your thoughts. All the players
are in position and we are to assume that because this title is
continuity free, Morrison expects us to know exactly what's going on.
Admittedly, one of the most regularly positioned incorrect assumptions
about Morrison is that he's not so good at characterisation, JLA being
the most obvious example. Patently false, Morrison's JLA was simply
dripping with excellent characterisation, it just lacked any character
development and rightly so. But this is a one-super-hero-title and
there's no reason to brush over characters so quickly. In fact, it
actually makes it harder for long time fans to enjoy as we're left
wondering which "continuity-free" iteration of each character we're
seeing. Is Luthor an industrialist? A scientist?
The lack of development seems intentional on Morrison's part he's
seen it's best to focus on developing the heroic element of the
character. This may be an adverse reaction to the recent
soap-opera-fication of the main Superman-line a too heavy focus on
what's going on in Kent's head or how he interacts with his supporting
cast. But OTT epic superhero action is something we've seen a million
times from Morrison and Superman it's hardly anything new. What's
more, the title seems to openly acknowledge Morrison's lack of
creative forward motion. It's filled with science-fact terminology and
one-liners. It's Morrison on autopilot. Admittedly, Morrison on
autopilot is usually a damn sight better than 99% of what the rest of
the industry is currently pumping out, but that's still nothing to be
impressed with. It would have been nice to see Morrison do something
truly different.
And even the main story seems rushed and poorly-edited. Rather than
wasting any time, Morrison runs straight towards new powers and
character reveals. It reads like the first issue of a run on the main
titles with a hastily tacked-on first page recap rather than the first
issue of a new-reader-friendly title. How are we supposed to be
impressed with new powers when we've not really been shown his old
powers? The inclusion of new character, Leo Quintum, also makes it
feel like a continuation rather than a brand new beast. First issues
are the hardest things to write they have to be enjoyable in and of
themselves, they have to introduce your cast and they have to leave
you wanting to pick up the second. And whilst this first issue does an
admirable job of enticing you back for the second issue, it brushes
right past introductions and seems almost impatient to get to
full-steam.
Admittedly, I did enjoy some elements of the comic the last two
pages positioned as an epilogue to the main story was a master-stroke.
Such a small device used so effectively is why Morrison is such a big
name. I enjoyed the cosmic feel to the comic, but even that felt a
story too big to be really used in a first issue. I also enjoyed
several pages of Quitely's artwork, but this is where I have to
disagree with most positive praise for the title
a lot of Quitely's
art looked rushed and lacked detail. There are several panels which
are just framed wrong and leave you wondering what's going on
namely, the penultimate page featuring an off-panel Super-save, which
doesn't work properly how ever you look at it. In other panels, the
angle has been deliberately chosen to avoid too much drawing namely
the first few scenes in the Daily Planet. Of course, the invention
displayed in Morrison/Quitely's one, true meisterwork, WE3, can be
seen in evidence here in the odd panel. However, I can't help but feel
Quitely isn't putting his heart and soul into this. Jamie Grant's
excellent digital colouring/inking has a lot more to cover here and it
makes his work look bad when it shouldn't.
Don't get me wrong, I'd still rather read a dozen comics of this
"poor" quality, but that doesn't exactly make me ALL STAR SUPERMAN's
biggest advocate. It's ultimately a lifeless, workmanlike comic that
is draped in Morrison-esque techno-babble and brushes past so quickly
so as to avoid exposing it's flaws. Quitely's artwork will be its
downfall as the hectic pace it keeps will be slowed to a stall in the
between-issues wait of two-three months. So far, the ALL STAR line has
failed to ignite creative sparks in the way promised and is definitely
a poor shadow of Marvel's ULTIMATE line, despite the ahem all-star
cast of creatives.
-- John Fellows
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Press on ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN has been strangely un-positive. Even
though there are people willing to extol the virtues of Frank Miller
and Jim Lee's revamp of Batman, they seem almost unable to argue with
its detractors. It's a kind of resigned admiration. The kind of
admiration that springs from knowing you're wrong, but giving in to
your joy anyway. It may be that DARK KNIGHT STRIKES BACK opened the
flood-gates. DK2 may be an ambivalent work from a man no longer at the
top of his game, but the nagging doubt that it wasn't as good as it
should be allowed people to think the unthinkable Miller had lost
it. Even those staunch enough to carry through any claims of parody in
DK2 can barely justify his work in ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN. Maybe as
an outright comedy, you could see the logic, but the only thing ALL
STAR BATMAN & ROBIN parodies is Miller's once great career.