Super-Powered Comics: World Without a Superman

Say what you will about the Death of Superman storyline, but never say DC was afraid to take chances with it. For two straight months after the Man of Steel’s death, his titles continued with Superman as little more than a corpse. The trade calls this World Without Superman but I prefer the title on the black cover copy included with the issues: “Funeral For a Friend”.

While his actual death limited the number of other DC characters that came in to play, now we get to see the rest of the universe share their feelings about Superman. At the time, Superman was still a bit of a loner in the post-Crisis DC universe. It was only a little less than a year since he even joined the JLA. But “Funeral For a Friend” made it quite clear that Superman still held a vitally important place in the DCU.

At the same time, the book also covers how the normal people of Metropolis and beyond respond to Superman’s death. We have Cadmus and its battle to take Superman’s body. We have the beginnings of a strong relationship between Clark’s parents and his fiancee Lois Lane. Jimmy Olsen consoles a young boy named Rich who Superman saved from the rampaging monster. Lex Luthor (still under the disguise of the friendly, caring Lex Luthor II) grow in rage at his inability to kill Superman. We have the return of Jose Delgado to his costumed identity as Gangbuster.

Over nine issues, we cover every aspect of how Superman’s death would effect the world. While the saga does slow down in places, it does an excellent job of establishing how important Superman was and how dangerous the DCU could become without its greatest hero.

Of course, Superman would soon return. Four times over.

Super-Powered Prose: It's Superman by Tom DeHaven

It’s Superman can best be described as a strange duck. Written by acclaimed novelist Tom DeHaven, it explores the days leading up to Superman’s first appearance in Action Comics #1. It becomes quite odd as we meet a slightly befuddled hick in Clark Kent, who isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. We meet Lois Lane, a modern woman with quite the liberal view of sexuality (at least for the thirties). We have Lex Luthor, a New York City (Metropolis) alderman from a shady past with equally shady plans for the future.

We also meet Willi Berg, a new character that ties everyone together. A former beau of Lois and a freelance photographer, he stumbles upon the alderman’s criminal activities. Framed for the murder he witnessed, he flees the city to Smallville, meets a young boy with amazing powers and starts the ball rolling towards the first appearance of Superman.

DeHaven throws out a lot of the established back story of Superman to instead focus on his vision of Depression-era America. We travel from Smallville to Hollywood to Metropolis before the story comes to its end only moments before the first panel of Superman’s first comic appearance. In the process we meet a slew of original characters like Skinny Simon, Dick Sandglass, Ben Jaeger, and Ceil Stickowski add depth to the reality of the early-era Superman’s world.

Unlike the previous reviewed Enemies & Allies, DeHaven devotes an intense amount of effort to get the feel of his chosen time period right. His characters move through their surroundings and develop in to vastly different figures as our story progresses. The plot is weak in places, but when it fails, it always fails to focus more on the strange bunch of figures DeHaven gives us. Luthor’s plot involves his creation of killer robots, but the denouement is anti-climatic at best. It really doesn’t hurt the book though, as by the time you reach the finish you realize the book has much less to do with the potential conflict between Superman and Luthor as it does their similarities. It creates an interesting framework that really accentuates the themes that run through the tale.

If you are looking for a modern tale of Superman, you could do far worse than It’s Superman. The book holds its own even as Kevin J. Anderson’s Super-books fall flat on their face. DeHaven’s tale gets a solid Recommendation.

Super-Powered Prose: Enemies & Allies by Kevin J. Anderson

Perhaps it was bad timing for me to read Enemies & Allies just a few days after finishing DC: The New Frontier. The New Frontier is a work of artistic genius while Enemies & Allies is a novel by Kevin J. Anderson. Let’s be honest: Mr. Anderson is not the best writer in the world. While not talentless, he has made a name for himself producing average-at-best, hack work at worst.

I read his previous Superman-related work Last Days of Krypton a few months back. While not a bad novel, it is basically just an average science fiction yarn. Nothing really superhero oriented about it other than the pedigree of the lead.

Enemies & Allies, on the other hand, tells the story of the first meeting between Superman and Batman. The novel draws comparisons with The New Frontier for one major reason: a shared time period. For whatever reason, Anderson set his novel in the late fifties as the space and arms races both heat up between the United States and the Soviets.

One of the first things I noticed is how this isn’t really a Batman novel at all. This is a Superman story, and Batman plays a supporting role. Lois Lane gets an equal page count to the Caped Crusader as does the story’s sole villian: Super-nemesis Lex Luthor. No room for any of a dozen Batman villains here. Not a one. Alfred does make a few brief appearances, but for the most part, Batman is treated as a cast member more for his business rivalry with Luthor than anything else.

The story basically revolves around Lex Luthor’s attempt to manipulate both the USA and the USSR in to helping him in his quest to bring down Superman. This plot takes the form of a secret Soviet gulag and specially designed flying saucers. If it all sounds a little silly, that’s probably because it is. The story isn’t really bad; for a writer as lackluster as Anderson, it’s actually pretty good. But you don’t come away from it with any feeling of satisfaction. It feels as empty as a mid-sixties issue of World’s Finest, without any of the fun. Part of me wonders if they thought they could follow up Tom DeHaven’s It’s Superman (which I will get around to reviewing soon) with any old writer and have just as good a book. They were very, very wrong.

One last gripe: whenever we had Superman chapters, we constantly see him referred to as Kal-El. Not only does it get rather old, it strikes me as false. While I think Superman might think of himself as Superman, usually his mind would go back to the identity he holds truest: Clark Kent. I really don’t think Kal-El would play in to his mind that much.

All in all, Enemies & Allies is an okay, if mechanical look at a first meeting between two iconic characters. It could be better, but I’m sure it could also be much much worse. In my generosity, I will say that’s enough to give this book a Mild Recommendation but only if you are a big fan of one or both the characters.