[ DRAWN & QUARTERED ]
Greg Rucka, Matthew Clark and
Nelsen give the comic book hero new
story lines and characterizations
Every once in a while, major superhero comic book characters get a needed and overdue recharge. Tired story lines and characterizations get thrown out, and everything gets re-imagined to both re-energize the fans and attract a new readership.
At DC Comics the last major character of theirs that was the recipient of such a change was Batman. The dark Gotham City detective, because of the depth of his troubled character, could always be counted to do well in his own and other related titles.
Superman, however, has always been more problematic. I mean, we're talking about THE iconic superhero with nary a fault, right? "Truth, justice and the American way" and all that.
Well, that's no longer the case. The first run of three monthly Superman titles have just finished to overall positive response, and two of them in particular look like they're going to take the Man of Steel through some previously uncharted territory.
Top-notch writer and crime novelist Greg Rucka, along with the team of Matthew Clark and Nelsen (just one name), have positively turned around the middling "Adventures of Superman" title with the story arc entitled "Battery."
Superman's alter ego, Clark Kent, is reintroduced as an awkward police beat reporter for the Daily Planet who goes along on a ride-along with the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit, ready to do the law enforcement job whenever Superman is elsewhere, saving the earth and/or universe. But Superman arrives when the unit runs into the villainous Replikon, but during the heat of battle, there's some mysterious shadowy force carefully monitoring and analyzing Superman's strength.
Throw in a parallel story line concerning Lois Lane (Superman's wife and top Daily Planet reporter) eagerly going into the field when the United States invades the fictional nation of Umec in the Persian Gulf -- and toss in guest appearances of the Justice League of America in future issues -- and you've got a canny combination of human and super-heroics.
Speaking of combinations, teaming the terse and moody prose of Brian Azzarello with arguably the finest mainstream art of Jim Lee and Scott Williams on "Superman" all makes for an intriguing pairing.
"For Tomorrow" gets off to an enigmatic start. Superman confesses to a priest that he betrayed a sacred trust to the human race when, after returning from a mission in space, something called the Vanishing occurs, where a million people -- including his wife -- disappear off the face of the earth.
"My sin was to save the world," he intones -- and it looks like he fails.
Right off the bat, the "Superman" creative team bring back a sense of wonderment regarding the immensity of the superhero's job and responsibility to the flagship title, and Lee, who previously did stellar work on "Batman," does the same here.
Click for online
calendars and events.
