Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2020 6:42:57 GMT -5
I was looking at some covers for the following comics over the weekend: WORLD OF KRYPTON, WORLD OF SMALLVILLE, and WORLD OF METROPOLIS. And it dawned on me that the Man of Steel has three distinct supporting casts, even if one of them is retrospective.
Can many/any characters say the same?
Sure, Spidey has had many at times from the Daily Bugle staff to his high school/college friends. And Aunt May and her social circle. So I suppose he qualifies. It’s all New York City, though.
Superman has his retrospective supporting cast from Krypton, galaxies away; he has his “Clark Kent life” back in Smallville; and his current life in Metropolis. That’s quite rich and varied. And I always enjoyed catching up with them, whether it was a retrospective Krypton tale, Clark heading back to Smallville to see his folks, or the shenanigans in Metropolis. That often made things unpredictable. Sometimes we’d see a historical Joe-El tale, sometimes we’d see Clark saying hi to everyone back in Smallville, and mostly we’d see Clark interacting with Jimmy, Perry, Lois, etc.
(Incidentally, has Perry White ever visited Smallville in the comics?)
I do think all of the above is a unique aspect of the Man of Steel. I always felt there were three identities. I felt that way after watching the Reeve movies. He was Superman to the world, Clark Kent when he needed to be, but a different person when he could be himself with Lana Lang in SUPERMAN III. In fact, I was never the biggest Lois Lane fan, she seemed self-absorbed and selfish. Lana at least appreciated him for who he was, whether she knew his secret (comics) or not (the third movie).
But I digress. There are superheroes that have big supporting casts - and impressive ones. I quite like Jonah Jameson, myself. And there are superheroes whose supporting casts may not be tied to one location. But I feel that Superman is unique in that he has three distinct supporting casts.
Thoughts? Oh, and I put a question mark in my topic title because I may not even be right. I could be forgetting or missing something. And I am sure there are examples of the above in comics outside the Big Two.
Can many/any characters say the same?
Sure, Spidey has had many at times from the Daily Bugle staff to his high school/college friends. And Aunt May and her social circle. So I suppose he qualifies. It’s all New York City, though.
Superman has his retrospective supporting cast from Krypton, galaxies away; he has his “Clark Kent life” back in Smallville; and his current life in Metropolis. That’s quite rich and varied. And I always enjoyed catching up with them, whether it was a retrospective Krypton tale, Clark heading back to Smallville to see his folks, or the shenanigans in Metropolis. That often made things unpredictable. Sometimes we’d see a historical Joe-El tale, sometimes we’d see Clark saying hi to everyone back in Smallville, and mostly we’d see Clark interacting with Jimmy, Perry, Lois, etc.
(Incidentally, has Perry White ever visited Smallville in the comics?)
I do think all of the above is a unique aspect of the Man of Steel. I always felt there were three identities. I felt that way after watching the Reeve movies. He was Superman to the world, Clark Kent when he needed to be, but a different person when he could be himself with Lana Lang in SUPERMAN III. In fact, I was never the biggest Lois Lane fan, she seemed self-absorbed and selfish. Lana at least appreciated him for who he was, whether she knew his secret (comics) or not (the third movie).
But I digress. There are superheroes that have big supporting casts - and impressive ones. I quite like Jonah Jameson, myself. And there are superheroes whose supporting casts may not be tied to one location. But I feel that Superman is unique in that he has three distinct supporting casts.
Thoughts? Oh, and I put a question mark in my topic title because I may not even be right. I could be forgetting or missing something. And I am sure there are examples of the above in comics outside the Big Two.
