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Post by mistermets on Jun 30, 2022 14:56:57 GMT -5
I've read much of John Byrne's Superman run, and have been interested in going through the whole damn thing. Recently, I found some hardcover reprints in the library so that makes it a convenient time to go through an important and controversial run. This is controversial in the best sense, in that plenty of readers think that it was terrible and unnecessary, while others believe it lived up to the hype ( it made the CBR list of Top 100 runs). There's a reason DC kicked off Bendis' run on Superman with a Man of Steel mini-series. In the 1980s, the DC Universe was rebooted with Crisis on Infinite Earths. John Byrne had been poached from Marvel where he had been one of their most popular and prolific writer/ artists, with the most popular Fantastic Four run since Lee/ Kirby, his own superteam in Alpha Flight and major shakeups on the Incredible Hulk. He would take over Superman, relaunched with a new #1. He would also would also work on Action Comics, taking it over as a team-up title. Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway worked on The Adventures of Superman (which took the Superman numbering.) Byrne would also work on a few other Superman-adjacent projects including a few one-shots, and mini-series about the mythology of Smallville, Krypton and Metropolis. Byrne was obviously in charge of Superman, working on over half of the main comics on his two years on the book. The entire run would begin with The Man of Steel, a six issue mini-series providing Superman with a new origin and early adventures. I remember picking up The Man of Steel and Batman Year One at a Borders when I was ten or so. The Man of Steel was a much better deal, with six issues for a cover price of $7.50, while Batman Year One was an expensive four issues for ten bucks, although I did have to acknowledge that it was the better comic. Shaxper has a great thread where he reviews post-crisis Superman in depth, so anyone who like deeper synopses can go check that out. I'm going to focus on my own opinions, and mainly look at the stories until Byrne's departure. My focus is on the comics collected by DC under the Man of Steel umbrella in a series of nine TPBs, and four oversized hardcovers. I'll also look at some comics of interest to readers of the era, like the Jeph Loeb/ Tim Sale mini-series Superman For All Seasons. Let's start at the beginning. The Man of Steel #1
An unusual choice with the mini-series is that every issue is a single issue story. For the most part, the run does consist of shorter arcs, either single issues or two-parters. It's an interesting decision by a writer/ artist I have generally seen as willing to tackle longer stories. In the introduction to the first Man of Steel trade paperback, Byrne does associate Superman with multiple stories per issue. This could be why the first issue is also split into several sections. One of the biggest changes was the sterile futuristic world of Krypton where children are conceived in gestation chambers, and it's normal for them to not know the touch of a parent. I get the argument for this take, but I'm not a fan. Still the prologue is a decent sci-fi story as Jor-El makes a major discovery about himself in the last moments of Krypton. Chapter One is set in Smallville as Pa Kent tells eighteen year old Clark where he came from. It's economical, and does have an ideal setup for Superman's family life, so that he has two living parents in Kansas to contrast with his life in Metropolis. His parents are pretty effective as a moral conscience for the most powerful man on Earth, although other versions of this type of scene function more effectively, as it makes more sense for Superman to learn of his alien origins before he learns of his amazing powers or immediately after. Here he's not only a star high school football player when he sees the craft his parents found him in, but he's had X-ray vision and flight for a while. Chapter Two is set a few years later, as the world has learned about Superman. This is probably the best sequence in the issue. It's a rescue scene we've seen a lot (Superman saving people on an experimental rocket) but it also represents a point of no return for a character who has tried to keep his existence secret, but had to make the decision to reveal his existence in order to save lives. Byrne is able to pull off one of the most important superhero scenes, the decision to adopt a secret identity. There are small details that sell it, like his parents helping him come up with an iconic uniform, or even the decision to hide the idea that he has a secret identity, so that the public would have no reason to suspect that Clark Kent is Superman any more than they would guess that Clark Kent is secretly Tom Cruise. One interesting twist here is that they're not sure where Superman came from yet, which allows more discoveries about Krypton to be an effective story engine. It also reflects the national paranoia at the tail end of the cold war. This was meant to be the definitive take on Superman, and it falls short of that. But it's an okay beginning to John Byrne's take on the character. B+
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Post by majestic on Jun 30, 2022 19:31:14 GMT -5
I remember buying these off the shelf. The excitement for these issues were high. I felt like once we got into the run and realized there was no more Supergirl and no Superboy being part of the Legion the excitement died off real fast.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 30, 2022 21:51:25 GMT -5
This began while I was away on my Midshipman Training Cruise, so I had to play catch up. I was a lifelong Superman fan; so, it was interesting to see the changes. I wasn't keen on the depiction of Krypton; but thought it was better than the Donner version. The cold, antiseptic world seems deliberate, to emphasize the warmth of humanity, via the Kents, to show that their warm affection and moral guidance forms young Clark into who he is. I still think Elliot Maggin did a better job with that, in his two novels (but especially Miracle Monday, which features some interesting stuff with Jonathan, early in the book). The idea of Kal-El being a solar battery, whose powers grew stronger as he absorbed yellow solar radiation was an interesting take and better informs the powers. Byrne also tries to rationalize how some of them work, like Superman being able to attune his eyes to X-rays, rather than projecting them, though he never really has a satisfying answer for heat vision (no one ever really has or any energy casting powers, really).
I do think Byrne's stuff was livelier and more interesting than what had been happening under Julie Schwartz's watch, in the past several years, though I do think there are some 1970s and 1960s stories that are better than Byrne's. Still, he shook things up and brought some excitement to the character and it was palpable.
I'm not a huge fan of Byrne's idea of science fiction landscapes, though it is suitably alien. He has been doing this sort of thing since Charlton, with heavy emphasis on hard, scratchy lines and plating on spaceships and things. Some of it is too abstract, for my tastes, as it never looked especially functional. I always felt Perez was better at environments that looked functional, especially technology, though he sucked at weapons (they tended to look a bit piecemeal, though nowhere near as bad as Liefeld and his contemporaries, when they looked like they were made out of Legos, which is how I referred to their weapons; "Lego Guns.") Byrne was better at mundane objects, though he tended to be a bit minimalist in drawing rooms and offices (though so were a lot of his generation).]
At the same time, as things progressed, I found Adv of Superman to be the better written material, in terms of characters. It had a more mature feeling to it. The Action Comics team-ups did little for me, usually, and I thought DC Comics Presents had fielded better stories, overall, before they abandoned that theme, for the title (Action).
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Post by Duragizer on Jun 30, 2022 23:58:14 GMT -5
What I like about Byrne's run: - Byrne's pencils (especially under Karl Kesel's inks).
- His Krypton.
- The more psi-based approach towards Kal's powers (yes, I'm a supporter of the bio-electric aura).
- Clark Kent being part of Kal's core identity rather than a nebbish mask.
- Jonathan & Martha being alive.
- Luthor as a corrupt billionaire.
And that's it, really. And even many of the aspects I like I like mostly on a conceptual level. Byrne is such a mediocre writer, and an obvious Reaganite.
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Post by zaku on Jul 1, 2022 6:44:12 GMT -5
- Luthor as a corrupt billionaire.
I have to say, it was time for the trope of "Mad Scientist who builds amazing technological wonders all by himself in a secret lair" died. Because all these geniuses could get legally rich without all the problems of having to lead a criminal life. I remember this had also often been lampshaded in the comics themselves.
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Post by mistermets on Jul 1, 2022 8:55:55 GMT -5
The Man of Steel #2- With the second issue we may have the best sense of what John Byrne's up to. It's a relatively standalone story from Lois Lane's perspective as she's trying to learn more about Superman. Obviously it's 22 pages, but there's a bit of Will Eisner's The Spirit here, with an issue that is self-contained but part of a larger overall story that also happens to be formally creative. Continuity-wise, the most important thing that happens here is the introduction (a cameo here) of a new version of Lex Luthor. He's not a mad scientist; he's a businessman. This is a major revision of an A-list supervillain that has come to define subsequent appearances, including his depictions in the Fox/ WB animated cartoon, the Smallville series and the Zack Snyder films. There's a great scene where Superman grabs a purse-snatcher, and mildly chastises his victim for her loud boombox. That's followed up with a hostage switch, which is pretty much Superman's debut to the Metropolis PD. It's an excellent Lois Lane spotlight, including the twist at the end. It's pretty clear from the interactions between Superman and Lois that Byrne is a fan of the Richard Donner/ Christopher Reeve/ Margot Kidder film. It's a fun exchange. It sells Lois' gumption, and hints that Superman really gets her. A+
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Post by badwolf on Jul 1, 2022 9:13:28 GMT -5
The only thing I don't like about #2 is the idea that Lois would drive her car into the bay on the off chance that it would attract Superman's attention. It makes her seem insane.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,709
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Post by shaxper on Jul 1, 2022 19:46:38 GMT -5
What I like about Byrne's run: - Byrne's pencils (especially under Karl Kesel's inks).
- His Krypton.
- The more psi-based approach towards Kal's powers (yes, I'm a supporter of the bio-electric aura).
- Clark Kent being part of Kal's core identity rather than a nebbish mask.
- Jonathan & Martha being alive.
- Luthor as a corrupt billionaire.
And that's it, really. And even many of the aspects I like I like mostly on a conceptual level. Byrne is such a mediocre writer, and an obvious Reaganite. And most of the concepts were not Byrne's. More on that here.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 1, 2022 20:09:15 GMT -5
I enjoyed the sterile look of Byrne's Kryptonian society, down to their shaving their eyebrows. At the time, it look very alien. The mini-series itself was a lot of fun, and in many ways reminded me of the Superman movie. Not being a Superman fan, I didn't mind the big continuity changes, although I wondered how DC was going to square things with their other properties. Good to have you here, mistermets!
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Post by mistermets on Jul 2, 2022 10:14:50 GMT -5
The Man of Steel #3This is an unconventional chapter in what is supposed to be Superman's origin story. Sharperx had a fair point that it is much more of a Batman comic. It's set in Gotham, and the bad guy is more of a type who would fight Batman (and who has reappeared in the Batman comics) who is also defeated through detective work. On the other hand, this story also doesn't feature Batman supporting characters, and is part of Superman's larger character arc, as he realizes that some places are different from what he's used to. It seems like a pilot for Byrne's decision to focus on team-ups in Action Comics. You could probably remove this issue from The Man of Steel and it wouldn't make much of an impact on the narrative (arguably Superman #1 connects more to what's going on in Man of Steel by paying off some of the set-up.) This issue features one of the most important moments in post-crisis DC: the first encounter between the top two heroes, and it's a worthy effort. Byrne has some fun with readers' uncertainty. This version of Batman and Superman have never met before, so when Superman tries to get Batman arrested as a violent vigilante, it's plausible. And when Batman says he has a bomb attached to an innocent person Superman listens (this plot point has a satisfying conclusion.) I like the differences in their viewpoints. The adversarial relationship isn't something that should stick around forever, but it works in this story. One really good minor scene is when Superman shows up, and a henchman decides to just leave rather than fight a guy who just punched through a solid wall. Grade: A I can appreciate that The Man of Steel may be a different read for someone who was a fan of bronze age Superman and/ or was expecting the definitive take on the character. I've got more distance at this point. Cards on the table, I've learned to appreciate the bronze age Superman more, and I would rate the best stories (Alan Moore's work; the most acclaimed Cary Bates/ Curt Swan collaborations) higher than most of the acclaimed post-Crisis Superman material, but this is not a bad take on the character. I get that people will feel differently if this essentially replaced their favorite version. For me, these are back issues I could read alongside Morrison/ Quitely's All-Star Superman, or Superman VS Mohammed Ali, as opposed to the only take on Superman at the newsstand. When I was in middle school rereading my TPB of The Man of Steel, I was really excited to learn that John Byrne was going to be doing the same thing to Spider-Man with Chapter One. That did not work out well.
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Post by majestic on Jul 2, 2022 10:47:04 GMT -5
I remember Byrne in the 80s had the nickname of Mr Fixit. He took a series and stripped it down to the basics and rebuilt it. Most of the time his ideas were pretty good with a few misses. I felt the last time he did this successfully was the 1990 Namor series.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jul 2, 2022 11:14:36 GMT -5
Were Carling and Gruenbach based on Mike Carlin and Mark Gruenwald?
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 2, 2022 19:42:26 GMT -5
Were Carling and Gruenbach based on Mike Carlin and Mark Gruenwald? Oh, heck yeah! Gruenbach looks a bit like Gruenwald and Carlin was his assistant editor, at Marvel. Man, Magpie's look was all kinds of 80s ugly. Not even the ladies who congregated the diner across the road from the entrance to the Charleston Naval Station would dress like that!
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Post by badwolf on Jul 2, 2022 19:45:00 GMT -5
Were Carling and Gruenbach based on Mike Carlin and Mark Gruenwald? I think I just noticed that for the first time as well! At least, I don't remember noticing before. They are definitely references. Not sure if they actually look like them, though.
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Post by Duragizer on Jul 3, 2022 3:05:18 GMT -5
Were Carling and Gruenbach based on Mike Carlin and Mark Gruenwald? I think I just noticed that for the first time as well! At least, I don't remember noticing before. They are definitely references. Not sure if they actually look like them, though.
By Byrne's own admission, he's bad at likenesses.
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