Reviewer: William Cooling
Title: Menace to Metropolis
Writer: Mark Waid
Penciller: Leinil Francis Yu
Inker: Gerry Alanguilan
Colourer: Comic Craft
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Publisher: DC Comics
In the mid-eighties, at a highpoint for conservatism, John Byrne wrote and illustrated Man of Steel, which firmly presented Superman as America’s First Son, as Clark’s inspiration to become Superman was shown to be his small town American upbringing.
Then the Conservatives lost the cultural war.
Since then, Superman has been floundering with the cultural values that have been his underpinning, scorned at by the comic readers of the Dark Age. He has been increasingly seen and portrayed as safe, establishment and boring. A lethal cocktail of adjectives summed up by the insult, the “Boy Scout.â€
Of course, DC looking at what was happening to their number one icon knew something had to be done, and is about to relaunch the Superman group of titles. To prepare the relaunch we have Birthright, which although no one is quite sure how it fits continuity wise, has a very clear thematic purpose…
It is the De-Americanisation of Superman.
By this I do not mean that Clark is any less American than he ever was, although even there, there has been a significant rejection of small town American with his Vegetarianism). No what I mean is that Superman is no longer inspired by Clark’s American upbringing, but by his alien inheritance, as he decides to become Superman after seeing images from the spaceship that brought him to earth (where as Clark only investigated that after becoming Superman in MoS).
This has achieved its desired aim of divorcing Superman from the small town American hinterland that has made him such an anachronism in today’s liberal dominated comic industry. Luckily for us conservatives, it has also produced a cracking story.
In the previous three issues (I missed issue 1), Waid has carefully charted Clark’s journey to become Superman, allowing us to see Clark prepare to become Superman. Last issue, we saw him leave for Metropolis and a job interview at the Daily Planet only to be interrupted by an anti-terrorism test gone rogue, with helicopters involved shooting at nearby buildings.
Of course this was a job for Superman, who was making good progress with the helicopters until he saw his old friend Lex Luthor and got distracted. And hit. Which resulted in him going through the nearest wall.
Waid really shows off the power of his Superman, in this episode, with him effortlessly dealing with the rogue helicopters (a shock I know), tracing the cause of the malfunction and also effortlessly tackling 12-armed men. All of which makes a welcome change from the glass-jawed wimp in the Justice League cartoon.
Waid is able to make this approach work as he his able to show the shock of the crowds to Superman’s feats. In regular DCU the surrounding characters would expect many of the feats that Superman accomplishes here, so there would be no internal tension or sense of awe. This has both in spades, as the crowds are seeing Superman for the first time.
Waid also makes his Superman extremely personable as he gets away from the monotone Superman who is always calm and friendly, even to Luthor. This Superman can do threatening as well as Batman as seen by his confrontation with Luthor. However, Waid doesn’t turn Superman into Batman, keeping him as a lighter character by having him be extremely personable to those he saves, including waving and winking at them.
Waid’s portrayal of Luthor is as interesting in light of Waid’s stated dislike of Bryne’s businessman Luthor. Waid does not go against the MoS revamp but instead tries to use the businessmen as a new context for the classic scientist version of the character. He does this firstly, by showing that Luthor’s business success is based on his own scientific genius, as evidenced by his meeting with Lexcorp’s ET labs where the basis of their research is the breakthroughs he made as a boy. Secondly, Waid shows that he has a very scientific brain by the way that when confronted with Superman he immediately begins to break Superman down into scientifically explainable sections.
There are of course similarities between Birthright’s and Man of Steel’s Luthor, in particular the way he tries to ingratiate himself to Superman. However, this scene doesn’t work as there’s no reason for Superman to stand there and let Luthor present himself as his friend. It’s a minor quibble, and Waid’s Luthor is excellent when you consider the three different versions (Classic, Byrne and Smallville) that he has merged.
Where I feel he is less successful is in explaining Luthor and Clarks’ relationship to those who (like myself) missed the first issue. Whilst Waid establishes that they were friends, that Luthor knew something of Clark’s alien origins and that they had a falling out, he does not explain when this falling out happened and what caused it. I don’t particularly blame the writer, it’s a detail that should be covered in a recap page (which DC should include) but it would be nice to be brought up to speed fully.
Waid’s Lois is a wonderful character, as unlike Byrne’s she doesn’t come across as someone who is arrogant, obsessed with her career and would hen-pick you to death if you went out with her. Sure Waid’s version is still loud and pushy, but it’s more extrovert than arrogant, and her obsession with getting the story is balanced by her not taking a cynical view over Superman, but having the same awed reaction as everyone else.
He also handles her relationship better with Clark than Byrne did. Where as Byrne basically placed the two in competition and had Lois be mean to Clark, Waid sensibly does not pit Lois against Clark knowing the effect it will have on the perception the readers will have of her. He also does not have Lois (as in Classic and Byrne versions) dismiss Clark, she is interested in him and seems to have a certain “hunch†about him.
The art of course is incredible, with Yu’s cool, angular line work giving it a very different look than your average Superman comic. His version of Superman is excellent as it (along with Waid’s characterisation) makes Superman sexy not just a well-built version of your Dad. This is best shown by the next touch of showing Superman’s pecs through his costume, which not only emphasises how in shape he is, but that his costume has no armour whatsoever.
Yu also excels with the confrontation between Luthor and Superman. With an excellent use of the shadows that not only turns Superman into a mix of Cable and Christopher Reeve, but also has Superman be genuinely threatening and intimidating, something which I’ve never seen him do.
The rest of his character designs are as a whole excellent, with the only one I could criticise being Luthor. It’s not bad, but he seems to be at times unsure whether to do him as a slightly older version of the Smallville Luthor or something a bit bulkier. It’s a minor fault but I’m picky like that.
This is a great issue, as we see Superman complete his first mission, confront Luthor and bag that job at the Daily Planet. Waid is able to pack in a lot of content, despite writing in a decompressed style (if you like repeat panels you’ll like this issue) and is able to develop the plotlines that will bring you back for the next issue. Couple this with the fantastic art and you have a great comic.
All feedback is welcome.
