While I journeyed out of DC-Land and Into the Marvel Universe today with my look into Deadpool, I'm also featuring another first for Geek Is Good, today also feature my first guest review. This review was done by my friend Rick Classic, and it appears he's gonna cover my least favorite DC hero for me. -Insert Vincent Price Laugh-
All according to my plans...I mean, yeah, Rick, the floor is yours save for a couple snark filled remarks, but what else could you expect from me.
* * * * * *
Rick Classic here and for my first review I thought we’d take a look at the other
end of the DC spectrum. Throughout Tucker’s
review of Batman: Year One he made a few swipes at a certain Last Son of
Krypton, a character whose camp I find myself firmly entrenched within. Since I
feel equal time should be given to make the case for Kal-El, that’s
right...welcome to the dark side. Bwahahahahahaha!!!
Don’t worry though,
this will be nothing diabolically painful but I do feel that as a lifelong
Superman fan I can make an argument for the worth of the character beyond the
“he’s an alien with insane amounts of power” argument. Like the Year One review
I’ll go with the origin story, but the question becomes which version. Unlike
Batman’s origin, Superman’s story has been told and retold many times, in
almost 30 years alone we’ve been witness to 1986’s The Man of Steel, which was
the first post-Crisis on Infinite Earths retelling of his origin. In 2003
Superman: Birthright retold the story for the 21st century, and
currently Grant Morrison with his run in Action Comics is putting his spin on
the tale.
The version I’m
going to look at is the 2009 version written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by
Gary Frank, Superman: Secret Origin. So the question before we begin: why this
one, what makes this one so different from the ones that came before or the
ones that came after. The short answer as far as I’m concerned, it’s much more
enjoyable and much more complete (especially since Morrison’s run has yet to be
completed). Man of Steel left a lot out of the equation, Birthright did as well
but it also got a little didactic at times.
Secret Origin keeps the mythos pre- and post- crisis intact while adding
some of the more emotional moments of Birthright, and keeps it all within six
issues.
Part 1-The Boy of Steel: We open with a young Clark
Kent staring up at the sky when his attention is brought back to Earth by a
young boy calling out to him to go long during a pick-up game of football.
Clark catches the ball and makes his run with his friend Pete Ross gaining on
him, Pete makes the tackle but in the process breaks his arm which stops the
game and brings the ambulance and the parents to take the kids home. The next
day at school, Pete is reveling in the attention his broken arm is getting him
from the girls. Pete offers Clark a chance to sign his cast when Clark’s x-ray
vision kicks in and revels the broken bone to him. Clark runs off upset,
revealing to Lana Lang that having been responsible for breaking Pete’s arm.
 |
| That's super angst you're seeing here. |
Lana tries to
comfort Clark and at the end of a tale about how he had saved her as a child,
Lana kisses Clark. This event however triggers Clark’s heat vision which causes
a fire in the school. The fire gets put out with authorities scratching their
heads on what caused the fire. Clark gets picked up by Pa Kent and taken home
with Clark asking the question “what is wrong with me”. Back on the farm, Ma
Kent tries to cheer up her son when Pa Kent says it’s past time to tell Clark
the truth. The family go to the barn where Pa reveals to Clark the object that
“answered their prayers”, a small silver space ship.
Clark’s first
reaction to the rocket is awe, which is quickly changed to surprise when he
touches the rocket and a holographic image of his birth parents appear. The
pair is introduced as Jor-El and Lara and they explain how Krypton, their home
and Clark’s birth planet was destroyed by their sun going nova. The revelation
that he’s not the Kent’s birth son or even for that matter human enrages Clark
and he unleashes his heat vision on the rocket which does nothing to damage it
and then starts to pound away at it before he runs crying into the cornfields
with Pa chasing after him.
Clark falls and Pa
Kent catches up to his crying son upset that the father he knew is not his
father. But Pa embraces Clark and encourages him that he will always be his
son. Elsewhere in Smallville a young Lex Luthor runs from his drunken father
and trips over a green glowing rock which Lex describes as “fantastic”. The
next morning we see Clark wearing a pair of glasses two sizes too big for his
face, the lens were crafted from the lens on the rocket which withstood Clark’s
heat vision and allow him to keep this power in check. Clark arrives at school
and we find him making excuses to keep from participating in sports with the
other students, Lana Lang notices and remarks at how bad Clark is at lying.
Lana invites Clark
to help here with a flower booth at a fair where he comes across a booth manned
by Lex Luthor who is selling his old books for money because he has memorized
the best ones and dis-proven the rest. He also says he needs money to get out of
Smallville. During a discussion about the possibility of life beyond Earth, Lex
produces the green glowing rock which seems to have an adverse effect on Clark
and causes Lex to drop the rock. Suddenly, a tornado appears over the fair
(it’s Kansas, what would expect?) which causes all sorts of havoc and pulls
Lana into its funnel. Clark rushes in and saves Lana and in the process learns
that he can fly.
 | |
| Yeah ,you should have stuck them them guns. |
Clark returns home and excitedly tells his folks about going up, up, and away. His clothed are a mess, so Ma Kent decides to create some clothes that he can wear while in action. Using the blankets he was wrapped in as a baby, Ma and Clark put together the iconic red and blue costume and...Clark is embarrassed wearing the thing remarking “this is the last time I ever wear this”.
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