Review - Superman For All Seasons

Another update! I know, it's super exciting. Mainly though, I've got quite a lot of work to do this weekend and was worried I might forget about this under a pile of essays and revision if I don't review it now.

Not that that is an indictment of the story, which I really enjoyed. My knowledge of Superman is almost as limited as my knowledge of Spider-Man: I have seen episodes of Smallville, but in no order and I never really followed it. I've seen some of the cartoons but never a movie. Again, basically all I know is what is proliferated through pop culture: Daily Planet, kryptonite and Lois Lane.

This story made me fall in love with Superman. I think he has a reputation of being boring, but this brought all the mystery and the greatness back to him. There was subtlety in his emotions, mostly brought about from his silences and moments with loved ones. The fact that the story is narrated by four people, but never Superman himself, allows him to remain an icon while giving him depth through real human relationships.

But the best thing about this book is the art: nostalgic, detailed and tender, it makes the whole story dreamy and effecting. It's soft focus without ever being cheesy - and that is from both the sparsity of the dialogue and prose and the muted colouring. It makes a change from the usual bright colouring you associate with his character, while allowing his costume to still appropriately stand out from the generic yesteryear of his backdrop.

Each season was narrated by a different character. The first, narrated by his father, was very touching. I've never seen his parents look so old in any representation and that somehow added to the emotion. He seemed like the father everyone would want to adopt them if they fell from the sky in a rocket, and you can see where Superman got his stoicism from.

If his dad gave depth to Clark Kent, then the next chapter, narrated by Lois Lane, gave depth to the myth. We have references to him being an American imperialist, being selfish and self-involved (usual criticisms of the character) but it is through Lois's view of him we see how truly heroic he is. His goodness does not make him boring but an outcast in his selflessness. And unlike other selfless heroes, the lack of internal narration means we never get to hear any whining about having the weight of the world on his shoulders.

It's Lana Lang, who narrates the last chapter, who seems the most insightful into his emotional state, noticing that he may not be ready or able to handle that weight. But the message of the story seems to be that no one is able to carry their own weight, you just do it anyway. I was very impressed that both the female narrators are able to love him without it defining their characters: they are very different in their world view, refracted through Superman, and so they both had interest and depth while remaining insightful and calm.

But it is the third narration, by Lex Luthor, that I found the most insightful. His own justification for himself, that it is all motivated by his own love for his city, felt authentic and far from any kind of super-villian cliché. His misunderstanding, that Superman is all about his powers and not his humanity, never waivers and makes him all the more cold and intriguing. We get the usual 'bad father' stuff but it never feels like a platitude; it was simply giving him the depth that was afforded the other characters, personal relationships, and that is very commendable.

If you couldn't tell, I loved it. 9 out of 10. I wish there were 75 sequels but in some ways what makes it more amazing is its sparsity and self-containment.

Nest time - Batman: Year One

- Grace

Review - Ultimate Spiderman Volume One: Power and Responsibility

Let's ignore the fact that I said I'd have this up on Sunday and it's Thursday. My excuse is that I've been very ill, like I'd been bitten by the kind of radioactive spider that kills you rather than turns you into a superhero. But I did manage to read two of the three books that have made their way to me, so maybe double update?

Anyway, Spider-Man. This is the bit where I admit that I have never even seen the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films, apart from half of the second one which was alright. So I came to this text with very little knowledge of Spider-Man's origin story except that he is brought up by his aunt and uncle and that he is bitten by a radioactive spider. This opens by saying it is based on a Stan Lee story but I have no idea how close this is to the original origin story, if that isn't slightly anachronistic when talking about this genre.

To start off, I want to say that I really enjoyed it. I laughed quite a lot, I cried a bit and it felt like a real comic book, from the artwork right down to the tone of the story.

In terms of the art, I did like it. Although I did think everyone had so many lines on their face and veins popping out of them that they looked like they were always clenching. And I was very distracted by Peter's curtains hair-do: it must get in his way when he puts the mask on! But I really liked the blue tint on the flashbacks; it was emotional and sentimental but it wasn't mawkish like it might have been if it was black-and-white or sepia.

I thought the writing was great: despite the story being so familiar, it mostly avoided clichés and, when it did stray into platitude, I still didn't want to laugh at it. I was particularly impressed with the distance between what he was thinking and what he was saying, which evolved near the end of the story. He did a lot of amusing, sarcastic quipping but remained likeable because his thought bubbles gave him vulnerability.

And bits of it were very funny: there is one whole page which is a word for word reconstruction of the economic scene from Ferris Bueller. It is a very dangerous thing to evoke Ferris Bueller in front of me; it's my favourite film, I basically know it off by heart. But I went with it, found it funny rather than annoying. In fact, I was laughing so much I kind of didn't notice what was happening with Peter and so was a bit shocked when he broke the desk.

I was also not expecting Uncle Ben to die: I don't know if that is standard practise in his origin but I did not know it was coming. And I found it suitably emotional: it felt like the start of his character proper and, because I wasn't expecting it, I did cry a little. I was also moved by Harry as a character; I find fathers and sons pretty emotional anyway so both these characters played on my heartstrings very effectively.

My one real criticism is that Mary Jane Watson did not shout out to me as an intriguing love interest: she was pretty, clever and didn't hate him. But she didn't have much personality beyond that, and I'm not sure that he would or should fall in love with her just because she doesn't laugh in his face. To be fair, she hasn't really been in it so maybe I'll warm to her. I just find that 'beautiful popular girl with a heart of gold' thing a little tired, so I hope she gets some proper spark or edge soon.

Anyway, I will definitely be buying the next trade, Learning Curve, because I was really impressed by this. I definitely want to follow this Peter onwards. It is also making me wonder if I shouldn't invest some time in some of the other Ultimate series, like the X-Men. Overall, a solid 7 out of 10.

Next time: Superman For All Seasons

- Grace

Origin Stories

The structure of this blog is finally coming together in my mind and I thought I'd share it with you. I'm going to (try) to post a blog every Wednesday and Sunday. Sunday's are a review of whichever trade of whichever character I am reading that week, which means I might post more than once. And Wednesday's will be other comic book related blogging, like this one!

The first five trades I am going to review on a Sunday are all origin stories, of each of the named superheroes or superhero groups named at the top of this blog. They are as followed:

Spider-Man - Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1: Power and Responsibility
Batman - Batman: Year One
Superman - Superman for All Seasons
X-Men - Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 (not strictly an origin story but certainly a reworking)
The Avengers - The Ultimates Vol. 1: Superhuman

Not only are all the above titles origin stories, but they are all modern retellings of the origin stories of these superheroes. There are a couple of reasons why I choose to start this way. I do intend to go back to some of the early, original comics (I am currently investigating the Marvel Essentials series to go right to the start) but I thought it might be better to start from a more modern angle. I am sure the early work is good, but it is likely to have dated a little, and I think it is far more likely I will read them and find them charming if I have a least a little knowledge of what the characters evolve into.

The second reason is I have taken the advice of more knowledgeable people than myself: these are the books I have seen most often recommended for first timers into these characters, and who am I to argue? My specific reason for starting which each trade is how I will start each review so I won't go into too much detail here. But they are all now making there way to my front door so there's no going back now!

Where to start is possibly one of the most difficult aspects of this whole project: I could have agonised forever and never found the perfect trade to bring me into the fold. In the end I have jumped in here. All beginnings, I guess, are relatively arbitrary so it probably won't make a great difference in the grand scheme of things. If it's wrong, though, I'm not going to give up. I think that might be the key to a good comic book reading career: even if you hate one incarnation, there is always another.

This is one of the reasons the top of this blog looks the way it does: the 'big five' of the movie world are there because they're the characters I am most excited to follow. As they become a bigger part of popular culture, it becomes more important to educate yourself about where they come from and what the ideas at the heart of them are. Hollywood movies are great, some of the recent superhero ones have even been awesome, but they are not always credited for the strength of their ideas. In the same way I always try and read a novel before seeing the film, I am pleased to be able to read some of the sources of these huge movies.

This does not mean, however, that I only intend reading the 'big five'. Expect that top line to grow a lot over the coming months: I have very big plans for how wide ranging I want my knowledge to be. But I don't think you can start by reading everything: in fact, even five is a bit ambitious. I guess some will fall by the wayside and some will become my all time favourites. I'm going to read these five and decide which take priority and go from there.

So the first one to arrive will be the first one I read, and the first one I review on Sunday. See you then for my first ever review here on Starting From Splash.

- Grace

Welcome to Starting From Splash!

Hello! 

The world of comic books is an intimidating one, at least from the outside. 

Having never read a comic book, all my knowledge of the major players has come from television and movies. I know, then, what most people know: Superman with his kryptonite, Lois Lane and fortress of solitude, Batman with his Robin, Gotham City and bat cave, Spider-Man with his radioactive spider bite, Mary Jane Watson and Spider-Sense. And what I know, I love: the adventures of these superheroes are epics of our time, with characters as flawed and varied as the inhabitants of the cities they save. From the camp and ridiculous to the dark and edgy, comic books are playing on ground that I have always enjoyed. So why has it taken me so long to try reading one?

Unlike almost any other form of media, the world of comic books is a maze of differing continuities, writers, canons, time periods and crossovers. With no simple place to begin, and often no ending in sight, it can feel a bit like dipping your toe in the Pacific ocean when you really want to be swimming out in the middle. The television box-set outlook plays a role in this confusion too: not only is there no simple place to start but even if you find one, and follow it to its natural end, that is only a fraction of what there is to read. You can't buy one book and know everything about Captain America, you can't even buy twenty and know everything. There isn't even, necessarily, a set order to read things in; writers reboot characters, re-write their back-stories and even in some cases their powers. Even if you brave the world of comic book blogs, the whole page is filled with words you have to Google! And that's only the obvious characters from movies that you *think* you know something about: what about all the other, more obscure titles and writers? The ones that haven't been turned into Hollywood franchises are even harder to reach out to: not only do I know nothing about their mythos, but sometimes they rely on your knowledge of comic book convention to work effectively.

So with no obvious place to start, no reachable ending, no definitive list of set texts or a logical order to read them in, a vast and diverse range of titles most of which you haven't heard of that can only be explained in terms you don't understand, it is a pretty scary thing to attempt as a newbie.

Maybe that is why so many diehard comic book fans are (or find comics as) children: children jump headfirst into anything and everything without fear. They have no preconceptions about coming in at the start and following timelines. They're used to being confused, to constantly catching up and most actively enjoy it. As a adult (or, at least, a twenty-something English student from London), these things terrify me. Why aren't there just five X-Men books with the same characters, the same back-story and the order number printed on the spine? 

Alas, that is not the world I am about to venture into. And I'm sure, once I get there, all these problems will seem like assets. The world won't be complicated anymore but vast and waiting to be explored. The language won't be alien but second nature. The timelines will fall into place, until you hardly remember not understanding them. The obscure titles will become cult classics.

However, that is just conjecture: what is more important is where I stand now, right at the shore's edge. I want to jump in: I want to complain about where the films got it wrong, I want to understand every joke on The Big Bang Theory, I want to have stacks of comic books and trades on my desk as pure escapism from the real world...

And that is where this blog comes in. Consider me the guinea pig, blazing the trial for all the people out there who would read comic books if only they knew where to start. I'm going to be venturing off into the world, one trade at a time (I'll save ongoings until I've got a bit of backstory) and reporting back on the joys and pitfalls that lay ahead.

So if you're a newbie yourself, follow along with me: always better to get lost with a friend. If you're a seasoned fan, do you agree with my assessment of the books I buy and read? Am I making the right decisions and what would you recommend? And if you have no interest in this world at all... well, I'll probably make a fool of myself at some point, that has to count for something!

So watch this space! My first trade is already on its way to me in the post (and, to whet your appetite, it's a Spider-Man one) so expect (semi-) regular updates. And welcome to Starting From Splash - I think we're going to have a lot of fun!

- Grace