This was a tough week for me to choose a comic book to review considering I had so many to choose from. Action Comics #844, co-written by Geoff Johns and “Superman the Movie” director, Richard Donner, was a prime candidate for the book of the week, but I feel that it would be best to review this book when all three issues of the story are collected. So, expect to hear me mention this book in December.
But, for this week, I am going to write about a new, on-going Superman title called “Superman Confidential.” This story is written by comic’s legend Darwyn Cooke (“Justice League: A New Frontier”) and beautifully penciled and painted by the legendary Tim Sale (“Batman: The Long Halloween”).
As a Superman fan, I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I am about this new series. This first issue takes place just two months into the career of Superman and gives us an angle on the character we have not seen in years.
At the beginning of the book, Superman admits that he is not as fearless as everyone thinks he is. He is still very new to the whole idea of going around and saving Metropolis and is still unsure of the limits of his abilities. With each new day and each new fight, he learns more and more about what cause him pain and what does not.
Cooke makes a rather bold choice in the way he starts the story with Superman already having a romantic relationship with Lois Lane. In most Superman origin stories this relationship is not established until the end of year one or so. Although, with this element inserted into the story, we have a chance to see a side of Superman we might not have seen before.
The overall plot of this story arc is that chief of the Daily Planet Perry White puts Lois, Clark and Jimmy on special assignment to keep surveillance on the newly opened casino in Metropolis. Perry is suspicious that this new establishment is nothing but trouble for the city but no one else seems to think so. This is an old-fashioned Superman story. This is not about fighting a supernatural force but rather a very human force. I think this has potential to be a truly timeless Superman story.
Until next week true believers, this is Comic Book Boy saying: “Take care!”
After the last article that was published in The Mirror (Gen13 #1), I received an e-mail from the library asking for recommendations of graphic novels for the library to purchase for its collection. I am very proud to announce that the library has ordered a number of books that I suggested; these books include: Pride of Baghdad, Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City, Strangers in Paradise, Kingdom Come and many more. I hope that faculty and students alike will take this opportunity to read these books and open their minds to this wonderful medium of storytelling.
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