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One of my favorite forgotten Elseworlds is this one. The premise is a gem: what if the Waynes found Kal-El's rocketship, and the tragedy of their death still happened? J.M. DeMatteis is a long-time favorite of mine - there are not that many writers who can shift so effortlessly from comedy to melodrama. This is DeMatties at his most melodramatic, aided by classical styled art from Eduardo Baretto. Sadly, this is not his best work - it's a bit rushed as it heads into the conclusion - but it is still a favorite Elseworlds of mine, because it illuminates a trait of Superman's character that we can't really see in the main DC Universe. Everyone always asks why Superman is such a goody-goody and why can't he be more like Batman, with Batman breaking people's legs and puncturing their lungs? Speeding Bullets shows us why:   Because Superman's power mixed with Batman's attitude crosses the line from "badass" to "loving terrifying." Batman, despite being a rich old money 1%er who fights crime in a million dollar car and gets his wounds patched up by his combat-trained butler, is still allowed to beat people up, but someone with Superman's power can't get away with that without scaring everyone around him, and not in the gently caress-yeah-Batman's-here sense, but in the "I am really uncomfortable reading this" sense. Superman can't be an off-the-shelf badass - in order to work, he has to actively strive to be above all that, to fight with one hand tied behind his back. Superman is about the virtue of restraint - all about "shoulda," not "coulda." It'll surprise no one that this is one of those "oh, he turns out becoming Superman after all" stories, but J. M. DeMatteis isn't doing this out of laziness. Rather, it's the thesis of the comic: that in order to be considered a hero, Superman can't work the way Batman does. And maybe writers should stop trying to make that happen. Let Superman be his own hero instead of a pale imitation of someone else's.
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Sep 1, 2013 03:36
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The big issue with Ruins is that, by its own admission, it's supposed to be the grim and gritty counterpoint to Marvels. Marvels is a series where Phil Sheldon loses an eye in the first book, is sucked into an anti-mutant riot in the second (which ends with a little girl possibly dying and we will never know for sure,) everyone descends into apocalyptic panic in the third then, once it's over, they go back to blaming the superheroes for everything, and the fourth ends with Phil Sheldon bearing witness to Spider-Man's greatest moment of failure. I've never understood people who insist that Marvels is all bright and shiny and happy. There are bright moments and the whole thing has gorgeous artwork, but they're counterbalanced by a lot of dark moments. (Nowhere is this clearer than in issue #2, where the dichotomy of the public's love of the Fantastic Four is contrasted explicitly with the public's fear of mutants.) Ruins is the counterpoint to a version of Marvels that doesn't actually exist.
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Sep 11, 2013 22:31
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Soonmot posted:They all combine into one big megazord? Come to think of it, Billy Batson technically is a teenager with "attitude."
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Sep 22, 2013 00:40
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I've fallen a little out of love with Red Son, but there is one clever little throwaway bit: as part of his plan to stop the dreaded specter of Super-Commmunism, Luthor creates a centralized economy where he - and by extension, the government - has complete control over every dollar. I don't know if Millar did that on purpose - since it didn't have arrows pointing to the irony, I'm gonna say it was an accident.
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Sep 23, 2013 06:23
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