Happy birthday, Superman! It may be a little
early, but what the heck. At 80 years old, you deserve the cake and balloons,
you big hunk of red and blue!
Hard to believe it, but DC Comics just
released Action Comics #1000 this week, 80 years after the Man of Steel debuted
in June, 1938. And, as James Whitbrook notes in his post on 109.com,
the writers/artists used the occasion to give Supe’s well-known origin story a
few new twists.
You know the tale (and if you don’t, where
have you been hiding?): the infant Kal-El is placed aboard an Earth-bound
spaceship by his parents to save him from the destruction of his birth planet
of Krypton. The spaceship crashes in a cornfield in Kansas, where it is found
by Ma and Pa Kent, who raise the Baby Kryptonian as their own darling Clark,
able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, outrace a speeding bullet, yada,
yada.
Up to now, the various depictions of the
destruction of Krypton have all pretty much blamed natural causes (geological
instability/solar expansion), war, overweening scientific arrogance or some
such. But the new prequel TV show Krypton,
set in Kal-El’s grandfather’s time, offers another explanation for Krypton’s
destruction. A villain familiar to Superman fans—Brainiac—turns up in a much
more menacing form here, threatening to swallow the planet whole. The hero of
the show, Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe)—Supe’s young grandfather—must find a way to
stop the creature (while fending off a barrage of lesser threats).
The show allows Superman fans like me a
chance to explore the planet and culture of Krypton in a way we’ve never been
able to before. We meet the scientific caste, which at one time included the El
family (and will again) and the military caste, which includes the Zod family,
villains of the future. We even get an eyeful of the original Fortress of
Solitude. And we’re introduced to DC Comics’ time-traveling Adam Strange, who
comes to warn Seg of what he must do to protect the future.
By contrast, the comic writers and artists
in charge of Action’s Man of Steel have chosen to take the destruction of
Krypton in another direction, Their approach gives them leeway to follow
dramatic pathways in Supe’s present here on Earth—not a bad thing, really. I
won’t spoil it for you in case you want to run out to your nearest comic book
store and see for yourself. But Whitbrook is not so constrained in his post,
if you just can’t wait to find out.
In the meantime, lift a glass for the original
superhero today and Look! Up in the Sky! It’s Superman!
Cheers, Donna
Information for today’s post taken
from “Action Comics #1000 Honors 80 Years of Superman with Another Wrinkle in
His Origin Story,” by James Whitbrook, io9.com, April 18, 2018. https://io9.gizmodo.com/action-comics-1000-honors-80-years-of-superman-with-an-1825366834
Wow! 80 years! Happy Birthday, Superman. I actually caught some of the new Kryton series because it immediately follow The Expanse (very wise move there, SyFy) and although I'm not much of a fan of superheroes, I have to admit the set and costuming is wonderfully updated and stunning. I may tune in for a full episode next week, just to see if I can get into the show. If it doesn't go in silly directions with its sci-fi (like the recently deceased Dark Matter and Killjoys), I may keep watching. But the downside of its timeslot is it has a VERY tough act to follow. :)
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