Justice League No. 1 and the New Superman

[Jack7]

Over the weekend I bought Justice League No. 1, a Doc Savage (I've always liked Doc Savage), and some other DC comics.

I liked all the comics I picked up but what really impressed me was the new Justice League. The artwork was very nice indeed, and Batman was as one would normally expect. Green Lantern was an idiot, though I expect he'll learn his lesson as the comics proceed and after the heavy bag dusting Superman gave him. But it was the new Superman that really impressed me.

Even though he only actually appeared at the tail end of the comic he seemed so different, and gave such a different impression that I have to say I could think of only one word to describe him - dangerous. Batman even called him dangerous. Before he even met him. Just on word of mouth and prior reports.

When you can take a guy like Superman, who despite all he can do, and the enormous amount of damage he can sustain (it's a real pity the man has always been better known for what he can take rather than deliver) and actually make him appear dangerous for once (whereas before he's been about as dangerous as Bernstein bear), well, I gotta admit, I like that. (I don't mean potentially dangerous, like a tamed and fat Saint Bernard, I mean truly dangerous, like a pissed off grizzly.)

Of all comic book characters Superman should be truly dangerous. He's never been that before even when I was a kid back in the Sixties and Seventies. But it looks like they just might possibly have decided, "let's make him truly dangerous."

If that's the actual case then all I can say is, "about bloody time, and I'll read that amigos. Make him dangerous and I'll read that, heck he might even become one of my favorite characters for once. Just don't make him a powder fisted, girl pull your punches, dandyish Marquess of Queensbury dash about again. You've done that to death. Make the man dangerous for once."

And I like his new outfit and the "armor" a lot too. He even looks like he could be dangerous for once. Instead of just a big bright red and blue county fair candy apple.

Keep this up and I'll keep reading it.

 

[Walking Dad]

My biggest issue with the new JLA ist that they booted out the Martian Manhunter for Cyborg. I love the big green one and for me it isn't really a JLA without him. Now he was never a member. But maybe Stormwatch is good enough that I will be fine with it.

 

[Hand of Evil]

And that is NOT Superman, that is Batman or Wolverine. I am sure people will be saying Badass Superman is cool, everyone likes the bad boy but that is not what the Man of Steel is about.

Just call the new Superman, Superman Zod.

 

[Klaus]

And that is NOT Superman, that is Batman or Wolverine. I am sure people will be saying Badass Superman is cool, everyone likes the bad boy but that is not what the Man of Steel is about.

Just call the new Superman, Superman Zod.

He's not dangerous, he's now confident. His early years (which will be covered in Action Comics) bring him into conflict with corrupt officials and cops, in addition to made scientists and alien conquerors. He's still fighting for Truth, Justice and the American Way, but people -- at the point depicted in Action Comics and JLA -- are wary of him for his power and ideals.

He's the Siegel/Shuster Superman, updated to the 21st century.

 

[Umbran]

Even though he only actually appeared at the tail end of the comic he seemed so different, and gave such a different impression that I have to say I could think of only one word to describe him - dangerous.

But Superman isn't *supposed* to be dangerous to the general populace. He's supposed to be a Boy Scout, in large part as a counter-example to Batman.

My understanding is that the new DC comics are set in a world where everyone distrusts and is scared of super-powered people, whether they call themselves heroes or villains. I guess this extends to the supers themselves. People, including Bats, fear what they don't understand, I guess.

(I don't mean potentially dangerous, like a tamed and fat Saint Bernard, I mean truly dangerous, like a pissed off grizzly.)

With all due respect, you vastly overestimate the safety of "tamed" animals. Any animal that large is dangerous - it is merely a difference of what situations reveal the danger. *

That has always been the case with Superman. They may not have always written it particularly well, but it has been the case, regardless.



*And arguing with me on that is going to be like arguing with a brick wall - a "tamed and fat St. Bernard" attacked my wife. It outweighed her, and nearly killed her. So, yes, supposedly tame animals can be dangerous.

 

[Jack7]

My biggest issue with the new JLA ist that they booted out the Martian Manhunter for Cyborg. I love the big green one and for me it isn't really a JLA without him. Now he was never a member. But maybe Stormwatch is good enough that I will be fine with it.

I agree. The Martian Manhunter is another character, indeed the only real physical match for Superman, who should also be dangerous. Very dangerous.

I'll also miss him from the Justice League, although his real talents were never really explored there. Maybe as a Lone Wolf, or in a different group the writers will really start making him interesting.

I am sure people will be saying Badass Superman is cool, everyone likes the bad boy but that is not what the Man of Steel is about.

Just call the new Superman, Superman Zod.

I'm not sure about cool (personally I could care less about cool), I just want him to look at certain villains who kill huge numbers of people and say to himself, "yes, snapping their neck is far better and more moral solution than letting 3000 innocent civilians die in a fist-fight that tears down half of Metropolis."

It's still comics, so I doubt that will happen, but if he gets more like that than previous incarnations of "let everyone else die because I feel morally conflicted about killing a mass murderer," (whatever that means, when you know the mass murderer is murdering thousands of innocent people and you won't stop it once and for all) then I'll like him a lot better.

To me the ultimate wrong of superhero comics is that the supposed "superheroes" far too often spend their time and energy fighting murderers and super-villains over and over again instead of doing their real jobs, protecting the innocents and preserving innocent life.

If Superman (and Batman and most, or even some, of the DC superheroes) become that way then at least they will have matured in my opinion.

Cool maybe or not, that's fine by me either way, but I'd much rather see them grow up and become truly dangerous to the wrong people. Without tearing down whole cities in senseless teenage fist fights to try and prove it.

 

[Umbran]

To me the ultimate wrong of superhero comics is that the supposed "superheroes" far too often spend their time and energy fighting murderers and super-villains over and over again instead of doing their real jobs, protecting the innocents and preserving innocent life.

If The People anoint them as "judge, jury, and executioner", then perhaps.

With great power comes great responsibility. Responsibility is not he same as ultimate authority. Killing villains very quickly makes the moral picture very muddy - too many villains have credible arguments that the harm they do is in "good cause"...

 

[jimmifett]

After just one issue, I'm still optimistically on the fence.

As for Supes being 'dangerous'...
To me, he's an ideal for others to strive for, not perfection, but tries hard to do what he thinks is the right thing.

At the same time, I like story Arc from the Justice League animated series featuring Amanda Waller. In the Superman Animated series, he was brainwashed by Darkseid and was a threat to earth and even his friends at star labs began to mistrust him and later join Waller in creating "failsafes" against him and other capes who step out of line.

In Red Sun, with a Superman leading communist expansionism, Lex is tasked by the government in creating counterparts to stand against the Superman threat of totalitarianism, albeit with mixed and often disastrously backfiring results. In the end, Lex ends up being the hero of earth.

I love me some Superman, and I want him to be a little dangerous, as long as it has profound impact on him and he learns from the experience.

Otherwise, I'm calling The Boys.

 

[Walking Dad]

...

I'll also miss him from the Justice League, although his real talents were never really explored there. Maybe as a Lone Wolf, or in a different group the writers will really start making him interesting.

...

Have you read American Secret or his Mandrake/Ostrander solo serial?

Great stuff. And if Stormwatch keeps similar to it's 'morality standards' I'm interested to say what a telepathic, shapechanging alien that is a near physical match to Superman can do.

 

[Jack7]

But Superman isn't *supposed* to be dangerous to the general populace. He's supposed to be a Boy Scout, in large part as a counter-example to Batman.

I agree and I don't want him to be. But let's face it, with all of the cities he's trashed with fighting super-villains over the years, and all the super-villains he's let escape to return and kill yet again, he's far more dangerous by being naive about evil than just by finishing it off.

But I wouldn't have him dangerous to the innocent. Just the evil.

With all due respect, you vastly overestimate the safety of "tamed" animals. Any animal that large is dangerous - it is merely a difference of what situations reveal the danger. *

I concur. My own Saint Bernard attacked and harmed my mother. It looked very bad at first but she recovered quickly, and she's old. But then again my Saint Bernard had a brain tumor which we didn't know about until after he was X-rayed after the attack. The vet said it was probably making him lose his mind, and I later found out that Saint Bernards are prone to brain tumors. We had to put him down. An excellent dog until his brain tumor changed his behavior. That may have been what happened with your wife, and glad she's okay.

And my own Great Dane bitch bit my clear through to the leg bone, but she did that by accident because I was trying to separate her form another dog that she was fighting with. So yeah, tame animals can still be dangerous.

My point was not that tame animals aren't sometimes potentially dangerous (given the right circumstance), just that they're usually tame and mild, whereas wild, angry animals are always dangerous no matter the circumstance.

Have you read American Secret or his Mandrake/Ostrander solo serial?

No, but maybe I should.

Great stuff. And if Stormwatch keeps similar to it's 'morality standards' I'm interested to say what a telepathic, shapechanging alien that is a near physical match to Superman can do.

Me too. I really wish he'd lose the fear of fire though. Scared of, maybe. Incapacitated by, silly to me when I think of an advanced alien. Especially one with his amazing intellect.