I am a DC guy as Big Two goes...

[BIGREDROBOT]

(08-19-2011 05:33 PM)thechrishaley Wrote:  

(08-19-2011 09:26 AM)bigredrobot Wrote:  I'm a biiig Marvel nerd. And I really love Superman. Which didn't happen until I read Supreme, strangely enough.

I'd like to hear more of this story.

I'd always pick up Marvel books at 7-11 because I liked the art and characters better. They just seemed cooler and fresher, whereas DC comics always looked dated to me. I still remember the cover to a Captain America comic I had, where Cap looked like a total maniac fighting these weirdo Right-wingers while surrounded by fire. It was really weird and subversive and rad. In my mind, Marvel, like Wu-Tang, was for the children.

So yeah, Frank Miller Batman stuff aside, my forays into the DCU were pretty nonexistent. When I got back into comics by way of Morrison's New X-Men, I got into his Doom Patrol, Flex Mentallo and Animal Man, which led to me making my way through Alan Moore's work on stuff like Swamp Thing, Watchmen, his America's Best Comics books and, finally, Supreme.

I mean, it's obviously a Superman rip-off. And done with such love and care, I almost can't believe that the curmudgeonly Moore wrote it, it's such a love letter to Superman. Like All-Star Superman, it takes the character and makes him work in the 21st century, not by retconning into oblivion the stuff that The Man In the Moon might find embarrassing.

I loved the depth he added to the character, the Golden and Silver and Bronze Age nods, the way he took all the goofy stuff associated with Superman and DC comics in general and made it cool. The super-heavy key to the Fortress, the mermaid ex-girlfriend, the weird trophies from across the galaxy, the super-cousins and super-dogs and future action teens and all that jazz. All the stories happened, and they worked. It felt a lot like Flex Mentallo and, later, how All-Star Superman would feel.

It made me understand Superman, this guy who seemed to younger me like a boring old dimple-chinned doofus. He was just a good guy, trying hard to help people. No real pathos or rage. didn't exploit or abuse his power. Just a kind, benevolent, mythical presence.

I can get behind that.