Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice comes out later this month on March 25th and to celebrate the occasion I’m going to go have the entire month of March’s reviews to go over the most entertaining, awesomely inspiring, and well written issues of Superman and Batman. First, we have to go back to when I was ten years old and I saw the comic book cover that changed my life. Now don’t get me wrong…I definitely had heard of Superman before that. The first movie starring Christopher Reeve was amazing. It’s because of that reason that I found this cover so wondrous. The rocket ship flying away from the exploding Krypton behind Clark Kent’s classic shirt tear revealing the red and yellow “S” underneath pulled me in like magic. The writer who took on this fantastic min-series was John Byrne. I didn’t know back then what discovered years later: John Byrne is a legend! He has penned many stories for both DC and Marvel including the “Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past.” For this story Byrne presented Superman’s origin and for that he went all the way back to Krypton itself except this wasn’t Marlon Brando. This is the story’s prologue and chapter one begins at Smallville High School. This portrayal has Clark being the star football player who discovers his heritage when his father reveals to Clark that he is more than what he seems. He tells Clark of the night that he was found and through flashbacks we see Clark grow up seemingly normal until as a toddler he is trampled by a bull and isn’t hurt. Then as a teen, Clark finds out that he was able to fly, but now he has an explanation for all of it. My favorite aspect of this story takes place when Clark uses his powers to save an experimental space plane from crashing. As he landed the ship safely a crowd mobbed him. He didn’t know how to handle it. “They wanted a piece of me, Pa. They all wanted a piece of me…” Clark muttered. It’s when he decided to have a secret identity. His mother even helped him make his costume. That’s how he became Superman.
I read this issue countless times. It’s the incarnation I’ve come to love the most. That’s why I enjoyed the Smallville television show so much. This comic didn’t teach me anything about story telling or how to write dialogue. It was just awesome. I enjoyed it because it told the origin of Superman. It was pure gasoline and fire in my imagination. It’s one of the original seeds that grew forth and made my creativity what it is today.
Leave a Reply