Action Comics 701 – 703, 0, 704 – 709

What if each issue of Action Comics really was a month in the life of Superman? It would mean his life would be like this:

May: Stop Lex from using Kryptonian battle suit to ruin city

June: Fight Bloodsport on a bridge

July: Participate in semi-annual DC Universe cross-over event; meet an alternate-timeline version of parents; watch the universe get destroyed (again).

August: Fight old home-town friend now out to kill me

September: Track down Eradicator because I think he’s making me crazy

October: Continue to go insane; steal a body from S.T.A.R. Labs and fight the Special Crimes Unit.

November: Let Supergirl take the spotlight while I share a plane ride with Perry White

December: Fight hi-tech ninja but finish in time to spend New Years with Lois

January: Get caught in a trap with Mr. Miracle

February: Fight a possessed Guy Gardner

Whew. No wonder they needed skip weeks.

This blog is starting to feel like a place solely designed to kick the crap out of my nostalgia. Not that I ever considered my collection of Superman comics to be a highlight of my collection, but reading these issues has me again wondering just what it was about Action Comics that I found so appealing. These issues came out starting the summer of  1994 through early spring 1995, which would be the summer after my Freshman year of college and then into my Sophomore year. Now that I think about it, that was a very turbulent time for me; my social life at school underwent some drastic changes, and I made some mistakes that cost me a couple of good friends. But these issues didn’t trigger any of those memories, which means that even at the time, these comics weren’t anything that I had a strong investment in.

(Actually, that raises another question: will any comics from that time period trigger memories of that time for me? Well, I guess we’ll find out sooner or later, eh?)

I wonder if it comes down to the simple fact that, when I was 19 I really liked superhero comics and at 35, I don’t. Certainly, I am still all for a good superhero story—and there have been a few of those within my collection of Action Comics—but liking specific stories and liking a genre in general are two totally different things. When I was younger, I really liked superheroes. I liked the escapism, I liked the fantasy. And though I’m not crazy to admit it, I imagine the wish-fulfillment appeal of superheroes was also a strong hook for me. When I was a teenager and insecure and not dating, the idea of strong men saving the day and getting the girl was certainly something I wished I could do (and when they were insecure and didn’t get the girl, I could certainly empathize). Now that I’m an adult with, among other things, a solid sense of self and a wife, there isn’t much of a need to yearn for something more. So when I come across run-of-the-mill superhero stories—and that is pretty much what you have with these ten issues of Action Comics, and with Superman comics in general—then it makes sense that who I am now isn’t going to be overly interested in them.

And let’s be clear: these are not terrible stories. If they were terrible, I could at least enjoy laughing at the absurdity of it (though these comics have their cringe moments; but I digress). But this is not ground-breaking, experimental, overly-savvy comics. Superman meets a villain, he fights the villain. Subplots progress at varying speeds, the interconnectedness of the Superman titles is more or less apparent depending on how big a storyline is supposed to be. It’s all straight-forward superheroing, so it’s not so much bad as uninteresting.

I also have to confess that David Michelinie isn’t writings as compelling a comic as Roger Stern was. I like Michelinie; I enjoyed his issues of Amazing Spider-Man and he wrote a bunch of early-80’s Avengers that I also liked so I don’t think I’m prejudiced against him in general. I just don’t find his take on Superman to be as engaging as Stern’s. I think part of it is that Michelinie seems to have less of an interest in investing a lot of time with the supporting cast. With Roger’s issues (post death and return), every issue had at least one or two scenes with Supes supporting cast. In Michelinie’s issues, you get a scene with Lois, maybe a walk-on from Jimmy or Ron, but by and large they’re there to help move Superman’s story forward, not their own.

Stern also had Lex Luthor to play with. From the comments made in these issues letter pages, Stern was held in high regard for the way he wrote Luthor. Stern’s enjoyment of him clearly showed, and Luthor served as a great character for Superman’s support cast to interact with. In fact, Stern’s knack for writing a great Lex is apparent in the very first issue without him, 701, where fill-in-writers Karl Kessel and Louise Simonson have Lex come across more as a generic megalomaniacal villain rather than someone with more depth and personality.

(Aside 1: this issue, 701, officially writes off Lex’s character for the near-future. The issue ends with the dedication “Dedicated to Roger Stern—it’s only fitting that Lex Luthor leaves with him. Here’s hoping they both return—when we least expect it!” Given that, a few months later, the letter column hints at the quarterly Superman title that Stern would write, which started off with Lex’s return, I have to think the temporary removal of Lex was done as a nod to the impact Stern had regarding that character. That’s a pretty cool honor, when you think about it.)

(Aside 2: Issue 701 concerned Superman battling Lex Luthor, who was inside the Kyrptonian battle suit, the one Supes used when he was resurrected, which was used by Dr. Hamilton when he fought the Eradicator; God damn did this series get a lot of mileage out of that thing. The art was rendered in mostly full-page spreads to give it a sense of epic-ness—that Final Fight Between Superman and Lex Luthor! feeling, I suppose—but it left me a bit cold. It’s hard to get personally invested when one of the people involved is stuck inside a massive metal box that can’t emote.)

Anyway, that Michelinie’s first stories didn’t grab me may have also been a result of him trying to find his footing in the collaborative environment that was the Superman books. After just one issue (702), he has to write a “Zero Hour” tie-in (703), then a chapter of the “Conduit” story line (the 0 issue), and two chapters of the multi-part “Dead Again” storyline (704-705). I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to find your voice when you have to write for someone else’s story. It’s telling that the first issue after those tie-ins, issue 706, is the first issue of Michelinie’s that I actually enjoyed. For one thing, it gives face time to Supergirl, and the Kents (ah, there’s that supporting cast again) and an amusing, if not entirely funny, bit where Clark is stuck on a plane listening to Perry White spin tales of his youth. It came across as a bit forced, as it made Perry look like a bit of a “let’s humor ol’Grandpaw” type as opposed to the veteran hard-nosed reporter that he’s been portrayed as. But I appreciated it because a) Michelinie can write good banter, b) it played up the fact that Clark really likes reporting and would certainly enjoy hearing the stories of a veteran who was “There” when big events happened. Speaking of banter, Michelinie also writes the Lois and Clark relationship very well; there’s a bit of a Hepburn/Stacey vibe to the way they relate to each other; that playfulness of two people who know and trust each other. Given what I’ve written before, I guess it’s not surprising that the more human aspect to these comics interests me more than the rock’em-sock‘em parts.

Up Next: I avoided talking about Conduit this time, but I guess he merits a paragraph or two next entry what with him killing Clark Kent and all. And I’ll discuss what made me stop collecting the Superman titles the first time (yes, first time).