What is the difference between reading comics and collecting comics? Although, now that I’m asking, I realize that “difference” may be the wrong word to use. I think the better question is: “what is the relation between reading comics and collecting comics?” I think it’s a Venn diagram, with collecting in one circle, reading in another, and me in the overlapping area. Such is the sort of things reading these next few issues of Action Comics have me thinking about.
As I’ve said before, I never began reading Superman stories because I liked Superman. I read them because I was hoping that particular issue would be worth money sometime down the road. But what soon started happening—and I see it happening in these four issues—is that while I first came for the collecting, I stayed for the reading. Clark Kent revealing his secret identity to Lois—that’s a milestone that could be valuable down the line (it isn’t). All the double-sized issues celebrating the new Superman comics . . . well, that might be worth something for the Eradicator storyline (it isn’t). But buying all parts of “Panic in the Sky!”? Yeah, that one was definitely done just for the storyline.
I’m amused to think of my 11/12 year-old self who thought that comics were a great investment opportunity. Of course, I also remember my 17 year-old self telling people that the Death of Superman story was also going to be worth something, so clearly I had a long way to go before I figured out that comics, as an investment, was a rube’s game. Then again, I don’t think I would’ve been collecting comics at 17 if I wasn’t enjoying them for their own sakes. But here I am, using reading and collecting interchangeably, because in my mind they are interchangeable. I collected because what I bought I kept, as opposed to reading comics and then getting rid of them; and I did so long after I stopped kidding myself that I was buying comics because I hoped they would be worth something. I bought them because I liked reading them, and by keeping them I collected them. Compare this to my father—who turns 64 next Saturday, by the way—who still buys comics but purges his stack every few months (apparently the store he buys from has a deal where you can “sell” back your comics for store credit). So he really is reading and not collecting, whereas I still guilt him on throwing out his Mike Grell Green Arrow issues instead of giving them to me.
(And, for the record, let me clarify that I am kidding him when I guilt him about comics he threw out years ago that I would’ve happily taken off his hands. Well, mostly kidding.)
Anyway, these are the thoughts are what swirls around my brain while reading this little group of Action Comics issues. As I mentioned above, I sure as hell didn’t buy #662 because I was looking for an excuse to start reading Superman comics. This is the issue Clark told Lois that he is Superman. It had been publicized by DC Comics as a major event and, let’s face it, Lois finding out that Clark and Supes are one and the same is a pretty big paradigm shift for the characters. So I was in it for the importance of the occasion. Except that isn’t really what this issue is about. This issue is really about Superman going up against a villainess called the Silver Banshee, and I got to say it was a pretty unremarkable story. Not bad, just nothing particularly noteworthy about it. The true “noteworthy” part only happens in the final two pages of the comic. That sort of cheap ploy of publicizing a big event that only takes place on the last page was a tried and true gimmick for comics, so while I was disappointed that I bought a Silver Banshee Story under the guise of something else, I was willing to forgive so long as the next issue dealt with the consequences of Clark revealing his secret identity. Only that didn’t happen. Instead, the Superman comics launched into a big time travelling storyline, and I had no interest in that, so I never bothered with what came next.
The next time I dipped my foot into the Superman pool was when DC Comics launched its fourth Superman title, Superman: The Man of Steel . To celebrate the occasion, that first issue kicked off a storyline that ran through all four Superman titles, all of which were double-sized issues. The storyline had to do with Superman fighting the Eradicator, a sentient computer program/weapon from Krypton, who is trying to remake Earth into a new Krypton (eradicating the current residents, of course). Action Comics #667 was the final issue of that storyline and at the start of the issue, the stakes are pretty high. The Eradicator had pretty much kicked Superman’s ass for the bulk of the storyline, and Supes has no real idea how to stop him, except for th fact that he’s Superman and somebody’s got to do it, so he goes into the final confrontation not really knowing if he can succeed. And, in fact, it’s not really Superman who defeats the Eradicator but Super-pal Professor Hamilton, a scientist who uses a macguffin to trap the Eradicator, enabling Supes to deliver the coup-de-grace. It was actually a little disappointing to read, seeing how if it wasn’t for Hamilton, Supes would’ve been killed (which would be about a year too soon, as it turned out). So while the story was OK, it’s hard to believe Superman is all that super when he needs a semi-eccentric human scientist to save him, you know?
The last two issues, #674- 675 are part of the “Panic in the Sky!” storyline, which deals with Braniac and his attempt to invade Earth. At the time, this was billed as a major epic for Superman, as it dealt with him rallying a host of DC heroes to lead the attack. This was meant to show Superman as a leader among the heroes and also help set up him becoming leader of the Justice League America. But really what it is is a good-old-fashioned alien invasion story, and I was really surprised at how well it holds up, nearly twenty years after it first came out. Some of it is a bit silly—Braniac is one of those “I’ve accounted for all possibilities . . . yes, you may think that’s a setback for me, but I expected that to happen” kind of villains, so there isn’t that much depth to him. But the story steadily raises the stakes. In the prologue (issue 674) the threat is revealed only at the end, having spent most of the issue watching Supergirl be mistaken for Superman because she was morphing herself into his form. (Yeah, that’s a looong story). In part four (issue 675), we watch as Superman and his army attempt to storm Braniac’s stronghold, the battle planet known as Warworld, and things tend to go from “bad” to “worse” for our heroes. It’s good, pulpy, sci-fi/actiony fun, and I enjoyed it far more than I expected to.
Some semi-random thoughts about these issues:
You may have noticed that two consecutive issues (674 – 675) were not two consecutive parts of the story. That’s because by the early 90's the Superman titles were interconnected. Rather than have four separate titles with four separate storylines, the titles were plotted out as a group and storylines ran directly into each title. This was something DC loved because it meant that if you wanted to read a Superman comic, you would have to read four titles instead of one. (Marvel did the same thing with their line of Spider-man comics.). Of course, since I’m reading my collection in order, that means I will be continually jumping around storylines rather than reading them whole. I’m happy to report that, so far, the title does stand on its own. Even though it’s clear you are missing moments (perfect example: a character in issue 674 loathes Superman but in 675 he’s fighting alongside him as an ally), I like the fact that I am now able to focus solely on the one title and get a vibe for the individual creative team, as opposed to losing that while jumping from title to tile to find the story.
Speaking of the creative team: I want to point out that, at this point in time, Action Comics was being written by Roger Stern. Stern was an 80’s staple at Marvel, writing distinguished runs of Captain America, The Amazing Spider-Man, and the Avengers before moving to DC in the late 80’s and making his mark on the Superman titles in the 90’s. Stern’s a bit of an under-appreciated writer, as he was never among the top tier of writers like, say, Frank Miller, Chris Claremont, or Peter David , etc. But he has written many memorable stories with strong characterization (I have fond memories of his long run on The Avengers, which we’ll get to in due course). Re-reading these stories of his for the first time in so long, I’m looking forward to them.
That about wraps up this little entry. I did want to mention the Lex Luthor subplot that was simmering throughout these issues, which concerned Lex faking his death and coming back in a cloned body and masquerading as his own son (I shit you not). And I wanted to talk a little about the character Maxima and how she represented the simmering sexual wish-fulfillment of young male teens. But these will have to wait for another time. (I dunno, maybe I should do character spotlight entries where I can pontificate on a character in general, without having to rely on a specific issue for context. Hmmm…..)
Up Next: Things get a little bleak for the Man of Steel. First he meets his Doom(sday), then his comic rips off Elton John. God, the 90’s sucked.
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