In which I compare two writers’ approaches to Superman.
25 Comments | Posted: July 14th, 2010 | Filed under: Thinking About ComicsThis is from Garth Ennis’s Hitman, a series which helped cement Ennis’s reputation among fans as a writer that hates superheroes and views the genre with no small amount of cynicism:
This is from the second issue of J. Michael Straczynski much-hyped Superman run. In an interview with Comics Alliance, Straczynski stated that the point of his storyline was that it:[...] humanizes him, puts him within our reach, and just that alone affects both sides. Flying over the country at several times the speed of sound, you miss the details, you miss the personal stories happening down below you where you could be of use.
Here is Superman helping someone who is suffering cardiac problems:
“What can I do to help? I mean, besides using my powers to help get you to the hospital quickly. That’s outside of spec for this freshman year, ham-fisted soul searching that I’m supposed to be doing because the famous guy writing me has completely missed the point of my character.”
Update: Doctor Scott has the medical POV on this scene
It’s fun to pretend in that first panel that a miniature Superman is actually standing right on the banister of the porch.
It’s the posture that gets me.
The action is bad enough. But that panel makes Superman look like he’s looking at a corpse and determining what killed him.
“Erratic heartbeat that led to a fatal cardiac arrest. You won’t live long enough to get to the hospital, sir. I’ll inform the coroner of your imminent demise.”
Yeah I get the travelling through america to help with smaller problems bit – that could be a good story, but this is just dumb.
For the next year, Superman won’t be appearing in Action, or *in action*.
This shit is the opposite of Superman. JMS can write all the auto-fellating essays he wants about his deep kinship with the character going back to his hardscrabble childhood, he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing here, and DC is more than happy to let him.
You know who knew how to write Superman so that people actually wanted to read about him? Who got that the appeal of Superman is watching him grin mercilessly as he punches holes through all the rich, corrupt motherfuckers who think they’re better than you? Jerry fucking Siegel. The only thing Superman stood around and didn’t do in his stories was save villains form dying horrible, ironic deaths.
He’s the totem of NotMyProblem
You know what? If Superman showed up and told me my heart was beating erratically? I’m pretty sure that would give me a friggin’ heart attack right there.
There’s also that whole thing where Garth Ennis is actually a very good writer.
I haven’t read the issue, only the preview pages on Newsarama, but it was obvious even there that JMS does not get Superman or why he’s awesome. A Superman who willfully doesn’t help people who need it is no Superman at all.
Y’know, he could have cleared that dude’s blocked arteries with his X-ray and heat vision…I’m just saying…when THAT guy’s wife runs up and slaps him NEXT year, I hate to think of what dumbass stunt Superman is gonna have to undertake then.
He’ll be all “I need to get back in touch with humanity by doing the world’s longest handstand!”
If there’s a purgatory for writers like Straczynski, it’s probably having to submit scripts to the spirit of Mort Weisinger and having him throw them on the floor and jump up and down on them for several million years. (Mort, on the other hand, is in hell – he has to read all their work.)
Spot on, Kevin Church.
wow. this really does seem like crap. JMS is really going to disappoint me if this is his idea of humanizing supes. i mean, he’s already the “big blue boy boyscout”, right? so get down in the trenches and help people.
…although….think about this for half a second-with his super-intellect, he could probably tell that while the man had arrhythmia, it was not at that point life threatening. erratic heartbeat isnt always a precursor to a cardiac episode. it’s possible that what i just said is an apologists’ take, but hey, how else would you explain supes being such an unconcerned douche at that moment?
Denny O’Neil & Neal Adams did it better 30 years ago in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76-89.
How is this comparing two writers approach to Superman?
How does ‘come again?’ and a speech from Hitman acts as a comparative to Superman saving an old dudes life?
I’m not saying 701 was awesome. But this isn’t a point well made at all.
It’s almost as if I were being glib and put text at the bottom to further expand on my point or something!
The best part is, if he hadn’t made such a point of making sure we knew it was an emergency, this might have worked.
“No, you’ve got heart problems. You’re fine right now, but I’d get it checked out.”
Bam. Just casually helping your fellow man.
I’d really like to take the third panel of the JMS page and change the dialogue to say, “Has the old man got an erratic heartbeat? Does he? Does he? Yes he does! He sure does have an erratic heartbeat! Better get on that hoss. Out!”
I was expecting Superman to be represented as some sort of irresistible force of nature moving across America. Instead it’s some sort of Super-Gump.
The guy sat on his chair, closed his eyes, then opened them to see Superman standing in front of him giving out medical advice. I’d call my doctor, too, then try to find out who put something in my drink.
My favorite bit in the issue (and by “favorite”, I mean “What the hell are you thinking, J. Michael?”) is when Superman heat visions a row of drug-houses, then leaves a concerned child standing in the middle of the same street, surrounded by burning houses and angry drug dealers as he walks off, distracted by his own senseless speechifyin’.
Man, remember in All-Star Superman where he shot little miniature Supermen from his hand to heal the kids in the Hospital? That was awesome.
You know, now that I think of it?
I’m not sure JMS has ever written a good comic. For some reason, I just assumed he’d written some good comics. But no. He really hasn’t.
I liked it. So umm… There’s that. I just enjoyed the read.
Alright, never really read much Superman and ooking at both of these examples, I’m going to run out find Garth’s. Is this Hitman series collected in trade? But as a comparison to how both writers handle Superman, it’s not really fair. JMS’ shows Superman doing something. In Garth’s page he is really just taking in what the other guy is saying. What happens on the next page? How does Supes react to what he said? I need to see him doing something.
And to be fair to JMS regarding the heart condition and no disrespect to the doctor update, but a irregular heartbeat isn’t a medical emergency as if he was having a heart attack or stroke. I have an irregular heartbeat, constant, Atrial fibulation. Most people have the kind and suddenly goes erratic for a few minutes then restores. For me, the top part of my heart just flutters away erratically and a mile a minute. I have never noticed any pain, discomfort or any other symptom, though I am much younger than the old guy in the comic. My biggest risk is that the blood jostling around like that could throw off a clot. I take meds to slow the rhythm and thin my blood. I was converted once to a regular rhythm via meds and it last a few years, then they shocked me with the paddles to restore rhythm and it last less than a year, shocked me again and lasted only a few weeks. They do not want to do anything evasive now to try to correct it, because I have no quality of life issues and technology is developing every day. I was diagnosed when I went in to give blood, they told me to go check myself into the hospital. They didn’t see the need to call for an ambulance, let alone give me a actual heart attack by having Superman fly me there.
*Full disclosure, I’ll read anything Garth writes ever since reading his Hellblazer issues and then accidently insulting him at SDCC back in the early 90’s when met him.