Actions Comics #1

Cover by Rags Morales, Brad Anderson

Actions Comics #1 (September 7, 2011)

Writer: Grant Morrison

Penciller: Rags Morales

Inker: Rick Bryant

Colorist: Brad Anderson

Letterer: Patrick Brossseau

Was I supposed to do some reading before delving into this comic?

Because by the time I finished it, I had the distinct feeling that I was missing something. Could someone care to explain? 

My instinct is to place all the blame on Grant Morrison, a well-respected writer that I just simply cannot get a grip on. I often have difficulty following his train of thought overwhelming pretension. While Action Comics #1 was decidedly not pretentious, it was all over the place and rather trying too hard.  

Superman/Batman: Big Noise

Cover by Ardian Syaf

Superman/Batman: Big Noise (2009)

Writer: Joe Kelly, Joshua Williamson, Joe Casey

Penciller: Ardian Syaf, Jason Fabok, Scott Kolins

Inker: Derek Fridolfs, Rebecca Buchman, Walden Wong, Vincente Cifuentes, Prentis Rollins, Norm Rapmund, Marlo Alquiza

Colorist: Michael Atiyeh, Peter Pantazis, Ulises Arreola,

Letterer: Rob Leigh

This was, hands down, one of the silliest comics I’ve ever read.

The plot reminded me of something I would’ve dreamed up in my hardcore science fiction nerd days when I was 10. As a 10 year old, I didn’t exactly have the concept of conflict, character development and narrative structure down so I just made things up as I went along (I was an avid fiction writer back then and with all the naïve confidence of a type A personality first-born, thought I was quite good at it). But, I was wise enough to not let too many people see my work, which obviously did not happen with this graphic novel.

Superman: Red Son

Cover by Dave Johnson

Superman: Red Son (2004)

Writer: Mark Millar

Penciller: Dave Johnson, Kilian Plunkett

Inker: Andrew Robinson, Walden Wong

Colorist: Paul Mounts

Letterer: Ken Lopez

Okay, this was sort of awesome.

Superman: Red Son has been recommended to me by a couple of different people and I’m so glad I was able to finally a get a hold of it. I was really intrigued to read it, especially after hearing that it is a re-imaging of the Superman myth, in which the Last Son of Krypton crash lands not in rural Kansas, but Soviet Russia.

First of all, this comic combined a good number of things that I have inherent weaknesses for: 20^th century history and politics, a really angry and pretty crazy Batman, and a kickass Lois Lane and Wonder Woman.

In comics, women are typically either a femme fatale (Catwoman), ambitiously crazy (Harley Quinn), a good girl (Oracle… she’s even a librarian) or a victim, as Gail Simone famously pointed out in Women in Refrigerators. Which is not to say that there aren’t clichés when it comes to the male characters in comic books, as well. It’s just that with a fluid and ambiguous character like Lois, writers often seem to struggle with what neat little box she should fit into.

Millar, however, actually gave me a Lois I really enjoyed and believed in. She seemed incredibly real and dynamic to me. I was rooting for her, especially since in this re-telling, she’s actually married to Lex Luthor. Whoa. I realized right away that in this comic, everything was essentially going to be backwards, and it was probably going to be a lot of fun to read. It was.
Outside of these awesome comics by Kate Beaton, I haven’t really gotten a chance to read a Lois Lane that was completely satisfactory to me. You see, I love the idea of Lois Lane: a dedicated and talented reporter (I used to want to be a journalist, too, Lois!) with an awesome career and a no-nonsense attitude. But most of my encounters with Lois either remind me of these types of comics or she’s a super vixen who works in an office where it’s apparently acceptable to wear dangerously short skirts and massive cleavage. I think writers really have a hard time with Lois and are just unsure what sort of woman she is.