Reign of the Supermen #35: Superman of Earth-One

Source: Superman: Earth-One GN (2010)
Type: ReimaginingWhen I started Reign, I (only slightly) jokingly said it was because of JMS' Grounded storyline, that we needed real Superman content for the year. As most of you know by now, JMS has already quit Superman and is leaving I, Zombie's Chris Roberson to finish his story. His last issue is already on the stands and he's sent the appropriate cocktail napkins to Mr. Roberson. Things may be looking up, or the flawed premise behind Grounded may keep even a talent like Roberson from making Superman Superman again. There have been enough pixels spent on this issue already, so I won't talk about work ethic, spin doctoring and all that jazz except to say that DC's official reason for replacing JMS on Superman and Wonder Woman is so he can work on a sequel to the apparently already acclaimed Superman: Earth-One graphic novel.

Superman for the Twilight generation, some called it, but I don't really know what that means. Lip-biting heroines? Superman glitters when exposed to otherwise harmless kryptonite? And isn't Smallville already the Superman for the Twilight generation? So I read it.

It's not a bad reimagining of the Superman legend, actually. It's a sort of Superman Year One as if that year was 2010, and in that sense Earth-One feels a lot like Ultimate Marvel. I especially liked the Daily Planet scenes, with Perry critiquing Lois' writing and Jimmy overloading the server with huge digital images. Just how Clark decided to become a journalist is well handled too. Some props given for not using Luthor, though I'm not sure about the original alien menace in the Joker make-up. There is some awkwardness to the book as it attempts on the one hand to be more "realistic" (the government sweeps in to nab the Kryptonian rocket, the public is mostly untrusting of this alien on their shores, Clark's job hunt), but also has kooky Silver Age ideas like metal and cloth that are indestructible "under a yellow sun".

So what changes were made to the Superman story? Krypton now shares its system with another advanced world, and they caused its destruction (with the help of an unknown ally, which may turn out to be Brainiac... or Star Trek's Nero, judging by the M.O.). Superman's a lot younger - Lois seems older than he does and Jimmy about the same age. He's seems a bit more emo too, but not to the point where I'd compare Earth-One to Twilight. To Claremont's X-Men, maybe. Let's call it angst. Maybe it's just Clark's hoodie. Or that his mission now includes "avenging" his homeworld. He didn't go to University. The costume has some leathery black patches on it, but is otherwise close to the classic design. His rocket looks very different and has some measure of sentience; he stores it in the Arctic. That's it really.

As a graphic novel, it's quite readable, with strong character scenes and a fair mix of reflection and action. The alien invasion plot and lack of recognizable villains is perhaps bold, but somewhat unmemorable. The art is nice enough. To me, it reads like a Superman tv series would look like today, i.e. in the style of Heroes, V, Lost, etc. It has that look, that feel and even the same kind of special effects. Good enough to pull JMS right off his other projects? No, but it is head and shoulders above his monthly work. I guess it's where he actually spent most of his energy. Not that writing a Superman origin is that difficult - a lot of the work's been done by, you know, Siegel and Shuster.

But I'm interested in finding out what YOU thought of Earth-One. While you're thinking about heading to the comments section, here's the obligatory sortof kindof homage to Action Comics #1: