Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes SUPERMAN Secret Origin: Totally tits or the pits?

Issue 1: I LOVED IT. Totally tits, sunnyside up!

A tit and a pit. Story was good but even after three years, I cannot get past my distaste for Franks' style. I'll read the rest at the library or the boards or the numerous "sneak peaks."

Loved it!!!

I don't like how Franks has to make Clark look like Christopher Reeve all the time. It's irritating!

Also, I'm not keen on them all knowing Luthor as a kid. I preferred him older and more villainous. It's all a bit Smallville (TV show) now...

In 'Smallville' Lex WAS quite a bit older ~ 'they' were all in highschool and he was helping to run his father's businesses (and he had experience at it.)

Actually, the original Lex Luther was a contemporary of Clark's, just maybe a year or two older.
At least, that's how I remember him.

Are we the only ones reading this? I can hardly believe that... especially when this mini is going to be monumental in LSH history as the book that re-established Superboy into the LSH fistory.

I'd have to give this two tits up! And down! And up! And then clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise...

Blame the Simpsons.

I picked up the first issue, and will probably buy the entire series. I haven't formed a strong opinion yet. Gary Frank totally wows me at times, and then freaks me out at others. There's no denying his awesome talent and the power of some of the images. But the eyes and facial expressions strike me as being just wrong sometimes.

The story had some touching moments. I don't think I've ever felt so much empathy for young Clark. Is it too sappy and sentimental, though? I don't know yet. I need to wait to see the full series before making that call.

Overall, I'm a bit skeptical, I guess. I just feel like so much of what Didio and Johns have done/are doing with the DC universe is wrong and bad for the company long term. This series is an integral part of that whole process. It's hard for me to embrace.

I still prefer Byrne's take on Lex Luthor. Still not totally keen on the return of Silver Age.
But I love Gary Frank. I don't care how it looks, but there is a lot of love in each page to know he is pouring it there.

I like the first one.

Clark's glasses are round and big and make him look Harry Potterish.

Pete and Lana are cuter than I remember them being and I love <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">that Lana is the one who knows about his powers and goes through their development with him. It's just so 'right' and keeps her from being forever suspicious of him and bugging him. It elevates her status in the DCU immeasurably.</span></span>

It's a shame that Krypto wasn't a part of Superboy's life since he's so good with Kon.
sigh

The costume part is very funny and touching.

Lex is kind of creepy <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">with no rich father in sight.</span></span>

Ma and Pa Kent seem 'old' for this time in his life especially since Ma looks about the same in the Konner stories.

But I liked the first of the series and I'm sure I'll like the rest.

There was a girl autographing Pete's cast that looks a lot like a Legionnaire from this time in his life, too.
Does anyone else think so?

I read it and loved it! I've decided what Johns does best is merge the richness of the Silver Age lore with a more authentic and intense emotional reaction to events. In the case of issue #1, we see him hitting a golden mean, I think, between the Silver Age chirpiness and the unbearable emo-ness of "Smallville." Johns's Clark is exhilarated by his powers AND terrified by them, which I think is how many early teens feel about their own maturation process. And as I thought about it, Clark's reaction to his real origins is just about right. Kids dream about being adopted, being a secret prince or alien, when their homelife is unpleasant and/or they feel alienated from their peers. But Clark Kent really isn't either of those. He has the PERFECT parents, and his steady development of his powers has enabled him to live a fairly "normal" childhood.

Then one day, suddenly, his powers AND his parents' revelation upend all that. His perfect parents are revealed to be lying to him, and he finds out he's an alien whose abilities could easily kill the people he loves. He doesn't WANT to be the only survivor of a dead race of alien supermen. He just wants to be an indestructible Kansas kid. And that unsought revelation is made worse by the fact that his perfect parents have lied to him for years when they knew at least part of the truth. His sense of self AND the bedrock of his faith in his parents are shattered. If there's one thing that rings a bit false, it's Clark's seemingly rapid re-establishment of trust in the Kents. But there is no question that they all love each other unreservedly, so maybe that explains it. Still, you could tell a very plausible story of a super being whose estrangement from humanity begins with that original sin of parental deception.

At the same time, Clark is authentically thrilled by his ability to save Lana from the tornado and wants to keep on doing it. The values that the Kents have raised him with, and his own desire to find a way to turn his alienness into a positive lead him inexorably in the direction of becoming Superman. He will never again have the perfectly normal life he had as a child, but he can help preserve that normal life for everyone else. The outsider finds a way to fit in without denying who he is. It all fits together perfectly and Johns and Frank tell that tale in one beautifully rendered comic-length story. It's quite an accomplishment.

I can't overlook, either, the pitch-perfect inclusion of adolescent sexuality into this story. Yes, it's very mild stuff, but it's also clear that Clark and Lana really yearn for each other in that uniquely adolescent way. Lana's whole character arc in this issue is another accomplishment, building on Byrne's innovations and the Silver Age. The friendship and love between Clark and Lana is so finely rendered. It's a perfectly believable relationship, one that reminds me of similar ones I had, where friendship, love and desire intermingled even at a tender age. When you think about it, Clark's love for Lana and desire to save her, protect her, etc, has as much to do with the development of the Superman persona as anything from the Kents or from Krypton. And the connection between heat vision and getting hot and bothered is brilliant, funny and relatable all at the same time, and the reaction of the Kents to Clark's sheepish "the glasses worked" admission was priceless. And the final page was amazing. What early teenager would take to wearing that outlandish outfit?

Again, I'm amazed by the emotional depth Johns weaves into this oft-told tale. While his additions and changes are modest and uncontroversial, his ability to knit all the existing material into a believable origin story is truly impressive. Because the hardest thing to believe about the origin of Superman isn't that he's a strange visitor from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. The REAL tough part is how such a creature could make it through adolescence without leaving a large portion of the planet a smoldering ruin. Johns gives us a fully realized answer to that conundrum, as good an answer as we have seen. And I can't help but think that the appearance of the Legion will be an integral part of that story, too.

On the cover I suppose but in the book, Ma's looking pretty good in those jeans....

Could just be the limited number of cartoon faces available, I don't really see any other clues. Purple on purple looks like Trip and pink on jeans maybe Tinya. The girl signing doesn't evoke any legionnaire to me.

Nice write-up, enjoyed it.

Strongly agree with this and would hope that they find a nice middle ground between "seemingly" and not dragging the story into a depressing morass. Unequivicably, every instance I've seen where a child has learned in adolescence, that their parentage wasn't what they believed it to be resulted in severely detrimental behavior change, not a weekend of unhappiness and a cry on the shoulder.

I wouldn't agree that it was the only plot point that rings false, the concrete aspects of the story to me do not survive even surface introspection. Too many convenient occurances, spotty science....

From an old-fashioned comics perspective where those things were of little importance, the story worked fine for me and I also agree with you that I thought the personal relationships were A+. The cute parts that were meant to be cute, also A+.

The only major disagreement I have with your view is the idea that Johns is the first to realize a credible reason as to why a super-powered adolescent didn't leave the planet "smoldering."

It's ALWAYS been about the parents, the Kents. Johns' major accomplishment IMO is that he was able to retell an old tale without messing that up.

That may be, , but other than her hair color, Ma looks pretty much the same on the almost last page of the origin book (where she's looking at Clark in his new suit) as she does with Kon in Adventure #2.

I just thought the purple/purple gal's face and hair looked very much like Lu in the panel where Pete asks Clark to sign his caste.

My history is fuzzy but she was a member before Superboy in the original version, wasn't she?

I bet your right, the Legionnaires are probably already there.

I don't think it was clear originally but a picture was retrocolored later on to indicate her being there.
I'm not so sure about Tinya, but I seem to remember that the two of them joined together or close to being at the same time.

Postboot they were #4 and #5, after the founders.

Good catch on a possible Tinya.
I didn't even notice her.

The Legion issue is the next one, which is good because Clark would never get used to wearing that costume otherwise!
lol
I love the Kent's faces on those last 2 pages.

People may not like Frank's work, but I think he's perfect for this mini and his work shows a lot of sophisticated storytelling in clear, clean beautiful simplicity.

Which is pretty much who Superman is and how his story should be told.
I think.

I *love* Frank's work myself... who here hasn't made the occasional weird face in real life? I agree, Shady, he's perfect for this mini.

Issue 1 was...

<span style="font-size: 25px;">TOTALLY TITS!!!</span>

I ABSOLUTELY loved it! I hope the rest of the series lives up to it!

Got #1, totally the Tits!

I loved it--it re-showed us some early parts of the origin without redoing the same scenes we've read over and over again.

Johns really has got his finger on the pulses of Lana, Pete and the Kents. I think I ended the issue with a slight crush on Lana! The heartfelt scene between Pa Kent and Clark was unexpectedly emotional.

And I also love Gary Frank's art and think the complainers with it have obviously taken too many drugs (or not enough). I think he's even better here than in Action Comics.

I'm pretty excited overall...this was better than what I expected!

or


they have perfectly valid opinions and being higher beings and not sheep (with really really big eyes and anorexic faces) they realize that art is a subjective ... uh... subject.


Listen, I'm not going to judge one for liking pictures of anorexia. I just don't. I like his buildings. His trees. His very loosely draped cloths. His barns, he draws very nice barns. Faces: not so much. If someone wants to judge me? Eh, suppose I'll have to deal.

Oh and Superboy looks a bit too much like Tom Cruise. That's difficult to take.

Ma Kent's still hot looking though. A little round to her face and more body than his other characters. Probably a bit thin for the Ma Kent we grew up with but probably in line with casting for the next movie.

I agree that Franks's work has improved over his Action comics stint. More of the odd face work here has a reason behind it in the scene, rather than just being bizarre. And his Lana is crush worthy! To me she looks like a young Annette O'Toole, which is OK in my book.

Frank's facial expressions bother me at some points. The only one that bothered me in issue 1 was that goofy look he gave Luthor when he's showing off the Kryptonite to Clark. (It was in the preview pages the month before if anyone didn't pick the issue up.)

Otherwise, Frank was very spot-on. Probably some of his most gorgeous stuff ever!

I don't know if I'm right, but in the past, the Legionnaires observed and interacted with both Superboy and Supergirl before revealing themselves to them.

And to answer your first question for THIS boot, on the page just before the switch over to the LSH's story in Adventure #1 the Legion's meeting with Clark is shown.

The three founders are there but so is Lu, Tinya and Brainy!
So, yes, Lu and Tinya are in the Legion before Superboy, Querl, too.

(But, oddly enough, Krypto is shown there with Clark, too. Details, details, it's so hard to 'fix' things!)

Ooh, someone post pics of where they think Tinya or Lu might be hiding in the background! It makes sense.

Legionnaires traditionally accepted to have joined before Superboy
Cosmic Boy
Saturn Girl
Lightning Lad
Triplicate Girl
Phantom Girl
Chameleon Boy
Colossal Boy
Invisible Kid
Supergirl
Brainiac 5