ShareThisBy ANDREW A. SMITH
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
The Man of Steel takes over our reviews this week:
Ten years ago, DC Comics released a miniseries that has become a legend. "Kingdom Come," written by Mark Waid and painted (in acrylic and watercolor) by Alex Ross, relied heavily on Biblical imagery, concepts and language (especially from the Book of Revelation) to depict a super-powered conflict with the potential to lead to Armageddon.
In the story, set 10 years or so in the future, Superman and the old guard have retired in disgust, supplanted by a new generation of "heroes" who differ very little from the villains. These so-called metahumans run roughshod over humanity, their never-ending battles resulting in tremendous collateral damage. Humans have sunk into social despair, abandoning activities that celebrate "merely" human achievement, like sports.
Then the new kids blow up Kansas _ which results in the Second Coming of Superman. Outraged by what he sees, the Last Son of Krypton inspires others to form a new Justice League to restore the old-fashioned virtues of the past _ even if they must become Fascists to do it.
Opposite this jack-booted League is a team assembled by Lex Luthor (including a brainwashed Captain Marvel), supervillains playing "champions of humanity."
Somewhere in the middle, an aging Batman rejects the League and forms a team of mostly non-powered heroes (like Green Arrow), their motives murky and their agenda unclear. Meanwhile, humanity votes to get rid of all superheroes and villains with nuclear weapons. Armageddon, indeed!
For the tenth anniversary, DC released on Aug. 2 "Absolute Kingdom Come," an oversize (8-1/2 by 12-3/4 inches), 340-page, slipcased hardback. In addition to the four-part miniseries _ still just as gorgeous and impressive as it was in 1996 _ this collection includes character sketches, text pieces by Waid and Ross, annotations of the entire series, rare art and other behind-the-scenes goodies. Of particular interest to this old fanboy was the character genealogy (finally confirming my guesses as to which younger characters were the children of older ones, and a few surprises about who ended up sleeping with whom) and images from the rare trading-card series, which I never saw.
The downside? This sucker rings up at $75. Like all "Absolute" reprints _ and I've seen "Crisis on Infinite Earths," "Planetary" and "JLA/Avengers" handled in this fashion _ the packaging and content are as close to perfect as any fan would ever want. But the price tag is larger than life as well, and only you can decide if it's worth it.
_ Speaking of the Man of Steel, the Captain finally read "The Science of Superman: The Official Guide to the Science of the Last Son of Krypton" (by Mark Wolverton, $14.95, ibooks). This came out a couple of years ago, but if you can find a copy, I'm here to recommend it.
When Superman was created in 1938, he was really just a big, strong fellow who had unusually tough skin. It took a couple of years for him to go from jumping about like a hyperthyroid grasshopper to actually flying, and years more before he spontaneously developed esoteric powers like X-ray vision, heat vision, super-breath and invulnerability. Some have speculated that this "power creep" was in response to the jillions of super-characters who followed in his wake (especially Captain Marvel, 1940), but whatever the reason, Superman became more and more "super" over time.
And the result was a hodge-podge of powers that become a real head-scratcher when you try to explain them. How does he fly (and just as important, how does he change direction or stop), with no visible means of lift or thrust? By what mechanism does he project heat from his eyes _ little microwave ovens behind his corneas? And if we take super-speed as a given, what about friction? Breathing while running? Boot repair?
The Captain has always written off all of Superman's abilities as telekinesis _ Super-mind over matter. My theory says he doesn't fly; it's levitation. He doesn't have heat vision; it's pyrokinesis. He doesn't have super-strength; he's lifting things with his mind. In other words, he doesn't have super-powers _ he just thinks he does. (Writer/artist John Byrne has also speculated in this direction, and written some stories hinting at just that.)
So, telekinesis covers all bets. Except for one flaw: TK doesn't exist except in our imagination. It might as well be magic.
To the rescue comes Wolverton (and editor Roger Stern, a long-time Super-writer). Wolverton solves all these problems in clear, non-technical language, and he does so in ways that extrapolate neatly from existing science and nature (and dovetails with some of the explanations found in the comics). How does he do it? Well, you'll have to read the book.
(Contact Andrew Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics(at)aol.com or visit www.captaincomics.us/forums.)
