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"Superman: Earth One"
verifies exactly what I'd feared. Superman is emo.
Superman is selfish. Superman is "edgy," and worst
of all by the time the tedious graphic novel is
over, we're told by Jonathan Kent that Superman
should serve a being higher than himself alluding to
religious ideals. What a waste of time. Not since "Smallville"
have I seen a less sympathetic portrayal of Superman
and Clark Kent before my very eyes. Clark Kent, even
with modern fashion, and a jacket and hoodie that's
meant to be his signature look indicating a nerdy
but sexy persona, is so absolutely boring and one
dimensional in "Earth One" that had I been
introduced to Superman for the first time here, I
would have never read another piece of fiction with
this character ever again. The graphic novel is
filled with so much gaping plot holes and tedious
situations that I had an impossible time reading it
for longer than five minutes. I wanted to be
compelled. I wanted to be riveted.
And instead we're
introduced to a modern Clark Kent who is one part
Hot Topic, one part Abercrombie and Fitch, and one
part whiny lunk head who does nothing but wander
around aimlessly for over a hundred pages doing
nothing. He does nothing in over a hundred pages.
There's no insight in to his youth, there's nothing
really new added to this new re-invention, there's
only a sad sack with an insane amount of superhuman
powers who would rather use them for
self-satisfaction rather than helping others.
Throughout the book we're shown flashbacks of the
late Jonathan Kent explaining to Clark that he could
use his abilities to help others. He is seen showing
Clark that he can implement his above average gifts
to benefit mankind. Instead he uses them as a way of
dropping in to new jobs to earn obscene amounts of
money. He tries out for football and manages to
display such incredible skills the coaches jump at
the chance to sign him but never wonder why he's
lifting a huge player with both hands. |
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He wanders in to a
laboratory that's struggling to find out how to
convert salt water in to electricity and in mere
minutes he creates a formula to complete their
conundrum. The head technician advises him not
to leave and begs him to join the team and
possibly make more money than he'd ever dreamed
of. Why does no one question his genius? Why
does no one confront him about his horrifying
ability to solve equations and adapt to any
area? Why didn't anyone confront Clark and ask
him to solve other equations? Why use this
ability to solve age old problems for profit and
not do something like cure Cancer or help a
third world country? What is Clark searching
for? The first reaction from anyone will be:
He's searching for a purpose! But this Clark
Kent is so self-centered he can barely realize
that his purpose is around him! But no, he wants
to make money to keep his mom in caviar. We
ramble on for pages on end with Clark looking
for the right profession that he insists he
wants to help his mom out. But in spite of her
insistence that he shouldn't waste time finding
a job to support her, he ventures out anyway
using his powers irresponsibly. In one moment he
zaps away from a crowd of onlookers after his
apartment his blown to bits. He emerges in to
the fire to find his searing Super suit and a
chunk of his ship that oddly enough blew up when
activated, and he still spends the entirety of
the graphic novel wandering around engaging in
monologues about his life, and swearing to his
father he'll help mankind.
When the threat
of alien invaders introduces itself in the final
half, Clark is still nothing but a wandering
nincompoop who watches on as the alien invaders
threaten mankind and is conflicted if he should
reveal himself to help the planet. You're
Superman. Priority one should be helping others.
Priority two should be caring about your own
personal well-being. But it takes a speech from
Jimmy Olsen--I'm sorry--JIM Olsen, to inspire
Superman to get up off his sad sack ass, put on
his costume, and fight the alien terrors that
are threatening to "kill the planet." Even if
Superman is purely motivated by the need of
self-preservation, wouldn't the threat of
murdering his mother be something of a catalyst
to don the costume and take them down?
Furthermore beyond the bland supervillain we
come to know as "Tyrell" we learn some other
things about Superman's legacy. Krypton didn't
self-destruct, it was an assassination. I'm
still waiting for a great new re-invention of
Superman and "Superman: Earth One" is not the
modern Superman I want. It's not even a Superman
I think can be altered to fit the modern
sensibility. He's a moody, sad sack who does
nothing but gazed blankly and wait for the final
moment to respond to a crisis. That's not a
superhero, that's barely a hero. |
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