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Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand
As I continued my celebration of seven years of my Guide to DC Comics, it’s time to tackle yet another title for DC’s biggest hero in a guide debuting exclusively to Pledgeonaut Patrons of Crushing Krisis. This was the first true solo superhero book – and, it published continuously through WWII and even the early-50s dark ages of comics! That’s right, it’s a Guide to Pre-Crisis Superman (1939) – The Golden, Silver, & Bronze Ages!
Guide to Pre-Crisis Superman (1939) – The Golden, Silver, & Bronze Ages
To celebrate seven years of my Guide to DC Comics, it’s time to tackle DC’s biggest hero in a new guide exclusively for Pledgeonaut Patrons of Crushing Krisis. When it comes to the superhero that started the Age of Superheroes, you have to start at the start, which is why today I’m debuting: Guide to Superman in Pre-Crisis Action Comics – The Golden, Silver, & Bronze Ages!
Guide to Superman in Action Comics (1938 – 1986)
I have Marvel’s complete publishing history dedicated to memory thanks to reading and re-reading Les Daniels’ Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics over and over again as a tween. My relationship to DC Comics was more approximate. I knew DC better through cartoons and films, and through the major events of the 90s like “Death of Superman” and “Knightfall,” but I didn’t know much about its beginnings and how it kept superhero comics alive in the post-war era until the dawn of the Silver Age.
by krisis
The Pull List was slightly lighter this week than the past three, partially due to me not managing to pick up any additional ongoings from Marvel or DC. I made a heroic effort to catch all the way up with Doctor Strange, but fell an arc short.
This week’s comics felt a little ho-hum for me, with even typical standouts like Flash and Paradiso falling flat. However, it also brought not one but two near-perfect comics, plus one unexpectedly great debut.
Here’s The Pull List for the 14th of March, 2018. New adds to the pull list are marked with *; dropped titles are marked with #.
Before we begin, a reminder that 2.5 stars on my rating scale is an average comic book and my bell curve distribution peaks at 3/5 stars! Don’t freak out and assume a comic book is terrible because it has 2 stars. That means it’s just a hair below average (and there are a lot of those this week)
Dan Jurgens leaves us with a truly perfect, contemplative issue of Superman that puts a wrap on his stellar Rebirth run but also addresses his writing from over 25 years ago, as beautifully rendered by artist Will Conrad and colorist Ivan Nunes.
In Metropolis, Lois is newly reunited with her estranged Army General father after saving him from execution in the last arc. It’s his first time meeting Jon (sort of), but General Lane isn’t in on the Superman secret, so he thinks Jon is a regular kid. That makes it even more tense as Lois and her father square off across the dinner table about the philosophy of Superman. Jon has never been exposed to this kind of hatred and xenophobia about his father before – which is also, by extension, aimed at him.
Meanwhile, Superman is in space dealing with a routine chore of breaking up an asteroid that will stray a bit too close to Earth for STAR Labs liking. Superman is thinking about fathers – General Lane, his own father Jor-El, as well as Zod – all of whom were tangled in the cross-time plot he just wrapped with Booster Gold.
Superman can see the errors in the ways of each of those parents and they in turn reflect his errors back upon him. Clark Kent is good-natured to a fault, but he’s not always right. General Lane isn’t entirely wrong about him – sometimes his absolute power corrupts him, both in how he metes out justice and in how he isn’t accustomed to apologizing for his actions.
As a result, Superman decides to put right two wrongs. One is with Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, who he currently has imprisoned in the Phantom Zone. The other, eventually is General Lane. [Read more…] about The Pull List: Action Comics, Avengers, Eternity Girl, Infidel, Judas, Marvel Two-in-One, Vampironica, & more!