AppleCheesy

Day 1 90skonweek – Big Boots To Fill

Understood this theme as him trying to prove himself as Superman when he was first introduced! Really proud of this piece☺️

I love him smmm (but shamefully started reading his first appearance only recently)

@90skonweek

Anonymous asked:

and others who portray Kryptonians as these saints, these gods who had sent one of their own to act as a guiding light for the natives of the planet he was sent to, neither of which I really like, so I wanted to know how you think Krypton and its' people should be portrayed as and how this portrayal would play a part in how Clark figures himself out growing up and lives out his life from the moment he learns he's an alien, a Kryptonian. (2/2)

Krypton needs to be shitty enough that we understand why it died, but likeable enough that we feel bad it did.

Reason being that it's not much of a tragedy if it was a decrepit hellhole that deserved it's fate. Would you feel sad in-universe if Apokolips or Warworld blew up? Maybe if their slaves were still on-site when it went kaboom, but otherwise I doubt most would shed a tear. Seeing Superman shed tears over a Krypton that clearly sucks creates a disconnect between him and the reader. Of course as a Kryptonian himself he's probably going to feel a stronger connection than we would, but plenty of fiction has gotten people attached to places that never existed and we can never go. Look at Narnia, Middle-Earth, Hogwarts, the Jedi Temples, or any other location. You can still make the reader care with a little effort.

My preferred take on Krypton is that society as a whole tended to be arrogant, stratified, repressive, and xenophobic. Aliens they may be, but they're pretty recognizable in terms of mindset and flaws. This isn't a world that's completely outside the realm of human understanding. Nevertheless it's also generally technologically advanced, culturally rich, free from poverty, disease, or war, and aesthetically colorful. It's a world full of amazing locations such as the Quantum Jungle, with animals that can read your thoughts, and machines that do the menial labor. The worst of Krypton we can recognize, the best of Krypton we can only hope to achieve one day.

Personally my favorite depiction of Krypton artistically has to be Rocafort's depiction of it during the New 52.

That art kept me going even with how boring the writing was. Just absolutely gorgeous science fiction art. Doesn't that Krypton look cool? Doesn't it look like some place you'd want to explore or live even knowing how it ends? Does for me anyway. Not a fan of Krypton as a "retro" place, it needs to be the Planet of the Future where Superman hopes that the best of Krypton can live on in Earth and the worst can be averted. Gene Ha and Andy Kubert did a great job of reinventing Krypton with Morrison for the New 52, and I do wish more of the New 52 Krypton had carried over to Rebirth.

Do like the Johns/Rebirth idea of representing all the different takes on Krypton. A trope in scifi that I hate is when every member of a species or an entire planet can be summed up to one attribute. There should be Kryptonians who are emotionless and obsessed with cold science like Byrne, but also Kryptonians who are much more emotional and human. Kryptonians who are genetically engineered test tube babies and Kryptonians who are natural births. Kryptonians who are devoutly religious, with worship of many different gods or followers of different philosophies, and affirmed atheists. Kryptonians who are ascetics and Kryptonians who are hedonists. Hell you can even include some retro throwback people as the Kryptonian equivalent to the Amish or hippies if you want. The society of Krypton might have a general shared culture, but individuals could vary wildly. In short they are a species and like us they had saints and sinners and uncountable people who lived uneventful yet meaningful lives that we'll never know about. You can't easily summarize what Krypton was, it's too vast and big for that. Hence why it's such a tragedy that it died.

For Superman personally, Krypton is a source of fascination just like second-gen American immigrants typically want to know about the countries their parents came from. Absolutely show him taking an interest in learning Kryptonian languages, or studying Kryptonian history. Would love to see some bonding between Kara and Kal over celebration of Kryptonian holidays (could definitely get some Passover vibes which would be welcome). Kal is able to more clearly see Krypton's flaws than Kara would be (for her nostalgia and homesickness will always color her perceptions). Both he and Zod would agree that the Science Council were fools for ignoring Jor-El, but Kal would still appreciate the good of Krypton while Zod can only obsess over "fixing" the flaws in a New Krypton. As a child of both worlds Kal can see how similar the two were and are, and that adds a sense of urgency and dread to his mission.

Krypton's role in the larger Superman narrative is to be one of the potential endgames of Earth (something Red Son played with beautifully). If we don't get our act together, we're going to end up just like Krypton did. A warning that only grows more and more relevant given the impending environmental collapse we seem incapable of handling (take no pleasure in Superman becoming more and more "realistic" in how it handled the death of a planet). The best of Krypton lives on in Kal and his family and the records/artifacts of the Fortress of Solitude. The worst lives on in the Phantom Zone prisoners, the various experiments and artifacts that survived across the cosmos, and the Kryptonian mindset of believing they're infallible which sadly isn't restricted to them as Superman knows all too well.

Superman #82 (October 1993)

REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN! The climax of this 19-part storyline, the entire “Death and Return of Superman” saga, and seven years of long-ass plotlines. And it only took this blog a mere six years and six months to get here! PREVIOUSLY: After Superman’s death, five different Supermen popped up to reclaim the mantle, some more convincingly than others. The front-runner, the Cyborg Superman, kinda ruled himself out of the competition when he nuked out a whole city and replaced it with a giant engine. Now the other would-be Supermen converge in that place…

The Last Son of Krypton/Eradicator finally arrives on Engine City, having set off from the Fortress of Solitude two weeks ago. We noted back then that he suddenly looked like an old man, but he’s back to Superman’s age now. If this storyline had gone on any longer, he would ended up Benjamin Buttoning himself into a grumpy, ultra-violent baby.

Superboy also flies in from Metropolis. It’s the fourth time he makes the Metropolis-Coast City trip in a few days (not counting the time he got a ride on a missile), so he’s gotta be pretty bored of it by now.

Steel, last seen getting crushed by some giant cogs, emerges from the bowels of Engine City with his armor in tatters but his body intact. Dude’s a tough nut to crack.

Supergirl and the powerless Man in Black continue making their way through Engine City. Supergirl’s like “Wanna step out and let those of us with powers handle this one, chief?” but the Man in Black ain’t having it. Wow, that’s pretty heroic. Maybe… maybe he’s actually the real Superman?! Nah, that’s crazy.

And Green Lantern Hal Jordan is also there, because this whole issue takes place on top of the ashes of his old city and childhood memories and all. We see the end of his fight with Mongul from Green Lantern #46.

The Cyborg watches as the Super-People invade his fortress from his control room, but he’s a glass half full kind of guy, so he’s choosing to focus on the fact that he (apparently) gets to kill Superman again.

After the Eradicator joins the party and the Cyborg reveals his true identity, the Man in Black finds himself in the awkward position of having to team up with one of Superman’s worst villains (the one who wanted to turn Earth into Krypton) to fight a good guy driven crazy by space travel (and who once looked like Johnny-5). It’s only after the Eradicator goes on a two-page exposition dump about how he brought Superman back to life that the Man in Black goes “alright, guess you’re cool”.

The Man in Black and the Eradicator follow the Cyborg to the center of Engine City, where a giant chunk of kryptonite powers the entire fortress. The combined powers of the Eradicator’s Eradicator-ness and the Man in Black’s punching (OK, mostly the first thing) seem to be winning – but then, in a desperate move, the Cyborg shoots a blast of concentrated kryptonite at the Man in Black. The Eradicator, however, heroically jumps in front of the blast…

…which has the unexpected side effect of restoring the Man in Black’s Superman powers, allowing him to dispatch the Cyborg with a swift “broosh”. What’s a “broosh”? You know, a “broosh”:

After Supergirl uses her convenient clothes-shifting powers on the Man in Black’s costume, it only takes one second of him in the classic red and blue tights to convince everyone that HOLY CRAP HE’S THE REAL SUPERMAN AND HE’S BACK FROM THE DEAD! (Side note: I like how Green Lantern goes “We’ll mop up here! Not like I have anything better to do, what with all my friends being dead and stuff. Haha. I-I’m okay, seriously.”)

It’s him! It really is him. I knew it all along. Never doubted it.

Character-Watch:

The Eradicator is this issue’s real MVP. His whole arc has been about slowly turning him from an emotionless robot into a sentient being through his interactions with people (Lois, Steel, even Loose Cannon and Guy Gardner), and it pays off when he jumps in front of that kryptonite blast yelling “I WON’T LET YOU DIE [AGAIN]!”.

Also, when he tells Superman “We have always been linked, you and I”, that’s true. While their psychic connection influenced Superman negatively for a while (the Day of the Krypton Man saga), it looks like it also worked in the other direction and some of Superman’s goodness rubbed off on him. By the way, it might be a stretch but the climactic shot of the kryptonite blast always reminded me of the Day of the Krypton Man’s climactic shot, with Superman finally overcoming the Eradicator’s influence with Pa Kent’s help.

Anyway, sorry, Superboy and Steel. The Eradicator had the best sacrifice scene in this storyline, hands down. Of course, they eventually brought him back again and turned him into a lapdog for the Cyborg and then Zod, but let’s enjoy his dignified retirement while it lasts.

Plotline-Watch:

I’m not kidding when I say that this issue represents the convergence of seven freaking years of storylines. Let’s recap (strap on, this is gonna be long):

John Byrne’s Man of Steel #1 (1986) introduced Superman’s birth matrix, the flying artificial womb that took him from Krypton to Earth. When young Clark sees the matrix for the first time he feels weak, because there’s some kryptonite lodged into it. In Superman #1, a few months later, we find out that a crazy scientist stole the matrix and used it to build Metallo, so Superman decides to leave it suspended in orbit to prevent it from being used against him again. Three years later, the distraught mind of a disembodied astronaut called Hank Henshaw jumped into the matrix, and he made himself a tiny little spaceship from its technology, then sped off into deep space. Eventually, he went mad, hooked up with Mongul, and used the DNA information he got from the birth matrix to make himself a half-Kryptonian body. Hence: the Cyborg Superman. (As for that kryptonite rock, it ended up in Lex Luthor’s hands… soon to be “hand”.)

Also during Byrne’s run, Superman briefly visited a “pocket” universe inhabited by a Silver Age-type Superboy, who died by the end of that storyline. Months later, the pocket Earth had turned into a hellhole thanks to three Kryptonian criminals. They too died by the end of that storyline… by Superman’s hand. Feeling guilty over killing those killers, Superman exiled himself in space, was captured by Mongul’s Warworld, and found an ancient egg-shaped relic created by his ancestors: the Eradicator. Superman brought the Eradicator back to Earth and it built him a nice Fortress of Solitude, but it also took over his mind and turned him into the emotionless Krypton Man – who became an entity of its own after Superman overcame it. After Superman’s death, the Fortress’ robots rebooted the Eradicator so he could follow his “preserve Kryptonian life” directive and restore Superman back to life, but he got a little confused and thought HE was Superman. Hence: the Last Son of Krypton.

Another concept introduced by Byrne was the idea that Kryptonian DNA is too complex to be duplicated by Earth scientists, which led to the creation of Bizarro. Byrne’s World of Krypton miniseries also established that Kryptonians used clones as spare parts to extend their lifetimes, and the conflict over clone rights literally tore the planet apart. So when Superman learned of a cloning facility near Metropolis called Project Cadmus, he immediately felt uneasy about it. After his death, Cadmus got hold of his body so they could create a replacement, but, again, you can’t clone a Kryptonian… so they simply created an approximation of Superman’s powers and features using human DNA. Hence: Superboy.

As for Steel, he’s just Steel. Hence: Steel. Incidentally, if you’re wondering why his armor has been reduced to just some metal shorts by the end of the issue, here’s the answer. Pretty self-explanatory.

The only major plotline left dangling after this issue (aside from Dr. Stratos, of course) is Lex’s own death/return/cloning misadventure, but the Super-Squad will deal with that in a big way pretty soon. Oh, and then there’s the mess they left for Green Lantern, but that’s another creative team’s problem. (SHAMELESS PLUG: Follow my new Green Lantern ‘94 to '04 blog to see how that mess turned out.)

Believe it or not, there’s even MORE stuff to talk about in this issue, so don’t miss the great Don Sparrow’s section after the jump:

And I immensely enjoy the grey area of that.

Too sad he is now a fully evil robot that hates Superman and Jon for existing, he should be protective of them even if he is with Zod.