DCU Comic Book Reviews

SUPERMAN:  SECRET ORIGIN #1

Book One:  Boy Of Steel

November 2009

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Gary Frank

Inks by Jon Sibal

Covers by Gary Frank

Synopsis

Clark Kent is playing football with friends when he accidentally crashes into Pete Ross, breaking his arm.  The next day, Pete is showing off his cast when Clark accidentally uses his x-ray vision.  It freaks him out and he runs.  Lana Lang finds him.  Ever since Clark saved her in a thresher accident by destroying the blades, she has known about his powers.  She consoles him and surprised him with a kiss.  This sets off his heat vision, which causes a fire at school.  Upon hearing of the unexpected use of his powers, Jonathan Kent decides it is time Clark knows the truth.  He shows Clark the spaceship that brought him to Earth.  When Clark touches it, a hologram of Jor-el pops up to explain where he came from and who he is.  Elsewhere, Lex Luthor flees his sister and drunken father.  He then stumbles upon a piece of Kryptonite.  The next day, Jonathan gives Clark a pair of eyeglasses, made from the spaceship designed to block his heat vision.  That night at the fair, Clark bumps into Lex Luthor, who shows him the piece of Kryptonite.  Clark freaks out, causing the jar to break and the piece to fall to ground.  When Lex reaches down to pick it up, he cuts himself.  Just then a tornado blows through town.  Clarks hears Lana yelling for help.  He rushes after her, running hard until he starts to fly.  He catches Lana and then flies her to safety.  Giddy after sving her, Clark decides he wants to continue to help others.  Martha Kent tells him if wants to do that, he’ll need to do it in a costume she makes especially for him from the blankets he was wrapped in when they found him.  He puts it on, but swears he’ll never wear it again.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Writing this mini-series must have been sheer torture.  Superman is one of the biggest fictional characters in the world and has been for over 70 years.  The origin of Superman, from the rocket to the Kents to Smallville to Metropolis is well known, even to the causal observer and semi-fan.  Now, imagine trying to write a story that not only everyone knows but also doesn’t allow you to take dramatic or sharp detours.  The origin of Superman is fairly locked in place; there are moments that just don’t allow for many additions or changes.  There are certain beats in the story that you have to have, such as the glasses or the symbol. In fact, there were moments in this issue where I could see where Johns was heading, knew what was coming next and that is exactly what I thought would happen.  On top of all that, imagine trying to write that story to obsessed geeks who can point to specific back issues that relate to the history of Superman, who know all of the story beats, and if you forget a detail or add a detail or embellish something else, you can be hanged by a cross for failing to do your job.  As a writer, it has got to be tough.  Amazingly, Johns pulls it off and he so does in a story that pulled me right in to the narrative, making me forget about all of the other stuff.  It is simply about the characters and telling the story we all know in a fresh way.  This is a wonderful start to the mini-series.  The one word that leapt to my head when I was finished was “joy.”  There is so much joy in this issue that it is infectious.  Johns and Frank and have managed to take a familiar story and somehow conveyed the iconic moments from the Superman mythos and give it a sense of wonderment and joy, like it is all brand new.  I hope it continues for the rest of the mini-series.

I think what amazes me in this first issue is that there doesn’t seem to be any sense that Johns is trying to put his own vision onto the character.  It incorporates a lot of different origins over the years, but it stays true to the character.  There are no sudden additions to Smallville, you know minor characters that Johns inserts into the narrative so he can claim his creation is now part of the Superman mythos.  All of the characters are already part of the mythos and they are presented pretty much as they always have been.

One of the names on Pete’s cast is “Chloe” which is the name of a character from the tv show Smallville, but has never appeared in comics.  Since I have never seen Smallville, I can’t tell if one of the girls surrounding Pete look like Chloe or not.  There are other elements taken from the tv show as well (at least according to others who may not be telling me the truth), including the heat vision first occurring during a kissing scene, Lex Luthor in Smallville, and the tornado leading to the first flight of Superman (or Superboy, I guess).  But on the whole, these are not big changes, just little moments that are part of the overall fabric. 

This issue is roughly twice the size of a normal comic book, but not twice the price.  So this issue definitely provides bang for your buck.  Anyway, if they were to split this into two different issues, the ending would come roughly right after Clark sees Jor-el for the first time and is comforted by his adoptive father in the corn field.

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