Superman: Red & Blue Announced

[Myskin]

Read it - very quickly, to be fair - and didn't particularly enjoy any of them.

I don't want to sound too harsh because I understand and somehow appreciate the efforts behind the project, and the art is gorgeous, but I couldn't get rid of of a sensation of déjà vu. I thought about it a little, and I think that I have understood what bugs me.

All of the out-of-continuity, "auteur" Superman stories I can think of (I am thinking of Adventures of Superman, but there are way more examples) always look and sound the same. In most of the cases we have a classic Superman vs a monster tale in which the menace gets sidelined and the story focuses on some episode of everyday heroism, or on Superman inspiring someone else, or young Clark trying to fit in, or very few other variations on the theme. All in all what you get most of the time is a morality tale of some sort. It's as if they weren't able to write a Superman story without inserting some "moral" purpose in it.

I don't know. I mean, is there really an audience for this type of stories? Does any reader feel the need to read AGAIN about these topics, which have been proposed ad nauseam since the days of Peace on Earth and For All Seasons? To be fair, the problem isn't even the "moral" aspect per se, but the fact that the moral element in this type of works is always very simplistic - and it probably couldn't be otherwise. Maybe is it that this specific medium that doesn't allow for great, "deeper" content? Again, I don't know. But I cannot but think of other publishers - Image, classic Vertigo, etc - which provide better, more substantial content about "difficult" topics, and in general better entertainment.

Maybe it's the character which doesn't allow for better, more varied content. But again, I have some issues with this specific approach too. Either you focus on some episode everyday heroism - and Superman gets sidelined and looks ineffective - or you make Superman deal with some real-life problem - at risk of opening a can of worms because you clearly can't have modern-day Superman punch racist people or cure cancer or end world hunger without sounding simplistic or downright offensive.

Anyway, I find it incredible how hard it has become for any writer to even imagine a Superman story without being openly "moral", formulaic and generally unimaginative. Maybe DC should reread some sci-fi writer - I am not even thinking of contemporary writers such as Ted Chiang or complex guys like China Miéville or Frank Herbert: even older classics like Harlan Ellison or Fritz Leiber could work - and just understand that creating some good, imaginative sci-fi stuff can be more compelling, interesting and memorable than just writing for the umpteenth time about inspirational Superman or Superman dealing with real-world stuff without actually achieving anything.

[WallyWestFlash]

Another issue is how in all these stories Superman is depicted as weak, pitiful or a wimp.

The first is how Superman gets captured and tortured and is traumatized by it and doesnt even get closure on it.

Second is how he failed and literally writes at the end "I will do better."

Third is how he got knocked out and had to be saved by a child and now is enamoured by him.

Fourth is he does nothing to stop or reverse what the imp did on his own and at first listens to Batman telling him what to do but ultimately let's Lois tell him what to do.

I cant wait to get to the fifth story.

[HsssH]

Maybe it's the character which doesn't allow for better, more varied content. But again, I have some issues with this specific approach too. Either you focus on some episode everyday heroism - and Superman gets sidelined and looks ineffective - or you make Superman deal with some real-life problem - at risk of opening a can of worms because you clearly can't have modern-day Superman punch racist people or cure cancer or end world hunger without sounding simplistic or downright offensive.

Considering that this is out of continuity... why can't he tackle real problems? Morrison's Wonder Woman went full women power and literally took over the world, solved all the problems and its ok, but Superman can't do anything?

[Myskin]

Considering that this is out of continuity... why can't he tackle real problems? Morrison's Wonder Woman went full women power and literally took over the world, solved all the problems and its ok, but Superman can't do anything?

Well... Not everyone can be Morrison.
Maybe I should have been clearer. It's not that Superman can't solve real-life problems in out-of-continuity stories (as for in-continuity stories they could create allegories for real-life problems, but apparently they don't do that, either). But they should be really creative and the stories should be crammed with imaginative ideas and concepts. I don't find it offensive when Superman cures cancer in All-Star Superman, because the story is almost fable-like and the solution Superman finds is coherent with that type of story. But I have, and I have always had, many problems with Dini's Peace on Earth. I immensely admire Paul Dini for his work with Bruce Timm, but that story bugs me in every possible way (except for the art, maybe). I don't like Superman's approach in PoE, the way other cultures are depicted, I don't like that it is - as Dini has openly said, if I remember it well - more or less an allegory of the best aspects of the US and in general I don't like the tone adopted by Dini. I am not against politics in comic books - quite the contrary, I think that there isn't enough and I am under the impression that what an average US reader would consider "political" wouldn't even reach the bare minimum to consider it so for my personal standards - but a writer should be really, really good and/or really, really imaginative to write this type of story.
But again, it's not that Superman should necessarily deal with real, recognizable real-world issues; I would consider it clever entertainment even if the stories were existential sci-fi, as it has ALWAYS happened since sci-fi was created. Or they could just be fun stories with evocative and creative situations. The problem with this series - and in general, with Superman as a whole - is that the stories do not tackle real-world issues in an interesting way, they are not imaginative and they are not even interesting in terms of "existential" sci-fi. It's just a big nothing with good art.

[Vakanai]

So, I'm not super positive about these reviews so far. Hoping the future issues are deemed better by the community. I'd love some great new Superman content, but I'd rather save my money than come out disappointed.

Keeping fingers crossed.

[HsssH]

Second is how he failed and literally writes at the end "I will do better."

Going back to this a bit... I didn't even understand what he was supposed to do?

[Vordan]

I hate having to wait until I get off work to read this, choose to read Nightwing during lunch because I wanted to see if Taylor was worth following or should I just drop immediately. The Batman B&W stories were mostly weird art showcases with a few good stories, so I was sort of prepared for something similar with Superman. Still excited to read!

[The Frog Bros]

Full disclosure, I am a Watters/Dani Coffin Bound fanboy so...

I really enjoyed their story. Thought it was a unique and creative use of the color concept/theme. What I like about Dani's art is that is extremely expressive for being so minimalist (the panels with Lois and Clark in their apartment in particular).

Plus, he got to show the world that Batman was wrong about something.

[Ra-El]

Watters story was the only one worth imo. The rest it's just a bunch of tales about how inefficient Superman is in general, but hey at least he is inspiring!", but without actually be inspiring stories. The story about the 5th dimension imp was the only one that felt like a Superman story, and the last one, with kid Clark while really good could be about a boy named Boyd who would become a delivery man and it would be basically the same story.

[superduperman]

My LCS didn't have this on sale today. Might put it out tomorrow. Trying to avoid spoilers but not liking what I'm hearing.

[Vordan]

Hah so I actually have to disagree with you guys, I really enjoyed the first issue. Running through the stories:
1. Ridley - I get why this annoyed some of you but this story really cut to the heart of Superman. It showed that no matter how apathetic the world can be, how cruel it can be, Superman’s spirit and compassion for others will never be crushed. I also like that a part of him was hoping for an excuse to kill that dictator.
2. The Measure of Hope - Again: I get why people take issue with this. But it reminded me of that classic Spider-Man issue where he meets with a kid who has a terminal illness and tells him Spidey’s story. It’s a sort of mix of Silver Age and Post Crisis Superman.
3. The Boy Who Saved Superman - This was like an enjoyable version of the I’ve Got Batman In My Basement BTAS episode and The Boy Who Stole Superman’s Cape in Morrison Action. Pretty art, Craig is a beast and I hope he does more Superman.
4. Human Colors - This was great. Fun concept and neat reflection on the nature of the anthology.
5. The School of Hard Knock-Knock Jokes - This was a sweet little young Clark story. Reminded me of some of the kid books DC has put out.

Overall I’d give the first issue about an 8/10. Solid first issue.

Also looks like Toyman will be in the Spencer/Ward story!

[Yoda]

I thought this was great. Really did remind me of Adventures of Superman in the best way. If you just want vanilla superhero stories these anthology series really aren’t built for that.

Human Colors was definitely my favorite, with School of Hard Knock Knock Jokes probably the next. The only one that didn’t really land for me was Measure of Hope. I’m always skeptical of those type of stories because it’s not really “fair” to criticize Superman or superheroes for that stuff. Idk. Those never work for me. The rest were great though. But Human Colors was great and the art was fantastic. The red and blue pages at the end were gorgeous. The red one in particular looked like a homage to that Superman The Movie poster.

[Myskin]

If you just want vanilla superhero stories these anthology series really aren’t built for that.

Quite the contrary. I actually consider the stories in this first issue a perfect example of vanilla stories, even if not necessarily superhero ones. I really can't understand what kind of moral lesson (if that was the purpose), or just narratively interesting/original element can be found in them. If not for the art, they would be very conventional - it's stuff I have already seen hundreds of times. Even in in-continuity books. By the way, the "red" part is actually inspired by a Sienkiewicz pin-up from Superman 400.

For the readers who have a problem with Superman "weak" or "wimpy" - I don't know if we are on the same page here, but as far as I am concerned Superman can even lose if the story is interesting. Heck, it's out of continuity: they could even kill Lois Lane, or make Superman go evil, or do whatever they want. They did it in the original Batman Black and White series (both evil Batman and dead Batman). But again, it shouldn't be simplistic/conventional. Saying that the story doesn't work "just" because Superman is weak is more or less the same as saying that Snyder's Man of Steel doesn't work because Superman doesn't smile enough. It's just scratching the surface. MOS would have huge problems even if Superman kept smiling all the time (heck, it would probably be even worse, because it would be incoherent, too) and a formulaic story would still be formulaic even if Superman punched the sun itself.

Now that I think about it - Superman 400 IS actually better than this stuff. I mean, part of the narration is a bit dated, but some ideas here and here are quite original for that time and even for current times. Steranko's story actually includes some blue/red visual experiments which IMHO are more interesting than most of Superman Red and Blue (except for Human Colours, maybe - which is the only story which tries to do something with the "colour theme"; the others could have been fully colored stories and nothing would have changed).

[HsssH]

and the last one, with kid Clark while really good could be about a boy named Boyd who would become a delivery man and it would be basically the same story.

And the creative team was aware of that, why else we got multiple meaningless shots of floating Clark if not to remind us that hey, this is Superman story?

[NaVi]

Superman is useless who luckily has the ability to make the world believe that he is a great hero (I suppose that is why he is a journalist), superman has long since become a con man and these comics only reinforce this idea. The only thing I want and I think it is something very simple, it is a superman comic in which he acts, that he thinks for himself, not a comic in which superman or the writer gives me a sermon.