Realworlds: The Mark of Superman

[UltraWoman]

I remember picking up to read an Elseworld (I only found out this version of comic was actually called a "realworld" because it was limited to real life possibilities) that I am getting flashbacks to when looking at the art and reading the little hints we've gotten so far of "TRUTH". Called "Matk of Superman," it is about a named Eddie Dial who is pretty much maligned by a gangster until said gangster (and gang) talk him out on a drunken revelry to which he wakes up the next morning with no memory of what happened and a Superman tattoo emblazoned onto his chest. At some point he ends up in prison in which the tattoo forces him to toughen up and become "like Superman" to defend himself. It's not until later on that he realizes what it means to BE Superman. He later dies of a heart attack while in witness protection and an envelope explains how he got the tattoo. For those that don't know about the comic I'm talking about here's a link to the Superman Homepage's review of it.


As a one-off I'm sure it's interesting, but to me, I hated it. I found it when I first started getting back into comics and officially collecting them. When I read it the first thing I did after skimming it I dropped it stone-cold. There was no hero's journey to creation, just a forced situation that causes him to "man up" and become a brute. It's a villain's journey with redemption tacked onto the end f it. Aesthetically it was quite dark, as was the tone. It's the tone in particular that has me worried about "Truth."

[dancj]

IIRC that was about the weakest of the Realworlds stories.

I liked the Batman and JLA ones most.