Originally, his mask was solid, stablished by Bogdanove, but later not every artist respected that and as Vordan says, svereal other artists used to "emote" with the face. I'm not sure if with Batista or Knowlan (and Priest pen) he started usinga indestrutible polymerm mask. The liquid metal is a late addition.
"Never assign to malice what is adequately explained by stupidity or ignorance."
"Great stories will always return to their original forms"
"Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart; for his purity, by definition, is unassailable." James Baldwin
I’ve only ever read scattered issues of Steel’s ongoing. Crazy how he had a solo that ran 40+ issues, what a different time it was. I keep hoping for Steel to pop up in outside media in a big way somewhere so DC might collect all Simonson & Priest’s work in trades or omnibuses, but I think maybe I’ll buy a month of DC Universe and just read the whole series on there.
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
Thought I’d bump this to ask: PKJ has been teasing some stuff with Steel. We know that Natasha Irons as Steel will be in Superman & The Authority. Do you guys thing John will be getting something separate, or are the plans with Natasha the teased Steel plans? I’m thinking it’s separate because John was in the spread ad while Natasha wasn’t, so I think he will be getting something else. Much as I do like Natasha, John is my guy and I’m hoping he gets more stuff.
Last edited by Vordan; 03-24-2021 at 06:47 PM.
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
John's gotta be getting at least something at some point, either in the new run or as some sort of sidebar. It can't be a coincidence that he's on that wraparound variant cover (and pretty prominently featured to boot). Calvin Ellis was on the Infinite Frontier cover and now he's popping up a bunch more in the forthcoming stuff. Maybe we'll see a similar pattern with Irons...
“Look, you can’t put the Superman #77s with the #200s. They haven’t even discovered Red Kryptonite yet. And you can’t put the #98s with the #300s, Lori Lemaris hasn’t even been introduced.” — Sam
“Where the hell are you from? Krypton?” — Edgar Frog
5ED39D82-149B-41E1-84FB-C01CD69B5D65.jpg
That his armor looked a lot like his face always struck me as a really cool feature.
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
Reading List (Super behind but reading them nonetheless):
DC: Currently figuring that out
Marvel: Read above
Image: Killadelphia, Nightmare Blog
Other: The Antagonist, Something is Killing the Children, Avatar: TLAB
Manga: My Hero Academia, MHA: Vigilanties, Soul Eater: the Perfect Edition, Berserk, Hunter X Hunter, Witch Hat Atelier, Kaiju No. 8
How do we feel that Steel has done in adaptive media? Of course there is the movie that we don't really talk about, he showed up a couple times in the DCAU, the Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen movies, and he's had small bit parts in other animated projects with larger rosters.
Underwhelming. He only showed up in the DCAU with JLU and was just a glorified cameo (and they didn’t give him the S-shield! ). I liked him in Reign of the Supermen but the DCAMU basically ended right afterwards.
I must admit I’m kind of worried with the new black Superman movie coming, Steel will just be pushed to the side and forgotten. He’s only gotten scraps so far and that’s really disappointing. I hope whatever plans DC has for him really knock it out of the park because he really needs some love.
Will always be pissed we didn’t get this. Steel and Kenan in a Superman cartoon, seemingly main cast members? Yeah I’m bitter this didn’t happen.
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
“Look, you can’t put the Superman #77s with the #200s. They haven’t even discovered Red Kryptonite yet. And you can’t put the #98s with the #300s, Lori Lemaris hasn’t even been introduced.” — Sam
“Where the hell are you from? Krypton?” — Edgar Frog
From Priest’s Steel run
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
Count me as a fan who prefers the riveted full-steel face mask. It just feels so visceral, like he actually made a suit instead of the usual super science that may as well be magic. That tangible quality always endeared me to John Henry Irons. It struck the right balance of "spirit of Superman, body of a human" that really works for me. It also provides a good contrast to Lex who is firmly in the "science magic" realm. John is intelligent and a man of integrity and never does it feel contrived as Lex can under weaker writers.
I think it's cool that Steel is one of the few black superheroes with a rogues gallery.
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/