#Phil Balsman

[dbot456]

Apparently Nicholas Hoult started working out for his role as Lex Luthor after reading this scene from All-Star Superman

All-Star Superman (2005) #5

Writer: Grant Morrison

Penciller: Frank Quitely

Inker, Colourist: Jamie Grant

Letterer: Phil Balsman

#dc #dc comics #superman #nicholas hoult #lex luthor #all star superman #grant morrison #frank quitely #jamie grant #phil balsman

[balu8]

Blue Beetle #7: Brother's Keeper

by John Rogers; Cully Hamner; Guy Major and Phil Balsman

" What psycho-nut job supervillain built that?"

#dc comics #blue beetle #How I Survived My Infinite Crisis #Cully Hamner #guy major #Phil Balsman #john rogers #jaime reyes #Blue Beetle #batman

[chernobog13]

Superman meets his descendant and other members of the Superman Squad.

From All-Star Superman #6 (March, 2007).  Written by Grant Morrison.  Art by Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant.  Lettering by Phil Balsman.

#All-Star Superman #Superman #Krypto the Superdog #Superman of A.D. 853500 #Unknown Superman of A.D. 4500 #Superman of the 5th Dimension #DC Comics #Grant Morrion #Frank Quitely #Jamie Grant #Phil Balsman

[coverpanelarchive]

Swamp Thing #9 (2005)

#DC comics #Vertigo Comics #swamp thing #joshua dysart #enrique breccia #martin breccia #phil balsman #alec holland

[graphicpolicy]

Eric Powell, Mike Mignola, Becky Cloonan, and James Harren team for Terrifying Tales for Christmas

Eric Powell, Mike Mignola, Becky Cloonan, and James Harren team for Terrifying Tales for Christmas #comics #comicbooks #graphicnovel

This December, Dark Horse Books presents Four Gathered on Christmas Eve, four stories from four renowned comics creators: Eric Powell, Mike Mignola, Becky Cloonan, and James Harren. Powell will be illustrating his story and James Harren’s with the rest of the writers also illustrating their own stories. Eric Powell and Dave Stewart will be coloring the anthology with letters by Richard…

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#becky cloonan #dark horse #dark horse books #dave stewart #eric powell #four gathered on christmas eve #graphic novel #graphic novels #james harren #mike mignola #phil balsman #richard starkings

[longwuzhere]

Some cool Easter eggs I caught watching My Adventures with Superman that I want to show to people so they can be in on it with comic book readers:

Episode 1 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 2 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 3 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 4 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 5 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 7 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here and here

Episode 8 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 9 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 10 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

(SPOILERS if you havent seen it obviously)

About 3ish minutes into the episode we see Clark be affected by red sun radiation, one of the non-Kryptonite weakness Superman has.

In the comics we first learn about this weakness in Action Comics #300 (1963), cover art by Curt Swan, George Klein, and Joe Letterese, where Superman is transported to the future by the Superman Revenge Squad, where the sun turned red thus losing his powers and has to find a way back home.

At the place where Jimmy was captured, we meet Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, at least MAwS version of these characters. I talk more about them in here. The episode has them depicted more like an old married couple with no supervillainous intentions compared to their comic counterparts...

who often associate themselves as enemies to the Doom Patrol and affliated with the Brotherhood of Evil. Also the Brain is usually French in the comics, here in MAwS, the Brain is German. The cover is from Outsiders #37 (2006) cover art by Daniel Acuna.

Back outside we see where Monsieur Mallah and the Brain took Jimmy, Cadmus Minefield.

Cadmus/Project Cadmus/the DNA Project, is known for its genetic engineering projects. The organization makes its first appearance in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #135 (1971) created by legendary comic book creator, Jack Kirby. Cadmus is pretty well known for cloning Superboy/Kon-el/Conner Kent. Like in MAwS Cadmus is a government sanctioned division that's located outside of Metropolis. Ironic since in MAwS the government disavows Cadmus. You can read more about it on these two pages from Who's Who in the DC Universe #12 (1991), the art is done by Dan Jurgens, Dennis Janke, and Anthony Tollins.

Later in the forest we see Lois and Clark have to deal with the OMACs.

In the comics, Jack Kirby created OMAC, at the time, the acronym stood for One Man Army Corp. Buddy Blank of Earth-AD (a future post-apocalyptic Earth) was selected to be part of the OMAC program where with the help of the Brother Eye satellite grants him powers of super strength, stamina and density control. The cover art here for OMAC #1 (1971) was done by Jack Kirby, Mike Royer, and Gaspar Saladino.

Years later OMAC gets reinvented to be a cyborgs of Brother Eye that was developed by Batman thanks to his paranoia about super powered heroes turning evil. The page here is from the OMAC Project #5 (W: Greg Rucka, P&I :Jesus Saiz, C: Hi-Fi, L: Phil Balsman). This iteration of OMAC uses the acronym for Omni-Mind and Community. These Cyborgs make their first appearance in the OMAC Project #1 (2005). MAwS's OMACs are a lot more robotic and Evangelion-esque designed compared to how they look in the comics. Note the mohawk/fin designs on OMACs heads in both iterations of the comics and how the robots are designed in MAwS.

Someone on the MAwS team is a fan of Gurren Lagann.

Monsieur Mallah name drops Task Force X. I talked about the organization here

Monsieur Mallah mentions one dimensions in the universe where he and the Brain can be accepted. This brings to mind...

DC's multiverse. The multiverse makes its first appearance in the Flash #123 (1961) where Barry Allen and Jay Garrick meet for the first time. DC's multiple Earths have changed over the years from having only 52 distinct Earths to now infinite. The Multiverse map created by Grant Morrison and Rian Hughes, here is from Multiversity comic series.

Someone on the MAwS crew is a fan of the ED-209 design in Robocop.

After the fight with the OMACs, the Brain talks about the General. The only person in DC comics who usually goes by that moniker is...

General Wade Eiling. The panels here are from Captain Atom #1 (1987) (W: Cary Bates, P: Pat Broderick, I: Bob Smith, C: Carl Gafford, L: John Costanza). General Eiling is often associated with Suicide Squad/Task Force X. So it's possible that much like Parasite and Ivo, the MAwS team are combining characters by having...

him be a combination of General Eiling and General Sam Lane, Lois's dad. But who knows. Gotta wait for confirmation if this is either Eiling or Lane.

Thank you for taking your time reading this and making it this far down the post. If you want to see the other posts of easter eggs and references for past episodes:

Episode 1 is here

Episode 2 is here

Episode 3 is here

Episode 4 is here

Episode 5 is here

Episode 7 is here and here

Episode 8 is here

Episode 9 is here

Episode 10 is here

#My Adventures with Superman #Clark Kent #Lois Lane #Jimmy Olsen #Red Sun #Action Comics #Monsieur Mallah #The Brain #The Brain DC #The Brain DC Comics #Doom Patrol #Cadmus #Project Cadmus #OMAC #Brother Eye #Buddy Blank #OMAC Project #Gurren Lagann #DC Multiverse #Multiversity #DC Comics Multiverse #ED 209 #Robocop #General Eiling #General Lane #Sam Lane #Wade Eiling #DC #DC Comics #MAwS

[yurimother]

Yuri Drama 'If I Could Reach You' Final Volume Released in English

The seventh and final volume of tMnR's Yuri drama series If I Could Reach You (Tatoe Todokanu Ito da to Shite mo) was released Tuesday digitally and in paperback by Kodansha.

If I Could Reach You follows high school student Uta, who on, the day of her brother's wedding, realizes that she is in love with his wife and her childhood friend, Kaoru. Throughout the manga, Uta comes to terms with her feelings for her while struggling with guilt and sadness about the unrequited love.

The publisher describes the final volume:

An urgent SOS flashes on Uta's phone screen. It's from Kaoru. Despite some time and distance away, she's the one Kaoru called... She runs to meet Kaoru. At last, Uta hears what Kaoru has been keeping bottled up, and Kaoru resolves to take the next step.

The series has received positive reviews from critics for its grounded and emotional portrayal of unrequited love, handling of its subject material, and artwork. YuriMother reviewed the first five volumes, saying that it "effortlessly communicates the wretched feelings of its characters" and that it "instills a profound relationship and understanding of its subjects unique to other works."

If I Could Reach You was serialized in Comic Yuri Hime from November 2016 until its conclusion in December 2020. Ichijinsha publishes seven volumes and an appendix booklet in Japanese. The manga is translated into English by Kevin Steinbach with lettering by Jennifer Skarupa, editing by Haruka Hashimoto, and cover design by Phil Balsman.

Japanese Yuri mangaka tMnR is known for her Yuri Love Live doujinshi published under the circle name Yuki no HItohira. If I Could Reach You is her first and only serialized work. She has also contributed to the Citrus, Bloom Into You, and Parfait Yuri anthologies.

You can check out the final volume of If I Could Reach You now digitally and in paperback: https://amzn.to/3bjSGgQ

Reading official releases helps support creators and publishers. YuriMother makes a small affiliate commission from sales to help fund future coverage.

#Yuri #manga #news #if I could reach you #drama #lgbt #lgbtq #pride #pride month #queer #gay #lgbtq+ #wlw #gl #girls' love #anime #lesbian #lesbians #unrequited love

[the-gershomite]

The Authority - Lobo: Spring Break Massacre! -July 2005

(11-40 of 40)

plot by Kieth Giffen

script by Alan Grant

pencils by Simon Bisley

inks by Henry Flint

colors by J.D. Mettler

letters by Phil Balsman

#DC comics #Wildstorm Comics #The Authority #Lobo #comics

[jedivoodoochile]

The Chilling ‘Snow’ of Mr. Freeze - Debuting as Mr. Zero in February 1959’s Batman #121 and then almost a decade later as Mr. Freeze (March 1968’s Detective Comics #373) due to the popularity of the character within the late 1960s “Batman” tv series, this Batman rogue was a gimmick character until his return three decades later on animated television. Once Paul Dini and Bruce Timm's tale "Heart of Ice" reinvented Mr. Freeze into a sympathetically tragic figure, his origin story presented in this 1992 episode of Batman: The Animated Series was utilized in most Mr. Freeze stories in comic books and other DC Comics visual media.

On this day in 2005, J.H. Williams III and Dan Curtis Johnson retell Mr. Freeze’s origin story in the 5 issue arc “Snow”. Published in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #192-196 and illustrated by Seth Fisher, Dave Stewart, and Phil Balsman, the Batman goes up against his ally Commissioner James Gordon when he doesn't help Batman track down a rising criminal and puts together a dishonorable task force. Meanwhile, Victor Fries tries to save his ill wife Nora with tragedy striking in the cryogenics lab, resulting with Nora frozen in ice. About to kill himself and losing all hope, Victor decides to change his destiny and take on the company that has ruined his life, donning the persona of Mr. Freeze. Batman and his new partners in crime discover Freeze's vendetta and has to stop this chilling mad scientists from taking more lives in Gotham City.

#mr freeze #batman

[bardinthecorner]

RAGNA CRIMSON

(Manga Vol 1) Story & Art: Daiki Kobayashi Translation: Stephen Paul Lettering: Eric Erbes Cover Design: Phil Balsman Editor: Leyla Aker Publisher: SQUARE ENIX Cost: AU$21.99/CAN$17.50/US$12.99 My first encounter with Ragna Crimson was actually via the anime, I watched an episode or two then for some reason didn’t continue. Sometimes when there are loads of new anime hitting the screens…

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#Action #Adventure #Manga #Sword&Sorcery

[balu8]

All-Star Superman #6: Funeral in Smallville

by Grant Morrison; Frank Quitely: Jamie Grant and Phil Balsman

DC

#dc comics #all star superman #frank quitely #jamie grant #phil balsman #grant morrison #comic book

[coverpanelarchive]

Midnighter #6 (2007)

#Wildstorm Comics #DC comics #Midnighter #garth ennis #glenn fabry #randy mayor #jonny rench #phil balsman #apollo

[graphicpolicy]

Four Gathered on Christmas Eve is holiday horror fun

Four Gathered on Christmas Eve is holiday horror fun #comics #comicbooks #graphicnovel

Four tales of the bizarre and terrifying to keep you company on the cold yule night. A unique approach to the ghost story format where the creators themselves become part of the story in this deluxe edition hard cover designed by the award-winning Phil Balsman. Story: Eric Powell, Mike Mignola, Becky Cloonan, James HarrenArt: Eric Powell, James Harren, Becky Cloonan, Mike MignolaColor: Dave…

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#becky cloonan #dark horse #dark hose comics #dave stewart #eric powell #four gathered on christmas eve #graphic novel #graphic novels #james harren #mike mignola #richard starkings

[ungoliantschilde]

All-Star Superman, Vol. 1 # 04 by Frank Quitely, with Colors by Jamie Grant, Letters by Phil Balsman, and a Script by Grant Morrison.

#All-Star Superman #Frank Quitely #Jamie Grant #Phil Balsman #Grant Morrison #Superman #Jimmy Olsen #Cover Process #Process #DC Comics #DC #Comics #Illustration #Art #Master Class

[davidmann95]

All-Star Superman #4

And the solar journey begins to dip below the horizon, as Superman falls out of center stage into a shape-shiftier nighttime world of fluctuating identity he’s ill-prepared for. Fortunately, his best pal is there to make sure he doesn’t fall on his face too badly in the process.

“When not under alien influence, Jimmy Olsen could barely stand to be himself for more than five pages and maintained a much-resorted-to ‘disguise kit’ in times of emergency. Prefiguing David Bowie, Madonna, or Lady Gaga, his life became a shifting parade of costume changes and reinventions of identity. And long before those performers were challenging the boundaries of masculine and feminine, Olsen was deconstructing the macho stereotype in a sequence of softcore gender-blending adventures for children that beggar belief when read today...And yet, if it was okay for Olsen, wasn’t it okay? I grew up with the idea of the disguise kit and the performance, the idea of both body and identity as canvas. When I adopted as a youthful role model the shape-shifting, bisexual assassin Jerry Cornelius from Michael Moorcock’s novels, I was following in the footsteps of Jimmy Olsen. Olsen played in bands, and so did I. Olsen was freewheeling and nonjudgmental, even in the fifties, and so was I. If it was cool with Superman’s pal, it was A-OK with me. Clearly these stories were written by perverts with an intent to pervert the young that was entirely successful...Olsen was fully in control of his transformations and could hardly wait more than a couple of pages to get them underway.” -- Grant Morrison, Supergods

On the one hand, my big plan to start doing these on a more regular basis so I could get #7 - the Christmas issue - out in time for the holidays turned out to be purest hubris. On the other I am very glad I waited to get around to this until after Grant Morrison came out as non-binary.

The first thing we learn here is that Jimmy Olsen is the coolest dude in the entire world. He has an action figure of himself! His apartment is littered with evidence of having lived the most incredible life imaginable: a genie’s lamp (presumably from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #42, Jimmy the Genie), a retro laser pistol, a pirate’s hat, a crystal ball, a Viking helmet (#154, Olsen the Red, Last of the Vikings), and references to his time as Elastic Lad, Flamebird, and Turtle Boy. He’s got a giant flat-screen TV in 2006 on a reporter’s salary (with a video game system in the same dome-y aesthetic as the rest of Quitely’s Metropolis), a pool table, a great view, and most tellingly of all, a beach vacation spot in a bottle: no responsibility of caring for an entire endangered micro-civilization like his buddy, Jimmy just gets the good stuff.

(At the center of this world Lucy Lane, as ever glamorous, somehow out of his league, and needling him and talking about being ready to drop "the mayor of dullsville” like a hot potato. But there’s a flirtier teasing edge going on here than in the Silver Age stories that defined their relationship, a dynamic that feels more like her baiting him and keeping him on his toes than the casual cruelty of their ‘classic’ interactions. Jimmy’s too far from hapless in here to get a sense of him going along with this for any reason other than that he’s into it. He going out with the girlfriend who’s too cool for you too.)

And of course the disguise kit, his gateway to lives beyond his own that for all his success he can hardly wait to dip into. His outfit up above - awkward at best in retrospect until recently as a punchline, still not ideal but far more interesting now - is only the first of something like a half-dozen shifts in appearance he’ll undergo this issue. Like the coat he’ll wear he’s a rainbow encompassing many facets, a chameleon in a universe of rigid iconography. And when Superman, the sturdiest and most archetypal of all, goes through a complete and nonconsensual identity change, it’s up to his best pal to ensure he makes it through to the other side without completely losing his shit in the process.

Worth reiterating: Jimmy is the coolest in this. It’s actually one of the few tipoffs that this is supposed to take a little ways in the future past the traditional Superman status quo: Perry White instead of constantly badgering him is leaning on him to keep the paper afloat (and will accidentally note that guys wanna date him), super-scientists give him unlimited money and power for a day so he can have a cool subject for his feature, he reacts to genetically engineered super-warriors and a species of tungsten gas with glass exoskeletons with a smirk and a half-sarcastic “Awe-inspiring.” A little cocky, a little in over his head? Sure; he’s an audience stand-in. But he’s an audience stand-in who’s grown past his helplessness, elevated by his years of contact with Superman to the point where he can save him in turn. He is the living counterargument to everything Lex says in the next issue.

Superman on the other hand isn’t quite ready for this queer world where Jimmy proclaims with amusement “I can’t decide who I am from one day to the next!” The malleability of identity is a recurrent idea throughout Morrison’s work and one guaranteed to be reexamined from all sides in years to come now that they’ve come out, from the memeplex replacing the personality in the 2012 of the last issue of The Invisibles and their reinvention of Joker as “21st-century big-time multiplex man” shuffling identities with the times to the Greg Feeley/Ned Slade divide of The Filth and Crazy Jane’s system of 64 identities in Doom Patrol, as well as regular forays into the infinite incarnations offered by the multiverse. But this isn’t a shift Clark’s equipped for. Generously, if Superman is already an ideal being than any deviation from his norm is going to be for the worse. More harshly and honestly, we’ve already seen in the last two issues that his relationship with his identity is as rigidly self-imposed as it is somewhat unthinking, and letting go of his restraint isn’t going to end well. It’s a theme throughout Superman’s history going back to the 50s and 60s stories All-Star predominantly draws on where he’s regularly forced to succumb to the mind and body-warping influence of assorted shades of Kryptonite, magic spells, uncanny technology, or other contrivances to force him into the horror of a situation where he can no longer pretend to be normal. When he’s made to give up on his self-definition he isn’t going to bloom, he’s going to let all his emotional baggage spill out over everyone in his path: if All-Star is mundane life writ large, this is a man on a bender who needs his best friend to reel him in before he does irreversible damage to his life courtesy of a bad trip on Black Kryptonite.

As we’re about to reach my favorite panel of Superman flying of all time, let’s talk art. The visual language for this issue begins as mostly medium shots of assorted talking heads, as to serve the (purely relatively) mundane human world Jimmy operates in; when the sparks begin flying the action shots are either Authority-style widescreen tableaus of superhumans in the distance wreaking havoc with Jimmy often in the background (even for smaller ‘safe’ scenes like the meeting with the Electrokind, until he overwhelms the panels himself as Doomsday) or stiflingly intimate perspectives from the heart of the storm. This is a human perspective on Superman’s world and the comic reconfigures itself to match, the panels literally tilting back and forth as Jimmy dodges a heat vision blast.

Broad strokes aside, some more art stuff I love-love-loved:

* The blimps between the buildings in Metropolis.

* The miniature sun on the surface of the moon (which fits into an aspect I’ll discuss later).

* It’s a portal to another universe but it LOOKS like a vat of acid you could fall into, perfect Super-world aesthetic.

* The page with Clark and Perry where he goes in three panels from fully in Clark mode to realizing something’s up to Superman before he even takes off his glasses (even putting on his jacket which makes no logical sense but visually evokes him suiting up).

* Those cool lasers probing the Black Kryptonite.

* Superman’s Clark-esque exhausted posture and narrow, angry-looking eyes beginning to signal the change, and immediately afterwards posturing and posing for the first and only time in the book where it’s not an obvious front.

* The workers reacting to Superman from the other side of the window.

* Jimmy’s eyes going red from oxygen loss as Superman flies away, Phil Balsman having his laughter literally trail behind him through the hole in the ceiling.

* Superman mowing through the Bizarros and Voyager Giants (having finished Fourth World since annotating #1 I now know said giants are a reference to Kirby’s initial version of Cadmus, though I still think the realization here is a bit Manhattan-ey).

* You can see the air ventilating through the shattered Daily Planet globe! I assume Jamie Grant did that, such a great little commitment to detail he must have known most would never notice.

* DOOMSDAY’S LETTERING HAS BONE SPIKES

* The Bizarro technician at the end is visibly heaving to hold up the sample of Black Kryptonite, as it’s naturally heavy due to hailing from a higher-density universe.

So Superman goes wrong - hell, the FIRST THING THAT HAPPENS when he shows up is that he, Superman, fails to save someone - and for the first time in the book he has no choice but to lean on someone else. He’s in no place to help himself, because however much it’s the Kryptonite inverting him and how much this is unleashing the ‘bad’ that always lay inside him, the fact of the matter is this is the opposite of the creative teams’ “Renaissance idea of the ideal man” of the rest of the story: resentful of his responsibilities, reveling in his ego and the material, giving in to fear, incapable of seeing value in others. He may pointedly be lesser for that, weaker and dumber the worse he gets, but no matter how broken he may be he’s still Superman and still more than the world can handle. 

So Superman’s Pal has to step up. Because as self-absorbed as he can be, Jimmy Olsen is a guy who looks out for his friends, who cares about their dignity more than his own, whose reckless forays are first and foremost about doing the right thing no matter the risk to himself. He didn’t just learn to be a cool guy from Superman: he learned to be a good one, and even in the depths of his most horrible transformation of all, from Superman’s Pal to Superman’s Killer, he’s anchored to his true self beneath all the identities by a totem of the friendship he earned through that decency. A decency that wants to protect his friend from humiliation when in the end the one unquestionable scrap of truth comes of this debacle, a feeling so terrible Superman could never let it out under any other circumstances. That underneath all his love and appreciation for the life he’s lived and concern for what the world and people he cares for will do without him, he’s also still a mortal man who’s fucking terrified because he’s knows he’s going to die soon.

For now though, even as Jimmy gave up his scoop to offer his friend the help he needed - though don’t feel too bad, he got free tickets to the Broadway smash Frankenstein on Ice - he brushes off off the Black Kryptonite Superman as “a liar”, leaving it up to us to decide how much he really put together. Either way this is the one page where we actually get to see them as friends, and it all clicks - Superman’s the coolest guy ever who even Jimmy defers to, the best big brother who would never really turn on you, but also Jimmy’s the coolest guy ever (“No firewall is Olsen-proof.”) and even Superman looks at him in amused amazement. It’s a sentiment we’d see further with Morrison when they’d go on to expand the Clark/Jimmy side of it in Action Comics and Clark’s taken under Jimmy’s wing, but the fact remains that as differently as they approach life each is one of the few people in the world who can regularly impress the other, each to the other is ‘the cool one’, and from that awe comes respect and trust and friendship, such that we get the first chink in Superman’s self-reliant armor. So while the journey into the book’s shadowier phase of the solar cycle may only have just begun, for the time being? Everything’s coming up Olsen.

Additional notes

* As benefitting the human perspective here, Jimmy goes through a miniature version of All-Star of his own in here: the most ‘elevated’ version of the character we’ve ever seen on a journey from the moon (and sun thanks to that miniature reactor) to the Underverse and finally to a brawl on the streets of Metropolis, he takes on a dangerous power that threatens to undo him that is ultimately a necessary sacrifice to save the day and those dear to him, and by the end there’s a marker of his adventure hanging in the sky. Except it all works out for him, because again, Jimmy just gets the fun parts.

* Jimmy in here is visually modeled in part on English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams, at his request.

* For some reason even the Absolute edition of All-Star didn’t correct Superman’s shield being shown with inverted colors three times over on the first page. Perhaps this mishap was an influence on Calvin Ellis down the line?

* "Rock Hansom, the space pilot” where is his ongoing

* The queen who cast Jimmy’s ‘bad luck curse’ in this issue is another big instance of “oh right, this book was written a decade-and-a-half ago”. Or unfortunately maybe not, the CW’s The Flash was using a character from Justice League Detroit with the same name as recently as last year.

* Quintum’s ‘Warcops’, “Bio-engineered to end large scale conflict using non-lethal means” are another element that raises an eyebrow in the rear-view. Interestingly Morrison originally planned on reusing the title Warcops as the name of a comic they were planning with Sean Murphy in 2009, though the name was about all this was going to have in common with that proposed black comedy on the post-9/11 atmosphere of war, terror, and consumerism; evidentially this intended collaboration later morphed into Joe the Barbarian.

* Ok, I’m going into the weeds on this one: One of the cornerstones of Morrison’s autobiography is their experience of being ‘abducted’ by higher-dimensional beings in 1994 while on a trip to Kathmandu. You can read them discussing the experience and how it redefined their subsequent work in any number of interviews, and the Electrokind in All-Star were specifically noted by them in an interview to be modeled on aliens they saw during a brief detour in their ‘trip’ to Alpha Centauri. However, looking at them I’d swear they’re in fact visually and conceptually modeled on the ‘light ray’ alien beings seen in Action Comics #271, “Voyage to Dimension X!” by Otto Binder and Al Plastino...which are themselves a hoax! Am I saying Morrison’s been constructing an elaborate lie all these years and deliberately left an extremely obtuse tipoff in their masterpiece only someone who religiously reads their interviews AND has extensive knowledge of Silver Age Superman comics could untangle? Seems less likely than them having read that comic at some point prior, forgetting it, and the imagery filtering into their journey, but still wild. Or maybe that’s coincidentally what folks look like out in Alpha Centauri, Morrison’s all about the power of synchroniciy.

* The G-type who’s dedicated his life to articulating the unified field sets up Lex’s moment of enlightenment later on.

* Speaking of Lex, Quintum’s creations are all noted as being predetermined in their actions. Another hint?

* At its foundation, time is a solid thing in the reality portrayed by the physical object of a comic conveying existence one frozen image at a time? In a Grant Morrison story (where also beings are noted to communicate by a purely visual language)? You don’t say...

* P.R.O.J.E.C.T.’s origins as Cadmus not only connects it back to Kirby, but in its transformation from a U.S. Army division to “the ultimate futurist think tank” demonstrates once again the power of Superman’s influence.

* The Underverse catastrophe here is the first major instance of gravity entering the story; like time, while not obviously center stage a recurring motif that’s fitting to have begin here with the start of the nightside leg of the tale. It’s also another instance of a sub-world/miniature world (after looks at the Fortress and Subterranosauri as encapsulations of Superman’s stifling world and approach to relationships and curdled masculinity respectively), a major thread of the series I’ll discuss much more extensively when getting to #10. Mining such a world is also a carryover from The Filth, which I’ll discuss MUCH more extensively with #10.

* Speaking of that scene, while it’s never stated outright, the Bizarro drone falling into the Underverse before a never-before-seen new type of Bizarro invasion emerges from that realm in subsequent issues suggests to me that given how time operates differently down there, the genetic material left behind by the dead worker evolved over generations into the creatures roaming Bizarro World. Whether you think that’s an intended implication or not, Black Kryptonite also results in some Bizarro-esque changes to Superman’s speech patterns when it’s retrieved from the Underverse after the worker’s death, reinforcing the connection.

* Love Jimmy’s nervous conversation with Superman in the early stages of Black Kryptonite poisoning basically being “This is a goofy low-stakes Silver Age premise, right?” “NO.”

* Of course Superman built Anti-Superman weapons, he doesn’t see himself as infallible.

* “A no-exit ride to oblivion!” is an appropriately Kirby description of the Phantom Zone for the issue about the main preexisting DC character he worked with.

* Superman’s basest impulses when ‘under the influence’ resulting in him calling out “Still strong as ever was! Where am Lois Lane?” is another masculinity-gone-wrong bit hot on the heels of the last issue.

* Ponder if you will, as I did, the surprising number of connections between Jimmy Olsen and Doomsday extending backwards and forwards in time from this issue. Jimmy took the picture of Superman’s death. Fourth World basically does Doomsday decades in advance as the first threat Darkseid ever unleashes against the Man of Tomorrow (“The answer to a finely disciplined Superman--is what you have created--a chaotic fury of a thing--an uncontrollable organic murder machine!”) and it’s a mutated clone of Jimmy. Doctor Doomsday of Amalgam Comics formerly worked for Cadmus. In Smallville Jimmy and Doomsday’s human form Davis Bloome compete for the love of Chloe Sullivan. Earth-45 Jimmy was among those who sold Vyndktvx the technology to create Superdoomsday. They debuted together in the DCEU, as Jimmy died and Doomsday was born (and died himself) in the latters’ first big-screen appearance in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Each has had stories where they received four counterparts in homage to the post-Death Reign of the Supermen. Both the ultimate adaptors, inextricably intertwined with the same man but through the separate prisms of love and hate, two sides of the same coin? Or maybe it’s just those pesky synchronicities again.

* JIMMY-DOOMSDAY CRADLES SUPERMAN’S BEATEN BODY UNDER THE RUINS OF THE PLANET LIKE LOIS DOES IN DEATH OF SUPERMAN.

* Along with the obvious influence from the one, this issue also homages The Last Days of Superman with the writing on the moon at the end; I Love Lucy is also a nice shout-out, given Superman actually guested in an episode once upon a time.

#All Star Superman #Jimmy Olsen #Superman #Grant Morrison #Frank Quitely #Jamie Grant #Phil Balsman #Doomsday #Bizarro #Art #Analysis #Opinion

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New To You Comics #67: The Gold Standard Man Of Steel In 'All-Star Superman'

New To You Comics #67: The Gold Standard Man Of Steel In ‘All-Star Superman’

With the comics industry continuing to battle the effects of the pandemic, Brendan Allen and I are continuing to talk about comics that the other might not have read. I’m more of a capes, laser guns and swords guy, while Brendan loves dark magic, criminals and things that go bump in the night. This week, we dive into one of the greatest stories of the world’s greatest hero. All-Star Superman was…

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#All-Star Superman #DC Comics #Frank Quitely #Grant Morrison #Jamie Grant #New To You Comics #Phil Balsman #Superman #Travis Lanham