Grant Morrison's vision for this Superman series is a wonderful tribute to the kitsch of the Silver Age, but he balances that cutesy side of the book with the sophistication and imagination of the best of 21st-century pop writing. If Win Mortimer and Julie Schwartz had been doing acid and reading Stephen Hawking back in the 1960s (I can only assume they weren't), this is the sort of Superman story that would arise as a result. Morrison pays tribute to a specific niche of DC's Silver Age, and that's the Jimmy Olsen tale. Morrison captures the goofiness, luck and sheer sense of joyful adventure perfectly while including a palpable sense of peril that doesn't infringe on the wondrous, lighter side of the script.
Jimmy Olsen has had some success with his feature series "... For a Day," in which he takes on various jobs and titles to convey to the average reader what those lives are like. His latest escapade is as the director of super-science think-tank P.R.O.J.E.C.T., but Jimmy's bumbling manner ends up in the creation of Black Kryptonite, which is soon discovered to have a disastrous effect on the Man of Steel.
I'm struck by the fact that Quitely offers little in the way of background detail here, and I have no doubt that's quite on purpose. The artist may boast a detailed style, but realism isn't something for which the creators are striving on this book. This is about fantasy, about myth, and realistic visuals aren't necessary. The action, inventive concept designs and bright, dayglo colors are more than enough to engage the reader and immerse him or her in the fantasy romp. Quitely also reinforces the mythic qualities of the storytelling by conveying the immense scope of the backdrops.
Just as Quitely steers clear of realism, so does Morrison when it comes to plotting and scripting this book. The dialogue is fascinating, but it hardly endeavors to reproduce everyday banter. Jimmy's efforts to wow Lucy Lane are ridiculous, but that's rather the point. Morrison embraces the over-the-top plotting of the past and he spruces it up with a more modern sense of science-fiction. Just as Jimmy dons a new jacket to take on a new role, Morrison dresses up Silver Age storytelling with more challenging, mind-bending fantasy elements. Instead of a corny, hard-to-swallow story, the new clever touches leave only the fun and wonder.
Freed from the constraints of continuity, Morrison is able to tell some surprising stories. His alteration of the Doomsday concept to be an earthly one (instead of a mysterious alien threat from beyond the galaxy) is one that took me off guard, even after the term "Doomsday" arises at P.R.O.J.E.C.T. Physical transformations were a recurring motif in the Olsen stories of yesteryear, and Morrison incorporates it nicely in this new one while bringing a graver tone to the plot at the same time. 9/10
