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JUST IMAGINE STAN LEE WITH JOHN BUSCEMA CREATING SUPERMAN
Not Recommended (2/10)
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DC Comics
Main story
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: John Buscema
Colors: Chris Chuckry
On the Street...
Writers: Michael Uslan & Stan Lee
Artist/Colors: Kyle Baker
Letters: Bill Oakley
Editor: Mike Carlin
Price: $5.95 US/$9.95 CAN |
Main story: Though the Just Imagine Stan Lee Wonder Woman book was hardly one of my favorite new releases last month, it at least boasted a charming sense of imagination and a strong visual design for the title character. The same can't be said of Stan Lee's reinterpretation of Superman. A rather boring origin, scattered dialogue and sketchy art make for an arduous read.
Salden, a policeman from an advanced planet in an alternate universe, finds himself marooned on Earth, hot on the trail of his wife's murderer: escaped convict Gundor Gorrok. Salden quickly realizes that the lesser gravity of Earth grants him (and Gorrok) amazing powers. Thanks to his colorful duds and heroic feats, he finds himself the focus of public awe and the target of Lois Lane, talent agent.
John Buscema stands out as a giant in the comic-book industry. I expect his work has reached more readers worldwide than most comics artists, given his work on a magazine-sized comic book that enjoyed a fair bit of success, The Savage Sword of Conan. Some of us got to know his work on the original Silver Surfer series, others through his collaborations with Roger Stern and Walt Simonson on Avengers. It's a shame that the strength he showed on projects like those isn't to be found here. His work is sketchy and seems rushed. He may have been served well by having someone else ink his stuff here. I also can't say as though I'm taken with the new Superman design either. The cape/harness looks a bit silly, and only the back cover by Adam Hughes really gives any indication what those two strips with the S-shield on the character's chest are all about.
There are a number of problems with Lee's contribution to the story. First of all, the script jumps back and forth between two tones: stilted and colloquial. The title character's dialogue is the most obvious example, and the shifts make him sound silly, as opposed to heroic or otherworldly.
But I suppose the biggest problem with the story is that there is no one to cheer for. All of the characters are rather unlikeale. Salden comes off, more often than not, as rather snotty. On his homeworld, he's always trying to prove himself and has little regard for the roles others have to play, while on Earth, he looks down his nose at everyone he meets. Lois Lane is annoyingly shallow, out to do nothing but make a buck at the expense of others.
On the Street: It was a rare treat to see Kyle (You Are Here, "Letitia Lerner") Baker's art, it's wasted on a rather obvious script. Lois Lane's manipulation of a crooked publisher just reinforces the distasteful tone of her character. Just as is the case with the main story, the characters lack depth of any kind, standing out as nothing more than caricatures.
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