Superman: Space Age - Like finding a SilverAge comic you never read before

Superman: Space Age is a wonderful find for anyone who misses the old silver age Justice League/Superman comics. While keeping a contemporary outlook, the book manages to instill a sense of nostalgia and innocence that the era is now known for.

The story centers around the penultimate and ending story for the era, the Crisis on Infinite Earths, that collapses the multiverse and kicks off the post-silver age. While we might recognize characters like Pariah and the Anti-Monitor, they somehow seem more believable and even more interesting in this retelling.

Although I could spend more words on how fitting the art is and how well scripted the characters, I can't help but be drawn to the central question of the book. What would we do if we knew that the end was near?

Of course, someone like Superman or Green Lantern would become aware of the coming unstoppable destruction that we all know is coming. So, what would they do? What would their final actions be like? How would the rest of the earth's superheroes respond?

More importantly, the book causes us to ask ourselves the same question. I related to Pa Kent's farm boy wisdom when Superman asked Pa what he would do. The response is (paraphrasing here) I would just keep on being me. So, maybe I think I would do something extraordinary because I knew that my time was limited, but in reality, I think I would just keep doing what I'm already doing. Maybe we all would.

Space Age gives us several pages that show all of the earth's superheroes doing exactly that. Just being themselves in a time of crisis.

SPOILER ALERT. 

We see earth's heroes fighting a final battle that they know they cannot win, but they fight anyway. The save people that are destined to die anyway, but they save these poor souls from demise for as long as they can. They just keep on being who they are. They continue to be true to themselves and their callings and values.

---

Matthew 7:17-18

---

Maybe this is a stretch, but I see something similar in Jesus Christ's words in Matthew 7:17-18. In this passage He uses the metaphor of good fruit can only come from a good, or healthy, tree. So, the kind of person you are dictates the kind of behaviors you produce. Maybe looking at what we do, and how others perceive us can help us understand what kind of person we truly are.

But then what? Suppose you don't like what you see? How do you turn off being someone you hate and begin to be someone you love?

---

An Imperfect Equation

---

James 1:23 reminds us that when we see ourselves we can remember who we are (or maybe who we want to be) by doing the things that someone we want to be like would do. It's not a perfect equation. I think it's a cycle of doing good, that helps you become a little better, maybe a little bit wiser or more caring. Then, you live out your newfound heart or values and grow a little more.

As much as I love the doctrines of the Bible, I've come to realize that it's the stories that really seem to move the needle on becoming a new creation. Trying to force yourself to believe something doesn't work. Living out a faith that sacrifices reinforces the core story of Christianity and creates a living doctrine of who Christ is and what He has done for us. 

Now, we get to be stories too. We get to live in a way that we would continue to live, even if we know total destruction is coming.

When Fate turns ugly

 One of the most interesting things DC Comics created in recent years was the limited series, "Danger Street." This unique series of 13 issues repurposed the "First Issue Specials" of the 70's into a single epic adventure starring every character to have appeared in those old post-silver age comics.

OK, maybe a little background? DC Comics has a long history of using a single comic book title to introduce new characters and concepts in two or three issues, like "Showcase" which introduced the silver age Flash, Green Lantern, and Justice League. Think of it as a try-out book. The point of these books was never to create a single storyline or set of characters that overlapped, but rather to test the waters to see if a new character or set of characters would be viable.

Oh, and 'First Issue' was a marketing ploy intended to boost sales. the first issue of any successful comic (like Action Comics) would be 'collectable' and therefore it would be valuable.

So, 'Danger Street' culls those 13 issues of unconnected characters, concepts and settings and weaves them into a dramatic tale that is both cosmic and street-level. Established characters like Metamorpho and Dr Fate are now lumped in with 'Lady Cop' (Tom King actually does a great job of handling this misogynistic moniker), the Green Team, and the Dingbats. Mr King also modernizes the character concepts in ways that might not hold perfectly true to the characters we remember or to their ethos, but he does it in a way that invites the reader to more fully relate to the characters and to understand their relationships.

The replacements

For those unfamiliar with the Silver Age of comics (or Science Fiction), a familiar trope was the 'oh no, we've swapped bodies with someone else, now I'm too disorientated to function. Think Freaky Friday but with superheroes. 

What makes Superman/Batman 27's story unique isn't that two male heroes, Superman and Batman, have swapped bodies with two female heroes, Power Girl and Huntress, but that the female heroes are in essence, the someday replacements for Batman and Superman. We get past the whole gender swap comedy of errors (like men trying to cope with high heels, etc.) quickly when Superman declares that he actually sees and feels his (male) body rather than the body he seems to be inhabiting. Like I said, the story isn't about what would you do if you woke up a different gender, it's about being replaced.

When War Reunites a Family

 

As stated in my March 28th post I really love the Azzarelo/Akins run on Wonder Woman (around 2011-2014). Sorry to repeat myself, the stories, characters, cliffhangers are still the best I've read. The series is so entertaining that I find myself dipping back into that pool for another reflection.

By issue 18 the character of War (Ares/Mars) seems well-defined as a kind of brutal villain, and as someone who values life, I really resonated with that portrayal. But like all good writing, the author fleshes out the character with nuances, motives and surprising behaviors.

Although I personally look forward to the day we beat our swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2), and we no longer make war with one another, I did find myself really enjoying the fictional personification Azzarelo provides. 

War is depicted as brutal, with bloody feet, but also as an old soul who has seen too much. This character is like an old soldier who just does what 'has' to be done and bears the damage it does to his own soul without complains or excuse. 

Spies, Batman, and the free will of man?

 

Although I've watched every episode of old Adam West Batman TV show, I never really tried to watch the Man From UNCLE. I picked up the book hoping for a bit of mindless 60's mod fun and the book did deliver in that way. However, I was a bit surprised at the pokes the book took at how we view good vs evil.

no surprise, the book is filled with Batman's TV criminals, but happy surprise, most of them were very low tier. Most I hadn't even remembered (I'm thinking of you, "Cossack Queen." 

To be fair, the Penguin and Mr. Freeze do appear in the book, and both Poison Ivy and Scarecrow are on hand, even though I'm pretty sure neither of them were on the old TV show, so yeah, it's a full gallery of rouges along with the secret organization of bad guys, THRUSH. What, you didn't think we could have team-up without both parties bringing their own set of bad guys did you?

While the book is full of typical punching and shooting and ducking and kicking, it also leads us to very unusual spy base under the sea. It's not the 'under the sea' part that I find intriguing, it's the use of the space to create an atmosphere of creative effort that could ultimately save the planet and reform us of our worst behaviors. That's right...

SPOILER ALERT:

The 'big bad' of this book has altruistic plans that are flawed by the whole free will thing. If the (unnamed here) big bad can just manipulate, pay off, and brainwash everyone on the planet, he can save us from the climate crisis, mass shootings by psychopaths, maybe even the hunger and war caused by greedy corporate interests... 

That Time Wonder Woman Disappointed War

 

Brian Azzarello's 2012-2014 run on Wonder Woman still stands out to me as the ultimate comic book Odessey. Our hero, Diana the Wonder Woman befriends a lost soul with her infant who is being hunted by the ancient Greek gods. The storyline delivers twists, cliff-hangers, and insights into modern philosophy and its roots in early Western Civilization.

Azzarello tends to refer to the gods by their elemental position in modern thinking, Poseidon is really just water, Zeus is Air, and most notably Ares is War.

In the middle of the end of this storyline, we are given a little backstory into the rocky relationship Wonder Woman has with War/Ares. You might think, duh - war is bad, right? But Diana is a warrior as well as an ambassador, so maybe her odd love/hate relationship with the whole concept of war needs a little more explanation. 

The Golden Age

 

I was a little surprised to find a sweet little bit of homey advice and insight nestled in a publication called “Action Comics." In Action Comics 1029 Superman passes on the wisdom he gained from his adopted pa to his son 

(Yes, Superman now has a son).

The exchange (below) reminds us of our humanity, and that it’s OK to fail. It also gives us a possible motive for covering up our failures. Pa Kent nobly tells us that it is to “give our kids the confidence to take risks. To feel safe, To grow into their best selves.”

The homily calls this time of our innocence “the Golden Age.”

For true comic-book geeks (like me), this term evokes the original crime-fighting superheroes who always did the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons. Their enemies were obviously bad people who just needed to be punched and if you wanted to do the punching, all you had to do was put on a colorful costume and maybe a cape.

Just like Pa Kent opines, this “Golden Age” of comics did provide hope during the devastating Great Depression and the terrors of the Nazi threat and World War 2.  Superman himself was the embodiment of hope, created by two Jewish men living under the shadow of the impinging Nazi ideology. 

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman spawned an entire industry dedicated to providing us with the ultimate escapist literature, the superhero comic book. A wellspring of hope and inspiration, even the hope that we can overcome our own limitations so that we can make the world (or the universe) a better place.

While we might love the idealism that our ‘glossing over’of our shortcomings, or pretending to have all answers might provide hope to a small child, we should consider the last part of Pa Kent’s message…

“But everybody falls Clark. And that’s OK.”

At some point we have to accept that others can see our faults, missteps, and even our sins. At some point, we have to let them be seen so that we might confess them (1 John 1:9). At some point, we have to accept that we are not dealing with children who need a false sense of security, but that we are all in need of God’s blessings and care.

I can’t help but wonder if the church has passed out of the ‘Golden Age’ in the past generation? Have the church’s obvious hypocrisies and lies caught up with her, and those we have treated like children are now seeing our shortcomings and letting us know through empty pews that they do not need our false hopes and empty promises? Is the Church not overdue for a true time of confession?  

What would happen if the Church just admitted that we were on the wrong side of Chattel slavery and genocide? What if we admitted that we didn’t believe that black lives mattered, and so we allowed our brothers and sisters to die at the hands of evil men and that we helped create and support systems that benefit us by trying to subjugate and marginalize anyone we deem “other?”

"Listen Clark,

There’s a golden age when every kid knows their parents are indestructible. That we never fall, and we always know what the right thing is.

We let you see us that way so that you’ll feel…Safe, I guess. Safe enough to take risks, figure out your limits. That’s how a kid is supposed to feel.

But everybody falls Clark. And that’s OK.

Someday your kids’ll see you fall. And that’ll be OK too."

RATING: 12+ 33 PAGES RELEASED MAR 23, 2021

WRITTEN BY:

Becky Cloonan, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Michael Conrad

PENCILS:

Michael Avon Oeming, Phil Hester

INKS:

Ande Parks, Michael Avon Oeming, Eric Gapstur

COVER BY:

Mikel Janin, Hi-Fi, Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur