CREEM ONLINE: Off Register

July 2004

One Saturday afternoon in the mid-'60s, my father and I went to Viking Books, which was located at the corner of Queen and University in downtown Toronto. Viking Books was a secondhand bookstore that also sold used comic books for a nickel apiece. It was run by the late George Henderson, who would later be known to comic book fans around the world as Captain George of Memory Lane.

In addition to the regular stock, Captain George also has a limited number of older comics that sold for much higher price. My father took out a dollar bill and told me that I could use it to buy any comic book that I wanted to. Back in the mid-'60s, paying a dollar for a comic book was an unheard of extravagance that bordered on the obscene. Certainly my father couldn't afford it, but he made the gesture anyway.

My final choice was between two DC comics: a Batman comic and a Superman comic. In the weeks that followed, I asked all my friends which one they would have picked and they all said that they would have gone for the Batman.

That Saturday afternoon, however, I spent my father's hard-earned dollar on a copy of Superman number 60. Given that I was a big Batman fan at the time, I had to wonder: why did I pick an early issue of Superman over an early issue of Batman?

Upon reflection, I think it had a lot to do with the fact that my interest in Batman back then was of a decidedly more superficial nature: Batman looked cool, had cool gadgets, had a cool car, even had the coolest villain in the Joker.

Nevertheless, Superman had obviously struck a deeper nerve within me. I somehow instinctively knew that Superman stood for something far more important than just being cool; that Superman was the all-time archetype.

Since then, Batman has retained his coolness while evolving into a state that's much closer to his original image. This transformation began in the early '70s when writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams began to reclaim Batman as the ultimate gritty detective. And we all know how Frank Miller ran with the ball over a decade later, permanently upping the ante forever with The Dark Knight Returns.

Even so, the argument can be made that Superman has had better quality stories over the years. What keeps Batman in the pantheon of cool is that, by his very nature, all his adventures revolve around torment to a certain degree. He may have started out being called the Dark Knight in the '30s because of his nocturnal nature, but thanks to O'Neil, Adams and Miller, that tag is now a psychological one.

However, unlike the orphaned and outcast loner Batman who remains ostracized by society, the adopted and accepted Superman has fully adapted to society, which is why his adventures deal with a purer ethical morality that has human values at its root; values which, by its very nature, are intrinsically in keeping with Superman's character.

This "more human than human" aspect of Superman's humanity has made for some extremely compelling stories over the years, perhaps most notably Alan Moore and Curt Swan's heartbreaking swansong "Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?" (Superman 423; Action Comics 583); and Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane's superb tribute to Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, "If Superman Didn't Exist…" (Action Comics 554).

Now another iconic tale is posed to join these classics in the pantheon of thought provoking Superman stories: It's A Bird… by writer Steven T. Seagle and artist Teddy Kristiansen.

This new graphic novel from DC's Vertigo imprint explores the legend of Superman though the eyes of a "fictional" character named Steve who turns down the plum assignment of a lifetime—the chance to actually write Superman—because he just can't plausibly relate to the character. To Steve, whose own existence is beset with family illness and deep conflicts with his own mortality, Superman is just a gaudy shopworn hero for kids; certainly nothing that any sane mature adult could possible relate to these days.

"For me to write Superman, I have to believe he could live in our world, but he can't," Steve says, expressing his dilemma. "Everything about him is ludicrous."

But when his editor won't let him of the hook, Steve is forced to come to grips with the fictional Superman he doesn't believe in, and the spiritual superman he needs to be to overcome his all too human personal adversities.

Through a series of revelatory personal reflections, he tries to comes to terms with what the character and concept of Superman actually means in the 21st century. It's a spiritually transforming journey that'll surprise you more than once before you finish the book.

And yes, I still have that copy of Superman number 60, dated December 1949. Opening the cover, I see that it has some fine art by Wayne Boring in it, as well as the small '1.00' that George Henderson wrote in the top right hand corner of the first page in blue pencil so long ago.

I have no idea how much my dollar Superman comic is worth by now, but I'll tell you one thing: no matter what the amount may be, there isn't enough money in the world to make me part with it.

Sure, go ahead and laugh, but somehow I think that Steven T. Seagle understands. And if you read It's A Bird… you will too.

MEANWHILE: Brad Meltzer has penned the first solid whodunit of the year with DC's new seven part series Identity Crisis. In the first issue alone you'll see more superheroes ground through the psychic mill than you have since The Dark Knight Strikes Again. And while the rough 'n' tumble artwork by Rags Morales and Mike Bair (a weird hybrid of Brian Bollard, Neal Adams, and "Ghastly" Graham Ingels, if you can believe that) may take some getting used to, the story line will bring you around until you're completely sucked in and drained dry.

Eh… eh… eh…