Superior #1
Feb. 22nd, 2016 06:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
informationgeek posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scans_daily
""The idea behind Superior is very simple,” he offers. “People always said that Batman was an easier character to relate to than Superman, because he was human, because he could be hurt and because Superman is too perfect. That’s always been the big complaint about Superman. I never found that to be a problem, because I always loved Superman growing up. But people said, ‘I can’t relate to him; he’s flawless; I never worry about him because you know he’s going to be okay.’ So what I did, essentially, was Marvelize the character with Superior, because Marvel characters are much easier to relate to than DC characters, just because they seem more like real people." - Mark Millar
With the ongoing release of Huck and Jupiter's Circle and the upcoming sequel to Chrononauts, let's take a moment to turn back the clock to 2010 for Mark Millar. It was the year that the first issue of Superior was dropped. Superior is easily my favorite comic by Millar and being that's it's almost about a half a decade old, let's take a moment to look at it.
superboyprime here on scans daily did the initial postings for all of the issues, but most of the pictures are gone and he or she only posted four pages from each issue. Let's look at a full 1/3 of the issue this time.
One night, our main character wakes up...
He finds himself back in his room. He looks completely like Superior (or at least the actor, Tad Scott) and discovers that he has been gone for an entire day. Unsure and scared, he flees and goes to...
no subject
Date: 2016-02-23 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-23 02:12 am (UTC)People love pulling the 'one work defines a writer as a whole' trigger, especially for writers like Mark Millar, but sometimes we forget there's a positive setting to that gun, too. I'll always like him for his wonderful take on Superman.
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Date: 2016-02-23 06:58 am (UTC)So I totally reject that idea that 'one work defines a writer as a whole' stuff for Millar; this and Superman are exceptions to the rule. This is why people were so wary of him doing a book like Superior in the first place, because we had literally been fooled a million times before by him.
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Date: 2016-02-23 07:16 am (UTC)I just have a different one, and I refuse to have it involve constant re-hashes of how awful our favorite targeted awful writers can be, and how terrible they make us feel, and how burned we were by their latest terrible creative outing. I mean, not only has it inspired any change (creator-wise and this place-wise), it's become a really boring and depressing avenue to explore.
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Date: 2016-02-25 02:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-23 01:52 am (UTC)Huh. I'm... actually liking this. Usually, reading Millar just makes me feel dirty inside. But this feels earnest in a way that Huck felt phony to me.
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Date: 2016-02-23 01:59 am (UTC)Superior is fantastic. It's quite possibly one of Millar's best works next to Starlight, which is something I should do a future post on. While it may have one off moment or two, it's just so worth your time.
Amusingly, try looking up the original postings superboyprime did to read the comments. It's neat seeing how everyone here goes from very extremely hesitant and suspicious to being happy & satisfied at the end.
no subject
Date: 2016-02-23 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-23 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-23 03:13 am (UTC)Or maybe it was intentional. It's hard to tell with Millar.
I'm also not really a fan of all the kids swearing, since it removes some of the whole childlike wonder this book is aiming for, but hey, maybe Millar is aiming to seem like all those eighties movies where kids swear like sailors.
no subject
Date: 2016-02-24 04:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-24 04:13 pm (UTC)