Superman on Radio: The Exciting Radio Adventures of the Man of Steel!
Product Description
This CD Contains a Collection of Superman Radio Shows…. More >>
Superman on Radio: The Exciting Radio Adventures of the Man of Steel!
Product Description
This CD Contains a Collection of Superman Radio Shows…. More >>
Superman on Radio: The Exciting Radio Adventures of the Man of Steel!
Normally, when I get my hands on one of these babies and I just cannot put it down. Not the case with this one. An Elseworlds story on what if Superman landed in the USSR instead? Certainly, this would make an intriguing story. Some of the differences include a new costume, Batman as a vigilante in USSR, Jimmy as a government spy, and Lois as wife of Lex Luthor. Some of these differences are self-explanatory, but others such as Batman being in USSR and Jimmy working for CIA is not really explained. Add to also, really boring writing (took me several sittings to finish it) and not too interesting storylines and you get three snoozefest stories.
The first story on Luthor creating Bizarro to battle Superman is very uninteresting. Luthor is hired by US Govt to counteract the Superman threat and is considered a hero in this book.
The second story is somewhat more interesting as Batman teams up with Luthor in bringing down the man of steel. I really enjoy how they do this and Batman’s costume is pretty nice, but again, there is no explanation to why he is here in this country.
Third story is suppose to be epic as the last and final assault launched by the US to destroy Superman. Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Lex, attack at the same time. However, the final climatic moment is very weak and quite confusing. And the epilogue is not really as brilliant as one would think, probably tiresome as this book is too long and boring.
The only saving grace is the artwork which resembles propaganda-ish cartoon art which is very popular in communist countries. The Wonder Woman in this book is one of the best and most accurate I ever seen.
In the preface, the hyperbolic Tom DeSanto wildly trumpets “Red Son” as a devastating critique of American foreign policy, not the cookie-cutter “feel-good propaganda” that might have been expected. Instead, he hints darkly at surrendering freedom in favor of security.
Oh please. The Soviet Union that Superman serves here is the sort of cookie-cutter comic book autocracy one might have expected in a 1950s comic and bears no resemblance to the murderous regime that truly was an “evil empire.” At one point, Stalin understands why Superman must rush off to save thousands in Vladivostok. This is the dictator who killed, yes slaughtered, tens of millions of his own people.
It’s this sort of superficial investigation that dooms “Red Son” to superficial stabs at political comment, and third-rate reimaginings of history that are, frankly, tiresome.
Though the story is redeemed in the end by a circular ending which seems to say we are always doomed to repeat the same mistakes, this “devastating critique” is not really all that original, exciting, or particularly entertaining. Nor does it comment on anything except the overexcited imaginations of a bunch of leftists who obviously learned their politics from comic books. Grow up, guys.
Probably one of the best “what if” stories i have ever read. It has all the elements of a great grophic novel. Good story telling, good art, and exelent dialogue.
I waited a long time for this book. I was thrilled to get it via Amazon. I was *very* disappointed by it, and for many reasons.
The first reason is that the premise is too narrow for such a long story to hold one’s interest. A great comic is read breathlessly, and only upon a second or third reading does one clearly identify the boring bits. Here they are evident from the beginning and only become more so upon re-reading. A long Elseworld book like “Golden Age” will warrant a fourth or fifth re-reading. Not the case with Red Son.
The second reason is that it is inconsistent. Lex and Lois Luthor appear to be in their 20s in 1953 (the year of Stalin’s death, at the beginning of the book). That would make them about 65 when Lex is elected President. At the time there is no indication that they have any children, and yet a complete lineage of Luthors is created in the final chapter, and a son is shown when there is no intimation that he should exist, or when he came to be. Also, there is no reason why Richard Nixon should have been elected in 1960, and murdered in 1963, or why John F. Kennedy would be elected President in 1968 and hang around for about 20 years. His marrying a fat, slutty Marilyn Monroe is fun but farcical. That is clearly a take on Nixon in “The Watchmen”, where he is still President in 1985. There is no reason either why a pseudo-Batman should exist in the USSR, as the child of murdered dissidents, since Kal El’s arrival in The Ukhraine in the 1930s should have no impact on NKVD activities prior to his adulthood.
Finally, the book shows a profound ignorance about Communism. Stalin is presented as a fairly malevolent old goat, but showing Stalin’s son as the head of KGB is ridiculous, given that Stalin never gave a hoot about his own children and actually drove one of them to suicide in a German KZ. And the drawings aren’t so hot, except for the simulated “Socialist” posters. A sort of “Social Realism”, a la “Batman Year 1″ would probably have been more suitable. As it is, it looks cartoony in a cheap sort of way.
One doesn’t expect deep social criticism from a comic book (although they can provide it on occasion), but “Red Son”, so long in the making, was subject to high expectations, which it hasn’t discharged.
All in all, an opportunity lost. A pity.
I am a big fan of Marvel’s long-lost WHAT IF series, in which one small change in a familiar storyline would result in radically different outcomes for heroes or villains. When DC began their Elseworlds imprint, I took notice, hoping that this would satisfy my craving for more variants on the old standards. I’ve noticed more and more, however, that Elseworlds is not so much a continuation of the WHAT IF premise, but complete reimaginings of the DC Universe. What’s more, they really don’t make much sense, and that is no more apparent than with Mark Millar’s SUPERMAN: RED SON.
From reading the cover and introduction, the premise of this book appears to be “If Kal-El’s rocket was off by a few minutes and landed in the USSR instead of the USA, how would that affect the DCU?”. Reading on, however, I realize that the premise instead is “How would the DCU look in a world dominated by the USSR?” That’s a whole different ballgame, and not nearly as interesting to me. The reason I say this is that Millar does not make it clear how the effects presented in RED SON are caused by Superman’s existence as a communist figurehead. For example, why would Superman’s not being in the USA make Jimmy Olsen decide to become a government agent instead of working for the Daily Planet? Why would a Russian boy with murdered dissident parents become Batman instead of Bruce Wayne? Why would Oliver Queen work for the Daily Planet instead of becoming Green Arrow? It seems to me that Superman’s existence in the “regular” timeline had no effect on Olsen’s desire to work at the Planet, the murder of Bruce Wayne’s Parents, or Oliver Queen being stranded on an island; therefore, these characters should remain pretty much the same in this alternate timeline. All I can assume is that Millar wanted to give us more bang for the buck, giving us a quick thrill upon spotting familiar characters in different circumstances, but his cause-and-effect gets sloppy in the process. There are a few well-done moments, such as the creation of Bizarro and the release of the super-villains, but these were overshadowed for me by the little inconsistencies I mentioned before (and others) that just didn’t add up. This is not a simple “alternate timeline” caused by a different destination for Kal-El’s rocket… this is an complete reinterpretation of the DCU, and not much fun for me.