First, I would like to point out three connections to two of the comics we read for Monday’s class to “All-Star Superman”. On page 13 in the first episode, "...Faster..." the story alludes to the comic, “The Death of Superman.” In “The Death of Superman” Lex Luthor appears to have reformed, however, it’s just part of an elaborate plan. Similarly in “All-Star Superman”, Lex Luthor fools the world by convincing them he’s changed yet he hasn’t. In "Superman's Forbidden Room", it also alludes to the comic, “The Super-Key to Fort Superman” on page 33 when Lois asks Superman where his key is for his secret lair. Lois and Superman also casually chat about Batman and Robin also leading me to believe the comic we read earlier was before this graphic novel. In “Neverending”, it also illustrates the impression that it continues off of the comic, “The Super-Key to Fort Superman” by demonstrating Superman’s diary written in Krypton language on metal pages to prevent people from reading it. However, in “Neverending”, it’s shown how Superman thinks what he wants written and a machine does it for him instead of writing using his fingernails as seen in “The Super-Key to Fort Superman”. At first I was confused with the blue boxes, but then I realized it was Superman documenting his last days in his diary as the comic progressed. This episode I found to be so incredibly sad just by reading Superman’s thoughts in the blue boxes such as, “To Lois Lane…I leave our future” (243) and “And to Clark Kent…the mild-mannered reporter who never let me forget how it feels to be a downtrodden ordinary man…I leave the headline of the century” (246). For his one love, he comes up with a formula enabling her to have a baby with him and for his secret identity, he provides the biggest headline ever for the Daily Planet. It’s heart-breaking but just made me like the Superman comics even more than before.
Comparing “All-Star Superman” to “The Superman Chronicles,” I found the comic strip of Lois showering, in “Superman’s Forbidden Room,” depicts probably the only remotely sensual thing I’ve seen in the comics we’ve read so far. They wouldn’t show Lois and Superman kissing in “The Superman Chronicles” but they show Lois showering which I find to be really weird. But as the graphic novel progresses, we see many frames where Lois and Clark are kissing which demonstrates the progress in sexual content being illustrated in comics. I found Lois Lane to be a very funny and relatable character within this graphic novel. Lois is paranoid in “Superman’s Forbidden Room” when it comes to Superman’s intentions of why he brought her to his lair. She comes up with this wild idea about his intentions being to be the “mother of a race of deformed superhuman horrors.” Her wild thoughts convince her that she knows exactly what Superman is planning and she attempts to take matters into her own hands and protect herself. If I’m being honest, I probably would react the same way she does with a million different thoughts running through my head about what Superman is doing in that room and wondering why I can’t know. I love Lois Lane’s attitude throughout the graphic novel especially in “Neverending” when she says, “You do realize I ran straight into Mechano-Man’s warpath because it seemed like the easiest way to get your attention” (233). She’s sassy and illustrates the length women will go to just to talk to her boyfriend especially when something is wrong. Lois disregards the fact that she’s in danger for what she believes to be more important which is talking to Superman about his inevitable death.
I noticed some interesting format choices throughout the graphic novel. I noticed the title was written in large letters randomly within the episode. I was mostly wondering as to why they were randomly placed in each episode? Also in “The Gospel According to Lex Luthor,” on page 110-111, the bottom frame goes across both pages and the purple talking bubbles connect behind another frame. This illustrates a new technique I haven’t seen before, instead of the white borders around the frames, the color matches the background of the jail and the bottom frame spills out the bottom because there is no bottom border. As the picture doesn’t have a bottom border, the picture surrounds the frames on the bottom of the page. Also the purple monster’s words are in purple bubbles and I can’t help but assume that’s because of his color. Also in “Superman’s Forbidden Room,” pages 41-42, some of the frames are black and white and some are not and I have to wonder why. At first I assumed it was because it was a close up of Superman’s face but there’s a frame on 41 of Superman’s face close up that is colored.
“Sweet Dreams, Superwoman,” demonstrated my first encounter with romance within a graphic novel. In my eyes, this episode is how I envision romantic comics to be like. Atlas says in “Sweet Dreams, Superwoman,” episode 3, “I swear by the everlasting snows of Olympus, Lois Lane, you’re practically dripping allure in yon clinging garment. Thou surely hast the looks, the intellect, and now the skin of steel that Atlas demands from a woman” (61). Atlas “demands” certain qualities that a woman must possess in order for him to be with her which makes him seem shallow. Although he does compliment her intellect, he mostly compliments her appearance which produces the impression that he’s superficial. On page 62, Atlas and Samson come up with the idea of holding a competition with Superman in order to spend the day with Lois Lane. At first I thought it was sexist considering they are fighting over Lois as if she is a possession, yet the wording made it seem less sexist than it could have been. By saying “winning her company” instead of “winning Lois,” the whole concept is seen as somewhat flattering and not demeaning. Samson and Atlas also demonstrate their similarities to the everyday man with their witty banter about whose belt buckle is bigger and Lois checking them out. That simple banter made the superheroes seem relatable to normal guys. The frames on page 69 demonstrate Superman’s emotions to Lois’s lifeless body. I felt that it gave the comic a more suspenseful and interesting take we haven’t experienced yet. I was able to actually feel what the characters are feeling by viewing these frames of just Lois’s eyes and Superman’s expression to seeing her lifeless. It seemed to capture the raw emotion that Superman was feeling at the time perfectly.
As for “Superduperman!” I found it to be really funny that Clark Bent was illustrated as an old man and when he transforms into Superduperman, he transforms into a young buff guy. Lois seemed like a snob in the comic by calling Clark a “creep” and not caring about the pearl necklace he gave her. However, I still found Lois not giving Clark the time of day even when he was Superduperman to be really funny.
I really enjoyed the readings for this week and I'm sorry for the long blog post. I got a little bit carried away... Until next time!
Comparing “All-Star Superman” to “The Superman Chronicles,” I found the comic strip of Lois showering, in “Superman’s Forbidden Room,” depicts probably the only remotely sensual thing I’ve seen in the comics we’ve read so far. They wouldn’t show Lois and Superman kissing in “The Superman Chronicles” but they show Lois showering which I find to be really weird. But as the graphic novel progresses, we see many frames where Lois and Clark are kissing which demonstrates the progress in sexual content being illustrated in comics. I found Lois Lane to be a very funny and relatable character within this graphic novel. Lois is paranoid in “Superman’s Forbidden Room” when it comes to Superman’s intentions of why he brought her to his lair. She comes up with this wild idea about his intentions being to be the “mother of a race of deformed superhuman horrors.” Her wild thoughts convince her that she knows exactly what Superman is planning and she attempts to take matters into her own hands and protect herself. If I’m being honest, I probably would react the same way she does with a million different thoughts running through my head about what Superman is doing in that room and wondering why I can’t know. I love Lois Lane’s attitude throughout the graphic novel especially in “Neverending” when she says, “You do realize I ran straight into Mechano-Man’s warpath because it seemed like the easiest way to get your attention” (233). She’s sassy and illustrates the length women will go to just to talk to her boyfriend especially when something is wrong. Lois disregards the fact that she’s in danger for what she believes to be more important which is talking to Superman about his inevitable death.
I noticed some interesting format choices throughout the graphic novel. I noticed the title was written in large letters randomly within the episode. I was mostly wondering as to why they were randomly placed in each episode? Also in “The Gospel According to Lex Luthor,” on page 110-111, the bottom frame goes across both pages and the purple talking bubbles connect behind another frame. This illustrates a new technique I haven’t seen before, instead of the white borders around the frames, the color matches the background of the jail and the bottom frame spills out the bottom because there is no bottom border. As the picture doesn’t have a bottom border, the picture surrounds the frames on the bottom of the page. Also the purple monster’s words are in purple bubbles and I can’t help but assume that’s because of his color. Also in “Superman’s Forbidden Room,” pages 41-42, some of the frames are black and white and some are not and I have to wonder why. At first I assumed it was because it was a close up of Superman’s face but there’s a frame on 41 of Superman’s face close up that is colored.
“Sweet Dreams, Superwoman,” demonstrated my first encounter with romance within a graphic novel. In my eyes, this episode is how I envision romantic comics to be like. Atlas says in “Sweet Dreams, Superwoman,” episode 3, “I swear by the everlasting snows of Olympus, Lois Lane, you’re practically dripping allure in yon clinging garment. Thou surely hast the looks, the intellect, and now the skin of steel that Atlas demands from a woman” (61). Atlas “demands” certain qualities that a woman must possess in order for him to be with her which makes him seem shallow. Although he does compliment her intellect, he mostly compliments her appearance which produces the impression that he’s superficial. On page 62, Atlas and Samson come up with the idea of holding a competition with Superman in order to spend the day with Lois Lane. At first I thought it was sexist considering they are fighting over Lois as if she is a possession, yet the wording made it seem less sexist than it could have been. By saying “winning her company” instead of “winning Lois,” the whole concept is seen as somewhat flattering and not demeaning. Samson and Atlas also demonstrate their similarities to the everyday man with their witty banter about whose belt buckle is bigger and Lois checking them out. That simple banter made the superheroes seem relatable to normal guys. The frames on page 69 demonstrate Superman’s emotions to Lois’s lifeless body. I felt that it gave the comic a more suspenseful and interesting take we haven’t experienced yet. I was able to actually feel what the characters are feeling by viewing these frames of just Lois’s eyes and Superman’s expression to seeing her lifeless. It seemed to capture the raw emotion that Superman was feeling at the time perfectly.
As for “Superduperman!” I found it to be really funny that Clark Bent was illustrated as an old man and when he transforms into Superduperman, he transforms into a young buff guy. Lois seemed like a snob in the comic by calling Clark a “creep” and not caring about the pearl necklace he gave her. However, I still found Lois not giving Clark the time of day even when he was Superduperman to be really funny.
I really enjoyed the readings for this week and I'm sorry for the long blog post. I got a little bit carried away... Until next time!