There are a lot of comics out there but some stand out head and shoulders above the pack. With “Don’t Miss This,” we want to spotlight those series we think need to be on your pull list. This week, we take look at DC Comics’s “Superman ’78.”
Who’s This By?
“Superman ’78” is being helmed by an all-star team of comic creators. Starting with writer Robert Venditti, the self-proclaimed Super-fan, best known for his work at DC with “Green Lantern,” “The Flash,” and “New Gods: Godhead,” he’s had an interesting career of superheroes, fantasy, and science fiction spanning multiple publishers including Top Shelf Productions, Marvel Comics, and Valiant. Venditti knows how to write natural dialogue and for this miniseries in particular, giving us work that feels like the direction and writing of the original Superman.
Visual artist Wilfredo Torres is handling the artwork for the miniseries, as well as some of the cover art. His pencil and ink skills have reached fans of “Batman ’66,” and “Suicide Squad” at DC while also creating some stunning work for the “Black Hammer” spin-off, “The Quantum Age” and Dynamite’s “The Shadow: Year One.” Torres uses his talent for blending real-world styles with the fantastical of a superhero comic, which is the perfect tone to set for “Superman ’78.”
This book is lucky to have one of the best colorists in the biz with Jordie Bellaire lending her hand to bring each and every panel to stunning life. If you’ve been stunned by the color work on a comic lately, there is a good chance it was done by Bellaire. Every turn of the page is a beauty to behold thanks to the pairing to this art team.
Lettering the book is Dave Lanphear of A Larger World. Lanphear’s work can be found in “Star Trek,” “X-Men,” “The Avengers,” and more. He gets to show off in this series giving the human dialogue a range of simplistic comic book lettering, with some old school flourish and give specific emotions and certain character voices a wild and/or interesting visual look. It’s a lot of fun to see how many variations on lettering he was able to do with this book.
What’s This All About?
Picking up shortly after the original film, “Superman ’78” sees Clark continuing to adjust to his life as mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet and his exciting and dangerous life as the hero Superman. His friendship with Lois continues on its path to where we would see it in the 1980 sequel, and Lex Luthor is wasting away in prison – or is he? We get a look back to the destruction of Krypton and Clark’s birth parents’s final moments. The main plot of the series involves the legendary “Superman” villain Brainiac coming to Earth to collect Kal-El to include in his Kryptonian display – in the shrunken city of Kandor. Seeing Superman/Kal-El as a major force getting in the way of Earth’s natural progression, he agrees to take Superman without harming Earth. It’s hard to say if Brainiac will keep his word, but Superman has no other choice.
At the same time, Lex has other plans for Brainiac and Superman’s fate. And what does Brainiac’s imprisonment of Kandor City and all the Kryptonians who live there, mean for the fate of Superman’s race and home planet? Could his people be saved? A lot of great questions and ideas are raised in this series that never got their due in the films.
So, Why Should I Read This?
A lovingly made nostalgic throwback for fans of those early Superman films, this mid-way sequel is a must for those looking to take a step away from current DC canon and return this version of the character. Venditti writes these characters in exactly the same way that the films were, especially the first two. You can hear Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando, Jackie Cooper, and others saying these lines in your head. This book is for the Reeve Superman fan in us all. It’s incredibly fun while giving just enough stakes to make things exciting and tug at those heart-strings.
Continued belowTorres’s ability to recreate the likenesses of every major and minor character that appeared on screen is really a treat and makes the experience all the more richer and satisfying. Because of where in the timeline this takes place it is all characters from the first movie, but an eagle-eyed reader may spot a particular Superman III cameo during an action sequence. The illustrations give us a wonderful melding of the 1978 aesthetic of the story with just enough modern day style to keep things updated. His work walks between both eras beautifully.
The same can be said for Bellaire’s color work. She absolutely NAILS every detail. Taking the work in stride she gives everything its proper palette and due. Superman’s suit, Metropolis, Brainiac, Lex, and so on are spot on combining the film style with “Superman” canon from across the pages and screen. Hell, even the characters’s complexions are perfectly done. It’s incredible.
And, as stated above, Lanphear’s varied lettering work is seriously stunning.
It’s not a perfect or overly groundbreaking comic book, but in terms of a well-done encapsulation of those films mixed with decades of comic book canon, this is the comic book that will make you believe a man can fly…again. A truly fun and heart-filled Superman yarn that was a pleasure to read from start to finish. Read it yourself and then get that parent who loved these movies to read it too. Mood setting bonus: put on the 2.5 hour John Williams’s score while reading and feel all the feels. You won’t regret it.
How Can You Read It?
“Superman ’78” is a six issue miniseries that concluded this week. So it’s very easy to catch up. Grab all six issues wherever comic books are sold and keep an eye out for the collected edition eventually releasing in July.
