... And perhaps more than many people really care to know.
I knew some of it, due to my being an avid reader of Superman as a kid.
In later years, I think the series lost most of the Sense Of The Fantastic it had once. One who did resurrect much of that was Alan Moore, but he did it mostly in his books for America's Best Comics, notably in Tom Strong and Top Ten. And also in his stories with Supreme, from Image Comics.
For example, Tom Strong met an alternate Self who had literally ran across the galaxy to meet him, using planets as humans may use stepping stones to cross a stream! I think that's just such a totally ludicrous idea that it has a poetic beauty.
Marvel Man was always better then Superman
ReplyDeleteTom Strong I didn't really like as he was just a lame ripoff of Doc Savage. The only difference is Tom has a wife whereas Doc must have been asexual.
ReplyDeleteThe only Superman comics I'll read are those pre-1986. It was in '86 that they redid the character and took all the magic out.
When they discuss his disguise, they miss the most important element: that little curl, right in the middle of his forehead.
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteI agree that Tom's origin is much like Doc Savage, but I think the tone and adventures are his own, they don't feel like Doc S.
Dave,
ReplyDeletethere are at least 10 pulp heroes with the same origins and basic backstory/abilities as Doc Savage -- Doc is only the most popular.
Tom Strong, more than a ripoff, is an homage to the pulp heroic type and gusto, although it has a lot of modern elements thrown in to make it more palatable for modern readers.
While it's true that Doc's origin draws from several earlier heroes, it wasn't a one-for-one, whole-cloth ripoff as in the case of Tom Strong. Even his team is identical, only with an actual gorilla instead of a man who just looks like one.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know he was married to Lois Lane. That's what happens when you stop reading a comic book for 40 years or so.
ReplyDeleteI guess they didn't learn anything from Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. That show tanked after they got married.
ReplyDeleteI read a Superman comic a couple of years ago. I read the classic ones, pre-1986, but hadn't read a post-86 one in years. It was incredibly bad. It just took itself so seriously, somehow forgetting that it was about a guy in a skintight costume with gnarly powers fighting crime. All fun was gone, and the drawing, coloring, lettering...all looked like they had been done by some soulless computer.