My Week In Comics 10-6-10

About a week ago in this space I teased about picking up just one comic book for the week, "unless I get the second printing of something recent that I somehow missed." As it turned out, it wasn't in the comic book store I frequented (although perhaps I just missed it somehow on the shelves). However, I went into the Borders in Center City after that and, lo and behold, they have one of those spinning magazine racks full of comics. Double lo and behold, they had the issue I was looking for. Triple lo and behold, it wasn't from the second printing but from the first run that sold out. Then I had a really stupid dilemma. But first...

Who is this guy, and why was he such a problem for me?

Superman: The Last Family of Krypton 3 (of 3): I think I mentioned before -- sorry, but I don't feel like going back through my prior posts and confirming this -- that although the Elseworlds books DC has put out may take characters and put them in wildly different circumstances, eventually the status quo often wins out. Superman is still a hero. Villains are still villains. So it is with this series, which started with Jor-El and Lara coming to Earth along with baby Kal-El. This issue starts with the premise that the others destined to become Earth's greatest heroes never did so because of the Kryptonians' influence, and there are consequences for the El family as a result. But by the end of the series, a familiar character who started out good shows his true colors (and as a result, a prediction I made at the start turns out to be partially true), and his evil plans are thwarted by...well, you know...

That brings us to my strange problem...

My Week In Comics 9-1-10

There was only one comic this week that I planned to pick up, but after seeing a certain movie recently I decided to check out the source material. (If you saw my Twitter feed you already saw my photo of that particular purchase...)

Superman: The Last Family of Krypton 2 (of 3): The Elseworlds mini picks up with a teenage Kal-El. So, as we see in a number of books where Superman's features are reminiscent of Christopher Reeve, here he's drawn to look very much like Tom Welling from TV's "Smallville." In this series, where Jor-El and Lara accompanied their son to Earth (and have now added twins to the family), the alternate takes on all of these characters are sometimes interesting, but for the most part there aren't many differences in personality from regular continuity. Even with the fact that the Els are all famous, Kal-El still takes on the Clark Kent secret identity, and takes a job as a reporter with the Daily Planet, and still falls for Lois Lane and so on. It's kind of a fun read, though.

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life: Yeah, big surprise, I know. The picture gave it away. This is, of course, the first volume of the six upon which the movie is based. From what I can tell, other than a few minor things there isn't any difference yet between this and the movie. The only thing that's odd for me is the black-and-white artwork. It's like an old TV show or movie -- where's my color? Oh, and if you didn't see my Scott Pilgrim avatar, go here!

My Week In Comics 8-4-10

Hey, it's just one book this week. If I can't knock this post out instead of procrastinating, shame on me. Besides, there's something special about this...

Superman: The Last Family of Krypton 1 (of 3): DC has brought back the "Elseworlds" label for the first time in a few years. The concept of "Elsewords" according to their tagline: "In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places — some that have existed, and others that can't, couldn't or shouldn't exist. The result is stories that make characters who are as familiar as yesterday seem as fresh as tomorrow." For example, in one such Superman/Elseworlds miniseries, "Superman: Red Son," baby Kal-El's rocket landed in the Soviet Union instead of in Kansas, and became the champion of the USSR. Here, the story is that Jor-El and Lara arrive on Earth along with their son. They immediately begin averting catastrophes and endearing themselves to the people of the world. Using Kryptonian technology Jor-El builds a futuristic tower in Metropolis for the family, and establishes a corporation that will apply Kryptonian science to Earth's technology to make the world a better place; Lara writes a best-selling self-help book based on ancient Kryptonian religious beliefs. Everything seems to be great except there's a bit of tension in the Els' marriage, in part over how to raise young Kal-El. And I'm sure there will be trouble related to the artificial intelligence system referred to as "B." I suspect that "B" will become some version of...well, you can guess at that.