My pal Jana Riess has a religion-themed blog called Flunking Sainthood. I wanted to write about the connections between Superboy and the Gospel of Mark, and she was kind enough to let me write a guest blog post for her. Check it out here!
And that's all I have for today; I have to go set up the homecoming dance.
Showing posts with label Superman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Superman. Show all posts
Friday, November 4, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
That Certain Wistful Quality
Some days I despair.
And some days I neglect to update the blog. But, here I am!
As promised, my class read some Peanuts comics and then "The Girl From Superman's Past." That's the story about Superman's college sweetheart Lori Lemaris, remember? I mentioned it the other day, but I didn't say what made Lori different from Superman's other love interests like Lois Lane and Lana Lang (notice a pattern?) because I didn't want to spoil the surprise revelation at the end of the story. The story is from 1958, though, and it has been followed up on many times, and if you do a Google image search for Lori Lemaris, you'll see her shocking secret immediately. Probably everyone who cares already knows. But, on the off chance you'd like to find out for yourself, this is your 1958 Spoiler Warning. Secrets below!
(You already saw the picture anyway, didn't you?)
That's right, Lori is a mermaid. After the Comics Code Authority came into being in the fifties, comics could no longer fall back on sex or violence as selling points. And since superhero stories are basically about heroes beating up on criminals, what do you do when you have to cut back on the violence? You have to get creative. Superman stories from this period are like fairytales. Mermaids, square planets, flying dogs . . . anything was possible.
In this story Clark Kent goes to a football game at his alma mater, becomes nostalgic, and thinks back to his college days. He remembers the day he met Lori and how he fell in love with her. They dated for awhile, and finally he decided to give up on being Superman so he could marry her. He was shocked, then, when she turned him down. Ultimately it turned out that she couldn't marry him because she was, you know, a mermaid, and she had to go back home to her people under the sea. At the end of the story, sitting next to Lois on the bleachers, Clark is still wistful and nostalgic. Many of the best Superman stories from this time have a sad quality to them, a sense of Superman feeling alone in the world.
Don't we all feel that way, sometimes?
And some days I neglect to update the blog. But, here I am!
As promised, my class read some Peanuts comics and then "The Girl From Superman's Past." That's the story about Superman's college sweetheart Lori Lemaris, remember? I mentioned it the other day, but I didn't say what made Lori different from Superman's other love interests like Lois Lane and Lana Lang (notice a pattern?) because I didn't want to spoil the surprise revelation at the end of the story. The story is from 1958, though, and it has been followed up on many times, and if you do a Google image search for Lori Lemaris, you'll see her shocking secret immediately. Probably everyone who cares already knows. But, on the off chance you'd like to find out for yourself, this is your 1958 Spoiler Warning. Secrets below!
(You already saw the picture anyway, didn't you?)
That's right, Lori is a mermaid. After the Comics Code Authority came into being in the fifties, comics could no longer fall back on sex or violence as selling points. And since superhero stories are basically about heroes beating up on criminals, what do you do when you have to cut back on the violence? You have to get creative. Superman stories from this period are like fairytales. Mermaids, square planets, flying dogs . . . anything was possible.
In this story Clark Kent goes to a football game at his alma mater, becomes nostalgic, and thinks back to his college days. He remembers the day he met Lori and how he fell in love with her. They dated for awhile, and finally he decided to give up on being Superman so he could marry her. He was shocked, then, when she turned him down. Ultimately it turned out that she couldn't marry him because she was, you know, a mermaid, and she had to go back home to her people under the sea. At the end of the story, sitting next to Lois on the bleachers, Clark is still wistful and nostalgic. Many of the best Superman stories from this time have a sad quality to them, a sense of Superman feeling alone in the world.
Don't we all feel that way, sometimes?
Monday, September 5, 2011
Reading Pictures GO!
Today: No school!
Tomorrow: I begin Unit 2 of Creative Reading. And, in a rare instance of Things Going According to Plan, I'm also beginning Unit 2 of Senior English, but that's outside the scope of this blog.
Unit 2 is supposed to go like this:
Reading Pictures (weeks 4 – 6)
*Understanding Comics chapters 5-9
*The continuing history of American comics (comic books to graphic novels)
*Comparing and contrasting different art styles
*Analyzing & evaluating longer comics
I now know from experience that the plan to read five chapters of Understanding Comics in three weeks is completely unrealistic. The main thing is to read the chapter about different art styles expressing different moods, since one of the goals in Unit 2 is to focus more on the art.
I also need to decide which "longer comics" we'll be reading. Based on the syllabus, our candidates are:
"Frank and the Truth About Plenitude", by Jim Woodring
“A Dream of a Thousand Cats”, by Neil Gaiman and Kelley Jones
“This Man, This Monster!”, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
“The Girl in Superman’s Past!”, by Bill Finger and Wayne Boring
In case you're wondering, the girl in Superman's past is his college sweetheart Lori Lemaris. Man, I love that story.
Speaking of Superman, I need to be careful not to bias the class too much toward comic books over comic strips. I'm going to incorporate this Onion AV Club article about the history of the American comic strip and some Peanuts strips to provide balance.
Tomorrow: I begin Unit 2 of Creative Reading. And, in a rare instance of Things Going According to Plan, I'm also beginning Unit 2 of Senior English, but that's outside the scope of this blog.
Unit 2 is supposed to go like this:
Reading Pictures (weeks 4 – 6)
*Understanding Comics chapters 5-9
*The continuing history of American comics (comic books to graphic novels)
*Comparing and contrasting different art styles
*Analyzing & evaluating longer comics
I now know from experience that the plan to read five chapters of Understanding Comics in three weeks is completely unrealistic. The main thing is to read the chapter about different art styles expressing different moods, since one of the goals in Unit 2 is to focus more on the art.
"Frank and the Truth About Plenitude", by Jim Woodring
“A Dream of a Thousand Cats”, by Neil Gaiman and Kelley Jones
“This Man, This Monster!”, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
“The Girl in Superman’s Past!”, by Bill Finger and Wayne Boring
In case you're wondering, the girl in Superman's past is his college sweetheart Lori Lemaris. Man, I love that story.
Speaking of Superman, I need to be careful not to bias the class too much toward comic books over comic strips. I'm going to incorporate this Onion AV Club article about the history of the American comic strip and some Peanuts strips to provide balance.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Stardust Has No Weakness
Yesterday I bought a copy of the brand new Justice League #1. Today I took it in and showed it to my students as an example of a modern comic book. Some of them seemed to find it interesting, which is good, because DC's whole goal here is to appeal to new readers. I found Justice League #1 pretty boring, but I'm in my late thirties and I've read about a million comics, so I'm not the target demographic. And I'm not a huge Jim Lee fan . . . but the kids like Jim Lee, right?
(In my day, a single issue of a comic would give you a ton of story. And if a comic was called Justice League, it would have the Justice League in it. But, again, not the target demographic. I hope this does well for DC.)
I've mentioned the writing assignment I gave, where students have to analyze that Stardust story. Part of the assignment is to compare Stardust to Superman. Today the class brainstormed similarities and differences. Here's what they came up with.
Similarities:
Superman and Stardust are both aliens
They are both superhumanly strong
They both fight crime
They both wear colorful costumes
Differences:
Superman has a love interest, Stardust doesn't
Superman has a secret identity, Stardust doesn't
Stardust has mind control powers, Superman doesn't
Superman lives on Earth, Stardust lives on his private star
Superman saves people, Stardust comes in after people have been killed and punishes the evil-doers
Superman takes criminals to jail, Stardust kills and/or tortures them
Superman has a weakness of kryptonite, Stardust has no weakness
I thought those were good points. Stardust is like Superman with the relatable human part stripped out, left as just a terrifying creature from beyond.
(In my day, a single issue of a comic would give you a ton of story. And if a comic was called Justice League, it would have the Justice League in it. But, again, not the target demographic. I hope this does well for DC.)
I've mentioned the writing assignment I gave, where students have to analyze that Stardust story. Part of the assignment is to compare Stardust to Superman. Today the class brainstormed similarities and differences. Here's what they came up with.
Similarities:
Superman and Stardust are both aliens
They are both superhumanly strong
They both fight crime
They both wear colorful costumes
Differences:
Superman has a love interest, Stardust doesn't
Superman has a secret identity, Stardust doesn't
Stardust has mind control powers, Superman doesn't
Superman lives on Earth, Stardust lives on his private star
Superman saves people, Stardust comes in after people have been killed and punishes the evil-doers
Superman takes criminals to jail, Stardust kills and/or tortures them
Superman has a weakness of kryptonite, Stardust has no weakness
I thought those were good points. Stardust is like Superman with the relatable human part stripped out, left as just a terrifying creature from beyond.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Behold the Super Wizard!
Today I had the students read Stardust.
"Oh," you say, "you mean Stardust, the fantasy story by award-winning author Neil Gaiman, lushly illustrated by Charles Vess?"
No, no. That's an illustrated novel, not a comic. I mean STARDUST THE SUPER WIZARD.
Stardust crushing a man with one hand.
Tomorrow I'm going to give them a writing assignment based on this story.
"Oh," you say, "you mean Stardust, the fantasy story by award-winning author Neil Gaiman, lushly illustrated by Charles Vess?"
No, no. That's an illustrated novel, not a comic. I mean STARDUST THE SUPER WIZARD.
Back in the early days of comic books, when Superman was a sudden hit, every publisher wanted to come up with their own Superman. Stardust the Super Wizard is what you get if you try to copy Superman without understanding anything at all about the character. Stardust is not about protecting the innocent; Stardust waits until evil-doers have committed some horrible atrocity, then swoops in and deals out a gruesome punishment.
The other day I showed the class the original two-page origin of Superman from Superman #1 (which is really charming). So once they've seen Superman, they should see an example of what Superman inspired, right? Many of those early super-hero comics are fairly boring in execution. But Fletcher Hanks, creator of Stardust, was far from boring.
There are generally three reactions to the work of Fletcher Hanks:
1. "This is terrible!"
2. "This is so bad it's good!"
3. "This is awesome."
I'm in the third camp. I can, however, understand the other two viewpoints. Hanks's work is . . . unconventional.
Anyway, we've been reading Understanding Comics, and we're on chapter 3. We've been talking about the six kinds of panel transitions. It's good stuff, but we need a break from it every now and then. So I promised them that we would read an actual story.
I got out my copy of I Will Destroy All the Civilized Planets!, flipped through it, and chose the second Stardust story in the book. This one has everything you want to see: mass destruction, bodies floating in space, cruel ironic punishment, and, most importantly . . .
Tomorrow I'm going to give them a writing assignment based on this story.
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