* Jog reviews Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All Star Superman #12, while Quitely talks to Newsarama about it. If you were wondering, and here be SPOILERS my first impression of the issue was that it was fine, but not the knockout blow I was hoping for and that Morrison is capable of delivering in his finales (see The Filth #12, Seven Soldiers of Victory #1, Seaguy #3). Maybe if it had ended with Superman inside the sun, I dunno. Maybe the big 2uperman symbol will click emotionally with me soon. I suppose that like Jog I was so convinced that Leo Quintum was Lex Luthor that I turned that last page expecting him to rip off his wig, and when it didn’t happen I was perplexed.
* M. Night Shyamalan and Samuel L. Jackson seem to be as open as I am to the possibility of an Unbreakable sequel, which is to say quite.
* The great Chester Brown is running for Canada’s Parliament on a Libertarian/pro-paying-for-sex platform or something. I hope he makes it happen!
* Aeron Alfrey at Monster Brains manages to read my mind and deliver a gallery of Masters of the Universe paintings.
* Finally, Yes H.P. Can!
The only Morrison knockout finale that comes to mind was the end of WE3. Those other ones were like, “Oh. Huh?”
Here there be SPOILERS—
Thought ASS (!?!) #12 was dandy, myself. True, expectations were awfully high for the issue, but it stands right next to the best of the previous eleven issues as far as this reader’s concerned. No better, mind you, but certainly no worse. While the image of Superman in the sun was agreeably the most powerful image of the book and could easily have been placed at the end for extra KAPOW, I can’t argue that the final image of P.R.O.J.E.C.T.’s 2uperman shell wasn’t intriguing enough to end the series.
Oh, and using the gravity gun to warp time to accelerate Luthor’s metabolism? That’s comic booky awesomeness – not to mention Superman stating that brains beats brawn while knocking out Luthor’s teeth; that made me laugh.
Once again, Quietly made me shake my head in awe a few times – the guy can stage a panel like nobody else. Just check out that shot of the truck hitting Luthor or the way he handles his long shots, placing each figure in perfect relationship to the environment and other characters to best effect. Say what you want about his meaty faces, but the guy can layout and deliver a perfect comic page. And Jamie Grant’s colors on this issue (and the entire series really) were the cat’s meow. I re-read the issue a couple times just to soak in the art team’s work, and I can’t say that about many books these days.
As a whole, over the past three years (yikes!), the series has become one of my favorite (if not my all-time favorite) Superman tales and the ending just sealed the deal.
Gadzooks, that was a a long comment! Sorry – I really just need to give in and restart my blog so I don’t keep cluttering yours with my rambliness.
Ironic to use an Obama poster design to promote H.P. Lovecraft, considering Lovecraft’s opinions about black people and all.
I’m coming late to this, but I thought I’d add that while the issue was a solid “OK” for me, that scene with Superman and Lois really got to me in a weird and satisfying way.
Carnival of souls: special in-depth edition
* You might recall that back when Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely’s All Star Superman #12 came out, I found myself slightly underwhelmed. You might also recall me mentioning that a (the) big reason for this was that the comic’s…