Trade Tales! - Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore

Well, it’s another September… so that means I get to gush on the Man of Steel himself. This month, I’m pretty much going back to basics this time. There’s no certain theme this time around. I think I’ve played those out anyway. The plan is to look at a story from each decade and some non-comic material as well. So, I might as well start off with the first (?) time DC tried to revamp Superman in a modern age!

In early 1970’s, comics were changing and trying to be more modern. That era became what’s known as “The Bronze Age.” Marvel was doing more thing with their characters.  DC was also trying to revamp their heroes a bit. Batman got thrown back into his dark, pulpy roots. Green Arrow and Hal Jordan were doing their “Hard-Travelin’ Heroes” gig. I think Wonder Woman had something going on too, but I’m not sure. Then, we get to Superman, who at this point, is pretty much “God in a Cape.”

The Superman books got new editors and they decided to get rid of a lot of the Silver Age goofiness that was around in the 60’s. Julius Schwartz, the editor of Superman, got Dennis O’Neil to come in and write Superman for this new era. Basically, the idea was to bring those god-like powers down a bit and revamp him. He didn’t stay long on the book, though, and his issues of Superman (#233-238, #240-242) became known as “The Sandman Saga.” The issues were then put into a collection called Kryptonite Nevermore. Assisting O’Neil was Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson on the art. Artist Neal Adams did the covers to these issues.

Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore!

Writer: Dennis O’Neil

Pencils: Curt Swan

Inks: Murphy Anderson

Editor: Julius Schwartz

SYNOPSIS

Superman is overseeing a science experiment that tries to use kryptonite as an energy source. Suddenly, things go awry with the experiment and Superman gets caught in an explosion. Luckily, it has no effect on him. It also turns out that this explosion turned all of Earth’s Kryptonite into iron which leaves Superman with no weakness to anything other than magic. The explosion does have a small side effect, though. The imprint Superman left in the sand ends up forming itself into  a sandman. Meanwhile, Clark Kent ends up getting a new job: a TV news report for WGBS. His boss, Morgan Edge, basically forces him into the role, so Clark has to figure out how to do this job and do his thing as Superman on the go.

Probably the most memorable thing in the book.

Throughout the trade, the sandman figure starts to take on more features of Superman and that includes his powers as well. While this happens, Superman ends up getting weaker. He tries to talk to the sandman figure (I’ll just call him “SandDude”), but he’s kinda stuck at an impasse with the being. SandDude really doesn’t care about helping the world. It even gets to the point where Superman’s back to his Golden Age power levels. Luckily, he does get some help from I Ching, an associate of Wonder Woman’s. He tries to help Superman get his powers back from SandDude, but things go arwy. Superman  ends up getting his powers back, but because of an injury he sustained while he was powerless, Superman’s a little loopy in his deeds.

I Ching and Wonder Woman (who was also powerless in this era) try to recruit SandDude in stopping Superman. They find out that SandDude is actually a creature from Quarrm, another dimension. The explosion caused a rupture and the creature came to inhabit the imprint Superman made. It also turns out that another Quarrm creature is on Earth and it starts to cause damage. This takes both Supermen to stop it. The two Supermen almost fight each other to the death, but I Ching shows them the error of their ways. The collection ends as SandDude returns to Quarrm and Superman is left a little weaker.  

OPINION

Kryptonite Nevermore! was a pretty nice read. This trade was one of the first TPBs I read at the library in Pulaski years ago. When I found it sometime back, I knew I had to talk about it. I still haven’t read too many Bronze Age comics, but this one that I like to go back to from time to time. The writing’s pretty nice. Dennis O’Neil is one old-school writer who jives with me. Not all of these older dudes do that. Sometimes, they say too much. O’Neil says enough to get the point across and then some. The stories that I thought were pretty cool were from #234, #236, #237, and #242.

Reading about the nigh-powerful Superman being brought down a bit was cool. Also, seeing him deal with his powers was interesting. I’m personally not the biggest fan of the uber-powerful Man of Steel. There are times where it works and times where it doesn’t, ya know? Taking Kryptonite away was an interesting move. While I don’t hate the weakness, it can be a bit annoying. I’m guessing Kryptonite was probably used a little too much in the Silver Age since they wanted to do away with it. I also liked the SandDude or the Sand Superman. Its journey throughout the book was interesting.

Okay, I wish Superman said that out loud to Lois.

The artwork was pretty good. I gotta admit that I’m not a big Curt Swan fan. He kinda makes Superman look older and that’s weird since Superman at this point was supposed to be stuck in his early 30’s. Unless that dude lead a hard life, that don’t look like a 30 year-old! Still, the artwork is pretty popping. The action is pretty nice and the more quiet scenes are nice. I also liked how weird and different the Sand Superman looked. Also, the covers from Neal Adams were pretty awesome. If there’s one older artist I always like drawing Superman, it’s Adams.

As for any dislikes, I don’t know how to feel about the whole TV reporter thing. I guess it was done to shake things up, but it doesn’t make much sense. It’s weird since that aspect was one of the few things that stuck after O’Neil left.  Some of the villains could have been a little better. He doesn’t go up against his rogues, and I wonder if that was on purpose. It was also weird when Superman suffered brain damage and went loopy. In fact, I Ching  was just a weird way to end all of this off. As for the artwork, I already said my piece on Swan. Other than these things and small nitpicks, this was a good read.

In the end, this semi-reboot was quite nice. As I said above, O’Neil didn’t stay long on the books and #242 was his final issue. Some changes like his lower power set were undone. Even Kryptonite (the synthetic kind)  made it back to the books eventually. Clark still remained a news reporter, which is still pretty weird. The reason on why no one recognizes him is even weirder, though. It would be a few more years until DC decided to completely revamp the character with John Byrne’s Man of Steel. Well, that’s all I got for now. Next time, I think it’s time to touch a pretty recently ended show. For now, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.