Trade Tales! - Superman: Earth One Volume 3

Next up for the month is one of the big ones: General Zod. To make a long story short, he’s powerful, likes black, and loves long walks on the beach that he himself created with all the destruction he caused. 

In all seriousness, Zod has been a go-to villain ever since his introduction in Adventure Comics #283. Whatever version of his story you follow, he’s always been a rogue general who rebelled on Krypton. For his punishment, he and his followers were sent to the Phantom Zone. There have been other Kryptonians locked in the Zone, but Zod is the mainstay for the franchise. The guy’s especially been an important role in the movies since he's one that can go toe-to-toe with Superman.

Today’s story is the 3^rd volume to the Superman: Earth One series. I’ve covered the previous two volumes, so it’s time to finish it out. While the J. Michael Strazcynski-written series hasn’t been great, it has been an interesting re-telling of the Superman mythos. JMS is back at it with the story. Sandra Hope also returned to do the inking. This time, Shane Davis isn’t on the ride for the pencils. The penciling was being handled by Ardian Syaf, an artist who recently got himself into some trouble. That’s all I’ll say on that. So, what trouble has this version of Superman gotten himself into this time?

Superman: Earth One Volume 3

Writer: J. Michael Strazcynski

Pencils: Ardian Syaf

Inks: Sandra Hope

Colors: Barbara Ciardo

Letters: Rob Leigh

Trade Tales! - Superman: Earth One Volume 2

Next up on Superman Month is something I have been meaning to get back to. Back in 2010, DC released Superman: Earth One Volume 1. It was basically another retelling of Superman’s origin but in a different universe. The idea of the Earth One series was to give the heroes more modern origins. If there’s something DC is good (or “meh”) at in the 21st century, it’s retelling Superman’s origins. It took me a couple of years to get around to reading it. I thought it was fine and even reviewed it here in 2012. The whole Earth One series is something I’m still behind on. DC decided to do a couple of more sequels in this new Superman and followed it up with Volume 2.

The second volume to Superman: Earth One was released in October 2012. It’s supposed to take place sometime after the events of the last volume. J. Michael Straczynski came back to continue the story he’s been writing on this new Superman. Shane Davis is also back handling the pencils. Sandra Hope also returns to do the inks. The coloring is a little different this time around. But it is still being handled by Barbara Ciardo.

Superman: Earth One Vol. 2 
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski 
Pencils: Shane Davis 
Inks: Sandra Hope 
Colors: Barbara Ciardo 
Letters: Rob Leigh 

Graphic Novels - Superman: Earth One Vol. 1

Well, in the midst of writing a 3000+ word paper, one must take a break. For some reason, I decided to write even more words to pass the time. Yeah, it’s crazy, I know. For the final post in Superman Month(s), I have decided to look at the somewhat controversial (?) graphic novel Superman: Earth One. I bought this book at a Borders’ store for 10 bucks, so you can tell that I really wanted this book. I thought about talking about it last year but decided to hold it off till now. Also, the second volume has FINALLY came out, so it's a good time to talk about this.

The Earth One line is kinda DC’s second attempt at rivaling Marvel’s Ultimate line. It takes the most popular heroes and updates their origins. Top talent, and I mean “Top!” is on these books. For the Batman book, it was Geoff Johns (aka the God of DC) and Gary Frank. For Superman, it is J. Michael Straczynscki (aka JMS) and Shane Davis. JMS is known for many things. From Babylon 5 and Thor to the walking Superman and the devil-dealing Spider-Man (not his decision by the way), JMS has done a lot of good and bad. I’ve seen Shane Davis on a few books and he’s pretty good. So with all of that in mind, let’s get to it.

Superman: Earth One
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Shane Davis