[LNH/ACRA] Onion Lad #8

[Tom Russell]

Jesse Willey wrote:

> people and occasionally robs the corpse.   Hell, by my
> definition I know even count Superman as hero.  Not
> after Zod.

By your definition, Byrne's Superman doesn't make the cut; the real
Superman, the iconic essence of Supes from which all other
interpetations diverge from, would never have killed Zod.  Or Doomsday,
for that matter.

Of course, having Superman die at the hands of mindless muscle is
incredibly stupid and shows a basic lack of understanding of Superman.
Superman's true enemies are not beings of incredible physical prowress,
but rather men of intellect.  Even someone like Metallo or the
Kryptonite Man, who, in most interpetations, aren't exactly rhodes
scholar material, they still pose a threat which Superman must
outsmart-- hitting them with his fists doesn't solve the problem.

Even someone like Mongul, who is bloodthirsty and physically on
Superman's level, achieves his greatest near-victory in what stands,
for my money, as the best Mongul story-- For the Man Who Has
Everything.  Compare this with the dismal Mongul appearance in the
Death & Return.

People often say that Dan Jurgens can't create memorable villains (and
here I have no room to talk: creating villains is one of my definite
weak-points) but I'd argue that his villains are memorable enough--
can't forget Doomsday-- but often an odd fit for their intended
nemesis.  Too often his characters are defined by brawn and power-- and
that fit well enough with his THOR run, which was bad for completely
different reasons.

Strangely enough, I find that Kirby has a tendency, in the NEW GODS and
other work, to create villains who are overcome not by cunning, but
just by the hero hitting back and hitting harder.

A dismal state of affairs.

--Tom