[LNH/ACRA] Onion Lad #8

Jesse Willey cabbagewielder at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 7 11:02:00 PDT 2006


> 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.

  If I remember correctly, Superman didn't kill
Doomsday as much as Doomsday put so much into killing
Superman that at the moment he did it-- they both
spontaneously collapsed.

> 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.

  Me-- I didn't mind the Doomsday storyline.  The
first time anyway.   It was the later Doomsday
storylines that weren't as good.   Sure, Doomsday Year
One was interested.  Not great but interesting.  I
think if a hero is out to out thinking an opponent who
is sheer equal strength would present a challenge
because he'd have to readjust his thinking.  I just
think the storyline went three parts longer than it
should have.  Some of the middle acts (particularly
the Justice League one where Booster lost yet another
suit to get a new about four months later) was rather
pointless.


> 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.

  My problem with Jurgens (whose work I know mostly
from JLA and Superman) is that the man can't write
endings.    Which during the red triangle era
occasionally caused problems.    
   
> 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.

  Yes, but he also wrote the original version of the 
Kalibak vs. Turpin story and that was just awesome.

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