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"You are stronger than you think you are." a.k.a GOAT comic book panel
- Thread starter Kyosaiga
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AyaisMUsikWhore
Member
This was cute.
When I was younger, SuperMan was my favorite superhero...mostly because of his struggle. It was never his powers I was in love with, but the fact that he was living in a world that was prejudice to him but he actually cared about people and went out of his way to make the world a better place despite that. I love characters with emotion and was never obsessed with "Badasses"...
But I lost touch with Superman because I felt he become more of a "hero" in the sense that Captain America is a "hero". This panel is exactly what I loved about him that I kind of lost (which is also due to my conversion to Marvel and my love for the X-men who had similar themes in a sense) but this was overall good.
When I was younger, SuperMan was my favorite superhero...mostly because of his struggle. It was never his powers I was in love with, but the fact that he was living in a world that was prejudice to him but he actually cared about people and went out of his way to make the world a better place despite that. I love characters with emotion and was never obsessed with "Badasses"...
But I lost touch with Superman because I felt he become more of a "hero" in the sense that Captain America is a "hero". This panel is exactly what I loved about him that I kind of lost (which is also due to my conversion to Marvel and my love for the X-men who had similar themes in a sense) but this was overall good.
NipplesAndToes23
Member
I've only seen the movie and that put me on to Superman.
http://www.amazon.com/Absolute-Star-Superman-Grant-Morrison/dp/1401229174
Damnit! Don't make me buy this!
Don't do that to yourself.
And pick up this while you're at it, the best Superman comic.
John Kowalski
Banned
Man i thought this would be about I Kill Giants.
Good one though.
Good one though.
KOMANI
KOMANI
I think what you're experiencing is universal. I remember David Jaffe saying that as he became a father, Superman was a hero he looked up to the most.
I too feel the same way.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
I'm not into comics, what is the context here and the numbers mean?
And the fact that that Superman and that Luthor are nowhere to be found in Batman v. Superman is why the DCCU are, thus far, a waste of potential. Superman is a great, great character if you understand him, and modern Luthor is a perfect villain for him. It's a goddamn shame Warner Bros. doesn't get it at all when it comes to Superman, because it could have been amazing.
Oh I wasn't being serious, that's just a goofy panel from a Batman comic. There's an issue that takes place the "Internet 3.0" and the art looks like bad computer graphics. The dog randomly shows up and barks in gibberish which is supposed to be code.
HappyBivouac
Member
Ok, so what I'm getting is: Superman is dying, and even though he's an alien, he's a nice guy who cares about humans and wants to save lives. He even wants to save this painfully-regressive stereotype of a suicidal emo kid that we threw in!
I don't mean to shit on anyone's tastes; I'm sorry if it comes off that way. I just think in the larger context of visual storytelling, the art and writing here come off as pretty bland and uninspired.
I guess I also don't like that he's telling a person suffering from depression and suicidal tendencies that she's stronger than she thinks. That's not a helpful thing to say to a depressed person. Depression specifically makes people weak; it drains a person's will to handle life. It's almost as bad as saying "You're depressed? Chin up and get over it."
I all ways loved the last two panels of this comic.
Martian Manhunter is stupidly underrated
great panel but I feel like it's the only one people seem to love here. What about when Lilo and Bal-El are lying on the bed, dying, about to be sent into the PZ by Superman in order to save their lives? He gently holds her hand and says
"Where you and I go..."
"...we go together"
I legit cried at that one
"Where you and I go..."
"...we go together"
I legit cried at that one
Man. So many great memories.
This panel. This panel right here, sums up not only why All-Star Superman will almost assuredly forever be the greatest Superman story ever told, but one of the greatest stories told period.
Why? Because Superman has never been about the man's powers. At least the classics. It's about the alien, being the most human of all. In this page, Superman, decided, out of all 7 billion people in the world, Regan, was the most important. Another blog post sums this up far more beautifully than I can:
https://braveblog.wordpress.com/201...st-moments-in-comics-1-the-girl-on-the-ledge/
Pretty much sums up the entire Comic in one fell swoop. This is why Superman is my favorite hero. Sure I'm one of the few that thinks his generic power set is pretty cool, but I mainly fall in love with his character. Nearly every other superhero wants to be dark and edgy, and that's fine, but Superman is still an honest-to-God HERO, which in a way, makes him stand out among those comic book characters who misconceive "dark"=flawed and more relatable.
Regan is the definition of a throwaway comic book character, but right then, right there, nothing else mattered to the Man of Steel. Not his problems with Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, the League, other villains, his own mortality, etc. At the moment, all he cared about was telling a young woman that life was worth living, even when he knew he had weeks, at the most, to live himself.
That to me, is why he'll forever be the greatest superhero of all time.
This. So very much this.
See, that's the thing - none of that dialogue is particularly special or interesting or even particularly helpful for someone who is legitimately dealing with suicidal thoughts. They're generic, representative of a conversation in abstract.
What I've always taken away from the page is that Superman - a stranger with the power of a god, who can move planets with his bare hands, who has a million "better things to do" than talk one random girl off a ledge, and is himself dying - is going out of his way to say them. He's trying to help. Because that's what Superman does; an intergalactic war and a struggle with depression are the same exact thing to him. If he can help, he will. No fight too big or too small.
Which is why the other panel posted, with Pa Kent's death, forms a great counterpoint - Superman CAN'T save everyone. But he tries, and that's really all you can ask for.
Chmpocalypse
Blizzard
This panel. This panel right here, sums up not only why All-Star Superman will almost assuredly forever be the greatest Superman story ever told, but one of the greatest stories told period.
Why? Because Superman has never been about the man's powers. At least the classics. It's about the alien, being the most human of all. In this page, Superman, decided, out of all 7 billion people in the world, Regan, was the most important. Another blog post sums this up far more beautifully than I can:
https://braveblog.wordpress.com/201...st-moments-in-comics-1-the-girl-on-the-ledge/
Pretty much sums up the entire Comic in one fell swoop. This is why Superman is my favorite hero. Sure I'm one of the few that thinks his generic power set is pretty cool, but I mainly fall in love with his character. Nearly every other superhero wants to be dark and edgy, and that's fine, but Superman is still an honest-to-God HERO, which in a way, makes him stand out among those comic book characters who misconceive "dark"=flawed and more relatable.
Regan is the definition of a throwaway comic book character, but right then, right there, nothing else mattered to the Man of Steel. Not his problems with Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, the League, other villains, his own mortality, etc. At the moment, all he cared about was telling a young woman that life was worth living, even when he knew he had weeks, at the most, to live himself.
That to me, is why he'll forever be the greatest superhero of all time.
This is amazing. Your write-up itself moved me. I have to read this book.
McCloud explains it very well in Understanding Comics.
You are a good person.
True, but it can still be good.....just in a different way now. But it's a shame that 90% of the people (non-comic readers) won't get to see the "real" Superman.
Also one of my favorite Superman panels, with the Earth on the brink of an Alien takeover, instead of fighting back, he convinces the aliens that all humans have the ability to change for the better:
Agreed 100%. It's fucking sad, man. So much potential.
Makoto Yuki
Banned
I hate Superman, but that panel is fantastic.
The idea of Superman flying around and helping people, not with all his super powers, but by supporting them emotionally is a way more compelling (and interesting) Superman.
The idea of Superman flying around and helping people, not with all his super powers, but by supporting them emotionally is a way more compelling (and interesting) Superman.
bigboss370
Member
Nailed it, OP.
I mean, its Superman. He will forever be the greatest superhero of all time, because he is the quintessential hero.
i did chuckle when you said his powers are generic though, i think they are far from it.
Everything else in your post is spot on.
to add to your post, i saw this on another site, about best Superman moments:
I mean, its Superman. He will forever be the greatest superhero of all time, because he is the quintessential hero.
i did chuckle when you said his powers are generic though, i think they are far from it.
Everything else in your post is spot on.
to add to your post, i saw this on another site, about best Superman moments:
What I've always liked is that Bruce is driven by vengeance and his parents murder. Superman does what he does not because he needs to, but because he's kind. His relationship with Luthor is great because he's not focused on just putting Lex away, but instead motivating him to be a better more moral person. Well, not in the new 52 Justice League-although I have loved every minute of that.
Does anyone know of a site that breaks down each issue of All-Star Superman and all of its Easter eggs, hidden meanings etc? Comics Alliance did one for Multiversity that was amazing. I've also read an interesting theory that
Quintum is a reformed Lex Luthor who traveled back in time to help Superman after the conclusion of the story, and only Superman knows who he really is-because Quintum is always wearing glasses.
StrawberryJam
Member
Probably my favourite comic book panel ever. I've always seen Superman like a super powered version of Atticus Finch.
Napoleonthechimp
Member
You know what I see? A being that has never known how it is to suffer like the subjects he exerts power over.
I find his compassion for the human race to be completely unrealistic for that reason.
Also, "he's more than human" is a negative for me. I personally could never accept the advice on how to live from a being that flies around the planet and shoots lasers out of his eyes.
Bruce also had the option of being a complete meglomaniac and letting his past consume him. The discipline that he employs on a daily basis is admirable to me as, someone who struggles with balancing his own issues, I can relate to that more than I can to someone who is "just kind".
Superman in that sense is too simplistic. He's basically a two dimensional ideal of what we should aspire to, which I personally reject.
I thought I'd share this facebook status update as it gives an idea as to why I reject Superman and tend to side with Batman in instances where they clash with each other:
Barrow Roll
Member
Are you Lex Luthor?
Napoleonthechimp
Member
Or is Lex Luthor a projection of the innate human distrust of such a powerful authority figure.
In my opinion there is a middle-ground between what Lex Luthor is and what Superman is.
IrishNinja
Member
deadscreensky
Member
That's...utterly amazing. Looks like it's time to reread All-Star Superman!
But I do wonder how that would work, since Superman is only getting killed by Luthor in the first place because of Quintum's mission, right? I guess I have to look closer at the time travel issue, see how much it supports a causality loop model.
All-Star Superman is fantastic, but what I feel really sells the concept of Superman as some new mythic figure is how Morrison has been able to depict wildly different takes on the character and have them work basically just as well. Superman Beyond and Multiversity are particularly good examples here. I especially love Captain Atom/Adam in Pax Americana, who (appropriately) simultaneously celebrates and critiques the act of deconstructing art. 'Superman' is a really malleable concept, and I think a lot of the overly critical types ("he's so boring!") don't get this.
(That still isn't an excuse for Man of Steel being such a lousy movie, of course.)
I just re-read the entire story tonight.
Here's the page where I read this theory first:
http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2008/09/leo-quintum-is-lex-luthor.html?m=1
deadscreensky
Member
Awesome, thanks!
The various quoted dialogue that is otherwise strange (the "doomed world") is particularly convincing. I think I'm sold on the theory. What a great comic.
I always loved Quintum as a character, but he was somewhat bizarrely new in a series that on the surface is otherwise big on reusing and re-purposing existing concepts. (A Morrison trademark, really.) I get it now.
Is that the one that
follows the mook's life right up until King mob puts a bullet in him?
Yes, exactly. Really stirring issue.
Nameless is kinda tame compared to The Filth. Now that's some depressing shit.
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
He's generally on the optimistic side of things. Occasionally he pulls a 'Happy'.
Ah, man. I love that book so much. Funnily enough it got me through a really rough patch.
Dash_Riprock
Member
Then whoever that story is a shit writer, since every other story and medium suggest otherwise.
You don't need to suffer in the same way as someone in order to understand that they feel pain.
He lost his entire planet and family, what more could you ask for in terms of suffering?
As for him being more than human, I agree that's not really a strong basis for taking anything he says seriously. But a good writer doesn't lean on that aspect of him. A good writer shows that regardless of where you come from, you can always aspired to be something greater, to choose a higher path, choose a different path.
But I do understand and respect finding Superman to be simplistic, even though I obviously don't agree. As I've grown older, I've come to appreciate Superman more, even though Batman is always the character that I preferred as well.
I think when it comes down to it, they are two sides of the coin, and very interesting because of that. Interacting together makes both characters greater, rather than subtracting from either. It highlights both their strengths and weaknesses simultaneously.
Depending on the writer of course.
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
Mac the KNife
Member
All Star Superman was something else from the first page though:
That's how you start a story.
Shake Appeal
Member
I think my favorite few panels in comics are the flashbacks in Batman RIP to when Bruce is drinking tea with the monk who works for the Black Glove. Followed by him
Throughout the entire Morrison run, you see him spiraling into madness, seemingly outwitted and destroyed by Dr. Hurt/the devil — but even at the moment of his seeming defeat he has an escape hatch inside his own head. He's always prepared for every outcome, even the loss of his own mind. And the Joker's the only one who gets that, the only one who treats him with sufficient respect. The reader is led to underestimate Bruce Wayne just as the Black Glove did, and then we're reminded that Bruce will always, always go further than any other man can to face down his demons, figurative and literal.
Either that or the last few pages of The Killing Joke, which similarly hinges on the mutual respect and recognition between Batman and the Joker, even if it's only for a moment.
I haven't made much of an effort to like Superman, but I just find almost everything about him supremely uninteresting.
forcing his way out of the coffin and the straitjacket, just as the Joker predicted.
Either that or the last few pages of The Killing Joke, which similarly hinges on the mutual respect and recognition between Batman and the Joker, even if it's only for a moment.
I haven't made much of an effort to like Superman, but I just find almost everything about him supremely uninteresting.
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