"You can't have justice without truth."
Did we really need another Superman origin story.
After reading the first issue of Superman: Year One, the answer is a resounding "YES!"
This is the latest outing for writer/artist Frank Miller. Miller is, of course, a legend to anyone in the comic book world. His biggest hit is the seminal The Dark Knight Returns, which is always paired along with Watchmen as the two masterpieces of the 1980's. Miller is also responsible for other great work like the "Born Again" story in Daredevil, his critically acclaimed Sin City, the historical action epic 300, and Batman: Year One.
However, Miller's name is not without stain. Two of his two most high profile works: The Dark Knight Strikes Again and All-Star Batman and Robin are so notoriously awful that any mockery of them seems better than the work itself. So hiring Miller to take on the central DC hero is not a sure thing. Even though John Romita Jr. comes with talent to aid Miller in this telling, I approached this story with very low expectations.
It begins, as usual, on doomed Krypton. Miller does an excellent job of painting the scene with the words as well as the pencils. He describes "crystalline structures meant to last eons shattering like porcelain." That line particularly struck me in the way that it reduced the hefty accomplishments of this advance culture into a fragile edifice, destined for collapse.
Miller also does something incredibly interesting with the narration. Instead of the word boxes being simple third-person omniscient or first person monologue, he blends the two together. You read what seems like an objective statement, but you realize that he is infusing it with the voice and point of view of one of the characters. And Miller slyly slips from one voice to another in a way that is never jarring.
When baby Kal El arrives, Jonathan Kent finds him and the little Kryptonian scans his brain to find he is not hostile. Kal seems almost like a manipulative monster-child in that moment. When I read this, I was worried that Miller was about to take Superman's origin down a dark path like the horror movie Brightburn. Instead, what Miller deftly does is create just enough sense of unease and tension to give the story a sense of uncertainty that it needs. If what you are reading is literally the same old story, then we lose the thrill of the surprise. Will young Clark Kent become an overbearing monster? That possibility is left dangling in the air.
The real meat of the story is in Clark's first year of high school. He could easily side with the popular students, but he decides to hang out with "the weirdos." He tries to look out for them as they are harassed and bullied. All the while, you keep waiting for the possibility that he could snap and go full killer. But he works so hard at restraint.
This is also one of the book's greatest strengths. Superman is understood as the one with the greatest power. But honestly, his solution to most of the great villains is to punch them really, really hard. But Clark finds that his interventions sometimes make things even worse. Escalation seems to be the rule, rather than the exception. And here is where we begin to see why Clark started on a path towards his career as a reporter. The best way to get justice is to pursue truth.
The doomed romance between Clark and Lana is also one of the most beautiful things about this book. It feels very slow and natural, filled with the endless possibilities of high school love. And the more you root for them, the more it hurts knowing that they are not destined to be together.
But the best part of the story is Jonathan Kent. He teaches his son restraint, but he is not afraid of his son's power. Martha is, of course, appalled at the idea of ever using force to solve problems. But Jonathan tells Clark that he should always try and find a non-violent solution to everything. But when that fails, sometimes you need to act decisively. The humanity and the morals that Superman has are products of his earthly parents' upbringing. But the MAN in SuperMAN is all from Jonathan. This story demonstrates how much we need fathers to teach our sons not only to be good men, but simply to be men.
The story ends by taking Clark on a path never explored before in comics. It feels fresh and different and I look forward to the next chapter.
Superman: Year One is done in the oversized format of the DC Black label, but it is worth the added price. This helps give the story its larger-than life feel. Nothing about the story felt rushed. About half-way through I felt like I was reading something big and special. The art matches the tone of the book beautifully.
Recently, there have been a lot of books that have started strong, but failed to stick the landing. I'm hoping that the quality of this mini-series remains. I highly recommend going out and picking up this book today.
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