The Ettatorial for the Week of 10-03-07
This week was what you would call a train wreck of releases. I had only one scheduled book to purchase (Countdown #30). I decided that this would not do for a week, and decided to purchase at least one other book (Howard the Duck #1). Countdown was it’s usual mess (”I read it so you don’t have to”) and hence why it was not picked for book of the week. Howard the Duck in it’s day was a brilliant book, full of satire and socially relevant topics (sort of like Southpark). While this new mini-series was not done by Steve Gerber, the architect of Howard, it was be a creative team that I had hopes for. Instead, what I got was a horrible book, one of the biggest disappointments I’ve had in recent memory. Suffice to say, I will not be getting #2. What does this mean for you, the reader?
It means that this week’s pick of the week is a trade paperback recommendation instead. The pick this week is Superman: Secret Identity. It is, in my humble opinion, one the the finest books the super-hero genre has turned out in the last 20 years. It easily is one of the finest Superman stories ever (”For the Man Who Has Everything” and “What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” being the others) and succeeds for a special reason. Secret Identity is not really a Superman story. I know, I know, it has Superman in the title, how can that be? Secret Identity is about being human, and what it means, and it uses Superman, his powers, and his stories to explore these topics. It is something that I would give a person who doesn’t even read comics, and know full well they would understand and enjoy. Go out, find it, and READ it.
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Great choice, that is one of the greatest Superman stories, and you really don’t hear enough praise for it.