{"id":1737,"date":"2024-10-15T18:38:04","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T22:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/?p=1737"},"modified":"2025-07-10T12:32:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T16:32:36","slug":"reread-man-of-steel-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/2024\/10\/15\/reread-man-of-steel-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Reread: Man Of Steel #1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(Originally published June 1, 2013)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go here <\/a>for a quick explanation of what a “Reread” is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

(NOTE<\/strong>:  This review is for the similarly-titled 1986 comic book mini-series.  It’s NOT for the 2013 movie, which, as of this writing, has not yet opened in theaters.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned in prior Reviews, in 1986, as part of the ongoing refresh of the overall DC Universe, DC decided it was time to reboot the histories of its characters to align with the new continuity that had been the result of 1985\u2019s Crisis on Infinite Earths<\/em>.
Fittingly, the very first character to get that treatment was its most famous:  Superman<\/strong>.
After all, he was the first official super hero, so it only made sense* to start with him.
And that\u2019s where superstar comic book writer\/artist John Byrne<\/strong> came in.  After completing a multi-year run on Marvel\u2019s Fantastic Four<\/em>, and having had the opportunity to play with pretty much the entire cast of characters available in the Marvel Universe, Byrne had jumped ship and headed to DC to take on the one character that Marvel couldn\u2019t offer him.
In interviews prior to the relaunch \u2013 including one that I recall seeing in The National Enquirer, of all places \u2013 Byrne provided some hints as to how his take on Superman would differ from what had come before.
One of the biggest changes was the depowering.  Not that he was going to get rid of any of his powers, exactly, but that he was going to bring them down to slightly less godlike levels and provide more in the way of limitations.
The other major change was going to take place on the Clark Kent side of the equation, making him a more vibrant, assertive character and no longer the over-the-top timid coward he had been in the past.
And, because it was the 1980s, after all, he was going to make Clark a Yuppie.
As a young fan, I was interested, but wary.  I was all for eliminating the ridiculous extremes of the \u201cmild-mannered\u201d pose, but I wasn\u2019t that thrilled about him becoming a Yuppie, and I was concerned that he might depower him too much.
Still, it was with a mixture of anticipation and fear that I picked up the very first issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The cover I have; there was a variant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Man of Steel
Written by John Byrne
Art and Cover by John Byrne and Dick Giordano
Edited by Andy Helfer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our story opens on Krypton, and this is where we get our first indication of just how different things are going to be from what had gone before.  Rather than being the vibrant world that was an odd mix of super-science and a kind of Wild West mentality set against the backdrop of strange landscapes and exotic animals, this new vision of Krypton was a barren, sterile, orderly place.
Its inhabitants, such as young Jor-El in whose home we find ourselves, lived isolated from each other in huge towers.  Gone were the capes, headbands, and family crests of the past, replaced by skintight-bio-suits that covered them from head to toe, and symbol ceremonial robes.
The people of Krypton, it seems, are just as cold and barren as the world on which they live, with Jor-El being the lone exception.
Adhering to the basics of Superman\u2019s origin, Krypton is, of course, doomed \u2013 many Kryptonians are falling pretty to a mysterious illness, that seems to be associated with the strange green light that\u2019s bathing the world \u2013 but Jor-El has been unable to convince anyone else of this imminent destruction.
He has, however, taken steps to ensure that his son will live on.
This is another point where things differ, as Kal-El, the child who will one day be Superman, has not yet been born.  Further, on this Krypton, children are no longer born the old-fashioned way, but are instead grown in a \u201cgestation matrix\u201d in which the genetic material of two compatible Kryptonians are comingled.
In this case, Jor-El\u2019s genes were mixed with those of Lara Lor-Van, whom we meet when shows up at Jor-El\u2019s tower upon learning that he had their child\u2019s matrix removed from the Gestation Chambers and brought to his home.
This, is, apparently, within Jor-El\u2019s rights, but is a seldom-invoked right that warrants investigation, and a bit of cold disapproval from his \u201cmate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
You might want to ease up on the tweezing, guys.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With Lara present, Jor-El explains that Krypton is doomed, and informs her of his plans to attach a hyperdrive to their son\u2019s gestation matrix and send it to another world, so that at least one Kryptonian may survive.  Said world is Earth, and though Lara is horrified at the sight of the savage natives, she expresses her hope that, based on Jor-El\u2019s hypothesis that the world\u2019s yellow sun will give the child vast, godlike abilities, he will teach the savages the ways of civilization.
As Jor-El sends their child off into the void, he confesses to Lara that he is glad she is with him at the end, as, from the moment he first learned their genetic material was to be joined, he felt an emotion that had been largely unknown on Krypton for centuries:  love.
With that, Krypton explodes, and Kal-El is on his way to Earth, though a small, green chunk of his homeworld can be seen hitching a ride.
Next we see some additional changes, as a young Clark Kent \u2013 sans glasses \u2013 is winning yet another football game for Smallville High, almost single-handedly.
Rather than being proud, as he listens to the coach gushing about his son, Jonathan Kent takes note of the resentful faces of Clark\u2019s teammates, and he decides to interrupt Clark\u2019s post-victory celebration in order to show him something and to let him know that he\u2019s not mad, just disappointed.
The \u201csomething\u201d he wants to show him is the gestation matrix in which Clark arrived on Earth some eighteen years earlier.
He tells Clark about the night on which they found him, about how a sudden and severe blizzard hit the area and the brutal winter left the Kents cut off from the rest of Smallville for months, after which they presented Clark to the world as their own child, born at home during the difficult winter.
Of course, he wasn\u2019t their own child, as the intervening years clearly demonstrated in the form of Clark\u2019s gradual development of superhuman abilities, such as his recently-discovered ability to fly.
And while Jonathan and Martha had indulged him for years, the time had finally come to take him to task for abusing his abilities to become a star athlete, and for him to accept that he might have a greater purpose in life.
As if overcome by the weight of this information, Clark suddenly takes ill, and Jonathan brings him home, neither of them noticing the shadowy figure observing their departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“You’re looking kinda green, Clark.” (Ba-dum-tsh!) Also: Dun dun DUN!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(Of course, it wasn\u2019t just the shock that got to Clark \u2013 it was the chunk of Kryptonite embedded in the ship, but that doesn\u2019t actually come into play in the min-series.  Nor does the shadowy figure.)
Back at the Kent farm, we meet Martha, who asks Clark not to hate them for keeping this secret all these years.  For his part, Clark says that he could never hate them, and that they\u2019re right about everything.  He can\u2019t keep squandering his abilities for personal gain.  He needs to use them to help make the world a better place, though he also needs to do so in secret.  After all, if the world saw what he could do, it would be even more disheartening than what his teammates experienced as they sat on the bench watching him win games by himself.
And so, he decides that he will leave that very night to go out to find his place in the world, though first there\u2019s someone he needs to talk to\u2026.
Years later, we find Martha tending to a scrapbook in which she keeps clippings about mysterious happenings throughout the world.  Falling people saved by a sudden gust of wind, a collapsing bridge holding out just long enough for people to get to safety, etc.
Though no one else knows it, these stories are all obviously the exploits of their globetrotting son.  However, as Jonathan scans the morning paper, he finds some material for Martha\u2019s scrapbook that they hoped to never see, as the headline story is \u201cMysterious Superman Saves Space Plane,\u201d with an accompanying blurry photo of a flying man.
Before the news can sink in, they hear a noise from Clark\u2019s old room, where they find a distressed Clark babbling about everyone wanting a piece of him.
He tells the story of saving the experimental space plane (it was originally going to be the space shuttle, apparently, but after the Challenger disaster some changes were made), which was flying over the city of Metropolis as part of a city celebration, when it hit by a smaller craft and was about to crash.  Having no other option, he opted to save the plane in, er, plain sight of everyone present.
After safely landing the craft, he attempted to fly off, but found himself stopped by a certain beautiful young reporter, who had been aboard the plane:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Whatever your faults, Byrne, you had a good handle on Lois, unlike the Lois-hating jackholes who run the place now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While he felt some sort of spark pass between them, before either could speak, he was mobbed by the crowd, and, in a panic, he flew away.
With the cat now out of the bag, the Kents get to work on creating the new Clark Kent, through the use of a slicked back hair, a slouch, and a pair of Jonathan\u2019s old glasses, and the other, more colorful identity of Superman, taking the name from the headline story.
And so, we come to the end of the story as Clark heads off into the world once more to face his destiny.
Up next:  The Story of the Century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Thoughts:<\/strong>
In the course of his then nearly fifty-year history, the character of Superman had undergone a lot of changes, many of them introduced retroactively, and a lot of them were the result of incorporating ideas from other adaptations into the comics.  Kryptonite, for example, was introduced on the Superman radio show, as was, if I recall correctly, Superman\u2019s Pal, Cub Reporter Jimmy Olsen.
So, all things considered, that everything would be changed was kind of the status quo for the character.
Even so, for people who, like me, had become accustomed to a certain \u201ctake\u201d on Superman, Byrne\u2019s reimagining came as something of a shock, all of which, as mentioned, started with that strange new vision of Krypton.
In his first adventure, we really didn\u2019t learn much of anything about his native planet Krypton, other than that it had existed, its inhabitants were very scientifically advanced and more highly-evolved than humans, it had an intense gravity that was many times that of Earth, and it had been blown up.
Over the years, it would be developed further, as its history, culture, and environment were explored in various stories, and the Krypton that comic fans came to know was a very different place from that presented by Byrne.
One of the things that I liked most about Byrne\u2019s version of Superman overall was that there was very little in the way of Donner worship.  That is, he paid little attention to the version of Superman that graced the silver screen in 1978.
The one area in which he did seem to draw a bit from the film was in the basic look of Krypton.  Thankfully, he didn\u2019t make everything out of crystals, but the overall barren landscape of Byrne\u2019s Krypton had more in common with the Donner version than the lusher version presented in the comics prior to Byrne.
(Sadly, the younger generation of creators who liked the Donner film much more than I did would go on to impose a lot of the movie\u2019s sensibilities onto the character and the overall mythology.)
However, ultimately, one could argue, Krypton is kind of irrelevant anyway.  Sure, it\u2019s a part of his origin, but the specifics of what the world was like have little bearing on the story of Superman.
Still, I wasn\u2019t thrilled at the time that Byrne had essentially turned Krypton into Vulcan, but in time I came to appreciate his vision of it as a world that was essentially dead already even before it exploded, and I kind of liked the inversion of Jor-El.
After all, in the previous continuity, what set Jor-El apart from his fellow Kryptonians was his staggering intellect; he was an unparalleled genius in a world that was full of geniuses.  Here, it\u2019s not his intellect that sets him apart, but rather his emotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n