What He Writes Is Kryptonite

I've been reading Superman comics since 1992. I've also been reading both Superman titles from The New 52 and so far, I've been enjoying both of them. Superman has been hit and miss and reminds me way too much of the 1980s but it's recently sucked me in. Action Comics I have been enjoying thoroughly and was impressed with how good this reinvention of the character has been.

And then issue #6 came out.

Action Comics #6 continues with Superman's origin which began in #5 and interrupted the storyline that began in #1 but I can get past that. What I can't get past is the way Grant Morrison has changed the origin. I was fine with the parts of the origin in #5 but #6 seems to show that after Clark's adoptive parents died, seemingly at a young age, Clark went to live with the Legion of Super-Heroes? Clark also seems to be about eight or nine through most of the issue and has his powers (and constantly wears the cape that was sent with him from Krypton). You know why John Byrne and DC got rid of Superboy after Crisis? Because it's stupid. Having a pre-teen running around with powers is idiotic. It makes much more sense that Clark's powers develop at puberty. Another reason having an eight-year-old with those powers is that I don't care who that eight-year-old's parents are, that kid is going to show off. He already is by constantly wearing the cape THAT HAS THE S-SYMBOL ON IT!

This is just more proof to me that Grant Morrison can't write Superman. Don't get me wrong, Morrison has grandiose ideas for the character that seem like good ideas but then he ends up making them stupid. All Star Superman, which has regularly been deemed the best Superman story ever, didn't live up to my expectations. It seemed grounded in the Superman stories of the 50s and 60s where Superman is dying and tries to make the world better before he's gone. In those stories, he somehow survived, in All Star, he does not (or that's what we're led to believe). To me, Morrison turned Superman into a pathetic, whiny alien far removed from humanity. And yes, Superman is an alien, but he was raised a human. If it weren't for the superpowers, Clark would probably never know he was from Krypton.

If you want Clark to hang out with the Legion of Super-Heroes, fine. But you can't have him do that in his teens? And, by killing off his parents, Clark loses that thread of humanity. I don't know if Morrison chose to kill them off or if DC told him to but Clark's lack of parentage is obvious. He is much more alien and less human which may be why the New 52 Superman is not as well-liked as the previous incarnation.

Maybe I am jumping to conclusions too quickly. But Morrison's track record with me isn't great so far. We'll have to see how the remaining issues this year are.

The groundhog apparently saw his shadow today which means there will be six more weeks of winter. I just want to know if it will be the same kind of winter we've been having this season because it has been in the 60s all week and is the 16th warmest winter since 1909 (around these parts anyway).

The warmest? 2001-2002.