“Also, his foot. And that weird mole on his chest, no idea why we kept that.”
from Batman #240 (March 1972) by Denny O’Neil, Irv Novick, & Dick Giordano
At the store today:
Kid Chris: “Did the police in Gotham City ever solve any crimes?”
Me: “I think that’s what Gotham Central is about.”
KC: “I mean, before Batman showed up…it seems like he does all the work for them now. They should just make him Commissioner.”
Me: “‘Commissioner Batman?'”
So this All-Star Superman cover…I know it’s been discussed to death by now, but I just wanted to chime in with “it…it’s gorgeous!” Frank Quitely handles a pen quite nicely, he said with no innuendo whatsoever.
But speaking of innuendo, apparently there are a few folks out there who think that there’s some kind of “homoerotic” underpinning to the illustration, and as such undermines the character, or attacks family values, or some darn thing. An image of Superman just sittin’ on a cloud, relaxing, glancing over his shoulder has been interpreted as a “come hither” look…give me a break. Besides, if you want “homoerotic,” drink this in, baby. (Thanks to pal Corey for reminding me!)
EDIT: Another thing I was just reminded of…apparently the other problem with this cover is that it doesn’t “represent” Superman, that’s it’s not “iconic” enough. And, of course, what everyone means by that is “he’s not hitting anyone.” Well, we’ve had nearly 70 years worth of “Superman punching someone” covers, and now there’s one “Superman being relaxed” cover. I think the Union will stand.
For my favorite interpretation of the cover, I point you in the direction of my esteemed colleague, pal Dorian.
Apologies to the right and good Tony Isabella, who reminded me that, um, perhaps this post would have made a little more sense had I actually remembered to include the link to his article as I intended.
If you haven’t been visiting his site, regularly updated every couple of days or so, you’re missing some great reviews and commentaries from this industry veteran. So go check it out already…help assuage my guilt!
(Another EDIT) Due to being a victim of my own excess, I am rapidly approaching the limits of the monthly bandwidth allotted to me by my webhosting service. I think I’ve got it taken care of and my site shouldn’t go *poof* tomorrow when the limit is reached…but just in case, don’t panic if you get an error message. Believe me, I’ll be panicking enough for the both of us.
See you tomorrow…I hope!
