Red Son
Following a recommendation from londonkds, I've read Mark Millar's Red Son, aka the Superman AU in which his pod crashes in the Soviet Union instead of Kansas. Which was interesting to read and shared several elements with JMS' more recent Supreme Power, notably of course the idea of the Superman character raised to love the state and being driven towards the idea that assuming power might be the only way to deal with humanity's problems once the state starts to show its colours. I appreciated the twist on Batman's origin story (and Soviet! Batman coming complete with ear muffins both made sense and cracked me up), and the fact Lex Luthor is and remains an utter jerk throughout the story - defeating Superman as his only goal just becomes one sanctioned by (American) society and thus makes him everyone's hero instead of everyone's villain. Lastly, considering that likeadeuce found out, in Ultimate X-Men, that Millar seems to believe Das Kapital was written in Russian, I wasn't suprised on the, err, vague take on communism (though points to Millar for not just going the communism = bad, capitalism = good route, he just doesn't seem to have much of an idea how communist economy actually is supposed to work if he thinks Superman can make it a world wide success with superpowers.
His take on Superman goes the lonely Alien route, not suprising as this one doesn't have a Clark identity as such, either fake or real, and despite the red-headed girl from the colchose he was raised in, no real human ties. The way Lex defeats him fits completely, though one element annoys me, which is something I had problems with throughout the story - to wit, why the hell does Lois remain married to Lex Luthor? Because other than that she has to be there for the climax of the story so she can hand over that paper on which one devastating sentence is written, I can't really see a reason. No, he's not a supervillain in this universe but as previously mentioned an utter jerk, they hardly spend time together, so why? It's not that she needs the alternative of another man. Lois Lane in any incarnation should have enough spine to get divorced (in the 60s at the latest in this saga) because of herself.
I'm also not sure where Millar was going with the Luthorism at the end, because it sort of negates the point about the hubris of the assumption any one person, no matter how powerful and/or benevolent, can "save" humanity. As with Lois and her marriage, it seems more for the sake of a cool revelation (in that case, the final pages) than anything else.
His take on Superman goes the lonely Alien route, not suprising as this one doesn't have a Clark identity as such, either fake or real, and despite the red-headed girl from the colchose he was raised in, no real human ties. The way Lex defeats him fits completely, though one element annoys me, which is something I had problems with throughout the story - to wit, why the hell does Lois remain married to Lex Luthor? Because other than that she has to be there for the climax of the story so she can hand over that paper on which one devastating sentence is written, I can't really see a reason. No, he's not a supervillain in this universe but as previously mentioned an utter jerk, they hardly spend time together, so why? It's not that she needs the alternative of another man. Lois Lane in any incarnation should have enough spine to get divorced (in the 60s at the latest in this saga) because of herself.
I'm also not sure where Millar was going with the Luthorism at the end, because it sort of negates the point about the hubris of the assumption any one person, no matter how powerful and/or benevolent, can "save" humanity. As with Lois and her marriage, it seems more for the sake of a cool revelation (in that case, the final pages) than anything else.