Remember when J. Michael Straczynski walked away from the Superman and Wonder Woman titles to focus on the second volume of the highly successful Superman: Earth One? Well we’ll get to see the sequel arrive in bookstores this year.
“The overwhelming success of volume one of SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE – 37 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list for graphic novels – meant we had to ensure that Volume Two was even better,” said Straczynski. “We couldn’t just rest on our laurels. (And does anyone actually rest on laurels? Are there gatherings of laurel-resters? If so, why haven’t I been invited? These are the questions that keep me up at night while the rest of the world dreams.) Thematically, if Volume One was about Clark figuring out where he belongs, then Volume Two is about Superman trying to figure out where he belongs in all this, even as the world does the same at their end. How far can he push his power before he becomes something other than what he intended to become? In the midst of all this Clark gets his first apartment, becoming entangled with a beautiful woman next door, Lois starts trying to figure out what it is about Clark that doesn’t add up, and a new and terrifyingly strong version of the Parasite is born from what was previously a serial killer…and now Superman has to confront someone who is not only as strong as he is, but can drain his power completely. In the aftermath of one of the massive battles that threatens to tear apart Metropolis, Clark for the first time feels what it’s like to be normal, to be mortal, to be vulnerable…to be us. In the end, Volume Two is about power: its use and abuse, and its place in the world, to be used for good or for evil.”
Volume 2 promises to amp up the action and give readers and even greater threat to Superman and Earth (one).
via The Source
5 Comments
I’ll give JMS some credit, when he commits to something (i.e. Babylon 5) it can be some of his best work ever. Then there’s the Superman and Wonder Woman runs that just had no heart. So here’s hoping he’ll actually commit to Earth One and other works from now on.
I really enjoyed volume one of JMS on Earth One. I’ll pick up volume two to see if he can keep me interested. However, it seems like Grant Morrison’s run on Action is filling the current need for Superman Year One stories. From a marketing perspective, does having a “graphic novel” series and a monthly comic series that tell completely unrelated stories but cover the same portion of Superman’s career hurt the brand? Or do the bookstore sales of Year One really hit THAT different of a demographic? I mean, we’re all use to and accept continuity changes in origin stories over the course of months/years/decades, but is it too much if those differing stories are being presented simultaneously?
As you said, the comic fans who might be reading Action Comics every month will be able to the fact that the Earth One book is a different take on early Superman. They know what an elseworlds book is.
And the rest of the buyers of the Earth One books – those that never step foot in a comic shop – won’t have read Morrison’s early Superman Action Comics run anyway.
Not to mention the first Earth One volume came out just after Johns’ Superman: Secret Origin gave us a completely different take on early Superman. That didn’t seem to cause any confusion, or at least didn’t seem to hurt the sales of the Earth One book.
I think there has been enough press about the “Earth One” graphic novels that most people, especially comic book readers understand that this is a different continuity that the comic books.
I’ve never been a Superman fan. The last Superman series was Byrne’s run in the 80’s. Volume one, I picked up immediately after hearing the great reviews. It was worth it.