Superman: Year One No. 1: Smallville as told by Frank Miller

Credit

: John Romita Jr, Danny Miki, and Alex Sinclair (DC Comics); cover for

Superman: Year One No. 1

A Stillanerd Review — You will believe that the creator of “The Dark Knight Returns”, “Sin City”, and “300” can tell a decent Superman origin…seriously.

Writer and artist Frank Miller is a living legend among comic book devotees. His run on Daredevil both defined and popularized the character, continuing to have an impact three decades and counting. The Dark Knight Returns is widely regarded as the greatest Batman story of all time, and, alongside Watchmen, a genuine work of literature. The film adaptations of Sin City and 300, both of which he had a creative hand in, are considered stylistic masterpieces.

All this being said, Miller has definitely seen better days. Both his Dark Knight Returns sequels, especially The Dark Knight Strikes Again, are considered obscure parodies at best and dumpster fires at worst. The only good that came out of his infamous and unfinished All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder was one of the most hilariously bad internet memes of all time. His own stint in the director’s chair, The Spirit (2008), resulted in one of the worst comic book movies ever made. Finally, his controversial Holy Terror, originally conceived as Batman vs. Al Qaeda, nearly torpedoed his career.

Credit

: Frank Miller, Danny Miki, Alex Sinclair (DC Comics); from

Superman: Year One No. 1

…for those of us expecting another glorious disaster, Miller disappoints yet again. Because it turns out that Superman: Year One No. 1 is actually good. Not great, mind you, but certainly one of the better comic books Miller has written in several years.

Thus learning Miller’s next project would be a collaboration with artist John Romita Jr. on another Superman origin story, you really can’t blame some folks for thinking this was a joke. After all, every time Miller depicted the Man of Steel, even in Dark Knight Returns, he always presented him as a milquetoast enforcer of the status quo. Nor did it come as any surprise that, given Miller’s penchant for depicting violence, language, and adult content, that Superman: Year One would fall under DC’s “Black Label,” their new imprint intended for mature readers.

But for those of us expecting another glorious disaster, Miller disappoints yet again. Because it turns out that Superman: Year One No. 1 is actually good. Not great, mind you, but certainly one of the better comic books Miller has written in several years. No, I have not lost my mind, though I’m in just as much shock as you probably are.

The real surprise of Superman: Year One No. 1 is that instead of creating an adult take on the oft-told Superman origin story, Miller opted for something more old-fashioned. Even more shocking is that, despite its mature warning, there’s no explicit content whatsoever. There are mature themes, true, but nothing you wouldn’t also find in a regular book geared towards teenagers and up. Only one disturbing scene involving Clark Kent’s high school sweetheart, Lana Lang, almost crosses the line; but even here, Miller shows remarkable restraint. In fact, the most astonishing aspect about this comic is just how wholesome it is.

Of course, plenty will say Miller offers nothing new in this retelling. They do have a point. This isn’t Superman: Birthright, and it certainly doesn’t top the opening of Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman, who managed to encapsulate who Superman is in just five, simple phrases. But to Miller’s credit, there are some neat flourishes, like showing Krypton’s destruction from baby Kal-El’s point-of-view, which Miller also illustrates. Or how even as a young man, Clark Kent was naturally charismatic, attracting his own clique of nerds, geeks, and other social outcasts, protecting them from a gang of increasingly sadistic bullies.

Credit

: John Romita Jr., Danny Miki, Alex Sinclair (DC Comics); from

Superman: Year One No. 1

You will also not find an emotionally confused, introverted Clark who yearns to be normal here. Unlike the Smallville TV series, the Superman: Earth One graphic novels, Man of Steel (2013), and other modern retellings, this Clark isn’t confused about who he is. Nor is he afraid of his own powers. His dilemma isn’t whether he should use those powers to help people, it’s how he can use them without making things worse for those he cares about. And just because he’s unafraid of what he can do doesn’t make him conceited, either. As he tells a concerned Jonathan Kent, he’s not “better than anybody” just because he’s “better at doing stuff.”

Speaking of Clark’s adoptive dad, this is one of the most positive depictions of fatherhood in pop culture I’ve ever read. As quaint as it is seeing Clark and Jonathan playing catch, Miller effectively shows how much Clark’s father shaped his moral compass. Moreover, while this version of Jonathan Kent tells Clark not to act like a “show off,” he also stresses how Clark should be “nobody’s doormat,” or that he shouldn’t stand by and do nothing when he sees something that’s wrong and can do something about it. This Jonathan certainly wouldn’t respond to his son’s “What am I supposed to do, just let them die?” with a “Maybe.”

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As for the much ballyhooed “Clark joins the Navy SEALS,” it actually makes complete sense in context. In also an honest look at a person’s decision to go into military service and the effect it has on their families. Just because Clark’s invulnerable doesn’t mean Martha Kent shouldn’t worry about him any less. It also allows for a very heartwarming goodbye moment between Clark and Lana on the day he leaves for basic training.

Nevertheless, there’s no denying this comic is full of grade-A hokum. Martha Kent especially comes across as a stereotypical Midwestern housewife. It also seems a bit much that the gang of bullies Clark faces are so untouchable that “they’re [practically] turning Smallville into Gotham City.” Also, Miller’s terse, punchy, Mickey Spillane-inspired narration feels extremely off for a character like Superman. It also gets very confusing with its constant shifts between past and present tense and first and third-person, even shifts in character point-of-view.

Credit

: John Romita Jr., Danny Miki, Alex Sinclair (DC Comics); from

Superman: Year One No. 1

Is Superman: Year One No. 1 a reinvention and revitalization for the Superman like The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One were for Batman? No, but it doesn’t try to be. It just wants to tell a simple, heartwarming story about a boy growing up with super powers.

The biggest drawback, however, isn’t Miller’s writing, but John Romita’s Jr.’s illustrations. Over his career, Romita Jr. has stylistically moved away from his father, John Romita Sr.’s, realism towards Miller’s minimalism. Hence when the switch between Miller and Romita’s art happens during Kal-El’s landing on Earth, it’s almost unnoticeable. But where Miller’s art crackles with energy, Romita Jr.’s looks unnaturally stiff. Even a double page spread in which Clark tosses the local bullies, the bullies look a though they’ve been posed instead of thrown.

Romita Jr.’s figures themselves look particularly off. Save for their eyes, hair, skin and clothing, they all have the same enlarged eyes, the same oversized heads, the same featureless, boxy bodies. Thank goodness most of his panels consist of simple, one-point perspective side views, because when drawing a scene at any other angle, he loses any sense of foreshortening. Thankfully, the backgrounds and the finer details which go with them are exquisite with detail, with Alex Sinclair’s colors given them even greater vibrancy.

Is Superman: Year One No. 1 a reinvention and revitalization for the Superman like The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One were for Batman? No, but it doesn’t try to be. It just wants to tell a simple, heartwarming story about a boy growing up with super powers. If there’s anything to glean from it, is that even more donning the cape and tights, Clark was always Superman, protecting and inspiring others. It isn’t, and doesn’t have to be, any more complicated than that.

Stillanerd’s Score: 3.5 out of 5