Chatter: Tom Spurgeon

I like Superman movies. I have fond memories of seeing that first big-budget effort back when I was a young man, and I still enjoy the barrel-chested, gun-dodging performance of George Reeves on the television show whenever I see that one on cable. I'm sure there are a lot of others that are pretty good, too. 

I like Superman comics a lot more. 

I think Superman's primary value isn't as a global icon or some sort of universal licensing mechanism but as a comic book character in really good comic books. They're not my favorite comic books in the world, but I think a lot of the comic books with Superman in them are good, fun and affecting: the early Siegel-Shuster material; the increasingly obtuse and arch material of the 1950s; the wonderful Bizarro, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen stories; Jack Kirby's affecting use of the characters as a sideways element in his Fourth World stories; the well-meaning retrenching of the character and concept in the 1970s; some of what writers like Alan Moore and then later guys like Joe Casey have done in short bursts since.

-Tom Spurgeon

Quote for the Week 8/16/11

Because comics count more on the reader than most forms, it's that much harder to make a critical point -- you really are reading a different comic than anyone else has. There are people hooked on narratives, and people that only look at the art, and people that hang onto moments, and people that prefer it when the invisible mechanisms of the form hold greater and more obvious sway. There are people that pick up signals and signs related to a certain experience either received or adopted and judge art if it hits all of those buttons or not. They're all quick to tell you that the other people are doing it wrong

-Tom Spurgeon. If you haven't read his post on his recent illness, go read it. Don't bookmark it for later. Don't open it in a new tab. Go.