Comic Book Coffee Break #54

  Thanks for joining me on my Comic Book Coffee Break!  Today I'm having Jockey Streets Three Falls blend coffee with cream and Vanilla.

It's been a minute, but I eventually finished my New 52 Superman reread.

DC Comics

I don't even remember why now, but I decided to do a reread of the New 52 Superman.  My memories were that It started clunky, but by the time I reached Final Days of Superman I was completely invested. I went back to see if I could capture that magic again, and found I really couldn't. 

Wait though. 

I was going to have my wife read along, but was only going to give her the necessary and/or top tier volumes to read.  That proved harder than I'd expected.  I did enjoy the second half of the reread, but I kept waiting for the one that knocked it out of the park and it just never really came. Still, when I got to Final Days, I found it just as moving. That Truth to Final Days stretch is some of my favorite Superman of all time.  The issue is that it's not any one volume or story. And taken piecemeal, it doesn't really hold up. It's a package deal, and you've got to be in the right place for it or it doesn't land. So it didn't really work to isolate the best stories from the era. I think what I like is deeper than that. It gets the essence of Superman and his core goodness better than most. 

Starting with Truth his powers are in decline, but he can't stop being Superman.  Not because of outside pressure or expectations, he just can't stop.  It's who he is.  Powers are irrelevant.  So he just keeps going, even when it stops being practical or realistic. 

Then you move into a false sense of security when powers are restored, only to be undercut with the events leading in to Final Days.  Again, I don't think this should really work, but for me it did. The final issues are incredibly moving and I found myself mourning the New 52 version of the character.  Even with the reveal that the original is back on the job, you still have to accept that the fact that the character you've been following since the Grant Morrison relaunch is just dead. And that's forever. 

What's stark about that is typically, when a character dies in comics, it's rare that real feelings are attached because you know it isn't going to stick. This is different though, because, yes there will always be a Superman.  Just not this one.  

And I liked this one. 

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You can find back issues of the video version of Comic Book Coffee Break here.
The audio version of Comic Book Coffee Break is over there. 
You can find me as the co-host of 9021 Here We G0: A 90210 Rewatch Podcast and This Endorian Life, both for the Radio Meanwhile Network. 
I also host Howe's Things, the podcast and radio show of the David A. Howe Public Library.