By now you may know that a new comic dropped for Walmart, a 100 page special written by Tom King titled “Superman 100-Page Giant“. The issue featured some imagery some found disconcerting. As this story has been covered by other outlets, but not well, I’ve opted to hop in on this. The story features Lois Lane dying in several pages, though context does matter, and so does intent. The reason Lane is dying? Because Superman can’t reach her and has no idea if she’s ok or not, causing him to have serious anxiety attacks where he imagines the worst.
Like ANYONE does if someone won’t return their calls after a prolonged period of silence. People have promptly overreached in their effort for their opinion to be validated. I have not read the book, full disclosure, however I can safely say that nothing in this book is graphic or gratuitous, because it was more than likely checked and double checked before it went to the printers. Terms like ‘snuff comic’ don’t accurately describe this book, because I’ve seen far worse that was given great praise.
So yes, an overreaction. However, King has since responded to the controversy, saying to CBR’s inquest;
Because it isn’t widely available, I’m not sure people know the story (which is beautifully told by Andy, Sandra, and Brad). So here it is: On a mission far from home, Superman tries calling home. Lois doesn’t answer. As people do when they can’t get in touch with their loved ones, he starts imagining worst case scenarios. Why won’t she answer? Images of her demise crowd his thoughts, driving him crazy. In the end, the line connects and Superman and Lois discuss how worried they are about each other.
They both lead dangerous lives; however, neither of them asks the other to compromise that life. Lois has her career; Superman has his. Despite the worry and risk, they trust each other, they depend on each other. Regardless of the hard of it all, they both go forward and they both continue to save the world. To me this is a metaphor for the best parts of love. Love comes with stress, agony, risk, vulnerability, and we shouldn’t deny that stress, agony, risk, and vulnerability.
However, love also comes with the unique joy of putting your faith in someone else, of knowing that someone else puts their faith in you. This story is not about the deaths of Lois Lane or the anxieties of Superman; it is about the love of Lois Lane and the love of Superman, the enduring strength of these amazing, iconic characters.
Marcus always does a better job summing how these type of overreactions go, so I’ll defer to him on Thursday on ComicCorp for his take on the overreaction of these events. But if you think a woman getting shot in the head is a ‘snuff’ comic, then god damn, don’t look at what Black Adam did to the Psycho Pirate; ‘cus it may make you die from fright.
In Other News…
Beth Schwartz revealed that the effects of Elseworlds will not be seen in any true form for Oliver Queen until next season. We saw Queen make a deal with The Monitor at the end of Elseworlds ,opting to give up something in return to the world being fixed.
According to Business Insider, Young Justice: Outsiders and Titans are two of the most popular streaming shows according to Parrot Analytics. Apparently Young Justice was the most popular and Titans was “…the week’s next most popular”. Which I think is a long winded way of saying they were #1 and #2 for the week. If you’ve seen either show, you know that they both deserve it.
To Round Things Up;
Lio Rush, Ricochet, Dakota Kai, Candice LaRae, Lacey Evans, Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett have been added to the WWE’s 2k19 game for $9.99. Because why give someone the full game for a listed price? According to Variety, Disney wants to renew The Simpsons for two more seasons at least when they acquire the property. They report that the show is set to get a 31st and 32nd season. SyFy’s show The Magicians has been given a fifth season, which is surprising for me, since I forgot this show was on the air. Shit really went down hill during season 2. And finally, Hideo Kojima has endorsed Aquaman, so that’s either great or terrible depending on how you feel of Kojima. (ALL-JAPAN, KO-JIMA, LARIAT, LARIAT, LARIAT)