Of Things Super and of Man

I have noticed on my blog that I write an awful lot about Superman. That's ok, it's a topic that I enjoy.

It's officially the holiday season and aside from my usual viewing of "It's A Wonderful Life", humming Christmas tunes, and just generally feeling better about life in general, I like to re-read my (second) copy of "Superman: Peace on Earth.

Written by Paul Dini (ABC's "Lost") and illustrated by Alex Ross, it is a story of Superman as he should be told. At his core, Superman is an alien. He is not one of us in every way imaginable. The best writers are the ones that tell stories of him striving to fit in, but never quite succeeding. Yes, Superman doesn't succede at the one thing that we all take for granted, being human.

The story revolves around Superman realizing that the holidays have an ugly under belly. The over-abundance our our parties and gift-giving are dwarfed by a world gripped by starvation and need. As a being that can push moons from their orbits, he should be able to do something about this. Right?

Wrong.

I won't give it away, but I do believe that this is a graphic novel for anyone, especially for people who don't understand the wonderful stories being told on these four color pages. Not only is it beautifully realized through Ross' art but the story is told stricly through the first person narrative of Kal-el. There are no word balloons, no sound effects, and you will not find the words "biff" or "pow" anywhere in the pages. I have given copies out to various people who have all said they enjoyed it. (My wife, of course, refuses to have anything to do with it.)

Incidentally, I stumbled across the Wikipedia entry for Superman and it's terrific.