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Who else but Kurt Busiek can take a character as iconic, as immortal, as familiar as Superman and turn into a literary character that is fresh, new and entirely relevant and fascinating today? After all, Kurt had long ago made it his main interest to study the different relationships so-called "super-heroes" could have with the real world and with real people, in his Astro City series and in his timeless masterpiece Marvels, and while other great authors, such as Alan Moore, Frank Miller and Grant Morrison, who toyed with these ideas in the late 80's when they were still trendy, moved on to explore new areas the graphic novel medium could be applied to, he is still fascinated with a genre that is as old as the medium itself, and keeps finding ways to make it new and fresh. It's only natural that he finally deals with the one character that started it all.
Busiek's take is original and unexpected; it's important for Superman fans to realize that the lead character in this story is not the Superman they know and love: as such, it's difficult to even consider it a `Superman story'. Secret Identity takes place not in Smallville and Metropolis, but in the real Kansas and New York City, and the protagonist is a young aspiring writer who just happens to be stuck with the unfortunate name Clark Kent. What follows may be far-fetched to say the least, but as soon as you allow yourself to accept the basic assumptions of the story - which is, after all, an important thing to do while reading any super-hero story - you'll find it a fascinating, deep and above all realistic study of character, difficult ethical questions on both global and personal levels, and the intricate philosophical problems behind the very concept of the super-hero - ones that make the phrase `with great power comes great responsibility sound truly trivial, and it's relevant to real world and to today's reality as well.
Stuart Immonen's artwork is ideal for the story, and it's the best that he'd produced yet. The artwork is highly realistic, which compliments the realistic story; but it's not the photo-realism of Alex Ross and Marvels - rather, Immonen's is a minimalist's realism, his artwork being highly stylish and subtle and giving more importance to the subtleties of a human face than to buffed-up muscles and intricate metal machines. The artwork completes the real feeling that Secret Identity succeeds in sending across, and in that manner it may be somehow stronger than Marvels - Marvels was the story of a normal person in a fantastic world, Secret Identity is the story of a real person in a real world, in a fantastic situation. And it works its way around the entirely impossible situation that it depicts to make it look entirely convincing in a low-key, quiet way. It's a remarkable achievement for Busiek, and one of the best graphic novels of recent years.
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This is one of the best "Elseworlds type " stories I've read in a while. It's superbly drawn and written and makes you feel as though the events are happening right now. Nothing seems so extraordinarily out of place and impossible to happen.And this book spans almost the whole lifetime of the Clark Kent/Superman character. Everyone I know that have read it loved it so it's highly recommended.
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I have been reading comics for almost 20 years now, and Superman stands as the one I like the most (ok, it is old fashioned, he can be pretty boring, but what can I say, he was the first and still the best).
I guess we all have our definition of the character we like the most, and for me it has been tough to beat Donner?s Superman, the Alan Moore stories and Byrne?s Man of Steel, but this one did it.
It is an amazing story for a lot of good reasons, outlied by previous reviwers so well, it?s is firmly placed in a real and credible world, the character is very well developed, he is smart, the government have a very interesting role and the art is gorgeous (Immonen art is really amazing, haven?t seen something that good in quite some time).
But above all, for me, this is what Superman is all about. Forget Kal-El, for me he will allways be Clark Kent and that says a lot. He is a real good guy, who has these amazing powers and decide to sacrifice himself, his personal life, to do good. He has this great heart and for me that is the core in Superman?s life. He is totally devoted to Lois and she is the one who makes him complete, their love shines tru the pages (I have been missing it in normal continuity).
If you would have two Superman books to buy, I would recommend "Whatever Happened to the man of tomorrow" and this one, hands down.
As Plato said in the "Republic", his Utopian state needed heroes and myths to set higher standards to the people. Well, this is the standard we should follow, morally and in comics.
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There is another Superman movie coming out this year, but we have known for a long time from all of the comic books, television series, and movies that this is an archetypal character. Whether we are talking about one of the Elsewhere comic books where the last son of Krypton lands in another time and place or if the stories are set before Clark Kent every puts on the costume as in the WB's "Smallville," these diverse stories have stayed true to the character. There is something to be said for a character that stands for truth, justice, and the American way.
In "Superman: Secret Identity," writer Kurt Busiek and artist Stuart Immonen provide yet another variation on the theme. Busiek took his inspiration from "DC Comics Presents" #87, written by Elliot S. Maggin and pencilled by Curt Swan, which was released during DC's "Crisis on Infinite Earths" retrenchment. This was the story of the Superboy of Earth-Prime, a young Clark Kent who grew up on the DC alternate Earth that was supposed to be the "real world," which is to say that there were neither superheroes nor aliens, and everybody knew the DC heroes as comic book characters. This was the story of a Clark Kent who was picked on by classmates for having the name and also the looks of Superman's secret identity. But you do not need to have read that story to appreciate what Busiek and Immonen do in this four-part mini-series collected in this trade paperback.
We meet Clark Kent celebrating another birthday in a small town in Kansas. His dad thought it would be neat to have a famous name and his mother thinks it it fun that there are all these toys about her son, but this Clark Kent has never found any of it to be funny. Then there is the jerk at school who is always taunting him to use his super powers. Even the nerds expect him to know everything about Superman, but Clark knows next to nothing because all of the Superman comic books and toys end up in the bottom of his closet. Then one day he suddenly wakes up to discover that he has Superman's powers.
What would you do if you suddenly discovered that you could fly? The answer for this Clark Kent is to spend every spare moment flying. But then he sees someone in danger and saves their life. The good deed does not go unnoticed and Clark has to decide if he should contact the reporter who wrote the first story about the "Flying Boy" to see if there are others like him around. However, the government is trying to track him down and the most realistic part of the story for me was the idea that it would drive whoever was in Washington crazy to think there was a super being out there that they could not control. After all, we have known for quite some time that the government does not stand for truth, justice and the American way. What I liked best about "Secret Identity" is that this Superman is not stupid.
This story is told in four parts. Chapter One, "Smallville," has Clark discovering his powers and coming to a decision about whether or not to go public. Chapter Two, "Metropolis," finds Clark moving to New York City to be a writer and having his so-called friends setting him up with yet another women named Lois. But the government also gets its hands on him for the first time. Chapter Three, "Fortress," is about Clark becoming a father and taking steps to insure that the government will leave his family alove. Chapter Four, "Tomorrow," finishes the story with an aging Superman whose powers are waning wondering if this is the end of the road or if he is simply the first generation of his kind.
"Secret Identity" is a thoughtful story and Busiek uses captions to delve into what this Clark Kent is thinking. There is no explanation as to whether he is a strange visitor from another planet or a mutant, because his origin is not germane to the story line, which ultimately explores how Superman would operate in the real world. Superman saves lives. Why would anyone want to change that? The fact that he was always Clark Kent and never Kal-el in this story is very important because this time around it makes Superman the secret identity in the story. I have always maintained that in the "real world," every minute Superman spends as Clark Kent is a minute where people are getting killed that he could have saved. But Busiek and Immonen have reworked the calculus of his life so that the balance is (almost) justified. Ultimately it is not Superman who is made real in this story, but Clark Kent.
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He's Clark Kent. That's what his parents named him. Growing up, the other kids made fun of him. He's heard every possible joke that can be imagined about having the same name as the comic-book character Superman; but he's never considered them funny. And he's never been a Superman fan.
But inexplicably, as Clark grows up he discovers that, just like Superman in the comics, he is developing super-powers. He has to learn to master these new abilities, how to hide them from others, and just what he should do with them. In a world where super-heroes exist only in comic books, the boy named Clark Kent has the opportunity to become a real-life super-hero; but is that what he really wants?
If you have ever daydreamed about what it would be like to become your favorite super-hero, you'll identify with Clark. You'll also recognize all of the issues that a person with Superman's powers would have to deal with: should he "go public", does he dare to love a woman, how does he choose which situations merit his super-help? You will discover, as Clark does, that being Superman brings about its own set of problems and concerns. And you just might come to decide that being a normal, non-super person is sometimes a good thing.
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