Sending Sympathies to Superman

JMS can be a good writer. Hell, he can be a great writer. But I still have to send my condolences to Superman fans unhappy with his new direction, because it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

The JMS Spider-Man run was filled with plenty of great moments, both large and small. Were there missteps? Of course; it was a seven year run. Were there just completely stupid ideas? Yup; it's inevitable. But! Here's the fatal flaw in JMS's comic work that I've noticed: he absolutely won't let a bad idea die. If he likes it, he's going to see it through to its conclusion, wherever that may be.

The Spider-Totem stories were an example of this. Yes, the first fight with Morlun was awesome. But the actual substance that Moruln and Ezekiel brought to the overall narrative was interesting exactly because it was left vague. Was Ezekiel right, or was he full of crap? At the end of the first six-parter, the issue is left to the reader.

And then Shanthra came along, and the issue became less vague. After all, Shanthra only zeroed in on Peter because he'd been "pulled" to the spirit of Anasasi during a short trip to the Astral Plane. Seems like Ezekiel was right after all, huh? And frankly, since Shanthra and Morlun are essentially the same character, this new arc didn't bring anything interesting to the table.

Now, admittedly, the Book of Ezekiel story was much more satisfying, although I think losing Zeke himself was a bad move. Still, it was over, and the original sense of ambiguity about the totems was restored.

And then came The Other. A twelve-part crossover of ideas we'd seen before. More totem ideas. The story was over! It was over! But with the events of the Other, the totem ideas were permanently (until OMD, I guess), bonded to the character, as his very powers were altered.

But perhaps a more sufficient demonstration of this tenacity is Sins Past. Frankly, Sins Past is the first big crack in the JMS run. (Followed by The Other, and Peter being a complete tool in Civil War.) I'm not upset about "sullying Gwen Stacy's character" or other such things, because I'm in the camp that believes Lee/Romita Stacy didn't have a character. (Lee/Ditko Stacy, on the other hand...) No, this story is bad because its basic premise is stupid.

The original premise wasn't stupid, wherein the children were Peter Paker's, not Norman Osborn's. But Marvel, in one of the last times they'd make a really good decision about Spider-Man's relationships with women, axed the idea of Peter having mutant bastard babies.

So, with the dramatic and emotional underpinnings of the story taken out from under him, what does JMS do? He simply tosses the story out, and begins work on the next one.

Oh, wait. That's what a normal person would do. But not JMS. He writes the damn story anyway, and just substitutes a different father, thus creating one of the most uneven Spider-Man stories of all time.

What I'm getting at for you unfortunate Superman readers is that it seems JMS has got a completely flawed idea of Superman into his head as he writes the new series. And he's not going to abandon any of the plot lines and story ideas about this misinterpreted Man of Steel. You're just going to have to deal with it. And unfortunately, it seems you all won't have Jenkins, Millar, David, or anyone else to turn to for a Superman fix.

Owch.