Superman: Earth One

Title: Superman: Earth One
Author: J. Michael Straczynski
Art: Shane Davis
Published: 2010

Am I allowed to do graphic novels as a part of my 2011 Reading List? I don't see why not. I mean, they're stories written by legitimate writers. Just because the words are accompanied by lots of pictures, I don't think that makes them any less relevant. You know what? It's my reading list, I can do whatever I want to!

Anyway, I picked this one up a couple months ago. At first I wasn't going to. I mean, at the time, I looked at it as an over-sized, over-priced, and over-hyped comic book. Not that there's anything wrong with that. A few years ago, I would have just bought it simply because it's a Superman story. But money's tighter than it used to be, now that I'm balancing a budget and paying bills. So I held off. Until I saw all the reviews.

Okay, I was just reading the reviews of other comic book geeks, but a lot of people seemed to like it. At that point, I got it. But I just never opened it to read it. Again, it's because I had some fairly pre-conceived notions about what it would be. It's another Superman origin story. How many different ways can you tell the story of the infant Kal-El being rocketed away from the doomed planet Krypton to land on Earth and become the hero known as Superman? Apparently, there are a lot of ways you can tell that story.

It's been done over and over again. Most recently, writer Geoff Johns did it in a mini-series called Superman: Secret Origin. And then the new Earth One came out. Side note: Johns is doing a Batman: Earth One graphic novel that's due out this year. That's right, another Batman origin story.

Anyway, I finally picked this up and read it. May as well, it cost me $17 to get it. But I tried to go into it by not thinking of this as the Superman I've grown up knowing and reading about. The few complaints I'd heard about this book were about how this just isn't the same Superman we've all known and loved for years. But that's sort of the point of this "Earth One" series. DC Comics wants to take this world that's outside of it's 75 year continuity and start with something fresh. This is supposed to be the Superman for the 21st Century. Does it succeed?

I read that one reviewer referred to this Superman as a "Marvel-ized" Superman. I'm not exactly sure what all that description implies. Mostly because I've never read Marvel Comics. Most people like to point out that Marvel's heroes are more flawed and more human than DC's heroes. I guess I can buy that. Does that mean that this version of Superman is more flawed or human than the standard issue? I'm not so sure.

I will say that this is definitely not Superman as we've always known him. This Superman is young and he's full of all kinds of angst. He's in his early 20s and he's just left Smallville for the first time. We get the sense that he doesn't really know what he wants to do with his life. We also get the impression that his adopted father, Jonathan, has recently passed away. So, despite moving to Metropolis after graduation from a junior college, he feels the heavy burden of wanting to take care of his mom, Martha Kent.

Clark soon goes job hunting. But it isn't like a typical 20-something pounding the pavement. This is a guy that can do anything. Literally. He tries out for professional sports teams. We get a glimpse of a Superman who has a super-intelligence as well as super-strength. But through it all, he's not able to find a career path that makes him happy. At this point, you want to stop feeling sorry for him.

I get it. I'm 30 years old and I still don't know what I want to do with my life. Well, I know what I want to do, I'm just not sure how to really get there. So I understand what it would feel like to be in a new place, not knowing how to find happiness. Maybe it's a more realistic take on what a kid with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men would be feeling. But I'm not so sure. I mean, yeah, he's the last of his kind, so there's that sense that he feels alone. But he was raised by the Kents. These are salt-of-the-earth kind of people who treated Clark as if he was their own flesh and blood. With the love that he was raised with, Clark Kent never had a reason to feel alone.

That's my only real complaint about this new take on an old story. Aside from that, we see a lot of action and an overall great introduction of a hero to the world. Superman is forced to battle an alien named Tyrell, who apparently comes from the same solar system as Superman. Tyrell's people come from a planet that is a neighbor to Krypton, and apparently these races were at war with each other off and on for centuries. Eventually, Tyrell's people were given the capability to destroy Krypton by an unknown benefactor. I smell a sequel, especially since this benefactor was never revealed to the reader.

Superman saves the day. Clark gets a job working for the Daily Planet. We meet Lois and Jimmy and Perry. Everything else sort of falls into place.

All told, it's a pretty decent story. And the artwork by Shane Davis is pretty awesome as well. I'm not sure if I'll be reading any more graphic novels as a part of my goal of 50 books this year. But if I do, try not to judge me.

Safe

Randy gripped the aluminum bat tightly in his hands. He stood next to home plate and stared down the pitcher. This was his second at bat in the game and this time he would get the hit.

In his first trip to the plate, Randy had gone down swinging. That kind of thing was always embarrassing for him. He had the best batting average on the team. So when any pitcher was able to strike him out like that, it was hard for him to let it go.

In the three innings since that strikeout, he had watched the pitcher. Randy knew his patterns now. And he waited for the pitch that would give him a home run. Okay, Randy knew that was unrealistic. Though he had a great batting average, he wasn't a power hitter. He may not get the home run, but he'd settle for a base hit. A double would be nice.


Randy expected the first pitch to be low and away. There would be no need to even bring the bat off his shoulder. The man on the mound threw the ball, and just as Randy predicted, it was low and away. It was blatantly outside the strike zone. Randy smiled back at the pitcher as if to say, "I've got you now."

The second pitch would either be a fastball down the middle, or he'd try to make him chase a change up. Randy had to watch and he had to be quick. The baseball came and he swung the bat. He made contact, but the ball flew away just to the outside of the third base line. Foul ball.

Randy was getting fed up. He wanted to get the hit and get on base. He tried to stay calm. He knew when he got impatient he got sloppy. But he couldn't help it. This was his mission, to get a hit off this cocky pitcher that sent him down in the first inning.

The third pitch came. Randy didn't think, he just swung. He made solid contact with the ball and it flew between the short stop and third baseman. Randy took off towards first. Out of the corner of this eye he saw the left fielder scoop up his grounder. But he would be on base long before the ball even left the fielder's hand.

When he got to first base, he stood there and looked at the pitcher. The pitcher wasn't looking back at him anymore. Randy just smiled again. He was safe on base. He got his hit.

Today's writing prompt is brought to you by Sunday Scribblings.

Where Were You?

There are certain events in history that trigger the question, "Where were you?" The question is asked in relation to hearing the news that something terrible has happened. For my grandparents' generation, the question can pertain to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. For my parents' generation, it can mean the assassination of JFK. For me, I can think of two such events: 9/11 and the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle.

Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster. And this was the question that my assistant manager at work asked us all. He and I are close in age, so our answers were similar. We were in school, watching the launch live on CNN. Students in classes across the country were watching as the Challenger lifted off because, for the first time, a civilian, a teacher, was being taken into orbit. I was in kindergarten, so I honestly don't remember much in regards to my reaction or the reactions of the kids and teachers around me. I remember shock. And I remember not understanding what we had seen.

So, if you're old enough to remember, where were you?

Question of the Week: Vengeance

Someone you love deeply is brutally murdered and you know the identity of the murderer, who unfortunately is acquitted of the crime. Would you seek revenge?

That all depends. How much do I have by way of resources? I mean, billionaire Bruce Wayne had all kinds of advantages in order to become Batman.

I have no doubt that there's a big part of me that would want to. But is it really revenge that I'd be seeking, or would it be justice? If this person has been acquitted of the crime, but it's a known fact that he or she committed the murder, is that considered justice? Simply because of a technicality?

Revenge is defined as exacting punishment for a wrong, especially in a resentful or vindictive spirit. Justice is the administering of deserved punishment or reward. A known murderer walking free has not received justice. But if it were me seeking justice in that kind of case, it would turn into revenge. It seems the only difference between the two is the spirit in which the punishment is carried out. The murder of a loved one would certainly cause me to seek revenge with a vindicitive spirit.

But I don't think I'd be able to bring myself to carry out any kind of true vengeance. I would probably be a lot of talk, and even then it'd mostly be under my breath. I'd wish horrible things upon the murderer, but I'm not exactly Mr. Confrontation. My over-comic-booked moral code would want to rationalize justice over vengeance, and then, who am I to decide what's just? We live in a country where we're supposed to trust the justice system. It isn't perfect, but it's what we've got. I guess that's what I'd have to live with. It would be painful watching someone get away with the murder of someone I loved, but I don't think I'd be able to live with that person's blood on my conscience either.

*Question of the Week comes from The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock, Ph.D.

Legends of the Bank Teller - Episode XCV

To the spoiled rich customers out there who like getting whatever you want just because you carry a certain average balance with my bank, stop coming to the drive through if you want us to wipe your butt for you. If you want a personal banker to hold your hand while you get all your transactions processed, you need to come inside and sit down at the customer service desk.

Scenario: A wealthy business owner came to my drive-thru. I've seen this man any number of times. He makes deposits into his business accounts. That's all I've ever helped him with. On this particular day, he came with a deposit and a check to cash. First of all, the check he was cashing was for $1500. I've been told that I'm not supposed to cash checks for more than a thousand at the drive-thru. This is for security purposes. But we were short handed that day and I didn't feel like dealing with the backlash of asking him to come inside.

When he initially drove up, I was already helping someone in the lobby. The lobby customer had multiple transactions. And I was treating them as I treat everyone, first come, first served. When I completed her transactions, I turned back to the window and ran the wealthy douche bag's deposit. When I saw the amount of the check, I asked for his ID. At this point he began throwing a temper tantrum.

"You don't recognize me?!" He then spouted off some obscenities, which I will spare you here.

"I do recognize you, but I've never cashed a check for you before, I just have to record that I saw it," I said, maintaining my calm.

He then proceeds to tell me to hurry up because he doesn't have time to sit around and wait. He also told me to make sure I didn't screw up on his deposit like I did last time. For the record, I have messed up his deposit before. It wasn't anything that he or I didn't catch right away. He's one of those guys that likes to just throw a pile of paperwork into the drawer without separating anything. So he could have one deposit ticket followed by a couple checks, and then another deposit ticket and a few more checks. When you're looking for speed and accuracy, help your teller out by having things separate. Just a good rule of thumb.

I'm barely containing my rage at this point. Not only has he shouted obscenities through the speaker at me, he's questioning my ability to even do the job I'm being paid to do. I counted out his money and passed it out to him. I ended the transaction with the same script I always do. It's nice to have the script when a customer is doing everything in his or her power to piss you off. He yelled back that I need to do a better job of recognizing my customers.

You know, for a very long time I've called into question whether or not I'm even cut out for customer service of any kind. I may not be very good at selling things or talking people into opening new accounts, but I can be polite and courteous 'til the cows come home. There are a lot of times when I may be repressing other feelings while trying to make the customer feel warm and welcome, but I've gotten pretty good at faking it when the situation calls for it.

I really don't want to become one of those cynical types that just completely hates working with people. I don't want to be someone that completely hates being around people altogether. But people like that make it really difficult to ever want to break out of this shell I've managed to build up around myself for so long. People like that, who just seem to be looking for a reason to complain and lookin for a reason to pick a fight are the kind of people that I don't want to deal with. It's people like that that make me want to quit this job on a daily basis. It isn't my co-workers. It isn't even the expectations that the powers that be have on me and my job performance. It's the rude, arrogant, selfish [expletive deleted] that make their way through here and make unreasonable demands of the people who are doing nothing but trying to help them.

The Silver Chair

Title: The Silver Chair
Author: C.S. Lewis
Published: 1953

I'm slowly working my way through C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. I say slowly, not because I'm reading the individual books slowly, but because I'm not reading them consecutively. Mostly, I pick one up when I don't have another book readily available for me to read. At some point during the course of last year, I read the first three: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Apparently, there's some argument over the order in which these books should be read. For some reason, at some point, people decided it would be a good idea to read them in Narnian chronological order. But I prefer to read them in the order in which they were published. That makes this book 4, not book 6 (even though the paperback set I have lists this as book 6). I don't get why it's so important. For me, I think it's just personal preference.

Anyway, of the four Chronicles that I've read thus far, this is my least favorite. Maybe it's because none of the original children appear. The Pevensie siblings are all gone from the story at this point, leaving us with their cousin, Eustace Scrubb (what a horrible name) and his new friend from school, Jill Pole. A lot of the book seems to be told from Jill's perspective since this is her first trip to Narnia.

When running from some school bullies, Eustace and Jill find themselves in Aslan's country on the far side of the sea. Aslan sends them both to Narnia with a quest: to find the elderly King Caspian's long lost son, Prince Rilian. Caspian is the same Caspian as seen in the previous two novels, in case you weren't really following along. Anyway, Rilian had been missing for ten years after riding off to the north to take out the snake that had killed his mother (who was briefly seen in Dawn Treader). So Aslan sent the two kids from the real world to go and find the Prince so there would be a proper king in Narnia when Caspian passed away. Adventures ensue and the Prince is saved. And there was much rejoicing in the land.

Not sure what it is about this installment that I didn't particularly care for. It isn't that it's a bad book. In fact, the scenes toward the end, when our heroes confront the antagonist, the Queen of the Underland, there are a lot of those Christian allusions that C.S. Lewis is famous for. I'm just saying, over all, I still like the first one better.

And now I need another book to read. It'll either be The Horse and His Boy or some other book if I can find one that I don't necessarily have to buy.

Legends of the Bank Teller - Episode XCIV

It isn't often that I get customers that are genuinely entertaining. Most of the time, I get customers that cause angry and frustrated feelings in me. In fact, most of the ones who think they're entertaining just end up being infuriating. People with eccessive personalities usually fall into that category. But today, I was lucky enough to get a really entertaining customer.

A man came into the lobby and I just happened to be free enough to help him out. He came up to the window and handed me a check. He said that some friends from his church gave it to him at Christmas and he wanted to cash it. He also gave me his ID, so I started doing my job. I looked over the check and saw how it was made out. The line containing the "Pay to the Order of" note was made out to Christ the King.

I was a little confused. But I continued on. I asked the man if "Christ the King" was the title of a business. My reasoning here was that it could be the name of a church. Pretty sure I've come across churches with that title before. He proceeded to inform me that it was not the name of a business. That it was meant to be Jesus Christ, hence, Christ the King.

Okay, I know I've been pretty lax on my church attendance of late. But I did grow up in church. Even without my years at a Baptist college, I spent enough time in Sunday School to know that this guy wasn't Jesus. Besides, the ID he handed me said his name was Todd. But I wasn't sure what to say. For a good 10-15 seconds I just stood there, looking from the check to his ID, unsure how to break the news to this guy, I can't cash this check. What if he actually thinks he's Jesus? You hear stories about people out there who have these delusions. I didn't want to be responsible for destroying this guy's psyche.

When I found my voice again, I told him I wouldn't be able to cash it. I simply informed him he'd have to take it back to the people that made the check and it would have to be made out in his name before I could do anything with it. Even if the guy thought he was Jesus, technically, Christ the King is a title, not a name. But, you know, call me Thomas if you want, but I'd really have to see more proof that this guy was really the Son of God. A North Carolina driver's license telling me your name is Todd just isn't gonna cut it.

AFI 98 - Yankee Doodle Dandee

Yankee Doodle Dandy

1942

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Netflix sleeve: James Cagney won the Best Actor Oscar for his lively portrayal of "Mr. Broadway," George M. Cohan, in this lavish screen biography that highlights Cagney in some of his finest song-and-dance routines. Cohan, a playwright, entertainer, composer and patriot, made his mark on the vaudeville stage and penned countless memorable tunes, including "Over There," "It's a Grand Old Flag," "Give My Regards to Broadway" and the film's rousing title number.

Up until now, I've never seen a single film with James Cagney. I know the name, I've seen people do impersonations over the years, I've just never seen anything that he's been in. It's not that I don't like to watch old movies. That's really not my problem. I've known people who refuse to watch movies if they're filmed in black and white. I'm not that way at all. Sadly, I just never turn on Turner Classic Movies to watch the older films. Yankee Doodle Dandy is a movie that I wasn't really looking forward to getting to on the list, even though its just third from the bottom. And that's only because I didn't know much about it. I didn't know it was based on the life of a real person. I didn't know it contained a number of songs that I'd heard countless times over the years. I didn't know that Cagney could dance. That's probably something I would have known if I'd seen more of his pictures. Some of the times when he's dancing on the stage, he looks a little like a marionette whose strings have been cut. Not saying that's bad, his movement is just kind of crazy. The character that Cagney portrayed was an incredibly patriotic individual and it showed in nearly all of his work. His life story is told as a lead up to President Roosevelt presenting him with the Congressional Medal of Honor in the end. Does that count as a spoiler if the movie was released nearly 70 years ago? I hope I didn't just ruin it for you.

Eternity

This is the fourth part of an unplanned series. If you want to get caught up on who these people are, you can go to part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Alex was amazed at how nervous he still felt whenever he was with Alyson. After dating for more than a year, he was beginning to think that she would always have this effect on him. However, it was possible that, tonight, his nerves were amplified by the tiny box in the pocket of his jeans.

Aly had made him promise that he would take her into the city as soon as summer hit. So here it was, June 21, and they were walking along the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Alex had always loved seeing pictures of all the amazing buildings and monuments in DC as a kid. Now that he lived so close, he realized that he didn't make it into the city nearly as often as he would have liked. Bringing Alyson for a night on the town was a great excuse to see some of the sights.

They walked hand in hand as the sun set behind the 16th president. Alex's free hand kept straying into his pocket as he nervously ran his fingers over the felt on the box. Each time he did so, he had to mentally remind himself to stop, for fear of rubbing all the felt off.

"I know I said 'as soon as it's summer,' but you didn't have to take me literally," Alyson said looking up at Alex. "We've got work tomorrow. It's kind of gonna cut into our ability to stay out late tonight."

"We could always call in sick," Alex said.

Alyson gave a very short laugh. "You fall back on that one a lot. You act like you don't like your job."

Alex stopped walking and let go of Aly's hand. She turned to face him. What she saw almost frightened her. His face had lost all color. From where she stood, it looked like Alex was going to be sick.

"I love that job," said Alex, but Alyson knew he wasn't talking about the job. "No matter what happens in our lives, that office will always be the place where I met you. It'll always be the place where I fell in love with the one woman that I want to spend forever with."

And with that, Alex dropped to one knee. Alyson's hands flew to her face, trying to hide the surprise as she gasped for air. His hand went to his pocket again, but this time, he pulled out the box. He opened it and held it out, revealing the ring that he had been holding onto since Christmas. There was nothing more to his speech. Just the simple question: "Will you marry me?"

Right there, standing by the reflecting pool, with dozens of tourists and Abraham Lincoln watching, Alyson said yes. Alex jumped up, unable to hide his joy. He grabbed the love of his life and held her in his arms, kissing her as if they'd never kissed before. He slid the ring on her finger and she kissed him again.

This wasn't what he had planned. In fact, he had stopped trying to plan the perfect proposal months before. Nothing seemed to work out. Every idea he came up with just came off seeming cheesy in his mind. So he just decided to constantly keep the ring in his pocket, hoping that he would just know when the moment was right.

In that moment, hugging his bride-to-be, he knew that the moment had been right. All because she said yes.

The Facebook Song

It's another YouTube Saturday. I came across this little ditty a couple weeks ago and it made me laugh. Enjoy.