Occasionally I'll make a point of reading the letters pages in some of the older comics I look at. They are a feature of comics that make a comeback every few years, though it's definitely more emails that snail mails that make up the content these days. A good letters page engages with all kinds of debates around a title, and doesn't shy away from printing critical letters. One subject that comes up in these Superman comics is the dissolution of the "triangle numbers" system. This sub-numbering system allowed readers of Superman comics in the 90s to figure out what order issues from different series should be read in, as the Man of Steel had four (or was it five?) ongoing series at the time. I'll admit, and I've said it before, that the triangle numbering was what kept me away from Superman for a long time. It felt to me like a scam to make people buy 4 monthly titles in order to get a complete story, and that's not cool. But, from the sounds of some of the letters, the discontinuation was not a popular decision.
Another thing that comes up in the letters is commentary on the "cartoon-y" art that apparently was proliferating in the titles at this time. I can see it, with artists like Mike Wieringo and Ed McGuiness on the titles. For some, this kind of stylized art detracts from the sense of realism (whatever that might mean in a superhero universe) they crave in a story. So I'm looking forward to the responses to Carlos Meglia's art on this three-part story. I love it, but I get the suspicion I'm in the minority when it comes to Superman fans. I'll keep an eye out and let you know.
The story itself is excellent, featuring an incursion from the Crime Syndicate and a strangely-powerful infant. As I was reading these comics over the last few days, and going back over some of my earlier academic writing on superheroes, I realized that the Crime Syndicate, and their Earth as portrayed in this era, are a wonderful example of the physics of fictional universes that I had hoped to be writing my doctorate on. It is established in the Morrison/Quitely Earth 2, for which these comics are a follow-up, that it is virtually impossible for anyone from the Crime Syndicate's Earth to succeed in their plans on Superman's Earth. Something about the make-up of the universes fundamentally influences not only the outcome of the respective characters' plans, but also the kinds of stories that can exist in this shared universe. There is a moral physics at work in these fictional universes, one that, I think, would tell us a lot about ourselves and our relationships with fiction if someone (oh, I don't know how, you know, perhaps someone who did 4.5 years of a doctorate before being told that this kind of research was "irrelevant and forgettable") (I'm not bitter, you're bitter) had the time and inclination to think about it.
I keep telling myself I should just write my book. I really, really should.
"Don't bother calling me in an emergency. I'll know before you do."
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