It’s safe to say that John Byrne’s long and era-defining run on the Superman titles (Action Comics, Adventures of Superman, and Superman) in the late 1980s was a shining moment in the lengthy eight-decade long history of the Man of Steel. Byrne managed to mix classic elements of Superman such as the characters and transform them into something new and modern, with his own art style giving the stories an action-packed appearance and making them recognisable worldwide. But, if you’re like me and you’ve read Byrne’s run on the Superman titles from the early dark age, then you may have forgotten about The Earth Stealers. I can’t be the only one, can I? Well, it’s somewhat separate from the core run, but it’s by Byrne and arguably, it’s typical of his run-on Superman and his very apparent love of the silver age Man of Steel stories. In a very science-fiction tale, Superman does what Superman did in the 1950s: met some evil aliens in space. With a retro plot, what better penciller was there than Curt Swan, the man who, I’d consider anyway, created the most iconic look of Superman, and what better choice of inker than Jerry Ordway, essentially the Curt Swan of the 1980s. With a good writer and two great artists, we are certainly in for something unforgettable…
Superman: The Earth Stealers was released in March 1988 as a prestige format book,
written by John Byrne with pencils by Curt Swan and inks by Jerry Ordway. I’ve read the story in its original graphic novel.
Like some of the best science fiction stories, it begins in space, specifically Moonbase One. The astronauts on board monitor the stars, only to find a tear in space. Meanwhile 250,000 miles away on Earth, Clark Kent arrives at work after impressing the people of Metropolis as Superman, only to learn from the news that a massive object of alien origin is heading towards Earth from deep space. But Nasa detects no danger from the oncoming object. As ever, Superman isn’t convinced and suddenly, the whole planet is coated in bright light. As ever, Clark Kent uses the moment of confusion to leave and become Superman. He heads into deep space to investigate the object, finding that it is a vessel that is generating energy around itself, Earth, and the moon. Although he attempts to destroy the object, it’s mysterious security defeats him. By that, I mean that Superman is pretty much thrown away at high speed by mysterious electrical light before crash landing on the Moon. Superman is defeated and left for dead… until a group of astronauts find and rescue him. So far, you can certainly see a lot of the silver age in the plot of the story. Byrne, with Swan’s very modern art and Ordway’s inks, is telling a story that would fit perfectly in the silver age, but the format of the story is obviously typical of the 1980s, meaning its fast paced and definitely not static. It’s clear that the Earth Stealers is a love letter to the Superman stories of old and that only becomes more apparent as it continues. With Superman out of it, the strange object then begins transporting the Moon and the Earth. On Moonbase One, Superman watches a replay of the strange object arriving, and he decides once again to examine the object up close. Quickly, he charges towards the object and catches up with it just as it enters deep space. On board, the alien Captain (who is never named (possibly a reference to something that commonly happened in the 1950s, but perhaps I’m looking too deep into it)) learns that Earth is inhabited by alien life, and he is surprised by Superman’s strength. Therefore, he sends one of his android minions to capture Superman and bring him to him. Once that occurs, Superman confronts The Captain and orders him to release Earth. Instead, the Captain obviously being a nice alien, painfully tortures Superman mentally using telepathy. With that, the Captain learns of Superman’s Kryptonian origin and orders his minions to take Superman to the ship’s prison. Meanwhile on Earth, Perry White, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen are all talking about the events occurring and how when Clark Kent disappears, Superman always seems to appear. This may seem out of the blue (especially because its only now, fifty years on from Superman’s debut, that Lois Lane is starting to realise the truth), but in Byrne’s run, Lois’s suspicion of Clark comes up as a plot point numerous times. Perhaps one day I should get to Byrne’s run on Superman. Anyway, the three of them are then captured by the Captain (who learnt about them from Superman’s telepathic torture) and he tells them that the ship is the last gatherer in the universe. Effectively, it’s a ship which is used to capture planets and completely destroy them for their resources to sell to particular clients who demand the resources of other planets and that is pretty much the Captain’s job. Meanwhile, Superman recovers from his torture, and he breaks out of his cell to confront the Captain. However, he finds his friends held captive and the Captain reveals what his plans for Earth are (as explained earlier). From there, Superman and the Captain have a philosophical debate about the purpose of life, with the Captain essentially arguing that all life is tiny and therefore pointless. However, Superman being the good guy that he is, fights back and argues that life is worth living and that the human spirit is strong. Therefore, the Captain offers Superman a chance to fight for the planet he calls home in the arena. However, there, as Superman is introduced to the Captain’s toughest guard, Gunge (yes, that is a ridiculous name), the Captain tricks Superman by telling him that Earth will soon be destroyed unless the Man of Steel can act fast. Despite his huge strength, Superman fights and manages to defeat Gunge, before locating Lois, Jimmy and Perry nearby (continued)
using his x-ray vision. With that, the Captain begins to retreat, knowing that he has lost, and that time is of the essence as the ship will self-destruct in three minutes. With no time to waste, Superman rescues his friends and with their help on the ship’s computers, Superman heads into the harsh terrain of deep space and rescues the Earth and its population of five billion people. Meanwhile, the Captain, whose rouse that the ship would self-destruct worked (as he didn’t want Superman to catch him), is confronted by a far-mightier group of aliens who condemn the Captain for abandoning the last gatherer in the universe. What ever really happens to the Captain, we will never know. With Earth and its moon back where it should be, Superman says his goodbye to Lois, Jimmy, and Perry before speedily transforming back into Clark Kent once again, fooling them all for thinking he is Superman. That ends what is an incredibly fast-paced and quick story to read. But that is why it works for brilliantly. In basic terms, The Earth Stealers is a very silver age Superman story and if this was by Curt Swan in the 1950s with Mort Weisinger or somebody writing the story, then this would be a full twenty-page story which is crammed full of story. However, making this story a graphic novel and therefore longer works massively in its favour. It allows the story to breathe and for John Byrne to embellish more with having scenes that aren’t adding much to the main plot, but it adds character to the story and therefore sustains it throughout. As I said, it’s a very silver age story, but the genius of Byrne writing the story is that he knows both how to write an old-fashioned comic with new storytelling techniques with quick pacing. The Earth Stealers is a product of that, and it works because, more than anything, it's a classic example of how science fiction can work with Superman. Of course, the Captain is a pretty comical villain who appears somewhat silly and not particularly frightening, but because of his excellent (as a story obviously) plot idea to basically destroy the Earth as a business plan for money. It makes him into a threatening villain while at the same time displaying that he is something of a joke. It may sound as if I’m repeating myself once again, but Byrne does what he does best here in updating an already-existing concept and updating and representing it for the modern age. There really isn’t much to be critical of here. Sure, there’s the whole plot point that Lois doesn’t know that Clark is Superman, which is something that may work in 1950s storytelling, but not by the 1980s and 1990s. However, that’s just a Superman problem generally. I guess the only source of disappointment here is the fate of the gatherer ship, which I guess is just drifting away into deep space only for another supervillain to inevitably capture, but overall, this fast-paced and never-dull action-packed classic story is, well, a modern classic and therefore, one of the most memorable Superman stories ever (and trust me, there are triple the number of bad ones than there are good).
What better choice was there for the art? Seriously, there is nobody better than the great Curt Swan to pencil a story such as this one. Byrne’s creative style of writing blends fantastically with Swan’s retro, yet dynamic art. Swan always appears to be an artist who moves with the times. In the 1950s, his art looks very silver age in the page layouts, but by the 1970s, his art looks almost similar to Neal Adams in the way that stories are presented. And, even in the late 1980s, Swan’s art doesn't look out of place.
Then again, perhaps the excellent inks of Jerry Ordway have helped, as he too is another artist who understands that Superman needs to look heroic, smooth and impressive. If you look at the best artists in the Man of Steel’s eight-and-a-half-decade long history, then you cannot miss out Curt Swan and jerry Ordway. I also think that Bill Wray’s colouring here, perhaps a little faded and dry at times, works well in giving the story a colourful appearance with different shades of colour in each panel. It looks both modern and classic at the same time and that is a feature which works perfectly with a story such as this one.
VERDICT
Overall, Superman: The Earth Stealers is a classic Superman story and ultimately, one of my favourites. I’ve not read too many Superman stories, but I know that most of them wouldn’t fall under the description of good or bad. A large majority of them would be, in my mind anyway, considered just mediocre or dull. Fortunately, The Earth Stealers is the complete opposite. It has an engaging story that never fails to be exciting. Byrne’s story is very reminiscent of the silver age, but he updates it brilliantly with newer storytelling techniques. As for the art, it meshes well with the action-packed story that Byrne writes and ultimately, I struggle to think that the story would be as successful if it wasn’t for the likes of Swan and Ordway, both of whom are undeniably classic Superman artists. Overall, it’s simply a blast.
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 9.5/10
Next Week: Green Arrow: Brotherhood of the Fist (Green Arrow (vol 2) 134-137, 1000000, Detective Comics 723, Robin (vol 4) 55, Nightwing (vol 2) 23, Green Lantern (vol 3) 104. Written by Chuck Dixon and Ron Marz with art by Doug Braithwaite, Robin Riggs, Alex Maleev, Bill Reinhold, William Rosado, Stan Woch, Scott McDaniel, Karl Story, Paul Pelletier, Terry Austin, Rodolfo Demaggio, Robert Campanella, Klaus Janson, Frank Teran, and Kohn Stanisci.
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