History is littered with what-if-this or what-if-that stories which fascinate us all. Speculative stories can be about real-life events that could have gone differently, or fictional ones that can totally reshape an already-amazing world. That explains DC’s Elseworlds imprint in a nutshell. After Gotham by Gaslight in 1989, which begun Elseworlds as a storytelling device to convey new tales with the same old heroes, but often with a historical edge or twist, DC pushed the boat out further and Superman became the main focus of the imprint. Many of the ideas pedalled, although interesting, had been brought up before. What if Superman crashed somewhere else when he first came to Earth? Or what if Superman used his powers for evil instead of good. The list was endless, but it often just delivered Elseworlds tales which were honestly forgettable or just fell into a predictable pile of dull reading. Superman. Inc. on the other hand is different. Steve Vance explores another tragic world where Superman may be riddled with bad luck, but how does richness and fame clash with the negative in the Man of Steel’s very public life. Although Superman was always famous in the comics, Vance takes this to another level. Clark Kent, sorry, Dale
Suderman, is the world’s richest man… and he has a secret to hide…
Superman. Inc. was a one-off published in 1999 under DC’s Elseworlds imprint. It was written by Steve Vance with art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Mark Farmer. I’ve read the story in the Adventures of Superman: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Volume Two hardcover.
In the league table of Elseworlds tales, many of the most famous and loved belong to Batman. Whether it be Gotham by Gaslight, or the Doug Moench/Kelley Jones Vampire trilogy, or even Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Universe (which, in the language of Miller himself, it counts damn it), the Dark Knight has certainly profited the most from Elseworlds. As has the Justice League mind you. Superman is an example, like Green Lantern, of one who has had many Elseworlds stories written about him, but most fall into the category of dull and dreary reads. Aside from Superman: Red Son, I find it difficult to select many other alternate history classics for the Man of Steel. But that is where Superman. Inc. comes in. I first discovered it in the back-half of DC’s second volume collecting the Superman works of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, the bronze age legend. This one, as opposed to the other Elseworlds the book reprinted, Realworlds: Superman, felt not just different, but dramatically and enjoyable so. It starts like any other Superman origin story, with Kal-El arriving on Earth after his home planet explodes. This time however, the Kents aren’t there to be his saviours. Instead, baby Kal-El is run over by a drunk in his rental car. Perhaps that could have led to another interesting, if overdone story, about a world without Superman. Instead, the drunk finds the baby to be completely fine without injury. Taking this as a miracle, the drunk drives to Pleasantville and simply leaves the baby outside the local Sherriff’s office. Like that, the drunk drives off believing the experience to be a good omen, leaving the baby to a different world. As you’d expect, Superman is put into foster care, looked after by the young Suderman family. But, as opposed to the life he would have lived with the Kents, Kal-El’s young life is riddled with grief and trauma. Yay! After his surrogate father is killed in war, Kal-El begins to discover his Kryptonian superpowers, but he accidentally scares his mother with them, causing her to clumsily fall down the stairs and die as a result of injuries. Well, isn’t this a fun one? Aside from World’s Funnest, it seems that most of the Elseworlds stories from this era are grim and take themselves very seriously. Superman. Inc, is no different in this case. The misery continues as Dale, as named by his parents, just exists for the next decade, just passing through school and not socialising very much. And then… basketball! Yep, the whole world changes when Dale picks up the ball and somehow manages to beat the young pro-player Marcus at the game first-time. That takes up what I’d consider the prelude to the main plot, or the build up to the real action. The idea of Dale’s entire life changing from basketball isn’t so much farfetched, but ridiculous. It works for the context of the story, but it just seems that the moment Dale discovers the sport, he wants to take over the world. And that is exactly what he does! The story skips some years as Suderman is, very expectedly, nicknamed Superman by the press for his impressive career in basketball. Not only that, but it has made him incredibly rich and famous worldwide. Suderman, like Superman, has become a brand. But in this universe, the hero is profiting from it, and it has changed him. After a signing event, Suderman orders his PA to have his jacket fumigated after being swarmed by young fans before he berates his PR team. Superman. Inc. is essentially what if (continued)
Superman became rich and obnoxious, like Bruce Wayne if he wasn’t Batman, but worse. Marcus acts as one of the few characters in the story who actively tries to save Suderman from this downward spiral into self-absorption. He reminds him that he should be doing what he does as a celebrity not for fame, but to entertain and to help the world. But Suderman doesn’t care, and neither does his new rival. Like Superman: Red Son which put Superman against Lex Luthor as the two leaders of the world’s two power blocs, Inc. features the two of them as extremely wealthy businessman who want their name all over Metropolis instead of the other. Although Luthor attempts to get Suderman to work with him in the media so they can both make an absolute killing, Suderman has other plans. He announces the development of a large sports arena on the westside riverfront to house his new home team, the Metropolis Spartans, putting a huge damper on Luthor’s plans. In effect, this is another PR move as Suderman invents the Superman logo for the new sports team and shifts it out for other purposes. For instance, he launches Superman: The Animated Series. This is a nice touch, but it's obviously part of a much bigger story. Meanwhile, Luthor, infuriated by Suderman’s financial doings, orders journalist Lois Lane to look into Suderman and find some dirt on him. This is where everything starts to go wrong for Suderman. He refuses to listen to Marcus, who ends up dying in a plane crash the day after he berates him for acting as a critical friend. Suderman continually loses allies while Luthor is on the up, learning about his rival’s backstory and finding a source which will damn Suderman for good. After finding the drunk from years ago who really has reformed his life, Luthor and his private army head to Kansas. As Jonathan and Martha Kent watch the soldiers patrol the farms of Kansas, Luthor’s men find the alien craft that brought Suderman to Earth. The next day, the newspapers are full of it. It would be incredibly predictable and entirely expected for Suderman to unleash his inner-Superman in the pages that follow. He storms into Luthor’s office and, just to prove his point, Luthor shoots Suderman and it simply bounces off. Although Luthor sends his army after Suderman, they prove no match for the hero who has rediscovered his true power. He takes them out before preparing to kill Luthor. Instead, we witness a scene where we realise that the idealist hero inside Suderman that he was born with still lives inside him. Despite his anger, he lets Luthor live. The villain tries to get his own back however, he orders the creation of a bullet made of Kryptonite, something lucratively available inside the capsule from Suderman’s home planet. Later in a television studio, Suderman tries to explain the smears against him to the public, trying to tell them that although he is an alien, he is still American. This doesn’t work and that becomes clear when an apparent mad fan shoots Suderman with the Kryptonite bullet. However, this only manages to injure Suderman and after the surgeons remove the bullet from his body and the press ask the doctors about possibilities of green blood and three hearts, Suderman is met with another alien. Detective John Jones enters with Lois Lane, who confirms to Suderman that Lex Luthor was behind the shooting and that she has broken ties with him. Lois Lane, instead of going straight to the police with the evidence that Luthor is behind the crime, just leaves Suderman to recover as she heads off to begin her own journalism school. Luthor is arrested later for the attempt on Suderman’s life, but she isn’t mentioned in that context again. Brilliant journalism there. Regardless, John Jones speaks with Suderman and reveals himself too to be an alien. Martian Manhunter’s origin remains the same as it did in the mainstream comics and he communicates mentally with Suderman, telling him that he knows his pain. He delves into Suderman’s past to discover that his mother’s death had a huge impact on him as it caused him to suppress his powers, something which Suderman became fearful of if it were to become public. But Martian Manhunter tells him that his fear is gone. “You could be a great example to all of us – somebody”, are the final words uttered by Jones before he leaves the room. It’s perhaps one of my favourite moments of the story. Although the reasoning behind Suderman’s change of character isn’t exactly shocking when you remember his mother, Martian Manhunter acts as the real hero here as he makes Suderman realise his true potential. From there, Suderman realises that Marcus was correct all along about fame and as Suderman heads to Kansas to discover his past and true purpose in life… he is struck by lightning. Unable to give us an anti-climax of an ending, Suderman wakes up in the home of Jonathan and Martha Kent. Unaware of his identity, Suderman tells the old couple his name is Dave Sullivan, and, with that, the Superman story begins. Suderman effectively becomes Clark Kent, helping out the Kents as his new adopted parents around the farm before deciding its time to get out there into the world. He applies for Lois Lane’s journalism school as Clark Kent. Superman lives on! And yeah, just to prove that he’s now kind and generous, he’s given all the money he made from basketball and business to the community. To be honest, without being grim and miserable, this was the only way that you could end Superman. Inc. happily. When I explained in the introduction why I chose this story of them all, I said it was because of the fame factor. Superman is undoubtedly the most famous superhero in the world. He is the superhero. Watching Superman become a character obsessed by fame and money has some degree of irony because of how DC can so easily depend on him for money and sales. But as for Steve Vance’s story, it does have its predictable moments. I think, although its enjoyable, much of the meat of the story involving the fight between Suderman and Luthor is quite predictable and the conclusion to that drama lacks originality. It may be impressive, but it still has problems. However, I think the build up to when we first see Suderman’s empire is great as it feels very new and different from other Superman stories. The origin is far more tragic yet psychologically intriguing, particularly the death of his mother. Martian Manhunter’s scene later in the story ties up the prequel scenes excellently and while it gives a new mental twist to Superman
as a concept, it also sets the stage for the future as Suderman will, one day, become the Man of Steel. Vance’s story is about fame and how dangerous it can be. It can destroy a person in greed as they become the centre of attention, destroying friendships and relationships with others. Luthor is a character that has always been consumed by that, and that’s why he’s always been the villain. Superman has always been the hero. It’s great to see that change for this story, before reverting to normality to end the story comfortably. Vance creates an interesting cast of characters, like Marcus who acts as a beacon of reasonability for the first half before his death (which is sort of covered in an rather irrelevant way). Overall, Vance writes an Elseworlds story which is very readable, and it feels different from the conventional stories which DC have published under the imprint. The reason for its somewhat unknown status is confusing, but it may be because the shine of the artist who draws it is harsher and more noticeable than the writer’s work.
I think that Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez was very much in mind for the selling point of Superman. Inc. The cover, which is spread over two pages, is clearly identifiable as his clean and distinctive art style. The great and smooth finishes by Mark Farmer work effectively with Garcia-Lopez’s concise pencils as the storytelling shines here and works dramatically with Vance’s impressive story. There’s a sense of realism with the visuals which are made even better by the inclusion of dramatic lighting and darkness which works for different moods. Other than that, it just looks amazing, but you wouldn’t expect less from an artist as experienced as Garcia-Lopez, along with a good inker.
VERDICT
Overall, Superman. Inc. appears as a different Elseworlds story and one which, despite its faults and predictable elements that are often all too clear, works extremely well. It plays around with the fundamental character of the Man of Steel intriguingly and the origin of Suderman proves to be very interesting reading. Martian Manhunter’s inclusion and effect on the overall story is also brilliant here as Vance uses him uniquely. It might not be one of the better known Elseworlds story, but it’s vantage point on fame and how it can destroy someone as mighty as Superman is entertaining and overall, a decent read with some great art.
Story: 8/10
Art: 9.5/10
Next Week: Batman: Demon Star (Batman Incorporated (vol 2) 0, 1-6). Written by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham with art by Chris Burnham, Frazer Irving, Andres Guinaldo, and Javier Bergatino.
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