Superman Vs. The Elite came out this week on DVD. Rajat Mishra (fellow CA blogger) mentioned it on his Facebook page, so I decided to check it out. (Here's the review
link of the DVD)
The story for the animated movie is based on
"What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?" is a story that appeared in Action Comics #775 as published by DC Comics in March 2001.
The basic plot for the film goes like this: A Brit by the name of Manchester Black decides he is tired of Super Villains allowed to run roughshod over humanity, killing, maiming and then getting thrown in jail only to break out and then begin again with the killing. And what's the response of the Superheroes? Throw them in jail. This is really not a realistic view or response according to Black and so he kills a super villain who had for the second time gone on a killing rampage, because he can.
And the world is happy. Why should the villains be allowed to go around killing? After all it makes no sense.
Of course this puts Superman at odds with Manchester's logic and his team of 'The Elite'. Superman is after all the perfect do-gooder who believes that humanity has goodness at the center of their hearts.
The movie itself is an action-packed tour de force. But I am not going to talk about that, you will have to see it for yourself. No 'Spoilers' here. What I wondered while watching it was, 'Why does Manchester Black remind me so much of Jenny Sparks from The Authority?'
The Authority was published by WildStorm back in the day. Later on it became part of DC Comics. The series is an awesome character driven book which has two gay characters in it, i.e. Midnighter & Apollo. The character of Manchester seemed to me like a complete rip of the Jenny Sparks character and at times it put me off from enjoying the movie. But I wanted to know more. So I had a look through my comic collection. I have a rather large one, but not much DC Comics, as I had been a Marvel Zombie for decades, until recently when the 'cross-over' every month put me off. Oh, I am getting off-track here.
Back to 'The Elite'. Turns out I got the Justice League Elite maxi-series (12 issues). So I sat down to reading the series to give me a better understanding of the The Elite. In this series The Elite are a team put together by Manchester's sister, Vera Lynn Black. The name seems to be a homage. Some of you older readers might remember the song from Pink Floyd's The Wall, Vera -song #4, disc 2- followed by the song Bring The Boys Back Home.
Justice League Elite is not your usual JLA, but an experiment to see if a Justice League without a country of affiliation or backing can carry out justice across the globe. Think of it as a covert JLA. (see here for the members list). Having a JLA without the restraints of charters, to carry out Black Ops. Its the X-Factor of the X-Men Universe, but decade before the Marvel guys got a hold of the concept. But here in the hands of Joe Kelly we see a deep character driven story with an ensemble of second tier Superheroes trying to carry out justice in a way that hasn't been worked out since, Squadron Supreme or Watchmen in 80s. If you haven't read read Squadron Supreme, I recommend it.
In JLE, we get to see what the pressure of being under the scrutiny of the JLA is like, especially when those in charge don't know they are being watched. And what happens when things go wrong. Of course, Batman and Superman is only to happy to put a end if they make a mistake. The question is are we the sum of our mistakes or are we made better by learning from them?
JLE has a number of characters which are not usually seen in such high profile books. Central to the team are Manitou Raven and his wife Dawn. A North American Indian couple who are part of a tribe that would become the Apache. Raven serves as the Shaman and Witch Doctor who is able to travel in the spirit world and bring back charms that help the team.
The character that stands out for me in the series was the Muslim, Naif Al Sheik. The series having being written in 2004/5, seemed poignant to have a Muslim male calling the women in the JLE, whores consistently when on the same page. The females of course laugh it off or take it in stride. Something which shows that Kelly though wanting to use a character like Al Sheik, also had the foresight not to overplay his hand and make the character a Koran quoting who spouted scripture even second sentence as is common in a lot of comics with a character with religious beliefs. Kelly does well in that though making Al Sheik a man of strong beliefs also gives him a sense of human, albiet it is more of the Ricky Gervais variety. Something that is common amongst the British. I know my dad's a Brit.
There are so many interweaving stories that at work here. Not only is the series a somewhat sequel to "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?", it also works as a standalone read. We see the desire of Vera to write the wrongs that her brother Manchester carried out with his 'Elite'. We see the stress of a husband always working and no time for his wife. We see an alcoholic hero who causes the death of his team mate due to being drunk.
One thing that irked me was the portrayal of sibling rivalry between ColdCast and his brother. The setting is nothing short stereotypical racism -black males dealing drugs. Something, which I feel could have been better expressed with a bit more thought. Black males in the comic world haven't always been dealt a good hand. Both Marvel and DC are to blame for this.
When is comes to Superman I have always disliked the concept of a 'hero' who won't put an end to the murdering villains. My personal favorite 'heroes' are The Punisher, John Constantine and Batman -I like the fact he has no powers. But, then again all my top 3 favorites have no superpowers. Also, The Boys, by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson would have worked out great if they could've have been incorporated into the DCU. But then again I am glad it didn't, because the series has been a good excuse to still read superhero books. There were several moments when watching Superman Vs. The Elite that I was cheering for Manchester Black. Because like him, I am of the mind that the punishment should fit the crime. And to allow super villains to run around blowing people up and kill at random, and the only punishment is to end up in jail, doesn't seem like a deterrent to such as DCU Super-villains. So I relished the moments in the series as well as the movie where Superman gets his butt handed to him.All and all, I really liked the series and think its a better read than a lot of what is being put recently. Did I mention that the artwork by
Doug Mahnke is amazing?
(ARU), Aruneshwar has a Bachelors Degree in Digital Media -Digital Film-making. He took a semester of Multimedia earlier last year which kind of set him up for comictrade.co.nz, a New Zealand online comic store. On the creative side, Aru is writing and illustrating a graphic novel about the 30yrs of Institutionalised Slavery of Indians in Fiji from 1885 -1915. He is a prolific script writer and writes in all comicbook genres which include several graphic novels for his own company,Rising Sun Comics. Aru also uploads a digital comic series on Facebook called, Zero as well as completing his first crime-noir graphic novel, The Circle. He is also trying to finishing off coloring and lettering a superhero comic book mini-series he co-created with Mike Burbeck called, Incredi-Girl.
