Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 67

Book Review: Essential Marvel Team-Up, Volume 2

Essential Marvel Team-Up, Vol. 2 by Len Wein

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects twenty-six team-up issue from Marvel Team-up #26-51 and Marvel Two and One #17.

There are two types of comics in this book. There are individual standalone stories with Spidey or the Human Torch fighting someone and then there are several story arcs. (The Torch is the lead hero in Issues #26, #29, #32, and #35)

There's not a whole lot to say about the standalone. They're interesting enough and the guest stars range from the Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor to the more obscure Nighthaw and Valkyrie.

The first story arc from Issues 33-35 has Spidey and the Torch (in Issue 35) teaming up with three different members of the Defenders to face a common foe. This story was more okay than anything else, with heavy dialog on crime and when mental health treatment is more appropriate.

Issues 36 and 37 are a bit more interesting as it has a team up between Spidey and Frankeinstein's monster to fight a mad scientist who's determined to bring monsters to life for his nefarious ends. Man-wolf gets involved for good measure.

Issue 39 has the Human Torch and Spidey team up to fight the old enforcers from the Silver Age and revisit a classic Spider-man tale. The story continues in Issue 40 though the Torch takes a powder in the middle leaving the Kung Fu group, "Sons of the Tiger" to help Spidey mop up. It's a good story overall, though the Torch bowing out is annoying.

Issues 41-46 starts an epic time travel arc that's insane. Cotton Mather is kidnapping people from the twentieth century to be put on trial for Witchcraft. It begins with the Scarlet Witch being kidnapped but that's not all as Vision, Doctor Doom, and Moondragon all join Spider-man in the 17th Century. The story has Mather in the most bizarre light. While history suggests a bit more nuanced view of him, it's a Marvel comic, so you can't complain much. This is an enjoyable read if for no other reason than for how crazy it is. The last two issues of the arc have Spidey travelling into the future (or perhaps an alternate future) to join with one-off characters in Marvel anthology titles, Deathlok and Killraven. Spidey's kind of freaked out by the fact that this could be the near-future but get hints that these could be alternate futures as the post-apocalyptic worlds of these two characters weren't exactly compatible.

Spidey returns to his own time for a two part team up with the Thing that beings in Marvel Two-in-One #17 and finishes in Marvel Team-up #47.

The final four issues are probably the crown jewel of the book. The four party story arc introduces Captain Jean DeWolff, a no nonsense NYPD captain and has Iron Man and eventually Doctor Strange battling the mysterious Wraith. There's a little bit of soap opera to the plot, but it's a great Spider-man story and enjoyable in its own right.

Overall, there are some great stories and even better story arcs in this book. The final four are essential for the next decade of Spidey stories.



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Letting a Superhero Grow in Grace

Paul Asay writing over at Plugged In talks about Jim Gaffigan's new comedy in which Gaffigan's character is a Catholic but irregular in attendance and not wanting to make a big deal about it. He writes:

Now, The Jim Gaffigan Show cannot be called a Christian program. But I think you’ll find Christians who might point to it and suggest that it represents where Christian entertainment needs to go. Let’s laugh at ourselves a little. Let’s show the world who we are, warts and all. We need to be approachable. Real.

But then there are those who might say Gaffigan isn’t who Christians—real Christians—are at all. They see more of themselves in characters from Courageous or Fireproof than Gaffigan’s schlumpy father figure who steals fudgsicles from his kids. We don’t want Christian entertainment that just encourages us to lower our standards for what a Christian should be or how they should behave. The broader culture has done plenty of that already.

I think the idea of realism is a bit of a misnomer. Both types of Christians exist. I've known both and I could write about both, and be realistic about both.

Of course, the balance between the more relaxed and more active spiritual Christians and which should be portrayed is a tough.

As a writer, When it came to the Adventures of Powerhouse Series, I faced this head on in deciding how to write or even if to write more stories after I wrote, Tales of the Dim Knight.

Are Christians Boring?

I have to admit that somewhere or another I got the idea from Christian fiction that a good Christian character should be boring. They should be pious and decent, and not very psychologically interesting. They certainly shouldn't have any adventures (maybe some of these Christian writers were members of the Baggins family.)

***Spoilers for Tales of the Dim Knight follow***

At the end of Tales of the Dim Knight, our hero, Dave Johnson and his wife both come to Christ.

The End. Nothing more to see here. The original ending brought the Adventures of Powerhouse to a clear and final conclusion with Dave losing his powers as Zolgron, who was a symbiote who empowered him was returned to normal humanoid form.

The original ending showed the Johnson two years later living a normal happy life that would make a very boring novel. Of course, but things had turned out okay, there had been problems along the way but they were all okay, nothing to see here.

As I reworked the final parts of the story, I decided I didn't want to nail the door shut that firmly, so I left it open.

When I decided to revisit the Johnson family, a big question I faced is how to portray how Christ changed their family.

At the start of, "Tales of the Dim Knight," Dave was immature, beaten down by his home situation, and escaping into a world of superheroes for refuge while neglecting his wife but is also caring and when he obtains his powers, uses them to help others. Naomi is bitter, degrades and belittles Dave in ways that the kids notice, impulse spends to deal with her pain, and is thinking about walking away from her marriage, and all she wants is for things to get better and is oblivious to her part in the family's problems. The eldest son James is incredibly sarcastic and disrespectful as he's enterting his teen years. The youngest Derrick is mostly well-behaved with a strong bond with his dad in particular.

When I wrote Powerhouse Flies Again, I didn't pretend all that went away with a decision to follow Christ but it had changed.

Dave still has a great imagination and a love of heroes, but he's more responsible and responsive. He still has his immature moments, but things are better. Naomi is less bitter, although she still has past hurts that haunt her, she tries to be respectful but still struggles, and is prone to insecurity and irrational jealousy. James is a bit kinder, but as millions of Christian mothers will attest, being saved does not drive sarcasm out of a teenage boy's mouth. We've also explored how Derrick is a typical little brother who delights in finding ways to tease and mock his older sibling.

This is not a perfect family, but it is a growing family. What I really like about writing a series of book as opposed to an individual book is it allows the characters to grow in a way that's more in line with how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. He doesn't fix everything the moment of conversion. He works through us.

The Apostle Peter commands Christians, "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18), and Paul writes, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14). The Christian life is about becoming and about growing.

In my latest work, the Johnson family still isn't perfect, but they're growing. Dave's a little more mature than he was in Powerhouse Flies Again and he faced down the evil of King Bel in Ultimate Mid-life Crisis in a way he couldn't have done earlier in his life. Naomi is less insecure, particularly at the end of Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis, and even James becomes a tad less sarcastic.

In essence, my characters represent a real Christian family but one that's growing in God's grace while experienced adventures that are filled with challenges and humor.

You can download Powerhouse Flies Again free for the Kindle.

The Many Versions of Superman, Part Three: The Fun Adventurer and the Savior

See Part One and Part Two.

Having covered the first three different versions of Superman, we turn to two others:

4) The Fun Adventurer:

While Superman would always be a role model, he couldn't be just a role model. Superman during the 1950s and through the 1960s was probably one of the most consistently fun comic book heroes.

Superman's adventures were weird, they were wacky, and they were fun. Under Mort Weisinger, the series had Superman enjoying numerous wacky and colorful adventures.

Superman had a team of robots who could fill in for him. He had a Super Best Friend in Batman. He had a Fortress of Solitude that makes the Batcave look like a kid's treehouse.

Superman stories of this era have some silly or off moments, but they're something so incredibly fun and joyful. Reading this stories, it's great to be Superman and even greater to be Superman.

Superman was so popular that he not only had stories in Action Comics and Superman, but Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen each had their own spin-off titles, and of course there were the adventures of Superboy.

Some of these stories were weaker. Many, such as the Lois Lane stories could read like sitcom plots as Lois Lane and Lana Lang competed over Superman. There was the time the IRS went after Superman for not paying taxes on various activities but ended up backing off when it was pointed out Superman had saved the world and could claim everyone as a dependent. Yes, it was awesomely silly, but wonderful.

That doesn't mean the stories were totally vacuous. The Silver Age Superman established Metallo and Brainiac as well as introducing Bizarro as a character that adult Superman had to deal with.

Not all 1960s stories were happy, but still fun but with poignancy mixed in. One told the tragic story of how Superman couldn't save Ma and Pa Kent. Another, "Superman's Return to Krypton" had Superman travelling back in time and landing on Krypton and finding himself trapped in its final days but falling in love with a woman who loved him just for him.

Two stories dealt with the Death of Superman: one an imaginary story where he actually died and another where he appeared to be dying and spent his last days trying to find ways to help others on his home world. Even a relatively silly story where Superman got a lion's head, Superman was really upset about it and Lois (whose pursuit of Superman always seemed a little selfish) gave him a very sweet kiss in a touching scene.

Of course, the Silver Age couldn't last forever and Superman moved on. Yet, the sense of fun survived the original Superman Movie, and Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and of course the tone was reflected in the 1950s Superman TV show and the 1967 Cartoon show which aired during the Silver Age.

While the 1990s Superman: The Animated Series had some darker themes in it, it still was drawn in a far more brighter fun way than the more dark and serious Batman stories.

This does contradict one of the major points of the Speculative Faith series that inspired this, but I'll save those comments for Part Five.

5) The Savior Figure

Superman as a savior figure is something that's been written about quite extensively. It's true that the character was created by two Jewish young men who certainly didn't have the idea of doing anything based explicitly on Christianity. Still, they saw him who came to Earth as a "savior of the helpless" (Action Comics #8). However, it's safe to say that he wasn't initially anymore of a Christ figure than the Green Hornet who saved people from racketeers and rackets. Superman was seen as a savior, but not really as a Christ figure.

However, Messianic imagery worked its way to Superman, starting with the novel The Adventures of Superman which George Lowther renamed Jor-L to Jor-El with "El" being the Hebrew name for God.

Reverend H. Michael Brewer in his book, Who Needs a Superhero?: Finding Virtue, Vice, and Whats Holy in the Comics writes of the parallels. One of the big ones is, "Superman arrives in this world as Kal-El, who comes from the Heavens sent by his father to a planet in desperate need of his help."

Still, Superman saved us from the same things other superheroes did. Superman had no big plan to save the world, at least not usually, but there were a couple exceptions.

Imaginary stories were a huge features of the Superman Universe. They told stories of what might happen or could happen but it was imaginary because if these stories did "happen" it'd be too big of a gamechanger.

1963 saw the publication of, "The Amazing Story of Superman Red and Superman Blue" which imagined the people of Kandor (Kryptonian survivors who were shrunk and imprisoned in a bottle by Brainiac) giving Superman an ultimatum: You have 30 days to restore us to normal size, eliminate the effects of Kyrptonite, and banish crime from Planet Earth.

And in this imaginary Story Superman accomplished his mission. He did an experiment that created two of him (Superman Red and Superman Blue) and the two of came up with solutions to all these problems, including a scientific solution that eliminated all evil. Luthor and Brainiac became good, the Cold War ended with Castro and the Soviets ending their evil ways, and peace and prosperity prevailed. Superman Blue married Lois and moved to new Krypton while Superman Red married Lana and retired to Earth with Superman robots handling search and rescue missions. The story reflected a modernist belief in science like no other Silver Age tale.

Nine years later in a "real Tale" thanks to brainwashing by the Guaridans of the Galaxy, Superman begins to wonder whether he's hindering human social progress. He begins to think they're right when he encounters migrant workers who refuse to stand up for their rights except when Superman's around. Superman then pledges only to help people with things they can't do themselves.

It was only with Superman: The Movie that the image of Superman as a Christ trope and as a Messianic figure really takes firm root with Jor-El's dialogue on why he's sending Superman to Earth, "They can be a great people Kal-El; they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you, my only son."

The other thing that changed was the emphasis on Clark Kent, particularly int the post-Infinite Crisis era of comics and media. Early comics viewed Clark Kent a disguise, a device for Superman to achieve his goals. The radio show said that Superman was "in the guise of mild-mannered Reporter Clark Kent." However, in the modern era, it's different.

In the 1990s TV series, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Clark declares, "Clark is who I am, Superman is what I do." Clark embraces humanity, lives among us, and identifies with us.

Still, Superman would be mostly as an example because they wouldn't kill Superman...Except they did in 1993's Death of Superman event when he battled the malevolent Doomsday, and in killing him died himself.

Brewer writes of the story:

Doomsday was too powerful for an easy victory-he combined death, evil, and judgment into one terrifying figure. In retrospect the stakes were too high for a cheap win. The defeat of this gigantic threat demanded a heavy price.

Superman had taken it upon himself to be humanity's champion, and the one who came from above had to finally lay down his life to fulfill his mission. No lesser effort would have halted the onslaught of evil. No smaller sacrifice would have ransomed those in the path of destruction...

His death brought tears to my own eyes and echoed a much older story, this one true. Behind the slumped figure of the dead Superman, an upright piece of broken lumber juts from the wreckage. The tattered cape of the Man of Steel hangs on the board and flutters in the wind. In my eyes, that heaven-reaching timber casts the shadow of the cross over the scene. Superman is no savior, but his dying to rescue Metropolis points our hearts towards the true Savior who died for the world.

After this event, Christian imagery became more pronounced working its way into Smallville and of course The Man of Steel and has become part of the Superman mythos, a part that does point the way to Christ.

In our next post, we'll turn to to two more modern innovations. Superman as the "anti-Batman" and as a Greek god.

The Many Versions of Superman: The Fairy Godfather and the Role Model, Part Two

In the first part of this series, we began to look at The Many Versions of Superman starting with the initial militant crusader that took to Action Comics #1. Now, we take a look at a few more:

2) Fairy Godfather:

Superman was concerned about big problems, but not in the sense you and I would think. Meteorite smashing into the city or Organized Crime were big problems, but so were the big problems faced by individuals. Until the 1960s, Superman was not only a comic book character, but also starred in Sunday and Daily newspaper strips. It was in the newspaper strips where this version of Superman was most seen.

Lois Lane handled the lovelorn column for the Daily Planet and received a letter from a man who was constantly pushed about. She tossed his letter into the trashcan concluding he was a pathetic waste of manhood. Clark Kent took the letter and set out to help him, declaring:

"This fellow and his problem may seem petty, but to him it's the greatest crisis in the World!"

Superman helped the man out over three months worth of newspaper strips. Another example was when Superman helped a down on his luck boxer. He not only saved the boxer from committing suicide, he impersonated the boxer to begin the climbing the ladder, while trying the boxer at home so the boxer could win back his championship.

This idea of Superman was in full bloom during World War II. Superman got his own office in the Planet to answer requests from soldiers. Some were fictional requests created by writers. Others were based on actual letters to soldiers. Superman helped sort their romantic life, brought a bit of relief to the front, and made a few dreams come true. He also helped the family of a soldier sent home due to what we would call post-traumatic stress disorder understand and accept him.

This idea of Superman rarely pops up. However when Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski brought it back in the storyline, "Grounded" when Superman had just finished an event of, "War of the Supermen," where he'd been fighting over New Krypton, he decides to get back to his roots by walking around America, helping people in need as he goes. I know many were critical of it, but that version will always have a soft place in my heart.

3) Role Model

Kids began to look up Superman as his comic strips became popular and there was also cartoons. This was a big deal in the 1940s. During the War, being a role model meant encouraging kids to buy war stamps and war bonds and do what they could to back the War effort.

However, in the wake of World War II, juvenile delinquency was a huge concern. Superman had to teach kids to be good people and good citizens. This meant that most of the rough stuff that defined Superman's early days was put aside for more responsible and kind heroics.

Superman became a symbol of goodness, of trying to do the right thing. He did become a far less violent and menacing character. He was a role model for the youth of America and you didn't want them to be the sort of people who used violence to solve every problem.

This was something they took very seriously in the late 1940s and 50s. But it really has persisted in the best of Superman stories. Superman as this role model and example that other heroes looked up to and who inspired them was key, even as to many the character became passe.

This fueled some great stories. In "Kingdom Come," Mark Waid imagines an Elseworlds Tale where Superman has retreated from the world as anti-hero meta-humans have taken over. However, when one of them destroys the State of Kansas, Superman comes into action to save the world from these metahumans to teach them the right way to do things, though some will resist.

The grim and gritty anti-heroes that were dominating indie books at the time really came to a head in the main continuity of Superman in the epic, "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way." In it a team of anti-heroes become popular for executing criminals and for their wanton disregard for human life in pursuit of criminals. This leads to a direct confrontation with Superman on the moon. It's a comic book version of, "High Noon," putting traditional heroism against the amoral 1990s equivalent.

For those who are confused by, the anger many felt regarding the end of, "Man of Steel," these stories provide a picture of why that scene was so problematic for many.

This could be seen on television. In Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, after getting engaged, Lois discovers that Clark is a virgin who has saved himself for marriage.

Superman's moral core and moral fiber is what makes him a hero rather than a dangerous villain. This was something that was explored in the Justice League story, "A Better World" where the Justice League encounters heroes from a parallel Earth who were just like the Justice League until their Flash was killed and their Superman opted to kill Lex Luthor, who was then President. Once that red line was crossed, Superman and his league became the Justice Lords who established a dictatorship that lobotomized all supervillains and established martial law.

While Superman hasn't always been able to avoid killing, the type of standards he holds are so vital to the DC Universe.

In our next installment, we take a look at two other types of portrayals of Superman as we examine his fun side and the idea of Superman as a messiah figure.

The Many Versions of Superman, Part One

Over at Speculative Faith, E Stephen Burnett and Austin Gunderson are presenting a full-throated Defense of The Man of Steel .

There are some good points in there. I think for most people who had a problem with Man of Steel on grounds of tone really had Superman: The Movie in mind. It's worth noting that the remaining Superman films were downhill and I think Superman's behavior in Superman II was deplorable. I remember seeing it as a young adult and being very disappointed in how he acted. I've actually never seen the second one again.

I actually enjoyed Man of Steel but did have some problems with it, and I'm slightly bearish on Superman v. Batman. So, I'll set off on my own train of thought in this series (yes, it's a series because one good series deserves another.)

I've hosted more than 770 Superman Radio podcasts, read years of Superman newspaper strips, and Superman comic books in collected form and individual issues. Here are the major versions of Superman as I see them:

1) Aggressive Social Crusader:

When Superman arrived on the scene, he hit like a Hurricane. In the first issue of his comic, Superman breaks into the Governor's office, shoves past his staff and saves a woman from the electric chair, stops a man from beating his wife, stops thugs from harassing Lois Lane, and gets on the trail of an Arms Dealer with designs on starting war. And mind you, this is all in Action Comics #1 in a 14 page story.

Superman took to Metropolis busting rackets all over town. In 1938, Superman's activity was very cathartic for people who were oppressed by racketeers, greedy and unscrupulous businessmen who created unsafe conditions, and slumlords.

Jerry Siegel at this point was a brash young man who thought there was little that couldn't be solved by Superman punching people out or making them do the right thing. When Siegel was asked to write how Superman would end the War (before the US had to enter,) it as a 2-page story.

If Superman were on your side, it was awesome. However, what if Superman wasn't on your side? Superman had no problem flying leaping with victims up in there and tossing them about to get information.

Plus Superman could get more than a tad aggressive in his crusades. For example, infuriated at slum conditions, Superman reads of government aide to rebuild a city after a hurricane, so Superman forces the feds to rebuild by totally wrecking a slum neighborhood. In another Issue, Superman declares war on reckless drivers and decides to smash all the cars of reckless drivers to prevent impounds.

Superman's image changed but Superman would still have the occasional crusade. Over the radio from 1946-47 season of Superman, Superman took on the Ku Klux Klan (or a fictional proxy) and spent most of the season taking on racist politicians and gang leaders. It was courageous to take on the KKK, though with so many episodes from that season having the same theme, the thing could get repetitive.

Less successful was Superman's attempt to rid the world of nuclear weapons in the deservedly panned Superman IV. It's a scheme 1938-39 Superman would have approved of, but few others would have.

Book Review: Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Captain America, Vol. 5

Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Captain America, Vol. 5 by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 17-20 of Captain America Comics from the 1940s as we get into World War II properly. The stories are mostly typical Captain America fare, and begin to split between fighting Nazis and Japan and more pure horror stories. The stories maintain a pretty high quality for the era. The highlight of the book has to be issue 19 which has a moving four page Captain America appealed by war stamps and then has, "On to Berlin" an epic 24 page story when Cap goes behind enemy lines to rescue an imprisoned officer and runs smack into Adolf Hitler and somewhat predictable yet awesome happens next. Both stories are are written by Stan Lee.

Beyond that, we also have adventures of the Secret Stamp which are a little less propogandistic than other stories. He still sells war stamps but he's a kid vigilante superhero and the stories are a lot more fun int his volume.

The other main comic story varied. "The Fighting Yank" battled the Japanese in Issue 17 in a somewhat typical story. It was pointed out that the character had already been used by another company. The character was replaced by the Fighting Fool in Issue 18, which was interesting in that the character was from Australia and had been discharged from the military and decided to come to America to help us fight fifth columnist. With everyone in the Timely Universe who was doing that back then, Nazi fighting was a cottage industry. Issue 19 had a 7-page Human Torch story that just needed more space to tell. Issue 20 is a Sub-mariner story that's enjoyable despite me not caring for this version of the character's drawing. Sub-mariner smashes Nazis is a pretty simple yet powerful story.

The book is rounded out by humor strips which are of variable quality and contain some of the more racially portrayals in the book particularly of Black Americans.

Still, the book is an enjoyable golden age romp with most issues made up mostly of Captain America stories.



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Prime Day Sale: Tales of the Dim Knight

In honor of Prime Day, I'm holding a 1 day sale for Tales of the Dim Knight It is 99 cents for the Kindle. You can click here to purchase it. The follow up story that starts the Adventures of Powerhouse series, Powerhouse Flies Again is free. Click here for this story.

Book Review: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: The Complete Newspaper Dailies, Vol. 2: 1930-1932

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: The Complete Newspaper Dailies, Vol. 2: 1930-1932 by Philip Francis Nowlan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book, collecting 1930-32 Buck Rogers comics is a collection in two halves. The first half involves Buck and Wilma in Atlantis. It's pretty dry stuff (even if much of it is set underwater) with a lot of the humor falling flat because the Atlanteans just seem so foolish and the imagination of Atlantis is mostly dull. I say mostly because they do imagine people with flying submarines.

However, the book hits its stride when Buck and Wilma get into space where they encounter a lost people and have to get a girl to not marry Buck, but to get together with her true love: a 75 year old mad scientist from Earth who becomes emperor of Saturn.

Overall, when you get is great space opera with high technology mixed with hijinks of memory loss, mad revolutions, and romantic misunderstandings. Throughout both halfs, Buck's menace remains Killer Kane who is one of those villains with nothing better to do. The story also sees the introduction of Kane's girlfriend Ardala Valmar.

Overall the book really hits its stride in the second half and overcomes its weaker start to be a solid volume of Buck Rogers strips.



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Book Review: Superman Chronicles, Volume 7

The Superman Chronicles, Vol. 7 by Jerry Siegel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Superman Stories from Action Comics #41-#43, Superman #12 and #13 and World's Finest Comics #4.

I have to admit reading the first three comics in this story that were from Superman #12, it all felt a bit samey: Superman visits a tribe of natives, Superman breaks a racket (though it had the interesting feature of Clark Kent writing a wild theory in the Planet and then looking for the truth later. Thus previewing modern journalistic standards), and then Superman breaking up fifth columnists.

And then in the fourth story, Lex Luthor came along. He makes three appearances in the book and each of them is magnificent, each time bringing an insane scientific scheme that makes every other challenge Superman's faced look like bush league. These are great stories-all of them.

Another highlight is the introduction of Jimmy Olsen in Superman #13. This was only his introduction to the comics as he'd been on the radio show before that. He plays a minor role in the story itself and has blonde hair instead of red. The story of the "Archer" also has the police believing that Superman would kill someone with an arrow-as if he'd need one.

Also in Superman #13 is a delightfully amusing story that has Clark Kent/Superman taking care of a baby left on Clark's doorstep. It's a madcap tale that also includes espionage and war-planning.

Finally, World's Finest #4 is pretty interesting for a different take on the public safety crusades that pervaded so many early Superman stories.

Overall, while there are some repetitive stories, this book is still worth reading for the Luthor stories, Jimmy Olsen, and some great fun. It is unfortunate that the book is about 25 page shorter than other volumes, but this is because of the Chronology and the fact that the next issue would be Superman #14 (which will be in the next volume.)



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Interview with Andrea Graham

Andrea Graham, my wife and co-author on Tales of the Dim Knight and Fly Another Day has published her own series of stories in The Web Surfer series, (full details available at her website.) She graciously agreed to an interview.

Q1: Where did the idea for Web Surfer come from?

From recycling story ideas and story manuscripts that I’d scrapped for one
reason or another. I had to get the right tech in place. My hero expressed a
need for a holy purpose, a calling from God, so prayer became an important
factor in reformulating my ideas.

Q2: You had some difficulty in writing the first novel due to an accident.
Could you tell us a little a bit about that?

Gosh, that is a long story. I talk about how I lost my first novel
(and how I got it back) at Helping Hands Press’ blog. The second
part of my Web Surfer testimony begins a three-part discussion of how God
challenged me while answering my prayers in mysterious ways. I’d love more
comments on that over there.

Q3: Could you tell me about the users anthology?

It was re-named the Web Surfer Series as the individual episodes are being released as an e-serial. The first five have been bundled together and released as Web
Surfer Complete Series I. In total, it is ten shorter works all featuring the same main character, the AI-Man, from ten different users’ perspectives.

At the turn of the Twenty-Second Century, cyberspace had no bad AIs, only bad
coders. However, AIs measure their lives in days, eternity is out of their
reach, and they fail to bring about the advent of a holy infant in cyberspace.
Alexander Lloyd McGregor is an infant, but he isn’t holy, and only he is saved
from death by his father converting his cells into biological supercomputer
components. The child develops an AI mind called Sander and a human mind called
Alex. Sander is a bad AI subjected to slavery’s chains to get him to obey his
code as he serves a billion users all around the world. He’s also a king who
reigns over most of Earth’s computers, in a global society where
tech-dependency can kill. Freedom’s calling to Sander like a siren. His answer could shake the earth.

Q4: What are some of your favorite stories of your own in the anthology?

Four of the ten episodes are my own work; six were written by three
author friends of mine with me acting as a creative consultant and project editor.
Of the four I wrote, I am especially fond of “Creature of the Web” as it shows
Sander’s first date with Manna Jenkins from her perspective. It plays off the
tropes of paranormal romances, as I understand them, with Sander struggling
with a dark secret and seeking to protect the girl he loves from it.

Q5: I see that these stories are available individually. Are there essential
stories here that you have to read to understand the novels when they come out?
Or which you consider particularly must-read?

I wrote the first novel first, and it should stand alone fine, but
some readers would consider the first episode, “Regeneration” as essential as
it is Sander’s origin story. The others collectively give a broader view of Web
Surfer’s world and how things work in it. Readers may appreciate that before
the first novel focuses in on Sander’s favorite user and Sander’s own human
mind.

Q6: Is the world of Web-Surfer one you’d like to live in, or is the future
depicted in there something mankind should avoid?

I sought to be realistic and some aspects of their future aren’t so good. I
wouldn’t want to endure the decades that preceded their future. They’re living
in the era. following the World War III Reconstruction Era, and that war bathed
an apocalyptic portion of Earth in blood. The era the Web Surfer series takes
place in is like the eye of the storm. The tech is both cool and scary. The
people, er, characters I love are the only real attraction to living where they
live. If God decided to tickle me pink and make my Pinocchios real boys and
girls, I’d see them in Heaven anyway.

Q7: Who is your favorite superhero?

Spider-Man. I rather identify with him a bit. Loved his daughter, Spider-Girl, too. They should bring her back in the main universe.



Q8: If you could write an official, in-universe canonical story for
any character or series that’s currently under copywrite, who would you like to
write for and why?

Probably Doctor Who though I don’t think I’d want to tackle the Doctor
himself. Many a Time Lady has been born on Gallifrey or elsewhere who could run
off with a Tardis and have adventures of her own too. I’d call her the
Professor and hope she did well enough to prove we don’t need to emasculate men
to lift up women.

Thanks for the interview, Andrea. The Web Surfer Complete Series 1 is available now with future installments coming soon from Helping Hands press.