What's your take on the whole thing with Captain Marvel looking better with little to no muscle definition that Erik Larsen has been talking about on Twitter?
He uses a number of José Luis García-López drawings to show what he’s getting at, like the one below where he’s edited the bottom shot-
Basically, yeah, Erik’s not wrong. Beck and the other artists that defined Captain Marvel’s look in the golden age didn’t draw him with his ribs, biceps, and leg muscles well defined through the suit, so it is more on model if you’re specifically trying to emulate the original comics. For the brief time I got to draw him we were trying to echo some of that, so I drew Cap in rounder and broader shapes and tried to stay away from depicting every single ab.
That said, you certainly don’t have to do it that way, nor do I think Erik’s saying as much either (though I don’t want to try and speak to what he’s getting at). If you want to make Cap look as Fawcett Comics as possible, that’s the way to go. For some, “Captain Marvel” the character ends the moment Fawcett stopped publishing him, which is an opinion I can respect even if I don’t necessarily agree. I know Erik’s a big fan of that original incarnation and obviously he’s Erik freaking Larsen so he knows what he’s talking about.
Action Comics vol.1 Nos.362-366 comprises probably the most ambitious story arc yet attempted in the assorted Superman comics at this point in the character’s history. While Action Comics had been hosting three-part stories for both Superman and Supergirl on the reg, “The Leper From Krypton” story spans an almost-ridiculous five issues. And the story being told inside was as dramatic as you can imagine – Superman contracts Kryptonian leprosy and is launched into space to die!
The arc ends up being a showcase of Superman’s history as told through a complicated horror movie lens: You have Superman lurching through rain-soaked streets, his gangrenous and swollen appendages like bloated claws. There’s a virus from another world, a coffin in space, the torment of strange, imperfect figures laughing and throwing poisonous stones like flowers. His mad scientist enemy taunts him via television waves, the cheering crowds recoil from him now in terror, he hides his disfigurements under a hulking trenchcoat and inarticulate gloves. A planet in flames. The muffled farewell to the one true love.
And then there’s the evil ventriloquist!
In brief: Ventriloquist/Crimelord Ventor uses a super-hypnosis machine to turn Clark Kent into Superman’s assassin. Ventor passes a sample of “the Kryptonian leprosy” – Virus-X – from Luthor to Kent, who obeys his hypnotic command and doses himself (in a roundabout way).
Superman immediately begins showing signs of the deadly Virus-X, a disfiguring disease which kills on contact (an unlucky cat brushes Superman’s icky hand and snuffs it). Naturally, Superman leaves the Earth in a big glass coffin, heading for the heart of the largest sun in the universe while recounting his legacy. Somewhere along Memory Lane, some Bizarros show up to chuck rocks of white and red kryptonite at Superman, curing him instantly. (Superman returns to Earth to find the Justice League filling in for him, but that’s more of an addendum)
I say repeatedly that you can’t overstate how much Marvel Comics was influencing DC at the time. The stage had changed dramatically, and DC was working out how to compete with the radical buzz surrounding the up-and-coming threat. This longer storyline with frequent references to past issues (note, for instance, the rare-up-to-this-point editor’s note referring to a previous issue of another comic) and heavily versed in continuity was also grim and reflective. There’s a real navel-gazing quality to so much of this story, and that it might very likely have been influenced by, say, a very operatic, star-spanning Marvel story like Silver Surfer or such. The last image in the set above wears its cosmic-Kirby aspirations on its sleeve.
Coupla other notes: Superman’s long ride to a distant sun sent him past many planets, including a suddenly “woke” Lexor which turns its back on Luthor, being made aware of his murder of Superman. They will ignore this change. Also, in his multitude of flashbacks, Superman recalled that his first kiss with Lana Lang had been at a school production of Sleeping Beauty. That’s not important, but I think it’s awful charming that something so simple and sweet had found a home in the canon at this point.
It’s a little bit of a longshot to file the Tornado Twins – 30th century offspring of Barry “The Flash” Allen – under the Superman banner, but they do make for a good example of how the Legion is continuing to establish its own brand. While Superboy happens to take part in this issue, he doesn’t have much to contribute. Meanwhile, the Legion’s 30th century universe is expanding widely enough to start accepting legacy characters from other superheroes of the 20th century.
