Superman: American Alien Opinions

So what did you guys think of Landis' American Alien? I thought it was decent, but I was shocked to hear some think this is one of the best Superman stories EVER. It's certainly Landis' best comics work, but I don't even think it's that good. Landis' dialogue in general just sucks dick. Thoughts?

Its okay, I did like how he made Pete kinda relevant again.

I think it's pretty darn good to be honest. My brother claims it to be the absolute best Superman origin story which I think is bullshit when Birthright and Secret Origin exist.

Birthright is better, I'd agree. My favorite thing about both it and American Alien is that it shows Clark as college educated, which means that he knew he wanted to be a journalist and cares about it WAY before he got to Metropolis.

None of the others do that, they always make it out like Perry is just willing to hire homeless randos with no resume.

It's shit and misses the point of what makes Superman comic good.

>misses the point of what makes Superman comic good

How so?

It's generally liked by people who don't get the point of Superman and just like to read Peter Parker.

You don't need to do what AA did to make a good/great Superman comic and what it did doesn't really make for a good/great Superman comic.

I like it but didn't like the ending

As you said, the dialogue sucks, which is strange considering Landis is a screenwriter. It's really just a decent series of Superman vignettes showcasing different periods of growth for him. It doesn't do anything particularly innovative. Idk, it's just meh for me

No memeing, some of the most overrated trash DC has put out in recent years. The concept for each issue is fine, and then Landis just completely flops and can't deliver

Very much this. Pretty much every thing Max does is "Hey, that's a good idea" followed up with asinine realization of the idea. The guy should maybe just be a story guy, not the script guy

>Landis
This Landis?
Thought he hated superman.

I liked it. I know it's not super popular in the Superman fandom due to kinda making him more green and unsure of himself, but I liked an alternate take on a fresh Supes before he really steps into the role

Birthright and secret origin are both shit though.

Yeah, that Landis. His movies sucks but American Alien was good.

I think it's detrimental to the reputation of comic books when this miniseries is considered one of the best stories involving the medium's most enduring character. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, even quite good, but it is really OK in the grand scheme of literature.

You're thinking "Why is he comparing it to literature? it's a Superman comic?". The problem for me is that people who read novels and such will be recommended this, and shy away from comics as a whole

Bad start with young clark burning the arms of a random thug and other violence.
After that I enjoyed it more, but like a bad first impression I was always pessimistic. But it still averages out to okay.
Would buy trade, but mostly if it was on sale of some kind.

So you're bitter at a capeshit story because your circle of friends is pretentious psuedointellectuals who aren't going to like capeshit anyway.

Not bitter at all. I enjoyed the comic, although I have criticisms. My problem is more that people say this is one of the best Superman stories ever. For American Alien to hold that status, by any literary standard, is not a good reflection on comics as a whole. The thing is, I want people to read comics. But even to a semi-well read person, this books' writing is subpar, which would deter them from reading other comics.

Idk why you're bringing up my circle of friends, I'm referring more to the comic book layman

It reads like something from fanfiction.net. Screen writers have proven to be the worst writers at making the jump.

How is Secret origin is shit? It's literally best Superman origin and the most iconic one.

>Landis' dialogue in general just sucks dick.

agreed. biggest glaring fault
the story isn't terrible, it's not the best superman story, overall pretty mediocre imo.

it's actually by far not one of the best comics overall or even just superman comics. it's a whatever story/take on the character with poor dialogue.

Borrows too much from Donner, makes the same mistake every Superman origin except Birthright has: We get to see Smallville High and moving to Metropolis, but not the in-between.

The genius of Birthright (which American Alien tries to ape and at least partially succeeds at) is that post-graduation is actually the most important part of the origin in terms of *character motivation*. That's when the character has the most agency, it's the point where the young adult decides what he wants to do with his life.

Other origins leave it off-fucking-screen. They just skip ahead to him moving to Metropolis, his mind made up and his costume already sewn.

Reddit praises the shit out of this story, and I have no idea why. Could be because anytime someone mentions Landis he jumps into the thread and everyone starts sucking his dick

>Borrows too much from Donner
And it's a bad thing, because?...
>post-graduation is actually the most important part of the origin in terms of *character motivation*
He already have motivation from his parents. No need to expand it.

>And it's a bad thing, because?...

Donner was very silver age cheese.

Also personally I prefer Clark to catch a plane in his debut, not a helicopter falling lamely off a roof.

I don't see how SO is "very silver age" Only costume maybe.

SO isn't so bad because it only borrows from Donner as opposed to BEING Donner, it's just that people need to let a movie from the 70's with 70's sensibilities go instead of constantly calling back to it.

Honestly, I don't like any of the live action Superman films. "Muh" Superman origin is the S:TAS pilot 3-parter, which is Byrne without the retarded parts.

Well, Donner's Superman is maybe was good, but outdated. I don't even want to start about MoS. So, yeah, there are no good Superman movies to watch nowdays. I'd love to see STAS/SO mixed version of best parts. But, well, we need WB to stop being greedy retards.

Personally, I liked it. Although I think a lot of the complaints in this thread are valid takes, there is also a fair dose of not muh. It's an interesting Clark Kent story and has appeal to people who are dismissive of Superman because they think he's too perfect to be interesting.

>entry level book recommended as entry level reading material
I see nothing wrong with this. I don't tell everyone who asks me for comic recommendations to jump straight into Morrison's weirdest shit or try to parse From Hell going in cold. Not everyone needs a cerebral reading experience full of intense thematic material and tailor-made for discussion of the medium. Most people that are looking for comic recommendations are like "I want to read a good Superman comic," and so maybe you recommend them this or Birthright or All-Star or whatever. Nothing wrong with that.

Meh, long-time running comics are some of the worst.

There's a rise of pretentious "scholarly" behavior on this board. I blame Sup Forums posters, or an attempt to emulate Sup Forums, because it's the comics equivalent of the stereotypical film school type who wants to watch or make black and white shorts about a man frying eggs and smoking.

...

Not even the top 10 of Superman comic let alone one of the best text the medium has to offer.

For All Seasons is the best

It confirmed my idea that Superman fans are easily impressed

How vague

Chronicle was bretty gud
He actually really loves Superman. Watch "regarding Clark"

>He actually really loves Superman. Watch "regarding Clark"
just like most shitty people

The work assumes that for Superman to be interesting he needs to relatable and human, that we need to show mundanity in the life of this alien to give a depth to character and giving viewers something to latch on to. By doing this you are stripping Superman of the universality. Greats of the Superman don't rely on this cheap narrative crux, they're more concerned about telling a good Superman story than worrying about whether the people who don't want to like Superman will like the story we're writing or not.

Sup Forums posters can't even string a sentence together and are the ones calling American Alien a classic because it's the first thing they picked up after they realized how much they enjoyed role playing about liking DC movies.

>There's a rise of pretentious "scholarly" behavior on this board.
What do you mean by this? That people are looking at works more critically or that they understand that hierarchy of the comic text is a valid characteristic that this medium provides? Both are true.

he's half right.

This is the best CLARK KENT origin story

It was tryhard version to make Superman more "relatable", you can see it steams from insecurity and being mad because "other people" don't like Superman. It's on the same vein as his other Superman celebrated story here on Sup Forums.

That's how it was pitched.
>this isn't a story of how Clark Kent became Superman
>this is a story of how Clark Kent became Clark kent

and for that, it works great.

The only problem I have with it, it's how Clark switches from wanting to be a Veterinary to a Journalist. There were no hints of any interest toward journalism in the previous issues.

Edgy, overrated piece of garbage.

I think it's cute.

the only panels I ever see posted about this comic is the ones were Clark throws Deathstroke out of the boat and the one where he chokes Batman so I just assumed it was the usual overcompensating Superman comic

Overrated. Just like Superman: Unchained.

First issue was ok, second was hilariously terrible, third just had Superman getting drunk and fucking Cheetah because Ladis is a hack that wanted to make his crack ship real

...

...

Nah, it's pretty lighthearted.

>Donner was very silver age cheese.
No he wasn't, he was basically the opposite, going against the silver age style and doing a more golden age with silver age powers.

The silver age was basically cartoon slapstick.

Secret origins is not a good story and was just added with the purpose of making a few retcons.

didn´t read it
looked like more sjw crap so I stayed as far as possible away from it

I know right? This is decent but boy, they're like hungry dogs that'll be elated at a half-eaten drumstick thrown at them

Chronicle was pretty good, but
a) Co-written by Josh Trank, and his direction really made that movie
b)when you look at the script alone, you realize how bad it actually is and how much the acting and directing make up for it
c)every other movie of his has been terrible

...

It's evident by all the mediocre shit that Superman fans consider good. Johns and Tomasi are considered greatest writers of the medium by Superman fans. They even like cringey shit like action comics #775.

...

...

Except is true, just have some random panel of Clark being nice and is "OMG COMIC OF THE YEAR! PAGE OF THE DECADE!" for people here

bitch please, that never happened

>Edgy
You didn't read it.

>that never happened
literally half the storytimes since rebirth have been like that

Who the fuck considers this that good?

>Silver Age cheese
Hahaha fucking casual. Read a comic.

Reddit, and other comic book forums