MichaelDoran
11-10-2002, 01:12 PM
<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/Smsicv1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/Smsicv1_t.jpg" width="175" height="271" border="0" alt="SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY no.1 cover – click to open a larger version" align="right"></a>Co-written by Alex Segura Jr.
Everyone goes through it. Feelings of awkwardness. Inability to trust many people. General insecurity. Always worried about looking right. Fear of people finding out your deep, dark secrets.
No, not being a teenager. Being a superhero. Though, both things do seem eerily similar upon close inspection.
Writer Kurt Busiek thinks so too, and he and his former Shockrockets collaborator Stuart Immonen (Thor) delve deeper into the relationship between being a hero and growing up, and just how much these two elements often overlap. In Superman: Secret Identity, a four-part Elseworlds Prestige mini-series debuting early next year, Busiek and Immonen tell the tale of a guy named Clark Kent, his experiences with life, love, death and super powers … but it may not be quite what you’re thinking…
"Superman: Secret Identity is about a guy named Clark Kent," Busiek explained. "This isn't the DC Universe, though, so in his case, he's just a guy who looks like Clark Kent, who grew up in Kansas, and who, all his life, has dealt with people making the obvious jokes – ‘Hey Clark, where's Superman?’ ‘Hey, Clark, let's see you fly’. ‘Hey, Clark, where's Jimmy and Lois?’"
The constant ribbing isn't something this Clark gets used to though, and the story not only focuses on the humorous aspect of sharing a name with Superman's alter ego, but also the role super powers would play in a man's growth and development.
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_06.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_06_t.jpg" width="150" height="228" border="0" alt="SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY no. 1. pg. 6" align="left"></a>"It's the kind of thing that gets old fast - except that for this Clark, there's one change. While he's still in high school, he discovers he has the powers, too," Busiek explained. "He doesn't know how it happened or why, but now there's truth behind the jokes. He can fly. He's bulletproof. He's faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and so on.
"But he's still not living in a superhero world, a world with Lex Luthors and Metallos and Justice Leagues. He's still just a guy living his life, trying to get by. A guy with a pretty big secret."
For the story to have its desired effect, Busiek said it was important to set it in an "alternate universe," but one much like our own. Though under the Elseworlds banner, the story will not touch upon many aspects of DC lore.
"Superman: Secret Identity is, technically, a four-issue Elseworlds project - four 48-page issues, each dealing with a different stage in Clark's life,” said the writer. “We'll see him as a teenager in high school. We'll see him as a young man in New York City, falling in love. We'll see him as a husband, as a father - each issue exploring how his secret affects him, how he deals with it, and with the world around him.
"And I say 'technically' an Elseworlds because the whole ‘it's a different reality’ thing is not what Stuart and I are focusing on. You won't see Clark meet a young Hal Jordan or a newspaper editor named Perry White - we're not playing with DC history outside of the fact that the people around know it from the comics, from TV, from movies.
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SIDsketch1.jpg" target="_top"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SIDsketch1_t.jpg" width="125" height="226" border="0" alt="SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY sketch 1" align="right"></a>"Instead, what Superman: Secret Identity is all about is the oft-repeated idea that Superman is a metaphor for adolescence - that he's meek, powerless Clark Kent, unattractive to women, the stand-in for a kid, but inside, he's secretly this raging he-man, powerful, respected, adult. And he shifts back and forth between the two as fast as an adolescent's voice cracks."
The concept of showing a man's life - with its inherent ups and downs - through the structure of a comic book has always interested Busiek.
"I like that idea - I've always thought it had a real power to it. But I've also wanted to push it further - if Superman is a metaphor for adolescence, can't you use superheroes as metaphors for other things? Other stages of life?" Busiek notes. "I've done some of that in Astro City, but we're exploring the concept directly in Superman: Secret Identity, using the Superman imagery to explore four stages of life.
“Everyone's got a secret self - there's the face the world sees, and the true self within - and our Clark does too. It's just that his secret self is super-powered. So as we tell stories of him growing up, coping with life, career, romance, parenthood and so on, the Superman powers make those conflicts deeper, deadlier, louder."
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_15.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_15_t.jpg" width="150" height="228" border="0" alt="SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY no. 1. pg. 15" align="left"></a>So while the book will definitely explore the intricacies and ironies of Clark's role, there will still be plenty of excitement, Busiek added.
"As you can probably tell, there's a hefty dose of adventure in Secret Identity,” Busiek continued. “Clark's powers make him a target for some very dangerous people - but the focus is very much on humanity, and on the human choices Clark has to make, exaggerated and deepened by his situation.
"Plus, it's gorgeous - Stuart is providing very striking full art, with a combination of lush, naturalistic pencils and computer color. Every time I see more art, I'm bowled over by how strong it is, how perfectly it realizes Clark and the world around him. It's so well-observed and well-realized that I believe the fantasy - the flying, the powers - more than I believe it in most other comics. It's a visual treat."
Unlike previous artistic assignments, Immonen has also taken on the coloring duties this time around. He's also changed his penciling approach to fit the more organic feel of the story, Immonen said.
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SIDsketch2.jpg" target="_top"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SIDsketch2_t.jpg" width="200" height="120" border="0" alt="SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY sketch 2" align="right"></a>“I've chosen, due to the tone of the story, to adopt a style that leans heavily on naturalism," Immonen explained. "This is probably no surprise, considering the kind of rep I've gotten on Superman and the Legion, but is quite different from my more recent work on Thor and The Hulk. I used a similar technique on the story I did with Kathryn Kuder for Captain America #50, as well as the cover to the Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating the JLA trade paperback and a pinup done for The Matrix website.
"I've also been given the opportunity (turns out all I had to do was ask) to do full art, including color, on this job. At first, I had some difficulty in trying to explain the process I had in mind. I prepared a few sketches, illustrating the technique, and Kurt and Joey [Cavalieri ] and others at DC all responded positively. It's basically a pencil-rendered technique, similar, but not aping, the kind of thing you'd see in one of Andrew Loomis' 'how-to-draw' books. There's a lot of mid-tones and shading, and some implied outlines, as opposed to traditional comic line art, which has characters and other elements in each panel usually bounded by a strong outline. I'm doing things in the line art that leave a lot open to interpretation, but because I'm coloring, I'm able to 'finish' the line art in color."
Wearing the colorist's hat on an entire series is a fresh role for the artist.
"Coloring on this scale is new for me, too. I've colored my own work on jobs for Nickelodeon Magazine and Disney Adventures, but those jobs are just single illustrations- really a completely different experience,” Immonen noted. “I've gotten lots of invaluable advice on the process, both from other <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_17.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_17_t.jpg" width="150" height="228" border="0" alt="SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY no. 1. pg. 17" align="left"></a>freelancers and from Mark Chiarello and others at DC. I've - almost subconsciously - developed thematic color schemes throughout, having the color indicate setting and emotional context. This is the kind of thing a good colorist does as a matter of course, but it's new to me - I'm used to trying to get all the information in the black line."
While the series may have been effective exploring the trials of a man not only discovering his new powers but in the process discovering himself, Busiek thinks adding the Superman mythos to the tale – meaning having the characters in this story aware of the comic book character Superman - gives it more depth.
"Superman is a powerful image - if you take that out, you've just got a story about a guy with super powers," Busiek opinioned. "It could be the exact same story, aside from the lead character being rather less alienated by the teasing - but it won't have the same power, because the 'secret' isn't iconic any more. Simply put, 'I'm secretly Superman' is a more powerful idea than 'I secretly have super-powers.'"
The story actually stems in part from Busiek's own life. Not to worry, though, he isn't hiding a secret life as a crimefighter. Or is he?
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/Smsicv2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/Smsicv2_t.jpg" width="175" height="271" border="0" alt="SECRET IDENTITY no. 2 cover - click to open larger version" align="right"></a>"It may also be my particular experience - I grew up a few streets away from a guy named Kent Clarke, so I got to see that dynamic in action," Busiek concluded. "I can't imagine it was fun for him, though his parents clearly thought it was a good idea when they named him."
<a href=http://classic.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000039>CLICK HERE</a> to return to the main menu to read about more of DC’s upcoming projects.
Got something to say about this? <a href=http://classic.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=agree>CLICK HERE</a> to register and join one of comics' most active online communities. Registration is fast and easy. </font>
[As revealed this past summer, Kurt Busiek’s Astro City returns this spring. For more with Busiek on that, check out his interview with our friends at The Pulse by clicking <a href=http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=000393 >here</a> ]
Everyone goes through it. Feelings of awkwardness. Inability to trust many people. General insecurity. Always worried about looking right. Fear of people finding out your deep, dark secrets.
No, not being a teenager. Being a superhero. Though, both things do seem eerily similar upon close inspection.
Writer Kurt Busiek thinks so too, and he and his former Shockrockets collaborator Stuart Immonen (Thor) delve deeper into the relationship between being a hero and growing up, and just how much these two elements often overlap. In Superman: Secret Identity, a four-part Elseworlds Prestige mini-series debuting early next year, Busiek and Immonen tell the tale of a guy named Clark Kent, his experiences with life, love, death and super powers … but it may not be quite what you’re thinking…
"Superman: Secret Identity is about a guy named Clark Kent," Busiek explained. "This isn't the DC Universe, though, so in his case, he's just a guy who looks like Clark Kent, who grew up in Kansas, and who, all his life, has dealt with people making the obvious jokes – ‘Hey Clark, where's Superman?’ ‘Hey, Clark, let's see you fly’. ‘Hey, Clark, where's Jimmy and Lois?’"
The constant ribbing isn't something this Clark gets used to though, and the story not only focuses on the humorous aspect of sharing a name with Superman's alter ego, but also the role super powers would play in a man's growth and development.
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_06.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_06_t.jpg" width="150" height="228" border="0" alt="SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY no. 1. pg. 6" align="left"></a>"It's the kind of thing that gets old fast - except that for this Clark, there's one change. While he's still in high school, he discovers he has the powers, too," Busiek explained. "He doesn't know how it happened or why, but now there's truth behind the jokes. He can fly. He's bulletproof. He's faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and so on.
"But he's still not living in a superhero world, a world with Lex Luthors and Metallos and Justice Leagues. He's still just a guy living his life, trying to get by. A guy with a pretty big secret."
For the story to have its desired effect, Busiek said it was important to set it in an "alternate universe," but one much like our own. Though under the Elseworlds banner, the story will not touch upon many aspects of DC lore.
"Superman: Secret Identity is, technically, a four-issue Elseworlds project - four 48-page issues, each dealing with a different stage in Clark's life,” said the writer. “We'll see him as a teenager in high school. We'll see him as a young man in New York City, falling in love. We'll see him as a husband, as a father - each issue exploring how his secret affects him, how he deals with it, and with the world around him.
"And I say 'technically' an Elseworlds because the whole ‘it's a different reality’ thing is not what Stuart and I are focusing on. You won't see Clark meet a young Hal Jordan or a newspaper editor named Perry White - we're not playing with DC history outside of the fact that the people around know it from the comics, from TV, from movies.
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SIDsketch1.jpg" target="_top"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SIDsketch1_t.jpg" width="125" height="226" border="0" alt="SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY sketch 1" align="right"></a>"Instead, what Superman: Secret Identity is all about is the oft-repeated idea that Superman is a metaphor for adolescence - that he's meek, powerless Clark Kent, unattractive to women, the stand-in for a kid, but inside, he's secretly this raging he-man, powerful, respected, adult. And he shifts back and forth between the two as fast as an adolescent's voice cracks."
The concept of showing a man's life - with its inherent ups and downs - through the structure of a comic book has always interested Busiek.
"I like that idea - I've always thought it had a real power to it. But I've also wanted to push it further - if Superman is a metaphor for adolescence, can't you use superheroes as metaphors for other things? Other stages of life?" Busiek notes. "I've done some of that in Astro City, but we're exploring the concept directly in Superman: Secret Identity, using the Superman imagery to explore four stages of life.
“Everyone's got a secret self - there's the face the world sees, and the true self within - and our Clark does too. It's just that his secret self is super-powered. So as we tell stories of him growing up, coping with life, career, romance, parenthood and so on, the Superman powers make those conflicts deeper, deadlier, louder."
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_15.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_15_t.jpg" width="150" height="228" border="0" alt="SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY no. 1. pg. 15" align="left"></a>So while the book will definitely explore the intricacies and ironies of Clark's role, there will still be plenty of excitement, Busiek added.
"As you can probably tell, there's a hefty dose of adventure in Secret Identity,” Busiek continued. “Clark's powers make him a target for some very dangerous people - but the focus is very much on humanity, and on the human choices Clark has to make, exaggerated and deepened by his situation.
"Plus, it's gorgeous - Stuart is providing very striking full art, with a combination of lush, naturalistic pencils and computer color. Every time I see more art, I'm bowled over by how strong it is, how perfectly it realizes Clark and the world around him. It's so well-observed and well-realized that I believe the fantasy - the flying, the powers - more than I believe it in most other comics. It's a visual treat."
Unlike previous artistic assignments, Immonen has also taken on the coloring duties this time around. He's also changed his penciling approach to fit the more organic feel of the story, Immonen said.
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SIDsketch2.jpg" target="_top"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SIDsketch2_t.jpg" width="200" height="120" border="0" alt="SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY sketch 2" align="right"></a>“I've chosen, due to the tone of the story, to adopt a style that leans heavily on naturalism," Immonen explained. "This is probably no surprise, considering the kind of rep I've gotten on Superman and the Legion, but is quite different from my more recent work on Thor and The Hulk. I used a similar technique on the story I did with Kathryn Kuder for Captain America #50, as well as the cover to the Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating the JLA trade paperback and a pinup done for The Matrix website.
"I've also been given the opportunity (turns out all I had to do was ask) to do full art, including color, on this job. At first, I had some difficulty in trying to explain the process I had in mind. I prepared a few sketches, illustrating the technique, and Kurt and Joey [Cavalieri ] and others at DC all responded positively. It's basically a pencil-rendered technique, similar, but not aping, the kind of thing you'd see in one of Andrew Loomis' 'how-to-draw' books. There's a lot of mid-tones and shading, and some implied outlines, as opposed to traditional comic line art, which has characters and other elements in each panel usually bounded by a strong outline. I'm doing things in the line art that leave a lot open to interpretation, but because I'm coloring, I'm able to 'finish' the line art in color."
Wearing the colorist's hat on an entire series is a fresh role for the artist.
"Coloring on this scale is new for me, too. I've colored my own work on jobs for Nickelodeon Magazine and Disney Adventures, but those jobs are just single illustrations- really a completely different experience,” Immonen noted. “I've gotten lots of invaluable advice on the process, both from other <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_17.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/SID1_17_t.jpg" width="150" height="228" border="0" alt="SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY no. 1. pg. 17" align="left"></a>freelancers and from Mark Chiarello and others at DC. I've - almost subconsciously - developed thematic color schemes throughout, having the color indicate setting and emotional context. This is the kind of thing a good colorist does as a matter of course, but it's new to me - I'm used to trying to get all the information in the black line."
While the series may have been effective exploring the trials of a man not only discovering his new powers but in the process discovering himself, Busiek thinks adding the Superman mythos to the tale – meaning having the characters in this story aware of the comic book character Superman - gives it more depth.
"Superman is a powerful image - if you take that out, you've just got a story about a guy with super powers," Busiek opinioned. "It could be the exact same story, aside from the lead character being rather less alienated by the teasing - but it won't have the same power, because the 'secret' isn't iconic any more. Simply put, 'I'm secretly Superman' is a more powerful idea than 'I secretly have super-powers.'"
The story actually stems in part from Busiek's own life. Not to worry, though, he isn't hiding a secret life as a crimefighter. Or is he?
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/Smsicv2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/RRP/Smsicv2_t.jpg" width="175" height="271" border="0" alt="SECRET IDENTITY no. 2 cover - click to open larger version" align="right"></a>"It may also be my particular experience - I grew up a few streets away from a guy named Kent Clarke, so I got to see that dynamic in action," Busiek concluded. "I can't imagine it was fun for him, though his parents clearly thought it was a good idea when they named him."
<a href=http://classic.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000039>CLICK HERE</a> to return to the main menu to read about more of DC’s upcoming projects.
Got something to say about this? <a href=http://classic.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=agree>CLICK HERE</a> to register and join one of comics' most active online communities. Registration is fast and easy. </font>
[As revealed this past summer, Kurt Busiek’s Astro City returns this spring. For more with Busiek on that, check out his interview with our friends at The Pulse by clicking <a href=http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=000393 >here</a> ]