Comic Genius

I started reading Kurt Busiek’s Secret Identity yesterday. My prior knowledge was minimal, only knowing that it was about a kid named Clark Kent who always was teased because he had the same name as the fictitious Superman. But he soon finds out that he has Superman’s abilities, and the adventure begins.

First of all, the art is kind of jarring once you start reading. It’s hard to describe–almost like the figures were drawn and literally placed on top of the backgrounds and then mass-produced.

The story itself is amazing. Everyone has hated their name at some point during their lives–Clark just has a closet full of Superman shirts and memorabilia to prove just how much he hates his. And as if having the name Clark Kent and gaining his abilities isn’t enough, he gets set up with a woman named Lois.

The similarities to the conventional Superman story ends there. Even as he flies around in a Superman suit and saves hundreds of thousands of people, the government is out to get him. They want him, and have been tracking him for years, simply because someone like him shouldn’t exist. They would love nothing more than to have him in a lab for the rest of his life so they could study him endlessly.

I won’t spoil any more, because this really is a story I think everyone should experience for themselves.