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mosellegreen (mosellegreen) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-06-15 16:20:00

Entry tags:

char: superman/clark kent, genre: elseworlds, publisher: dc comics

Superman Elseworlds: True Brit
I just acquired a copy of True Brit, about what if baby Kal-El had landed in England instead of the U.S. I was eager to read this, but alas, the author apparently really dislikes Brits. Just one page to show you what I mean. The whole book's like this.

EDIT: Turns out the author is John Cleese - I didn't even look. Poking fun at his own country is his usual schtick. It's still not what I hoped for.

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	lonewolf23k 2009-06-15 03:28 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, I'm pretty sure the author IS british. Eric Idle, of Monty Python, isn't it? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lonewolf23k 2009-06-15 03:31 pm UTC (link)
	Checks Wikipedia ...Better yet, it's John Cleese, of same. Along with Kim Johnson, not of Monty Python. So, yeah, John Cleese, I trust in the matter of lampooning British society. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	batcookies 2009-06-15 03:33 pm UTC (link)
	Better yet Bah. Idle > Cleese (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-06-15 06:22 pm UTC (link)
	Ahem... Cleese gave us "Fawlty Towers", Idle gave us "Nearly Departed" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jlroberson 2009-06-16 07:13 pm UTC (link)
	True, but at least I don't have to hear about his divorces. Damn you, Cleese. For that matter, Jones too. I do not want my Pythons acting like...well, other celebrities. Ah well. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	thehefner 2009-06-15 11:14 pm UTC (link)
	ala Kyle Broflovski Really? ... Really??? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	mosellegreen 2009-06-15 04:19 pm UTC (link)
	I didn't even look at the author. That makes sense. It was still a disappointment to me. I'd like to see a serious take on the "British Superman" idea. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

rab62
2009-06-15 05:12 pm UTC (link)

I retain some skepticism as to how much actual writing on this was done by Mr. Cleese...especially given his second-place billing in the credits. I can well imagine (what follows is pure speculation on my part) the pair idly sitting around, riffing on the idea of a British-raised Superman, Johnson perhaps noting ideas by Cleese and incorporating them into the story. And when it came to writing the credits, a publisher would be a fool not to recognize the potential sales boost in being able to put the name "John Cleese" on the cover.

The above should not be taken as any slight to either Kim Johnson or John Cleese, both of whom I think are swell people. But I've always thought there was a bit of hype in this...

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	jlroberson 2009-06-15 07:56 pm UTC (link)
	It's pretty much Johnson, as I understand it. And not a very good book; I've read it. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	crinosg 2009-06-15 08:32 pm UTC (link)
	Didn't they do an elseworlds where Superman was a brit during the american revolution, and he dragged all the people signing the declaration of independence to England to be hanged? That the kind of superman story you'd like to see? Really? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mosellegreen 2009-06-15 09:30 pm UTC (link)
	Hee! Yes, I would like to see that! What? I'm strange. (Reply to this) (Parent)

jlroberson
2009-06-16 07:11 pm UTC (link)

You're joking, right? What sort of people do you think made "Superman is a dick" popular?

People like me, for one. So yes. Good lord, I liked RED SON and he becomes, well, Super-Stalin! I think I remarked around here recently that the most annoying trope of Superman Elseworlds is the one of "Superman is always Superman." In other words, no matter what the circumstances, he will always end up in some way the Supes we know and all is well with the world's favorite trademark, isn't he great?

Myself, I find it usually more interesting to see how he could go wrong. Which is to say, easily. Because I've never agreed with DC's rather childish "good vs. evil" cosmology, though some of its manifestations, such as Earth 3, are fun.

What I want to see? An Elseworlds with Grant Morrison's Overman. Oh wait, I have: Marshal Law.

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	fromtheaether 2009-06-15 05:01 pm UTC (link)
	And rewritten by John Byrne.... (Reply to this) (Parent)

	foxhack 2009-06-15 03:49 pm UTC (link)
	Funny, I always thought the humor was very British... Very self-deprecating. Not something an average person would get, but fun nonetheless. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	foxhack 2009-06-15 03:51 pm UTC (link)
	On the other hand, that second panel is very distracting. British cars have the driver's seat in the right, uh, right? Then why is Jonathan looking outside that way, if the ship crashed to their left? Agh. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

greenmask
2009-06-16 06:27 am UTC (link)

Right, on the right. :3.

Of it being very British humour, though, I will agree.. in the sense that any night of the week I can turn on the tv and see something homegrown and billed as comedy that makes me go "OH GOSH, shut up, do something new". Much like this did.

Actually it was one of the first Elseworlds I read, and it was a massive disappointment to me. I was in a bookshop and had just gone through Red Son. The comparison was not kind.

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	jlroberson 2009-06-16 07:15 pm UTC (link)
	Careful. Byrne fans will roast you at the stake. The master makes no mistakes. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	foxhack 2009-06-16 07:19 pm UTC (link)
	It actually looks to me like someone flipped the artwork around. And this is Byrne? Ick. He's had better days... (Reply to this) (Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2009-06-15 05:02 pm UTC (link)
	I always thought it would have worked better if it had been illustrated by an artist with a dryer sense of humour. IDK. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	filthysize.livejournal.com 2009-06-15 10:56 pm UTC (link)
	I'm curious, too. Seems like it would have been very different if it was, say, Kevin O'Neill. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	04nbod 2009-06-15 05:27 pm UTC (link)
	urgghh, dumbass characatures. Go read captain britain. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	besamim 2009-06-15 05:45 pm UTC (link)
	Seriously, since when are the Kents supposed to be buck-toothed? If the point was to make a "Brits have bad teeth because they love sweets" joke (which AFAIK is a joke North Americans, not British people themselves, make), a mouthful of rotten teeth would've made more sense. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	04nbod 2009-06-15 06:51 pm UTC (link)
	they look like molemen and are dumb beyond belief. I think its meant to be a yorkshire stereotype from this (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jlroberson 2009-06-15 07:58 pm UTC (link)
	But of course, they talk nothing like Yorkshire people. (Reply to this) (Parent)

skitty_kat
2009-06-16 02:11 am UTC (link)

Oh no, Brits know we have bad teeth.

English Teeth, English Teeth!
Shining in the sun
A part of British heritage
Aye, each and every one.
English Teeth, Happy Teeth!
Always having fun
Clamping down on bits of fish
And sausages half done.
English Teeth! HEROES' Teeth!
Hear them click! and clack!
Let's sing a song of praise to them -
Three Cheers for the Brown Grey and Black.

Thank you, Spike Milligan.

Hmm, I remember really enjoying True Brit when I first read it. It has the Rutles in it!

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	thanekos 2009-06-15 08:02 pm UTC (link)
	this world gets a groan-worthy Batman. (Reply to this)

retro_nouveau
2009-06-15 11:04 pm UTC (link)

True Brit's been on my wish list for a while because Clark's my favorite and I love alternate universes. I guess it slips down to the end of the list.

What stands out to me from this page is that in Kansas, the Kents drive a big ol' pickup through fields of corn that stretch for miles in every direction. Here they drive an econobox by the pasture (where they tend sheep?), no sense of how many kilometers are involved. :)

(Reply to this)

	woogledesigns 2009-06-17 08:04 pm UTC (link)
	it wasn't a good story and it was a funny spoof. apparently Cleese had minimal input. it was as rubbish and ineffectual as the Britain it depicted. (Reply to this)