Back Issues: "Superman: True Brit" (2004)

- by Señor Editor, 14 June 2013

Humor comics are a mixed bag. For every gem there are 3 comicbooks that are neither good comedy nor good comics. That may be because comedy isn't that easy. Thankfully, the 2004 DC Comics hardcover "Superman: True Brit" had John Cleese, of "Fawlty Towers" and Monty Python's Flying Circus on board! Who else was in? Working with Cleese on the writing tip was Kim "Howard" Johnson, and the art was provided by classic 80s Superman artist John Byrne and Mark Farmer. It's an Elseworlds story, meaning it takes place in a different version of the DC Universe. In this reality, the rocketship with young Kal-El landed in Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England.

I have to say, I didn't read this until a few years after it's been released, as 2004 was pretty much exactly in the middle of my hiatus from reading DC and Marvel. And I was never much of a Superman fan (though I read his comics regularly for a good 8 years, back when I was a really compulsive kid, and stopped around the time Superman came back from the dead with a mullet), but when I heard that DC actually got John Cleese on board for an Elseworlds story I was very interested. Is this any good? Let's get to it!

Our story begins in the most classic way imaginable - with a rocket escaping from a dying planet, with narration provided by Jor-El!

All images here © DC Comics.

The rocket crash lands in a country setting, where a married couple, the Clarks, find it. Right off the bat, the tone of the book is set, and readers who were brought in by Cleese's name and the "Faulty Powers" tagline can relax a little...

Jonathan and Martha Clark transport the rocket into their garage, and adopt the baby, naming the young boy Colin.

Fast forward a few years and Colin is growing up. At night, when he thinks his parents are asleep, he goes to the bathroom and does god knows what and telling his mother he is practicing flying. The Clarks are aware that Colin has powers (he broke Jonathan's fingers when the man tried to tickle him upon finding him in the rocket), but they want him to keep them a secret at all times, and never ever use them. The motto they (as well as every other respectable British family) live by is "W.W.T.N.T." - "What would the neighbours think?"

Colin is proving himself to be quite the problem child for the Clarks, as he can't help being drawn to experimenting with his many different powers. He has this "fiery eye thing" that's perfect for heating up tea, he can fly a little and he's incredibly strong. He's trying to learn more about his powers and his dad finally shows him the contents of his rocketship, including a "video" of Krypton. This just makes Colin want to try out his powers even more, and so he manages to convince his dad to let him pull all the tree stumps from the Clarks' field after it gets dark and the neighbours can't see. Martha finds out about this a bit later, when a stump flies into their house through the wall.

I have to say, the first 20-something pages of this, with Colin still in Somerset are a great read, and gave me quite a few genuine laughs. Colin's naive and maybe slightly stupid and his working class parents are not unlike characters from many Monty Pythin sketches. There's even a nice reference thrown in, about how little Colin wanted to be a bicycle repair man when he grows up.

But now that he's older it's time to leave the family house and go to London, where he will study to become a journalist. It's just the last warning from Mum about using the powers...

...and he's off to college! Here, he tries hypnotizing himself to forget about his powers. He wants to be a respected Britishman and not embarass his family. Also in college, Colin meets Louisa Layne-Ferret, "very nasty, a cold fish", who he falls in love with. If you think it's all pretty much the regular Superman story from now then you're dead wrong.

You can stop reading here if you're planning to buy this comic and don't want things to be too spoiled for you, but I assure you I won't get into too many plot details and won't reveal any of the twists that happen later on.

Although he avoids any activities that could reveal his powers to the world, Colin keeps the W.W.T.N.T. motto in mind, so when he's asked if would like to join his fellow students for a game of cricket, he agrees, as it's a very British and respectable thing to do. He gets too confident, loses his grip and the bat flies right out of his hands, impaling a fellow player (it's a very funny splash page).

Colin writes about this accident in the school paper and this brings him to the attention of Peregrine Whyte-Badger, the rich owner of all of Britain's newspapers and the editor of "The Daily Smear", a tabloid with "page 3 girls" and stories about the dirty secrets of the UK's favorite celebs. Colin quickly becomes Whyte-Badger's favorite "reporter".

Alright, enough of recapping the plot. You'll be happy to know that we're not even halfway into the story and there's a whole lot of things ahead of you should you decide to pick this up. And I think it's worth it. The jokes aren't just limited to what I mentioned (the premise, etc) - there's a whole lot of them and they're usually quite funny, the funniest being the ones related to the old Clarks and the way they react to their son, but there's also a few great surprises and new twists on other familiar characters and concepts.

Click to SuperSize.

The second half of the book is a bit less funny, but then again it isn't just about the jokes - the plot here does exist and it still needs to move forward. It's nice that it isn't as predicatble as parodies often tend to be. Cleese is legendary and Johnson is the author of the book "The First 280 Years of Monty Python", so you know he knows the style of comedy well enough to fit perfectly. Like him or not, Byrne is an iconic Superman artist and his style merges well with Farmer's, giving us a classic Superman with a bit of cartoony twist as a result.

It's a very nice, original and funny take on Superman's origin (there's certainly no shortage of Superman parodies, so one that's actually good and fresh isn't easy to come by!) and Britain isn't just the background here, it's absolutely intergal to the book.

If you haven't yet read this, and if you're a fan of Superman, a fan of John Cleese or a fan of funny comics, then I advise you should check it out. You might be surprised with how well this book came out! Well worth your time.

Have you read "True Brit"? What did you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section!

Tagged: comics, Back Issues.

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