{"id":5,"date":"2014-11-21T23:00:02","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T23:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/heart-of-stone"},"modified":"2019-07-28T22:48:20","modified_gmt":"2019-07-28T22:48:20","slug":"heart-of-stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/21\/heart-of-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart of Stone"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I write this, I am also experimenting with possibilities: what will I write, what will it mean, what is its purpose? If the tone of these questions sounds excessively ponderous, then that is only a side-effect of what I wonder, here and more generally. I am noticing that although the first few sentences are beginning to accumulate, they are not leading anywhere; circular labyrinths masquerading as progress. But at least I have something, even if it is only a mess – which is to say an order whose pattern remains undefined. Even chaos can echo meaning, a sort of negative theology. And so, even without looking back I can see a stream of consciousness, and a ledger whose margins and tables assume no rules (mark no errors), and are satisfied by the fact of content. (Because one thing will lead to another).<\/em><\/p>\n

Superman has been tracking a series of clues, a path that now leads him to a laboratory (in the middle of nowhere, or so I imagine, like those survivalists who build nuclear fallout shelters, far away from the frightening spread of television and popular opinion). Inside is a corpse (the sense of isolation intensifies), and beyond more doors, a greater shock for the protagonist: photographs covering walls and documents, all of Superman. This scene haunts me, so many deep and long-nurtured emotions and beliefs, that it is like a deep well, at the bottom, where there is no sky and the air is a suffocating blanket.<\/p>\n

Then Clark Kent wooing Lois in the park; a bank robbery near-by, a strongman named Metallo; Superman appears; they fight; and fight; and Superman is weakening; and Metallo is killing.<\/p>\n

There is a dark metronome that ticks behind Luthor’s eyes: hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. It never sleeps, and it never eats, but it is always hungry, which means it’s always angry. Superman cannot be killed by Metallo. It is Superman’s fate to be killed by Luthor. Luthor rips Metallo away, incidentally saving Superman, but really intending only to postpone the execution so that the executioner may be replaced.<\/p>\n

In the midst of these events, the reader discovers the story of Metallo and the mad scientist who feared for all his life that Earth would be invaded, and then had his infinite fears confirmed by the discovery of the Kryptonite capsule and the alien invader Superman. Against his paranoia and fears, the scientist retrieves a car crash survivor, and builds him into a cyborg (who soon kills his creator), first with a heart of uranium, and then, after learning much much more, a heart of a far more terrible stone: kryptonite. Now, what will Luthor do with this creation?<\/p>\n

After all the changes of 1986 – Crisis<\/em>,\u00a0Moore’s experimental Whatever Happened to the man of Tomorrow<\/em>, and of course Byrne’s retelling of Superman’s origin story in Superman the Man of Steel<\/em> – the numbering for the Superman<\/em> series was reset (hence sometimes identified as “Superman v2”), beginning with the story Heart of Stone<\/em> in #1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I write this, I am also experimenting with possibilities: what will I write, what will it mean, what is its purpose? If the tone of these questions sounds excessively ponderous, then that is only a side-effect of what I wonder, here and more generally. I am noticing that although the first few sentences are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[159,90,267,96,93,97],"tags":[],"metadata":[],"class_list":["post-5","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-blog-posts","category-comics","category-meeting-superman","category-sci-fi","category-superman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1772,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2011\/03\/13\/golden-age-superman\/","url_meta":{"origin":5,"position":0},"title":"Golden Age Superman","author":"Pala","date":"March 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: Shai was always fascinated with cartoon characters and, at least as his written coverage is concerned, mostly with Superman. Between March 2011 and December 2014, Shai writes\u00a0nine articles dedicated to this superhero and in November 2014 he starts a blog dedicated to reviewing Superman novels. Superman\u00a0came first, anyone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2390,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2011\/05\/03\/whatever-happened-to-the-man-of-tomorrow-br-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":5,"position":1},"title":"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? (BR)","author":"Pala","date":"May 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: This Book Review was found as a 'draft' entry in Everything2. It was last updated on 03\/05\/2011. Away in the big city, people still sometimes glance up hopefully from the sidewalks, glimpsing a distant speck in the sky... but no: it's only a bird, only a plane. Superman\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":557,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/20\/legends\/","url_meta":{"origin":5,"position":2},"title":"Legends","author":"pastfarpoint","date":"November 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: In November 2014, Shai opens his sixth\u00a0blog\u00a0dedicated to Superman. While only two posts ever got written in this blog, and only one published, Shai writes extensively about this and other superheroes, altogether dedicating\u00a015 essays\u00a0and articles to these comic book characters. This post was found in 'Draft' mode in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2926,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/20\/superman-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":5,"position":3},"title":"Superman #2","author":"Pala","date":"November 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This will\u00a0start from Action Comics Annual #1, then overlap with the Millennium event. Superman Annual\u00a0#1\u00a0Tears for Titano. (Dr Moyers [cf. S#7], also Mrs Wallers and Mr Steel). An experiment that escapes, and keeps growing until Moyers kills it. Action Comics Annual\u00a0#1.\u00a0Superman helps Batman out in a small town with an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2919,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/15\/superman-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":5,"position":4},"title":"Superman #1","author":"Pala","date":"November 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: Having dedicated two earlier entries in 2011 to Superman, in November 2015 Shai\u00a0returns to writing\u00a0about superheroes. In a month of flurried activity between mid-November and mid-December 2014, Shai writes 13 posts, dedicated to reviewing Superman, Hawkman, Aquaman and Flash. The post below is one of a number of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2932,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/12\/02\/superman-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":5,"position":5},"title":"Superman #5","author":"Pala","date":"December 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Pre-Interim: AC 676 - [Hellgrammite] MOS 11 - [Hamilton, Flashpoint (from Exile World)] S 67 AOS 49O - [Hamilton, Husque] AC 677 - (Sg will work with Lexcorp) MOS 12 - (Monster from beneath Metro.) S 68 - [Deathstroke the Terminator] AOS 491 - [Metallo] AC 678\u00a0[Lex, Metallo] MOS 13\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padotI-5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5"},{"taxonomy":"metadata","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/metadata?post=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}