Mendoza 1 David Mendoza Mrs.

Bell English 4, P5 3 September 2013 Super Man: Camelot Falls Comic Books these days dont get as much credit as they did when they first were published. Is it that the comics lost their ability to capture the readers attention or maybe the quality of comics decreased over time? People need to understand the amount of creativity and thought was put into making not just one comic book but a whole series. Comic Books create a new world that is easier to enter because of its fictional characters and amazing illustrations. History of Comic Books When people think of comic books the first thing that goes through their heads is good versus bad, super heroes battling against evil villains. The first comic books didnt have anything to do with super powers, or capes. Comic books have been around since 1837 when The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck was published by Rudolphe Topffer and it is considered the earliest known comic book (Bellis). Comic books were different from ordinary books; every page was filled with art, pictures that added as much detail to the story as the words used to tell the story. Yellow Kid was published in 1895 and created by Richard Outcault, according to Mary Bellis this comic book has often been cited as being the first comic stripreason being is that Richard Outcault was the first artist to use the balloon (Bellis). Not all comics are the same, until 1895 comic books didnt have the balloon with the characters dialog. Comic books over the years

Mendoza 2 have changed dramatically, now there is a huge amount of genres and an unlimited number of new worlds created. Super Mans History In the comics Superman was raised on earth, sent away from his home planet Krypton just before his planet exploded he was the only one left from his plane. Kal-El (his actual name) was given the name Clark Kent by his new family Jonathon and Martha Kent. He grows up in Smallville, Kansas and eventually as he grows older he started to develop his super powers. Clarks parents told him everything when he is old enough; how they found him in a star craft as a baby and raised him as if he was their child witch explained why he was different from everyone else. Clark left Smallville, studied at Metropolis University and worked at the Daily Planet as a reporter. Superman meets Lois Lane when he had on other choice but to use his powers in public by preventing the crash of a NASA space plane. Supermans foster parents are a major part of why he lives to protect and look after the humans. He believes that there is on need to kill, that justice is the way to deal with his enemies. He felt as if it was his duty to serve the people of his new home planet. Superman was first introduced in the early 1930s when two high school students Jerry Siegel the writer and Joe Shuster the artist created Action Comics No.1. This is when Superman makes his first appearance saving Lois Lane and destroying a car with his super strength, Noelene Clark calls him the worlds first comic book super hero (Clark). Superman became an instant hit the cape-wearing, crime-fighting Kryptonian paved the way for the likes of Batman, Wonder Women and Spider-Man (Clark). Superman became huge and had its own TV series.

Mendoza 3 The Writer Kurt Busiek Kurt Busiek was born on September 16, 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts. As a child his parents didnt want him to read comic books but when he was 14 he couldnt stop reading them. He became friends with Scott McCloud and later in college they both practiced making comic books together. Busiek had major success when it came to writing comics. He has worked with big name comic books Avengers and also teamed with Alex Ross and created Marvel Universe comics. Kurt Busiek has been a nominee for the1996-99 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award as the Best Writer and won it in 1999. He is able to create an on going storyline while keeping the story unpredictable. Colin Solan says Kurt Busiek is the master at depicting the world of superheroes as seen through the man on the street (Solan). Summary of Comic Superman has a busy life first he wanted to surprise his wife with a breakfast in bed but plans changed when a villain started trouble in Metropolis. He quickly finished him off and went to work as a reporter for the Daily Planet. Later that day in South of Ayaguz, Kazakhstan there was a ruptured fuel line and it was causing a laboratory to collapse on itself. Superman tries to rescue the survivors that are trapped in the lab. Dr. Llewellyn is one of the many Superman rescues but when he is looking for the last survivors Subjekt-17 smashes Superman into the ground mid-air and before he knew what hit him it was gone. Dr. Llewellyn quickly explained what it was and it was the reason why the lab was collapsing. Subjekt-17 was an excrement that was tested on and tortured since birth. Then without warning Superman takes another blow, but now exchanging hits until Superman grabs him and tries to clam it down. Still Subjekt-17

Mendoza 4 doesnt acknowledge Supermans attempt to calm it down and then strikes again. Superman buys time by lifting it into the air and throws Subjekt-17 down towards the earth sending it hundreds of feet under the ground. Superman makes it just in time to save the rest or the survivors but Sujekt-17 returns and now able to fly, it was able to adapt to the situation almost instantly. Both trading blows while they were being watched by Arion of Atlantis. Arion is able to see into the future and he saw that all of man kind was going to be extinct by the year 2039. Arion immediately teleported to Supermans time and place and got rid of Subjekt-17, sent it away to another dimension. Arion appeared in front of Superman and grabbed his attention. There Arion told Superman what was to come; he explained what he saw, all the heroes of earth falling one by one trying to protect the humans. Arion said that allies will fall, some at the hands of foes thought deadand others at the hands of foes yet unknown (Busiek). He showed Superman Khyber and that he has been planning this war, becoming allies with the ones that are willing to cripple nations, and also showed him his own future. Superman would be filled with anger watching his allies fall and would loose control seeking revenge he will find Khyber and battle him. Khyber predicting this will use poisons and eventually dispose of Superman by using nothing but his strength to send him plummeting towards earth with enough force to break the earths surface and poisoning him in the earths core. The collision will create tsunamis; cause the tectonic plates to shift, and a nuclear winter that lasts for years. Arion told Superman that by protecting the humans from disasters he is only making it worse, Arion says that there will always be something worse that fallows the previous attack on man kind. Personal Review

Mendoza 5 Superman Camlet Falls was the perfect comic book to read. When I first picked it up the first thing I did was skim through it and see if it had cool pictures and it did. Without thinking I checked the comic book out. I started to read it on the ride home, from the beginning I was hooked it was easier to finish than to stop. The comic book started with action right away and only had a few moments without action. The best part was that the comic had a wide variety of villains that Superman faced, and made it seem like fighting against evil was an everyday routine for him. In the story Superman is taken by surprise and took a hit he never saw coming, a lab experiment that has been tested on against its will escaped and was ready to get its revenge. The comic books illustration of the monster pounding Superman into the ground was the first clue that showed that Superman wasnt invincible; he could feel pain just like a human. Throughout the comic more and more of this venerability was shown. Superman was raised to help and couldnt see past letting the villains get away with hurting the incessant he felt as if it was his responsibility to help the people that didnt stand a chance against creatures like Subjekt17. Supermans living by this principal is his weakness and this comic book he finds out that what he believes is the right thing to do is what leads him to his down fall. If the main character is invincible then the end of the story is a given Superman will always triumph in the end against the strongest of evil villains and would defeat the purpose of finishing the comic book. Supermans most important trait, everything that he stands for is used against him. This weakness of his is what makes this series of comics what it is the reader will never know when and in which way Superman could meet the villain that could destroy him completely.

Mendoza 6 Work Cited Bellis, Mary. The History of Comic Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Sept. 2013. (Busiek, Kurt(w), Carlos Pacheco (p), and Jesus Merino (i).) Superman Camlet Falls. Vol. #1 (2007) DC Comics, 87/2-3 Clark, Noelene. Superman at 75:10 Key Comic Covers in the Man of Steels History. Hero Complex Movies Comics Pop Culture Los Angeles Times. N.p., 11 June 2013. Web. 02 Sept. 2013. Solan, Colin. Busiek. Com. Web log post. Busiek.com N.p., n.d. Web. O2 Sept. 2013