Comments on: A Year of Cool Comic Book Moments - Day 24

By: wwk5d

wwk5d — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:04:28 +0000

"One of today's artists would easily have added way more gore and blood than necessary and cheapened it. Swan was a class act." Amen. Actually, Brian, Jimmy did disable the machine producing the Force Field, but not the Field itself, before he is killed...don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read the series yet, but that does make sense if you've read the story...

By: Bill K

Bill K — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:56:33 +0000

You've been misinformed; the article is not meant to be ABOUT Old Yeller comics. (How and where did you get that impression? It turning up in a Google search on "Old Yeller" and "comics" perhaps? What we have here is a comics blog entry on a comics web-site that mentions Old Yeller. It's not unreasonable that it turn up in such a search. But search results are not guaranteed to be what you hope they are, and a necessary condition for your disappointment with this page is your own unreasonable apparent expectation that they are so guaranteed. The page isn't stupid... Anyway, enough Stoic philosophy) In case you missed it, the emotional effect of the extracted sequence is compared in passing to that of Old Yeller: "I guess it is true - people always tear up when animals die (cue thoughts back to Old Yeller)!"

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:45:57 +0000

What does this have to do with Old Yeller? It said that it was about Old Yeller comics. This is so stupid!

By: Felicity

Felicity — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:13:58 +0000

I loved the Brainiac-reanimated Luthor, too! So scary!

And I cried at Krypto's death, too. Even though I read this story decades after it came out and knew Krypto would reappear in the Byrne canon, his death here was just so touching.

By: Dean

Dean — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:49:17 +0000

Yeah, actually Krypto was pretty badass pre-Crisis. He had average human intelligence and DC gave him some pretty great adventures in the 70’s in Superman Family.

I always loved those Krypto stories as a little kid.

Like most of the other posters, this was THE moment for me. Byrne almost immediately recycled very similar versions of Pete, Lana and Jimmy in "The Man of Steel'. Sadly, that Krypto has never been seen again. (Well, at least by me...) When Alan Moore killed Krypto, he stayed dead.

More importantly, the dog stayed in character. In every story that I ever read, he was constantly worried about pleasing Superman. It was pretty much his sole motivation. So, it is natural that he would take it to the point of being willing to die for him.

Something about that is so sad and touching.

By: MarkMc

MarkMc — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:18:46 +0000

Only scene in any comic book in over 40 years of reading that made me cry.

I still just got a shudder again reading it here.

Good dog, Krypto. Good dog!

By: Andrew Collins

Andrew Collins — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:20:39 +0000

Ha ha, thanks Ted. I just got the chance to go back and look through the cool moments I had missed and saw the "Burn" moment already included. Nice to see I'm not the only one that loves that scene.

By: David

David — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:15:07 +0000

Yeah, actually Krypto was pretty badass pre-Crisis. He had average human intelligence and DC gave him some pretty great adventures in the 70's in Superman Family.

By: Torsten Adair

Torsten Adair — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:52:44 +0000

What about the heart-rending (literally!) death of Myxy? *sniff*
You forgot the other "last" Superman story, the Rick Vietch Phantom Zone story. Did that end with Argo City, or was that in another issue?
(Great as this story was, I think each issue you select should have only one entry. It makes commenting much easier and frees up space for other issues. Maybe save your longer columns, like this one would be, for the weekends, when people tend not to surf.)

By: Ted

Ted — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:14:57 +0000

Andrew, it seems great minds think alike:
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/01/17/a-year-of-cool-comic-book-moments-day-17/

By: Andrew Collins

Andrew Collins — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:00:09 +0000

I already have the Alan Moore Omnibus trade, but these last few cool moments have reminded me that it's been far too long since I sat down and enjoyed it. Say what you will about Moore, but he could craft some amazing stories with DC's characters. I don't know if this one has been mentioned, or will be, but my favorite 'Cool Moment' of not only Superman, but of all comics, comes from Moore and Gibbons' "For The Man Who Has Everything." For anybody who knows the story, they'll know instantly what I'm referring to when I sum it up: One panel. One word. "BURN." I still get chills up my spine everytime I read that moment...

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:55:35 +0000

It's as if Swan was consciously trying to make DC sorry they were going to replace him as the artist on Superman. He sure made me sorry. My own second-favorite moment (the Lana / Jimmy scene is my first) is the aftermath of Toyman and the Prankster having revealed his secret identity.

By: The Mutt

The Mutt — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:48:24 +0000

I've probably read more comics drawn by Curt Swan than any other artist. (Except maybe Jim Aparo.) It's easy to forget how powerful Swan can be. When you say Superman, the image that pops into my head is still Curt Swan's.

One of the very first comic book panels that I remember really rocking me was when Swan drew the Legion. They had been sent to the Space Stalag or something and the girls were forced to *gasp* wash dishes! There was a shot of Dream Girl brushing the hair back from her forehead with the back of her hand. It broke my heart.

By: Snapper

Snapper — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:28:13 +0000

I wonder how many copies of the Alan Moore DC universe trade have sold since the year of cool comic book moments started...
I know I'm buying it on monday : )

By: Ethan Shuster

Ethan Shuster — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 07:12:50 +0000

Wha? So, this classic story just kills everybody off? I get the idea of wrapping it up, but, jeez...

On the other hand Krypto freakin' killing that green dude is just awesome!

By: Vincent Paul Bartilucci

Vincent Paul Bartilucci — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:08:23 +0000

To me, this is THE scene from" Whatever Happened to ..." - the scene that always pops into my head when I think about this story.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 23:41:07 +0000

Wow, good question.

It is either the cry or the next panel, where we hear that Superman was not even there to see his dead dog.

By: Eldric IV

Eldric IV — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 23:35:23 +0000

So if you had to pick one moment, was it the "aaaooooooo"?

By: Jacob T. Levy

Jacob T. Levy — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 23:14:46 +0000

rassin' frassin no-good Cronin makin' me go back on a Saturday and reread the tearjerkingest story in my whole consarn collection...

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:15:53 +0000

It really took SIX cool comic book moments from that trade to convince you it might be worth a buy?

FOUR from one story, too! That's really what swung it...

To be honest it's always been one of those books that I looked at as a sort of hodge-podge of pieces that they couldn't compile elsewhere... Plus I've already got Killing Joke, but sod it!

Thanks for persuading me, Brian!