Posted By Dan Greenfield on Apr 10, 2024 | 1 comment

Two wonderful treatments of the Man of Steel…

By PETER STONE

DC Comics’ Elseworlds line of books is returning, opening new avenues to creating unique stories and concepts, or bringing us sequels to some of the originals. Some of the original Elseworlds were futuristic, some were based in the past, some were simply a different origin to familiar and beloved characters. Batman in the French Revolution, Kingdom Come, Superman landing in the Soviet Union, Gotham by Gaslight, and even Batman as a vampire. Amid all these, there was one that I thought was particularly interesting.

Kal-El lands in a jungle in Africa while John Clayton’s father takes the family home before he and his wife are killed and he is raised by great apes. Instead, Superman is raised by the great apes and becomes a lord of the jungle while John Clayton becomes Lord Greystoke in England before finally being drawn back to Africa. This story — Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle — written by Chuck Dixon, was drawn by an amazing artist by the name of Carlos Meglia.

Meglia was an Argentinian artist who received great acclaim outside the American comic industry. In 1984 he decided to make a bigger splash by working in animation for Hanna-Barbera on shows starring the Smurfs, the Flintstones and Scooby-Doo.

In 1991, he teamed up with Argentinian writer Carlos Trillo to create Cybersix, which was a comics series that was turned into both animated and live-action TV shows. He won awards and moved to Spain, but American comics were exploding. Millions of sales per issue. Who wouldn’t want to be connected to that?

On a personal note, in the early 1990s, Continuity was looking for artists. Neal Adams saw Carlos Meglia in a portfolio of a bunch of different artists and said the guy was good. I saw a painting he did of a man being crushed by a closing metal door and I immediately wanted to work with him. He wasn’t available, but he was great. Great color sense, great anatomy, great faces. He was terrific, but he was working for other companies. A couple years later, Dark Horse snatched him up for a Star Wars title, but he was destined for greatness at DC Comics.

I used to go to Midtown Comics in Manhattan and buy comics that I thought Neal would like. Good art was the mandate. I remember buying Star Wars: Underworld, illustrated by Meglia and seeing Neal look through every page. Meglia was never Neal’s style… but was it what he really wanted with his own characters? Probably not. But he loved what this guy could do. Very stylistic, good storytelling and amazing readability.

Then he did what I consider a Buried Treasure: 2001-02’s Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle. The collection has a great Jason Pearson cover, but the interiors are all Carlos Meglia. The art is super stylistic, but totally readable. Imagine Humberto Ramos, Chris Bachalo, Scottie Young or even Bill Sienkiewicz or Michael Golden doing this story. Each one would bring a different style to the storytelling and not one would be the same. You could argue that Gil Kane is part of that group. (Just so everyone knows, I love Gil Kane but he was never a photorealistic artist.) In this case, Carlos Meglia had his own style and it was amazing.

Neal once told me that what you liked about an artist was not what he did right, but what he did wrong. Neal strived to draw anatomy correctly, foreshortening correctly, facial expressions correctly, but even he admitted there were things that he failed at. He strived for photorealism, knowing that he would never get there. He tried, though, and enjoyed those artists that strived with him AND the ones that enjoyed the stylistic approach to comics. The wonderful thing about many of these artists is that they COULD draw more realistically, but they chose not to. Their personalities and inner style were unique and impressionistic. Monet could draw more realistically, but he made a decision not to. He created an entire new view of the world and I believe strongly that Carlos Meglia had the same kind of thought process.

Take 2005’s graphic novel Superman: Infinite City, his last, and perhaps greatest, work for American Comics — and another Buried Treasure. (Written by Mike Kennedy.) His Superman is perhaps not my favorite version of the character, but he has all the right qualities. He’s powerful with a massive upper chest; handsome with an angular jaw; his cape is swirling and wonderful; his Lois Lane is pretty and sexy. Kennedy give Meglia opportunities for Superman to be Super. He saves Lois and when she stammers, “You could have killed us.” Superman responds with, “Lois, you know me better than that.” Then they kiss in a slightly over-the-top moment, but it’s MY Superman. He loves Lois like he loves Earth. She is everything to him and Meglia draws THAT.

Beyond that, Superman: Infinite City is a tour de force of Meglia art. Flying dragons, crazy robots and he did the coloring himself. Which is truly amazing. Subtle where it should be and dramatic where it should be. Realistic and slightly cartoony. It really is an amazing, 94-page hardcover. I don’t think it would make a great movie, but it’s a spectacular comics story in a time when Superman is not always considered a viable character. Superman loves Lois, he fights to save people, tries to do no harm and eventually saves the day. What else can you ask from the Man of Steel?

Find Superman: Infinite City. It’s a great read and the art is to die for.

Carlos Meglia was just really coming into his own when he died in 2008 from a heart attack at 50 years old. He could have given us so much more wonderful art, so many more amazing stories.

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MORE

— BURIED TREASURE: James Robinson and Paul Smith’s LEAVE IT TO CHANCE. Click here.

— BURIED TREASURE: Gerry Conway and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez’s CINDER AND ASHE. Click here.

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Peter Stone is a writer and son-in-law of the late Neal Adams. Be sure to check out the family’s twice-weekly online Facebook auctions, as well as the NealAdamsStore.com, and their Burbank, California, comics shop Crusty Bunkers Comics and Toys.