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Superman in the Python Universe

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Python beyond Python

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Comedy ((PSCOM))

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Abstract

In 2004 DC Comics published Superman: True Brit an original graphic novel written by Python biographer Kim “Howard” Johnson, Python member John Cleese, and artist John Byrne. The story revolves around Superman growing up in the United Kingdom rather than the United States. Superman grows up in a world that is filled with comedic touches and features a rather odd assortment of characters much like the universe of Monty Python. In “Superman in the Python Universe,” Weiner summarizes and analyzes True Brit showing that the graphic novel satirizes British culture, the cult of celebrity, and tabloid journalism in a Pythonesque way. The central morality of Superman remains true to his historical roots.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Kim “Howard” Johnson, John Cleese, John Byrne, and Mark Farmer, Superman: True Brit (New York: DC Comics, 2004), i.

  2. 2.

    This was not the first time Superman was sent to Britain. In 1995 the series Superman: Kal has the character landing in Arthurian times (Medieval England). See Dave Gibbons and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Superman: Kal (New York: DC, 1995).

  3. 3.

    Johnson and Cleese, 2.

  4. 4.

    Ibid., 5.

  5. 5.

    Misty Harris, “Monty Python Icon Helps Turn Superman into a True Brit Hero,” Times Colonist (September 15, 2004), C13. See also Jeevan King, Spider-Man: India (New York: Marvel, 2005).

  6. 6.

    Kim “Howard” Johnson, Life Before and After Monty Python: The Solo Flights of the Flying Circus (New York: St. Martin’s, 1993), Kim “Howard” Johnson, Monty Python’s Tunisian Holiday: My Life with Brian (New York: St. Martin’s, 2008), Kim “Howard” Johnson, Monty Python: From the Inside Out (Amazon Digital Services, 2014).

  7. 7.

    See Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Essential X-Men 2 (New York: Marvel, 2005).

  8. 8.

    See John Byrne, Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 1 (New York: Marvel, 2009) as one of the best examples of his work on this title.

  9. 9.

    She-Hulk was one of the first comic series to break “fourth wall” where the character talked back to the writer and the audience saw. John Byrne, Sensational She-Hulk Vol. 1 (New York: Marvel, 2011).

  10. 10.

    See Marv Wolfman and George Perez, Crisis on Infinite Earths (New York: DC, 2001).

  11. 11.

    See John Byrne and Ray Bradbury, Superman: The Man of Steel (New York: DC, 1987).

  12. 12.

    See Otto Binder, C.C. Beck, Bill Finger, Dick Sprang et al., DC’s Greatest Imaginary Stories: 11 Tales You Never Expected to See (New York: DC, 2005).

  13. 13.

    See John Byrne, Superman/Batman: Generations: an Imaginary Tale (New York: DC, 2000).

  14. 14.

    See Mark Millar and Dave Johnson, Superman: Red Son (New York: DC, 2014).

  15. 15.

    Monty Python’s official YouTube page has the sketch uploaded at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U01xasUtlvw and the script can be seen at http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/justthewords.htm.

  16. 16.

    It can be seen on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aYO48Vblv0 and the script at http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/justthewords.html.

  17. 17.

    See YouTube’s official Monty Python channel for this sketch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m5wQkIe1r0 and for the script see http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/justthewords.htm.

  18. 18.

    The episode is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfsZEseJJmg.

  19. 19.

    Terry Gilliam, Gilliamesque: A Pre-posthumous Memoir (New York: Harper, 2015), 25, 151. Examples of some of his comic strip work can be found on his daughter’s blog at http://hollydgilliam.blogspot.be/2012/09/share-1-for-1st-week-of-september-2012_6.html, accessed July 4, 2016.

  20. 20.

    Fumetti is an Italian word that translated means “Little Puffs of Smoke” to indicate speech balloons. It refers to Italian comics and photonovels (fotoromanzi) where photographs are used instead of illustrations that have narrative text and word balloons. For more information see http://www.worldlibrary.org/articles/photo_novel.

  21. 21.

    David Crossley, Martin Iger, Cindy Young, John Cleese, “Christopher’s Punctured Romance,” Help! Magazine 24 (1965), 15–28. For a scan of the story see http://fawltybasil.tumblr.com/post/125867009421/christophers-punctured-romance-starring-a-very. Accessed November, 27, 2016.

  22. 22.

    John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne, Legends: The Collection (New York: DC, 1993), 106.

  23. 23.

    See YouTube’s official Monty Python channel for this sketch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf_Y4MbUCLY and for the script see http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/justthewords.htm

  24. 24.

    Anonymous, “It’s a Bird,” Western Daily Press (September 10, 2004): 3.

  25. 25.

    Kevin F. Kern, “Twentieth Century Vole, Mr. Neutron, and Spam: Portrayals of American Culture in the Work of Monty Python,” in Tomasz Dobrogoszcz ed. Nobody Expects of the Spanish Inquisition: Cultural Contexts in Monty Python, (Lanham, MD: Roman and Littlefield, 2014), 96.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., 104.

  27. 27.

    Johnson and Cleese, 2.

  28. 28.

    Surely a reference to the Python’s “Fish-Slapping Dance” from episode 28; see YouTube’s official Monty Python channel for this sketch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lefP0_ZM-Lw and for the script see http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/justthewords.htm

  29. 29.

    Johnson and Cleese, 5.

  30. 30.

    Ibid., 17.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., 17.

  32. 32.

    Ibid., 23–24.

  33. 33.

    Ibid., 25.

  34. 34.

    Ibid., 27.

  35. 35.

    Ibid., 29–31.

  36. 36.

    Gordon Flagg, “Graphic Novels,” Booklist, 101, no. 7 (December 1, 2004), 643.

  37. 37.

    Johnson and Cleese, 31.

  38. 38.

    Ibid., 34.

  39. 39.

    Ibid., 46.

  40. 40.

    Ibid., 69–84.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., 86–92.

  42. 42.

    Ibid., 91–92.

  43. 43.

    Anonymous, “Think You Know Your Superman? Think Again,” The Times (UK) (September 8, 2006) Film Features, 10.

  44. 44.

    Mary Ann Rishel, Writing Humor: Creativity and the Comic Mind (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2002), 143.

  45. 45.

    Ibid., 85.

  46. 46.

    Arthur Asa Burger, An Anatomy of Humor (New Brunswick: Transaction, 1993), 49.

  47. 47.

    Ibid., 50.

  48. 48.

    See Martin Conboy, Tabloid Britain (London: Routledge, 2006); The chapter “The British are Coming” in Paula E. Morton, Tabloid Valley (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2009), 60–76.

  49. 49.

    News of the World staff apparently hacked into the voice mail of the royal family. See Karla Adam and Paul Farhi, “News of the World to Close Amid Phone Hacking Scandal,” The Washington Post, last modified July 7, 2011, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/phone-hacking-scandal-closes-news-of-the-world/2011/07/07/gIQAy5RA2H_story.html, accessed July 4, 2016; CNN library, “UK Phone Hacking Scandal Fast Facts,” CNN.Com, last modified April 24, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/24/world/europe/uk-phone-hacking-scandal-fast-facts/, accessed July 4, 2016.

  50. 50.

    Ellen Hume, Tabloids, Talk Radio and the Future of News (Washington, D.C.: Annenberg Washington Program, 1995), 12.

  51. 51.

    Bob Franklin quoted in Dick Rooney, “Thirty Years of Competition in the British Tabloid Press: The Mirror and the Sun 1968–1998,” in Tabloid Tales, ed. Colin Sparks and John Tulloch (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000), 91.

  52. 52.

    Harris, C13.

  53. 53.

    One recent example: Lucy Mapstone and Allan Hall, “‘I will have given her $20m’: John Cleese reveals bitter alimony battle with ex-wife Alyce Fay Eichelberger is almost over…but she’s now better off than him,” Daily Mail.com, last modified March, 31, 2015, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3019741/I-given-20m-John-Cleese-reveals-alimony-battle-ex-wife-Alyce-Fay-Eichelberger-s-better-now.html, accessed July 4, 2016.

  54. 54.

    “John Cleese vs. The Sun.” Letters of Note, last modified May 2, 2011, http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/05/john-cleese-vs-sun.html, accessed December 4, 2016.

  55. 55.

    Susie Blair, “John Cleese, of Monty Python fame, joins George Clooney in attacking The Daily Mail.” Public Radio International. Last modified July 18, 2014, http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-07-18/john-cleese-monty-python-fame-joins-george-clooney-attacking-daily-mail, accessed December 4, 2016.

  56. 56.

    Flagg, 643.

  57. 57.

    Joe Williams, “75 Things We Love About Superman,” St Louis Post-Dispatch (June 14, 2013), G15 (GO section).

  58. 58.

    Anonymous, “It’s a Bird,” Western Daily Press (September 10, 2004), 3.

  59. 59.

    Dominic Wells, “Filthy and Thrilling,” The Times (December 11, 2004), 24 (Christmas Books feature).

  60. 60.

    Andy Shaw, “Superman True Brit,” Grovel: Graphic Novel Reviews, last modified September 18, 2006, http://www.grovel.org.uk/superman-true-brit/, accessed July 4, 2016.

  61. 61.

    Noel Thorne, “Superman: True Brit Review,” ComicAlly, last modified September 27, 2004, https://samquixote.blogspot.com/2014/09/superman-true-brit-review-john-cleese.html, accessed July 4, 2016.

  62. 62.

    Tom DeFalco, ed. Comics Creators on the Fantastic Four (London: Titan, 2005), 110.

  63. 63.

    Jon B. Cooke and Eric Nolen-Weathington, John Byrne: Modern Masters Volume Seven (Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2012), 6–7.

  64. 64.

    List 25, “25 Alternate Versions of Superman That Are Bizarrely Cool,” List 25 YouTube Channel, last modified November 17, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWBJr-EoJko, accessed July 4, 2016.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Robert G. Weiner

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  1. Robert G. Weiner
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  1. School of Theatre and Dance, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

    Paul N. Reinsch

  2. Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

    B. Lynn Whitfield

  3. Texas Tech University Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

    Robert G. Weiner

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Weiner, R.G. (2017). Superman in the Python Universe. In: Reinsch, P., Whitfield, B., Weiner, R. (eds) Python beyond Python. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51385-0_12

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