Superman #40 (2015)
Written by John Romita, Jr.
Artwork by John Romita, Jr.
Inks by Klaus Janson, Colors by Dean White
Chef’s Note: Alcohol tolerance is a funny thing. It’s often referenced as a machismo quality (“I’ll drink you under the table”) but it is a more complex phenomenon than simple manly strength and this is a good example.
Clark Kent is certainly a large and muscular man. But he is not and never has been a drinker, and tolerance is really more about how drunk you feel, not how much alcohol you’ve imbibed. So for Clark, whose superpowers are temporarily depleted, this is the equivalent of a tween drinking their first beer. Combine that with an empty stomach and: head, meet table.
Chef’s Note: Happy International Beer Day!
There are certain tell tail bits of story telling that let you know if a writer “gets” the character, and for Supes, it’s that he doesn’t drink. When the rest of the JLA are raising flutes of champagne, Big Blue is raising a glass of milk. They never explain why, he never preaches about it, it’s just part of his Kansas farm boy charm. I mean, Clark can breath the most toxic of gasses and deadly fumes and not suffer an iota, but a little beer is gonna put him down? Not likely. If he’s not drinking it, it’s by choice, not because it puts the whammy on him.
So when JRJR wrote this, you could tell he didn’t really understand who Clark/Kal/Superman IS. It’s also how you could tell Zack Snyder was off the track when he made Man of Steel. His Clark was having a beer while doing dishes on the Kent farm. Hell, Superman Returns had Clark go for a beer as soon as he got bad news that Lois had moved on, so you knew that movie was gonna miss the mark.
The other tell is the spit curl. The little curl of hair that escapes from Kal’s bangs and forms an S on his forehead. If that’s not there, the artist doesn’t really know who he’s dealing with.
Keeping these two tells in mind, look over the JRJR era of Superman, and tell us what you see… cuz it’s not a lot of milk, and the hair is never quite right.