OK, I give up: what else would the DP stand for?

When Garth Ennis is involved, the first thing that came to mind was…

(kids, don’t click here)

http://tinyurl.com/22j5jz

Was this originally planned as a 4-issue mini?

I wouldn’t put money against it. Certainly DC has shown a tendency to constantly shift publishing plans of late.

As for the content, I thought the bit with Nat’s girlfriend was a bit too out-there (even by Hitman standards), but otherwise this was pure gold.

I can’t entirely disagree about Nat’s girlfriend (although I did find it funny), but I think it was an easy way to get another Hitman reference in there, mentioning Injun Peak research center. Gave McCrea a visual gag and Ennis a reason to bring up Injun Peak.

Btw, I just finished re-reading Hitman #1-60 in preparation for the biggest Bell Bottom review this site has ever seen (look for it on Monday or Tuesday, with any luck) and it is absolutely as good as folks remember it being.

As for the content, I thought the bit with Nat’s girlfriend was a bit too out-there (even by Hitman standards), but otherwise this was pure gold. Loved seeing the Morrison-era JLA again, loved all the nods to previous Hitman issues, and even loved the Bloodlines-centric plot. It’s a shame Ennis doesn’t write more straight super-hero stuff; I’m a fan of his more typical material, but this was a nice change of pace.

Something I didn’t bother to bring up in the review, but which also gave me pause over that original Superman/Hitman meeting, is that Ennis’s take on Superman also plays as a metaphor for America. I mean, aside from all the comparison’s Tommy makes between Superman and the American ideal (the immigrant who comes to “do his part”), I seem to recall the last page shows an American flag waving over a farm (the Kents?) and I know it reveals the story’s title: “Of Thee I Sing…” (the metaphor becomes explicit). So this isn’t just Ennis’s tribute to Supes, it’s also his tribute to America. And critique. What are Superman’s qualities? Supreme power, deep empathy, and the best of intentions. And his one weakness in the story? A naivete that has him overlooking a murder right under his nose.

It’s honestly a pretty neat metaphor. It works, and I have less problem it than I do with Superman getting a little punked to make it. Because Superman’s the ideal, not the reality.

Within Tommy Monaghan’s world, however…which is pretty much Garth Ennis’s world…it works.

So he might not have noticed the gun because he wasn’t looking around the area, he was just sort of soul-searching. He might not have heard the gunshot because who knows how far away he was at that point, and even if he did, it probably wouldn’t occur to him to go back and check that roof, because surely that decent guy didn’t have a gun.

Yeah, it’s not *entirely* solid reasoning, but there’s enough benefit of the doubt to make it work, since the main point of it is a funny punchline to the best issue of Hitman there was.

And Rob, I think you’re reaching. This is a Superman story, and a two-parter, if he turns out to be Martian Manhunter that’s going to take up story space Ennis doesn’t really have and also undercut the whole point of the story.