Superman’s Metropolis

個人很喜歡what if系列，因為這種類別的故事能夠擺脫原著的枷鎖，任意發揮，往往能為讀者帶來驚喜。

這次閱讀的是只有60多頁的短篇，”Superman’s Metropolis” ，劇情簡介擷取自維基百科：

In an undetermined future, the giant city of Metropolis is starkly divided between upper classes who live in luxury and lower classes who toil under harsh conditions. Clarc Kent-son, son of Jon Kent, the Great Architect and apparent Master of Metropolis, becomes aware of the social inequality after meeting Lois, a teacher from the undercity. He joins the workers to experience their daily lives, then begs his father to improve their lot, but in vain. In reality, the city is in thrall to the scientist Lutor, an old colleague of Jon Kent from before the "time of smoke and soot" that came before the foundation of Metropolis. Both Jon and Lutor fell in love with the same woman, Marta. When she chose Jon over Lutor, the scientist killed her, then used advanced hypnosis to turn Jon into his mind-slave.

Concerned about a potential revolution, Lutor identifies its leader, Lois, who prophesies about a coming savior who will reunite the city. Later, Lutor captures Lois and uses her to create a robotic duplicate which he names Futura that will lead the workers to their doom. Meanwhile, Clark discovers that he was a foundling adopted by Jon and Marta after he was found in a capsule that fell from the sky, and that Lutor, who discovered his powers while trying and failing to kill him along with his mother, blanked away his memories and blocked off his powers, turning him into a social drone.

As Futura, disguised as Lois, leads the workers to a doomed rebellion, Clark, now the Super-Man, the savior of Metropolis, intervenes. He fights, and defeats Futura by throwing her into a tank of molten metal. Meanwhile, Lutor reveals his metallic body powered by a kryptonite heart. He kills Jon Kent who, in the end, sacrifices his life for Clark. Lutor is later destroyed by Clark after a fierce battle. Clark and Lois become the new, enlightened rulers of a reunited Metropolis.

很有似曾相識的感覺……當然了，本作的劇情就是1927年的METROPOLIS，經典的科幻巨作，揭示社會黑暗面的默劇。本作的情節絕大部份都是建基在這部電影經典之上，只是加入了些許Superman的元素，例如Clarc是外星人、氪氣石等等，兼之Superman守護的都市也同樣叫Metropolis，那麼這個crossover也是合情合理的。

對上一次觀看Superman的Elseworld故事是Superman: Red Son，想不到這次觀看本作也有一定程度的既視感，大概是兩部作品的基調都較內斂和冷冽吧。

劇情方面，我也沒有甚麼好說的，畢竟那就是Metropolis的劇情呀，大家都很熟悉的了，硬要說的話，就是這個故事與Superman竟也出奇地配合，我本來還以為Batman才是唯一合適之選。

給我最深印象的是本作的畫風。如果是三年前的我觀看本作，大概看上十頁左右就會放棄，原因是畫得太醜。三年後的今天，我安然觀看本作，絲毫不覺痛苦。本作的風格有點像抽象派，加上暗沉的色調，相當配合未來工業世界的刻板形象，也有點中古黑白默片的感覺。加上我這數年來看了不少畫功幼嫩但劇情出色的作品，畫風甚麼的已不是最重要的了，故情才是至關重要。當然作為漫畫，漂亮的圖畫還是會加分不少，但平心而論本作盡功真不能算差，就只是風格特別罷了。

在本作中，Clarc被Lutor催眠，以致在故事前期只是個瘦弱的年輕人，及後知道自己的身世後，馬上就能飛能跳了，真的有趣。心理、思想上的控制影響到生理狀況的表現，看似不可思議，實則卻甚具可能性。只是Lutor以Metallo的形象出現，以氪氣石作為心臟，則神奇得緊。也罷，Superman的故事怎可能沒有激戰？就當這是戲劇效果好了。

談起Metropolis，不可能不提及的就是那極具時代感的機械人，這次她不能免俗的成為一具能與Superman匹敵的戰鬥機械人，同樣十分有新鮮感。但我始終不明白，為何一具機械人能夠如此輕易的變身成人類型態……明白了，戲劇效果，嗯。

Superman在本作的制服也令我眼前一亮。(基本上我的審美眼光是低於平均水平的，只要不是太醜我都會表示欣賞)這次的Superman，穿上有點納粹軍隊味道的制服，沒有披風，也沒有外穿的紅色內褲，沉穩中帶點誇張，頗有趣。不過在最後一幕中，Superman還是穿戴上披風，算是對原著的還原吧。

總括而言，本作是一部以Metropolis電影加入Superman元素的crossover作品，劇情本身不具創意，然而把Superman細節融入經典中才是新意。個人認為本作也不錯看，但不太適合新手觀看，因為Superman的元素始終不夠多，作品本身也未到達「經典級」水平。聽說本作是三部曲中的第一部，續作的主角會是Batman，那可就要繼續看下去了。

75分。