Superman gets a lot of criticism for being a character so powerful that it becomes difficult to humanize him. Artist Mauricio Abril, however, has proven that he truly understands the boy who grew up on a small farm in Kansas with his animatic short film A Smallville Man.
Here’s Abril’s description of his project:
“A Smallville Man” is my animatic film featuring an original Superman story told in over 150 illustrations set against the aural backdrop of the song “Walk” by the American Rock band Foo Fighters.
The film explores the relationship between Superman’s past and present through separate stories that take us from the jungles of South America to the quaint streets of his hometown of Smallville. For those not quite familiar with South America, it’s “like America but south” (sorry for the un-related movie quote, but I just couldn’t resist). The two story lines ultimately converge thematically to show that the “S” on his chest represents not just his alien power but also the strength of his humanity.
Great storytelling with no dialogue. I enjoyed the choice of music for the background, as the Foo Fighters truly are one of the top bands of the past decade. It is especially cool that someone who obviously loves the mythos of Superman has this sort of outlet to share his version of the Man of Steel. Twenty years ago, we probably wouldn’t have been able to share this vision.