I thought it was an unambiguous improvement in that it didn't have Robin.
Maybe this is just the brainwashing talking, but it's really difficult to justify Robin's narrative role when the first version I saw didn't have him at all, and I had no idea he was in the original until I read it on the Interwebs.
See you in the discussion pages.
One could argue that in the JLU episode, Superman really wasn't happy; see the Word of God entry on the main page. Plus, how could he have been happy when he had to leave behind his wife and son? In addition to that, note how his Earth life creeped in all the time into his Kryptonian one.
BTW, what would be the best place to put in a note about how the two adaptations highlight the differences between the pre- and post-Crisis Superman(s)?
I think in the animated version, the "You think I was happy?!" line is more along the lines of, "You think I would be happy in a dream world?!" Superman seemed pretty damn happy to me. It looked like his heart was breaking to say goodbye to his wife and son. He's speaking in the absolute sense—i.e., that he, the real him, isn't happy with what was done to him, even if, in the context of the dream, he was happy.
I removed Adaptation Distillation, Pragmatic Adaptation, To the Pain, No Holds Barred Beat Down, Berserk Button and Male Gaze for being Square Peg Round Trope, and It's Not You, It's My Enemies for being "Not A Subversion, just an aversion that's not notable."
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Okay, for the record... Adaptation Distillation (means: simplifying story, retaining substance) and Pragmatic Adaptation (means: same thing except not retaining substance) were apparently just used to say it was a good or improved adaptation. To the Pain (means: telling someone what horrible things are going to happen) was apparently used to mean "painful things happen" or something. No-Holds-Barred Beatdown doesn't apply because it was a nearly even fight, not one-sided beating. Berserk Button (means: a certain thing always makes a character go berserk) was used to mean the onset of an Unstoppable Rage. Male Gaze (pertains to the narrator/camera/whatever) was used to describe something in-universe, and there not a Show Within a Show or similar where it could have applied. It's Not You, It's My Enemies just doesn't come up in any way, and the person it's mentioned in the context of isn't even a superhero in that (hallucinatory) situation.
Does anybody have a source about how Alan Moore reacted to this? I can find that he said he would be honored if Timm made the comic an episode, but I cannot find how he thought about the finished product. Does anybody know where they could find that?
I'd like to point out, not to take anything away from this story, because it was indeed good, but years before another comic book story, "Superman's secret afterlife!" had almost the *entire* same plot (Superman is put by his enemies in an imaginary life while an alien creature feeds on him, and eventually escapes when he realizes it could not be real). Whether Moore knew about this story is unknown to me, but just for the record, it WAS done earlier.
Edited by Sijo
Whoever added the Crapsack World example spoilered the entire example, which is a violation of our Handling Spoilers policy. Then I noticed that what was being spoilered was in the trope's description, so I unspoilered the whole thing.
I also unspoilered most of the Off with His Head! example for the first reason (violating our Handling Spoilers policy) and the To the Pain examples for the 2nd reason (already in the description).
Edited by Arivne
Incidentally, on reading the comic book version, at first I got the impression that Mongul was just plain mistaken about the Black Mercy's function, and that instead of being a Lotus-Eater Machine it actually put the victim into a hallucination that actually wasn't that great. But then we saw Batman's and Mongul's reactions to it, so—Superman's subconscious fighting back ("protesting") the false reality (see also the "Emperor Joker" storyline)? A unique reaction of Kryptonian physiology to the Mercy? Or perhaps it just brought forth their dreams, and Superman is self-aware enough to realize that, while he has a longing for it, he wouldn't really have wanted to live on Krypton (Mongul's obviously not very self-aware, and in many ways neither is Bruce).
Anyway, I just wanted to say that though I loved the JLU episode, I don't think it's unambiguously an improvement that its version of the hallucination was made idyllic. The lack of perfection in the comic version, whatever the reason, is definitely on purpose and for a good reason—in fact, in the episode, the "You think I was happy!?" line doesn't really make any sense as a result.
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