Superman: War of the Supermen #3 – Review

By: James Robinson and Sterling Gates (writers), Cafu (penciller), Wil Moss (assistant editor), Matt Idelson (editor)

The Story: The Battle for Earth: First, the Kryptonians are screwed. Then, the sun (turned red last week) is turned back to its normal yellow. Only 7,000 Kryptonians have survived the brief color change and the destruction of New Krypton. Now the humans are screwed. Actually, I mean really screwed. Prime Minister of Britain dead (don’t know if they’re talking about Brown or the new one). Prime Minister of Japan torn to pieces. Thousands of people dead.

What’s Good: Wow, is this issue ever fast-paced and action-packed! The story swept me along and didn’t let me go until the final splash page. It jumps from disaster to near-miss to cliffhanger, leaving corpses everywhere. On Earth, in space, in the sun….bodies everywhere. Remember last issue I said that the Human Defense Corps would never have stood a chance against Kryptonians moving at full speed? Well, here we see what happens when Kryptonians really get pissed and use all their powers. It is awesome to behold. It reminds me a lot of when Darkseid took over the mind of every Daxamite in an old Legion arc called the Great Darkness. A hundred thousand Daxamites? Seven thousand Kryptonians? It doesn’t matter. Anything more than about five and you haven’t got a prayer, not even those clever Australians with their kryptonite robots. Robinson, Gates and Cafu have shown the supermen in all their overwhelming power.

Superman: War of the Supermen #2 – Review

By: Sterling Gates & James Robinson (writers), Eduardo Pansica (artist), Wayne Faucher (inker)

The Story: General Lane has turned New Krypton into a pile of rubble, killing almost all the Kryptonians on it. Zod’s navy is on its way to Earth for retribution. Kal-El is the only person standing in their way.

What’s Good: The drama and tension in the book is pretty obvious. The reader is asking himself if Lois will get the story to the Daily Planet before General Lane silences her and if Superman can stop the invading force of Kryptonians. These are two powerful story drivers that make me want to read all the issues of this series already. The dialogue is crisp and pretty solid and although I wasn’t sold on Pansica and Faucher in the beginning, they closed the deal with the first splash panel and the second panel of page 3. There’s a lot of emotion throughout the book and the faces and action sequences are dynamic.

What’s Not So Good: The writing really gave me pause in a couple of places. The biggest plot hole for me was that an American General, wearing an American uniform and deploying (for the most part) American assets, committed attempted genocide that is going to result in the destruction of the Earth. Where is the President in all this? Senate Armed Forces Committee? Secretary of State? How is it that this guy has so much money and staff and yet has nobody watching him? (I have the same problem with the basic premise of Dark Reign.) Another plot problem for me was the senseless fight between Superman and Supergirl. Maybe Kara is grieving and feeling guilty, but is anyone’s first grieving action to slug their cousin? And draw it out and draw it out? And then have her mind changed by a few words? The fight smelled like filler.

Superman: War of the Supermen #1 – Review

By: Sterling Gates & James Robinson (writers), Jamal Igle (penciller), Jon Sibal (inker)

The Story: Superman is getting the tar beat out of him by Zod’s henchmen while an army of super-powered Kryptonians closes on Earth. Superman is going to try to talk Zod out of the attack. Problem is, the Kryptonians are right – Earth has been screwing with them.

What’s Good: I was expecting Eddy Barrows on art, so Igle surprised and disappointed me on the first page. But then, I kept reading. And his art grew on me, but fast. By pages six and seven, I was digging the opaque light suffusing the tense confrontation between Kara and her mom. By page eleven, the burning yellow color work was wowing me. By page fifteen, the disintegrating Kryptonian in panel two had sold me on Igle. Then came the double splash page. Boom! Wow. His work on texture and expressions (especially Jimmy’s) really had my appreciation, and then the tears in space sealed the deal. Excellent choice on art.

Gates and Robinson, on the plotting and dialogue, told a tight, tense, speeding story filled with war crimes, authentic moral struggles, secret plots, double-crosses, carefully laid traps and a whole lot of grief and sadness. And megalomaniacs. Did I mention megalomaniacs? Let me lay it out mathematically for you. [Zod] = [Awesome]. He’s creeping up my list of top DC villains. And you know what makes him good? He’s got a real beef. He’s justified. Hate him or love him, it doesn’t matter. He’s a man who’s going to protect his people, no matter what the cost. That’s the same kind of greatness that elevated Magneto back in the 80s.

Superman: World of New Krypton #12 – Review

By: Greg Rucka and James Robinson (writers), Pete Woods and Ron Randall (artists), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: Adam Strange and Kal-El are in a pickle. Adam gets them out, but not for long. Then Zod, out of nowhere, gets them out of the next pickle. Then Adam Strange is dismissed from the series as quickly as he appeared (Zeta beam = handy plot device for writers). Kal-El and Zod then set themselves to solving the ill-defined mystery.

What’s Good: For a brief time, Kal-El takes center stage and shows some backbone. The cover by Frank and Anderson is breathtaking. And the internal art and colors are bright and evocative: I loved the Zeta-beam effect (both times).

What’s Not So Good: You can tell from my summary that this issue suffers from the same lack of cohesiveness that has dogged this series all along. Things come together in the end, but the web of cause and effect is so loose, and even tenuous, that the reveal doesn’t unify this episodic story. There’s a rule in mystery stories: you have to be fair with the reader – he has to know as much as the detective, so that the reader has a chance to figure out the puzzle, even if they rarely do. The villain responsible for the illness among the laborers, the assassination of the councilors, and even the shooting of Zod, turns out to be somebody I can’t even remember having seen in the series more than a couple of times, and I’ve followed this title since issue #1. His motivation is opaque and his logic caused me to scratch my head. The writers weren’t playing fair with the mystery.

Superman: World of New Krypton #9 – Review

by James Robinson and Greg Rucka (writers), Pete Woods and Ron Randall (artists), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: In New Krypton’s council chambers, General Kal-El and Dae, the Thanagarian admiral, face off against Jemm, Son of Saturn and his powerful followers who make punching bags out of the first few Kryptonian red shirts who try to stop them. In the meantime, a mysterious epidemic is striking the members of the dissatisfied workers guild. We get treated to a view of the Spartan militarism of New Kryptonian culture and how most of them seem quite comfortable with a growing thicket of enemies springing up on all sides. And in the middle of this comes Adam Strange, bringing a lethal touch from Rann into this simmering political mix.

What’s Good: I’m really enjoying the artwork of Woods, Randall and Ruffino. The lines and figures are becoming increasingly fluid. In part, this seems to be done with a lot less inking than normal and giving texture through gentle shading of colors. This fluid, organic character work doesn’t take away from the cityscapes or the images of the starkness of the treeless New Krypton. The sequence of the changing phases of Callisto was a cool effect, too.

On the story side, I’m enjoying it on the first pass. Robinson and Rucka keep us guessing, and lots of things are happening. The book feels full and includes a lot of good character moments, including an exploration of Kal-El’s relationship with Ursa, Gor and Non, his former enemies. I enjoyed the interesting look at Kal-El through the eyes of the Red Shard, his personal strike force.

What’s Not So Good: Don’t get me wrong – Superman: World of New Krypton is a fun ride and I think that this is the strongest issue since #3. However, I think that some plotting issues are becoming apparent. It may have to do with the scope of what Robinson and Rucka are trying to do. There are so many balls in the air in this series (for example: the suspicion and hostility from the Green Lantern Corps, Thanagar, Saturn, and Rann, the simmering class conflict, the unresolved political, ethical and possibly even physical conflict between Kal-El and Zod, the potential for romance, the unresolved betrayal of Kal-El’s worker sidekick, Kal-El’s adaptation and acceptance into Kryptonian society, the direction of the terraforming efforts, and finally this mysterious new illness) that while I’m ready to hold off on my judgment, I don’t see how Robinson and Rucka can give each plotline a satisfying conclusion in the last four issues. The very number of simultaneous plot questions and the way the problems burst in and out doesn’t let the reader know what the central thrust of the story is. As I said in a previous review, the writers might be trying to build a saga that won’t fit in 12 issues. I hope that the editors have this all figured out, otherwise issue 12 is going to be a bit inconclusive.

Conclusion: Despite the increasingly episodic nature of the story, this remains a fun, if mildly disorienting ride, well worth including in your pull list.

Grade: B

–DS Arsenault

Superman: World of New Krypton #7 – Review

By James Robinson and Greg Rucka (writers), Pete Woods (artist), Nei Ruffino with Pete Pantazis (colorists)

The Story: After the attempt on Zod’s life, New Krypton is paralyzed. One faction wants to declare war on Earth, and the other doesn’t know what to do. Then Zod comes out of the hospital long enough to promote Kal-El to General (and leader of the Military Guild) and say they can’t go to war… yet. Kal-El takes over, but the threats to New Krypton haven’t stopped. They’ve gotten worse.

What’s Good: The character work: General Zod, as always, sucks up the attention of any room he’s in. He’s much more charismatic than Kal-El, and even though we only see him for three pages, his decisions drive almost every issue. However, Kal-El gets to show some steel later on and it’s fun to watch.

The art works well for the story and there are a few moments worth mentioning: floating, glowing heads in the council chambers, holographic computer readouts, a staggering General Zod, the expressions on Tyr’s face, and especially the Jovian moon Callisto.

What’s Not So Good: Not a lot seemed to happen in this month’s issue. Yes, we get a couple of moments, but moments don’t make a story. Even the ending, which has an epic kind of feel to it, failed to pull the tension any higher. Part of this is the sense that, why exactly should I be worried for a city full of Kryptonians? Other than the weapons they themselves made, and one apparently made on Earth (used on Zod), can anything other than kryptonite kool-aid hurt them? DC has spent seventy years looking for something to challenge the man of steel and the best they’ve got is still just a red sun or kryptonite in its rainbow flavors. Early in this series, when the conflict was among Kryptonians (equals), the sense of tension was really good and we knew that even Kal-El might have to take one on the chin. But given any external threat to a Kryptonian, it’s hard to get worked up about it as a reader.

Conclusion: This issue continues the steam-losing descent of this series since the high point in issue #3’s.

Grade: C

-DS Arsenault

Superman: World of New Krypton #5 – Review

By James Robinson and Greg Rucka (writers), Pete Woods (artist), Brad Anderson (colorist)

The Story: Kal-El goes on trial for the crime of treason. The courtroom, as much as the military, it’s spy network and New Krypton itself, are all under the thumb of General Zod. Zod moves all the chess pieces and Kal-El’s beliefs and values are tested.

What’s Good: General Zod steals the show again. Although Kal-El has the choices to make, like should he try to escape or should he try a different legal defense, Zod is clearly the mover and the shaker of everything that is happening. He’s great fun to watch and Robinson and Rucka make the plot much more complex by a series of reversals– some expected, most unexpected, including a surprising one at the end that sets off a new arc in the next issue.

As for the art, it carries the story as well. What I really like are the little details here and there, like the red lighting in the prison (of course – what else would you use to hold a Kryptonian?) and the big holographic heads that Marlon Brando favored in the movie. The faces outside the courtroom were serviceably expressive to show character emotion, and the struggles each one suffered during this issue.

What’s Not So Good: The court scenes are pictures of stark contrasts, with bright white lights and pitch-black surroundings. The art in these scenes don’t work so strongly, as some of the faces come off as disproportionate and distorted.

On the plot, I certainly enjoyed the reversals as Kal-El and Zod squared off legally and ethically against one another, but a couple of the reversals near the end came almost out of nowhere, so the ending, although surprising, didn’t satisfy while Zod’s justification felt weak.

Conclusion: This was a fair issue, but the arc has been losing steam since the high point the creative team hit with issue #3. In fact, it barely feels like the arc has been completed at all, except that next month, the first part of the next arc is starting.

Grade: C

-DS Arsenault