Superman #707 – Review

By J. Michael Straczynski (plot), Chris Roberson (script), Allan Goldman (pencils), Eber Ferreira (inks), Marcelo Maiolo (colors) and John J. Hill (letters)

The Story: Superman continues–still–his trek across the U.S. While keeping himself busy assisting with everyday emergencies in a small town, he discovers a factory that is in danger of exploding. When Lois shows up to write a story about how the factory heads have been dumping chemicals into the local ground water, Superman must weigh the cost of the truth against the jobs of thousands of innocent people.

What’s Good: Great news! For the first time in half a year, reading a Superman comic didn’t piss me off! I know, I was shocked too. But it’s true: while not stellar by any means, this issue is at least decent, competent, and refrains from being insulting or completely and utterly trite. Better yet–and I can’t stress this enough, for the first time since the storyline started–it actually delivers on the premise that the entire storyline is built around: Superman is actually in a town, talking to people and helping them solve actual, basic problems.

My favorite part of the whole book–of the entire storyline so far, really–is the scene with Superman putting out the factory fire. The self-narrating he does, explaining his actions, thought process and the powers he uses to save the day, has a wonderful Golden Age flavor to it that had me smiling the whole way through. Most fun I’ve had reading Supes in quite some time.