Superman Unchained #7 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (story), Jim Lee (pencils), Scott Williams (inks), Alex Sinclair (colors)

The Story: Can a one-man army take down an actual army?

The Review: Happy Independence Day, everyone—yes, even you folks who have nothing to do with the good ol’ U.S. of A. So I think it’s appropriate that my first review of the day celebrating America goes to the comic starring that most quintessential all-American hero, the Man of Steel himself. It’s also important that here, we’re dealing with a Superman in his purest, most heroic form, as opposed to one struggling not to unleash certain death on all living things—we’ll deal with that hot mess later.

That said, Clark’s big heroic moment in this series has come and gone; what’s left is purely personal, with little opportunity for growth. He seems on the verge of it here, reflecting on Wraith’s challenges from #5: “The choices I make about when I fight, how I fight, how I live my life inside and outside of this…those choices mean that Superman, as I’ve created him, he can’t last forever.” But he never synthesizes these musings into a concrete conclusion as to what he should do. Instead, he dithers, pleading with Lois for understanding, which is preaching to the choir if you’ve ever seen it.