Superman Returns graphic novel

posted by Tygrrius @ 9:53 AM

Superman Returns: The Official Movie Adaptation graphic novel (DC Comics, 2006)
Writer: Martin Pasko
Artists: Matt Haley, Mike Collins, Ron Randall
Colorists: Nathan Eyring, Larry Molinar
Front cover art: The Cimarron Group (Superman Returns One Sheet Poster)

To honor the first anniversary of the release of Superman Returns (all right, so I missed it by a couple of days), I thought this would be a good time to finally read and review the DC Comics adaptation. Does a comic book inspired by a movie inspired by a comic book lose something in the translation?

The Superman Returns graphic novel is both expanded and condensed. The comic includes various scenes excised from the finished movie, including an extended opening with brief shots from Richard Donner's Superman, as well as Clark visiting the dead remains of Krypton.

The comic also keeps the original order of the opening: Donner intro, Clark on Krypton, Clark crashes in Smallville, and then Gertrude's death. In the final film, there is an abrupt cut from the credits into Gertrude's death. I still think the Smallville crash may have worked better there. But hey, everybody's a critic.

In fact, one of the best things about the comic is being able to better visualize some of the deleted scenes in context. The movie was certainly long enough as it was, but it's fascinating to get a glimpse of the overall, original vision by reading the script, watching the DVD's deleted scenes, and reading this comic.

The comic is far from perfect, though. The narrative flow is just choppy. It crams too much into too little space. The experience just feels rushed. You can almost feel an approaching deadline. It uses the fact that most of us have already seen the movie by the time of reading the comic as a crutch, for parts of the comic would likely be incomprehensible without it.

The quality of the art varies widely, which is funny considering the relative size of this comic. Some of the images are terrific, while many others fall flat. Some of the artists have a better handle on how to draw the leads than others. Brandon Routh sometimes looks authentic, but often looks more like Superboy. Sure, there was fanboy whining about Routh's age prior to the movie, but the movie itself more than put that to rest. He never looked like Superboy in the movie, but he does at times in this comic. Like the narrative, the overall feel of the art is a rushed hodge-podge.

Another version of this graphic novel, Superman Returns and Other Tales of the Man of Steel, was released at the same time. Though the Superman Returns content was the same, it also includes a mismash of unrelated, previously released Superman comics.

Why bother with that second version? I suppose it was an attempt to bring a cross-over audience of movie fans to the comics. I think they would have been better served making one version, and using those extra pages to fully tell the Superman Returns story.

Since the comic was made prior to the release of the film, lacking is the entire, secret subplot about Jason White's true heritage. For all those who whine about Jay-El, this book proves that subplot is necessary -- at least to tell this story. Without it, Superman Returns feels a bit empty. And the comic adaptation is a disappointing version of an otherwise incredible story. This appears to be a tie-in designed only to cash in, rather than offer quality work. As interpreted by DC Comics, Superman Returns is a jumbled mess.

Story/Writing: 4 (out of 10)
Art: 5
Cover Art: 10
Overall Experience: 4

June 20th Comic RoundUp

posted by JediSheltie @ 7:16 PM

Spoiler Alert. But you've probably been spoiled by like 80 other reviews by now, so who cares?

Flash: The Fastest Man Alive 13

Via various obfuscations, the ending to this issue was kept pretty effectively under-wraps. Even within the pages, writer Marc Guggenheim managed to give the briefest glimmers of hope that perhaps the inevitable could be avoided. It was not to be, and Bart Allen pays the the ultimate price to save the eastern half of the United States of America.

Guggenheim's run was certainly a turn for the better after the, to put it delicately, "disaster" that was the original OYL debut from Bilson and De Meo. Whether Bart's eventual fate was in response to the near complete flop that was the OYL launch, or whether this was planned all along, we may never know. I have to assume Bart was doomed by his first writing team, though. Even as they plan to restart the numbering from the last series, it seems quite a specular detour to have taken simply to provide the Flash with another "death."

Bart Allen's tenure as Flash was quite short, and he only found sure footing at the end. He will probably end up a mere footnote in Flash history, though. Even as the Rouges pound on the powerless Bart Allen, they notice he isn't "the Flash," just a kid. They manage to kill him nonetheless, though. Guggenheim's refreshingly simple reintroduction of Bart as a guy who "runs fast" and "helps people" becomes an epitaph of sorts. There's little laboring on a funeral, simply a full spread of a statue with a vigil around it to close out Bart's brief career as Flash.

I wouldn't have minded seeing Bart succeed as Flash. I did like the light-heated character that was Impulse, and saw the possibility in him becoming Flash. But a back story of draconian complexity and the rather tepid "aimless young man" that arrived with the OYL launch was completely counter to those possibilities. Bart always would have that headache inducing back story, but that hardly meant his character couldn't be compelling. Leaching him completely of the sense of humor and turning him into a such a stock character signaled bad things from the start.

Bart has left us, the Flash is dead.

Justice League of America 11

Long live the Flash.

I suppose the only major problem I had with this crossover in general is this: if you consider it to be a mystery, it was a poorly developed one. I saw it as a mystery, and, in the end, the resolution simply came out of left field. Was it cool? Sure, yeah, it was cool, but there was little in any of the preceding issues that really provided the reader clues to the eventual outcome. (Unless they were only visible to the most hardened DC continuity fanatic, which I'll admit even I'm not.) The general expectation is the author will show the reader and their protagonists the clues, and someone will eventually figure it out.

Why was the "old" version of the Legion of Superheros, the ones Clark knew as a "boy", back? Other than choosing the restore a part of Silver/Bronze Age back story to the character of Superman, they were here to bring someone back. Someone who could ride the lightning.

It's only in this final issue we see the hints of their intended target, appearing to Batman and others as apparitions. But even these apparitions are misleading. Bruce sees the gaunt, withered form of Barry Allen, shortly before he perishes in the act of destroying the Anti-Monitor's super weapon. Coming, as it did, one issue after the original Kara Zor-El's demise in CoIE 7, it was a pretty bad time to be wearing tights in the DCU.

The Legion raise their lighting rods as the members of the JLA and JSA urge them to reconsider, knowing, from Clark's exposition a few issues back, that one of them will die in the process of this resurrection attempt. Bruce Wayne and the 3rd Smartest Man in the World, Mr. Terrific, race to counter the personal shields designed by Brainiac 5, which keep the heroes from simply taking the young Legionnaire's lightning rods home and sending them to bed without a snack.

Brainiac 5 and 31st Century technology wins over the best minds of the DCU, and the lightning strikes. Wally West and family appear an instant later, and a particularly nimble Karate Kid simply dodges the bolt that would otherwise have taken his life. Goeff Johns' own star rose after his well received run writing Wally West in the Flash, so perhaps this choice isn't all that confusing. In a brief epilogue, we find that I called it, Flash is the last member of the Justice League.

Coincidentally, the Flash title also needs a Flash, how bout that?

Why there were pages devoted to Geo-Force, other than a smokescreen, I have no idea. He was even listed on the JLA roster for this crossover, but he was little more than a background character with nary a single significant story contribution.

Art was great. I like Benes' work, and this was certainly a fine effort. This issue continued a nice little shout-out to Superfriends from the last JSA installment. Who doesn't like to see a certain domed structure listing in a swamp? Especially with the JLA and JSA in a kinetic engagement all around it. Michael Turner's cover was great to, had my two favorite members of the JSA prominently displayed, so what's not to love?

News that Meltzer's follow-on to the JLA is now finalized. Dwayne McDuffie is best known for working on the toon JLA from Justice League Unlimited as well as now writing Fantastic Four at Marvel, so he's got a feel for group dynamics. After spending so long talking up his cast, Meltzer's group will be somewhat dissected apparently. Not that I mind, so long as the core remains untouched, and I seriously doubt that will be the case.

Madame Mirage 1

Yes, I read more than DC. Not much more, granted, but it happens.

Paul Dini's work in Detective Comics has been great, and I decided to see what he'd do with a character of his own creation. In a certain fashion, the titular (had to do it) Madame doesn't stray too far from the vigilante ways of one Bruce Wayne. Batwoman, she isn't, though. We don't learn much about her background in this first issue, but she doesn't bother with cowls or display the slightest hesitation in terminating the bad guys rather permanently.

The Madame cruises her world not in some superhero-stock skin-tight catsuit, but in perhaps an equally tight white dress, tastefully set off with black thigh-boots, a very small bolero jacket, and a big swinger hat. (Best guess on the hat type, had to look it up.) Granted, I'm one of the few people in the world who might describe thigh-boots as "tasteful." It certainly is a new take on on a superhero outfit, or perhaps one that may have shown up in a 40's nior, had any of those actually featured a superheroine...

Dini gives us the front page of the world in question rather succinctly. It's the future and at some point technology advanced to the point where it could provide people with "superpowers". Heroes sprung up, but most people decided it was a lot easier to take the other path and make out like literal bandits with the new toys. Pandora is eventually stuffed back into her box and the technology is outlawed, leaving the few heroes to stew in prison and the many bad guys to slink back into the dark and use their ill-gotten gains to form big corporations.

The Madame had a grudge against one of these Corporations, a lovely monikered "Aggressive Solutions International." Why is yet unclear, but this issue details her initial efforts to destroy it. So far her name is certainly indicative of her "powers". She can perform flawless impersonations of both male and female, and vanish at will. The source of these abilities is also unrevealed. Her one known allay in the fight is a younger looking blond who is shortly revealed to be her sister. Her powers, so far, include the ability to shoot people with guns.

Madame Mirage is no slouch in that department either, and her gold plated pistol may be dainty, but it seems to pack quite the punch.

The art style could have been some neo-nior that, on the fact of it, seemed to fit the property. Not to say it might not have been a good choice, but what we get I more throughly enjoyed. Kenneth Rocafort's art is detailed not only in terms of scene and actor, but the attention lavished on Mirage's curves is quite exquisite. The art has a throughly modern look that fits in with the setting more than some attempt at capturing 40's nior would.

Dini's writing is crisp. He's at home here, basically, writing about a vigilante at war with criminal elements. It's much the same home Bruce Wayne lives in, just with very different furniture. Nothing wrong with that, really, it's a home that a lot of superhero comics live in. This issue was, rightly so, almost all Madame with very little intrusion by her foes. An early entrant in a budding rogues gallery makes an appearance, but this issue is primarily an intro to the character, not so much the world or her foes.

I'll keep picking it up, as I'm curious to get the Madame's back story and learn more about her. This is Dini's own little sandbox, removed the strictures of the DCU, should be interesting to see what he does with it.

June 13th Nothing Roundup

posted by JediSheltie @ 7:01 PM

Well, instead of just not appearing, I'll go ahead and mention that last week was pretty paltry in terms of pickings, so I can't really muster the effort. Sure, there's Justice, but it's cool, I've mentioned that before.

I know all my readers will be disappointed... Yeah, you, that one guy, you can sit down now, save all questions for the end.

It seems the promise of Countdown fitting neatly into 4 issue arcs is yet to materialize, so I haven't yet found a good place to start summarizing. Granted, they're still in mostly expository phases, but I gotta say, it's really not flowing well for me. There's the "Kryptonian" Superman laying down the "Great Raos", the impenetrable "Rouges" section, and all this "New God's" stuff I might care about if I had any particular interest in the characters.

Well, except Barda, and that has nothing to do with the New Gods.

See, I never really read any New Gods comics, so I don't even know who this Lightwave guy was. He was apparently "beloved" and his death is really important. I'll take people's word for that. I knew Duela Dent better.

Mary Marvel's arc is picking up. Receiving all of Black Adam's power moves her from 0 to 11 pretty quickly in terms of power. Intimating because the power was Black Adam's that makes the power "evil" is dumb. After all, Adam was given the power by Shazam to be a good guy, he just made himself a jerk with it.

Jimmy Olsen... well. Never a huge Jimmy fan myself. Always thought Jimmy was in there so all the young readers who knew they weren't ever going to be Superman could at least think they might grow up to be his "pal." I simply don't think that mechanic works anymore. Jimmy could be Clark's pal at the office, but the Superman element just doesn't really feel right to me anymore.

Next week looks more promising. The "last issue" of Flash and the end of the Lightning Saga in JLA will probably make the cut.

The Making of Star Wars book

posted by Tygrrius @ 1:54 PM

The Definitive Story Behind The Original Film: The Making of Star Wars-Based On The Lost Interviews From The Official Lucasfilm Archives book (Ballantine Books, hardcover deluxe edition, 2007)
Author: J.W. Rinzler
Original 1975-1978 Interviews By: Charles Lippincott

Forget stamps. Forget conventions. Forget video games. The Making of Star Wars is the one essential 30th anniversary product. As a Star Wars fan and movie buff, I can tell you that the book is just about perfect.

Relying on extensive interviews conducted during the making of the first Star Wars movie, J.W. Rinzler has assembled the Star Wars book that never was. While there have been "making of" books for the five other films in the saga, the making of Star Wars never made it to publication, until now.

Well, that's not entirely true. There was a juvenile book, Star Wars: The Making Of The Movie from about 1980. That was actually the first behind-the-scenes movie book I ever read, and it sparked an interest in me that continues to this day.

With a whopping 362 pages and weighing about sixty tons, The Making of Star Wars dwarfs that previous effort and offers much more than a glimpse into the film. You basically get to live it. And, along the way, there are many revelations.

These days, everything is hailed as "extensive" or "definitive." Star Wars products do not always live up to their hype, but this one exceeds it. In minute detail and in very small print for my aging eyes, the story behind the film is told.

We see the early seeds of Star Wars in the Journal of the Whills. The 1973 story featured Mace Windu and was George Lucas' first treatment for what would become Star Wars.

Though it does not reprint them, The Making of Star Wars covers each draft of the movie extensively. There are about a half dozen drafts and Rinzler does a great job after each draft discussion of noting the key "first time" elements from that draft that would appear in the final film.

Star Wars morphed completely from its initial concepts before it became the film we know and love today. Character names were often changed and reverted, which can sometimes make for a confusing read. Anakin, The Skywalker, Luke Starkiller, Binks, Organa, Chewie, Chewbacca (two different characters), and various other names come and go.

The script changes are fascinating and often demonstrate that budget and time crunches can actually result in a better story. Also of interest are early production drawings, including the very first sketches of an Imperial TIE fighter, an X-Wing, and the Death Star. Who made those first sketches? Lucas himself. And you can see them here.

The Ralph McQuarrie production paintings and drawings are examined extensively, though the book skimps by not having large-scale versions of each one. Instead, the illustrations are often tiny. This is probably to make room for the massive amount of text.

If you're expecting a picture book with just a bit of text, this is the wrong one for you. This book is really about the text with some pictures thrown in for good measure.

At times, perhaps the book gives too much detail and the pace can get slow. It takes a long time to get to the point where production actually begins on the movie; but then, it is realistic in that it took a long time in reality to get to that point as well.

Lucas, it seems, faced obstacles at every turn that threatened to derail the film. Even the Libyan army insisted on inspecting the Jawa sandcrawler when filming proceeded close to their border and they assumed it was part of a military buildup for invasion.

Every single piece of the movie is examined in detail, from selection of the actors, to sound design, to the musical score, to the special effects. It's all here. For ILM fans, though, I'd still recommend ILM: The Art of Special Effects and Sculpting a Galaxy to supplement that portion of this material.

The Making of Star Wars is a fantastic book, and the best thing is that it is usually written as if the year is about 1978. Most of the interviews took place before the film was released and became a blockbuster hit. Remember, most people, including many who worked on it, thought Star Wars was going to bomb. In that sense, they are perhaps the most truthful interviews that will ever exist about this movie. Time and success changes perspectives. For that reason, these vintage interviews are more pure than what you'll see today.

The book also doesn't place Star Wars within the context of the overall saga. Sequels, prequels, and special editions are not covered here. This also helps to give the book a 1978 feel.

The deluxe edition contains about 50 pages of bonus material not present in the softcover version. Most of these are incredible storyboards by Alex Tavoularis, Ivor Beddoes, and Joe Johnston, and are certainly more than worth the additional cost. Luke originally was to have made two trench runs and you can see them both here via storyboard.

Also included in the bonus section are circa-1977 notes from Lucas about backgrounds on the characters and the nature of the Force. It feels like a sort of first draft of a Star Wars encyclopedia. A shocker for the nay-sayers: Midi-chlorians are mentioned in those 1977 notes. They were not, after all, invented for the 1999 Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace.

In fact, padawan learners are also mentioned in the early drafts of Star Wars, so that concept, too, was already in Lucas' mind if not on the screen of the original trilogy.

If you're a fan of the original Star Wars, this is the book to have.

Overall Experience: 9 (out of 10)

June 6th RoundUp

posted by JediSheltie @ 10:25 AM

Primarily gonna deal with Supergirl 18, and it's more an essay than a review, so you've been warned.

Supergirl 18

It was a couple months or so back that I was reading the ole DC Nation column in the back of one of my weekly selections. Something there, something small, almost a throwaway line, gave me a tingle in the back of my head, but I didn't think anything of it. It was, after all, simply a quick little blurb, one little sentence. It was someone, probably Dan Dido, talking about how they wanted more teenage girls reading Supergirl.

And so it is that memory came rushing back about about mid-way through Supergirl 18. I'll be a good reviewer and not spoil anything about the plot and ultimate conclusion of this recent “origin” arc. Suffice to say, my hunch it had something to do with the multiverse was correct, though not in the way I originally assumed. It speaks volumes that after a few issues of pure weird-assery I had forgotten completely about the shadowy female figure that had been dogging Kara many issues earlier.

Supergirl 18 is primarily about 2 Kara Zor-El's beating the crap out of each other while the one claiming to the “real” Supergirl, the one whose death I shed some tears over back in the mid-80's, points out how much the new one sucks. Old Supergirl Fanboy dream, right? Not really. Joe Kelly does a very good job of throwing some deep contrast between the old Supergirl and the new one. Like it or not, the original Kara Zor-El wasn't a very deep character. She was, as she so proudly proclaims in this issue, perfect.

A lot of the “boring” claims tossed around by Superman-haters against Clark pretty much went double for the original Supergirl. She was perfect. She had little motivation for what she was doing, other than she was “good.” She was a purely stock superhero from central casting, with little in the way of a highly distinctive personality. Of course, that appealed to me a great deal when I was 10, and I still have all those fond memories.

That's why a lot of people don't like the new Supergirl, those fond memories. The new angst-y teen isn't very appealing to 30 year old white guy comic geeks. Come to find out, she's not supposed to be. She's supposed to appeal to teenage girls. And there-in lies the problem. This isn't a “Minx” label comic. It's got a oval with “D” and “C” in the middle of it, and that's what appeals to 30 year old white guy comic geeks. Someone in marketing thought it would a tremendously great idea to try and go against the core brand. Not only that, they thought they'd try to bring in a new kind of reader to a brand she probably has reticence to associate with.

So, here I am, 30(2) year old white guy comic geek reading a comic aimed at teenage girls. I'll keep going, as this creative disjunction will be resolved sooner or later, either via recognition that this simply can't work or cancellation. Do I want the perfect Supergirl back? No. I want a creatively compelling character that, if it's even possible, will appeal to both teenage girls and 30 year old white guy comic geeks.

Okay... That's probably not possible.

Oh, and the art was kind of... poor... to boot. Not sure why they decided to bring in a pick-up team on such a “big” issue. Perhaps they're searching for just the right teenage girl friendly “look”.

Birds of Prey 107

Kara Zor-El may be trying to appeal to teenage girls, but Tora's back, and Tora's Tora. All is (mostly) right with the universe.

Detective Comics 833

Though I'm not quite sure the Dini helmed Countdown has gotten on sure footing yet, he's turning in good work on this signature Bat-book. Bruce is working series of deaths in the Gotham magic community, and turns to one of the DCU's natural choices to help out in that regard- Zatana. To say there's “history” there is understatement. Dini goes even deeper than what we know from the Identity Crisis series, though. His brief but touching exploration of the two interacting as children makes the eventual betrayal all the more emotionally resonant.

One of the things I love about Wikipedia is the little extra things you find out, like just how much Paul Dini might like the Zatana character. This is who he married, after all.

Now, I've just got to find some friendly Norse ice princesses... Taarakians also accepted.

May 31st Comic Roundup

posted by JediSheltie @ 9:59 AM

Ah, took off for Memorial Day, back just in time for the big number 850 for Action, not that it ultimately mattered much...

Action 850

“Fifties” aren't quite the milestone that your average “00” is, but they're the closest second you can get. “Twenty-fives” were kind of hoping to make the bronze, but you really have to draw the line somewhere... no pun intended, of course. Kurt Busiek, Geoff Johns, and Fabian Nicieza team up to bring you Action 850, which packs on a few more pages, basically to tell a story you already know. Well, in the strange way you know it, but you don't know exactly how it happened.

We find Supergirl and her pals in the Legion of Superheroes looking for a way to send her back to her own time. Not coincidentally, Supergirl is about join the Teen Titan, so the recent mentions of her looking for a way to return in the Legion comic and this Action issue are merely the boilerplate that means I'm dropping Legion and starting to pick up Teen Titans. I don't see why she couldn't be in both, but I'm betting the whole massive personality disjunction between the “future” Supergirl and the current one is getting a little too broad for anyone to swallow, even me. With any luck, they'll be wrapping that up soon, and I'm betting our newfound Multiverse will come into play.

Kara's efforts to return to her own time start with a machine that allows her to see her past and the past of people to whom she was connected. Unwilling to swallow the pill of her own past, she instead chooses to look at the past of her wet blanket of a cousin, the stern authority figure to whom she wishes to rebel, mild-mannered Clark Kent. The framing device out of the way, we learn some elements of the story of Superman, post Infinite Crisis.

Don't expect any world shattering changes here. There's very little shown that alters any of the generally established continuity to which we're mostly familiar. Any elements that are now subject to continuity revision were pawned off as some kind of inter-dimensional static and not able to be shown to Kara as she looked back, primarily the time that would have included Superboy. We do confirm details like Clark having powers from infancy and that Krypto was around, though his current whereabouts remain unknown.

The few “historical” beats will probably be the focus for the issue as a whole, but that would be overlooking some well crafted emotional beats that show Clark growing up and his relationship with his adoptive parents. Busiek & Co. craft a story that illustrates the loneliness in Clark's life as he lives with the knowledge he's the last of his kind. The irony is pointed in who is watching the story, and is, eventually, not lost even on a self-centered teenage girl.

850 is one of those “jumping-on” issues, it seems. Fill in character background to get new readers up to speed and keep them going. This is kind of odd, especially since we're back to “Last Son” next issue, it would seem. Going from jumping-on to “Part 4” could be a bit confusing to new readers, especially since they can't just do something simple like pick up the last 3 issues to see the other parts to the story.

Just want to keep my promise and point out what I feel is exceptional art when I see it, and Renato Guedes is amazing. Beautifully detailed and expressive, he does pencils and colors on this issue, with Jose Wilson Magalhaes doing inks. I know they nailed down the new artist for Action after the Bizzaro World arc, but I wouldn't mind seeing this team long term.

Amazons Attack 2

Seems from the general reviews of #1, I was one of the few to have actually read the lead-in issues of Wonder Woman when I wrote mine. I mentioned it wasn't particularly confusing, but perhaps my “involuntary” knowledge of the background lead me to make that statement. Not like I could “un-read” those issues and look at it from a purely stand alone perspective. I still think the first issue wasn't exceptionally complicated. The “our story thus far” is pretty simple actually: tall broads in curvy breastplates appear in the middle of Washington DC and start tearing the place up.

In a six part series do you really expect to have everything laid out for you in issue one?

In issue two the idea the series can stand alone outside the current Wonder Woman arc is pretty much tossed out the window, though. Wonder Woman 9 brought about a couple big plot developments that would leave a lot of readers out of the loop if they barreled in to AA 2 unawares. Crass cross marketing tactic? You bet. Not to worry, Jodi Picoult's work over there is good. If you're enjoying AA, then you're probably reading Wonder Woman anyway. If not, then just skip both and you're fine.

AA 2 is pretty much the Justice League issue. The explanation of why there's no full frontal assault is fairly effective. Clark and Bruce agree and the League shifts into rescue/evacuation mode to clear civilians out the immediate war zone. The mole in CTU... er... the Department of Metahuman Affairs is revealed and Nemesis takes over command. This is one of the crossovers from WW 9 they actually show again. Those AA readers who are wondering what happened to Circe will have to pick up that issue though.

AA 2 sees the war expand beyond Washington, to Vandenberg AFB and to another location I wont spoil, but it seems the Amazons (and editorial) are at least aware of who the need to keep otherwise occupied lest their war end quite prematurely.

With Circe's departure, the war seems to be running purely on Hippolyta's misandry-driven bloodlust. Confrontations from Donna Troy and her own generals don't seem to harsh her man-hate buzz as she expands the attacks. AA 2 is purely build-up as we have 4 more issues to go, but as build-up goes, its handled well.

Pete Woods art is great, rendering both character and combat with equal skill. With a couple minor exceptions, most of the combat in this issue is off-page, so the character work really shines here.

Action Comics #849

posted by Tygrrius @ 9:10 AM

Action Comics #849 (DC Comics, Early July 2007 cover date)
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Penciller: Renato Guedes
Inker: Ron Randall
Cover: Brad Walker & Robin Riggs

It's been awhile since I've had a chance to jump in with a review. Since JS is likely off somewhere distracted by video games, I figured this would be a good time to take a quick look at the latest Action Comics release.

It is perhaps appropriate that a fill-in Superman comic book reviewer should review a fill-in Superman comic. For while Adam Kubert continues to slowwwllly finish the art for part four of the stalled Geoff Johns/Richard Donner "Last Son" storyline, DC has wisely decided to press ahead with alternate teams on Action. Johns & Donner, incidentally, have probably made it to 2008 or 2009 by now in terms of stories in the can. So, we can take some solace in that at least.

In this issue, it's part two of "Redemption." Clark seeks to show the meta-human Redemption the error of his ways, but first has to battle him. Redemption has been using his powers to take revenge on those who attack his religious group of followers.

The source of his power at first appears to be the faith of those followers. As Clark notes, "I would really rather not turn this into me vs. God. I don't like those odds." An interesting by-product of the fight is that Clark bleeds in this issue.

You see, a couple months back, DC told producer Bruce Timm that the character could not bleed in the forthcoming Superman: Doomsday movie, despite the fact that he bled in the original comic version of the Doomsday battle. DC's line was that Clark's skin is totally invulnerable. Apparently not. Looks like DC's insistence will serve only to make Superman: Doomsday a bit less true to the source material than it otherwise would have been.

As for this story, it was okay. It had the feel of many Superman comics I remember reading as a kid. You know the ones, where a new superpowered character comes to Metropolis and begins wreaking havoc. Superman briefly fights him and eventually convinces him to turn over a new leaf. So, it was good to see kind of a classic comic book storyline used in the modern age, where things tend to get a lot more complicated.

The story generally skirts the Clark as messiah issue, save for a panel where he floats above Redemption's followers in a church. Putting aside the religious aspect, it seemed that Clark was taking quite a risk, putting the follower's lives in jeopardy by showing up at that moment--given the previous events, intended or otherwise. You could say that Clark had "faith" that his plan would work, but had his own faith been misplaced, others would have died for his mistake.

In the end, the story, like the art and the cover, was fine but not overly memorable. It was a good read, certainly worth a look while waiting for Kubert to finish his Action work and move on to slowing down some other comic book series that hopefully doesn't involve Superman or any other character of interest to anyone.

Story/Writing: 6 (out of 10)
Art: 6
Cover Art: 6
Overall Experience: 6