Grant Morrison: writer
Rags Morales, Brad Walked, Rick Bryant & Bob McLeod: artists
The Solicitation
It's the epic 30-page conclusion of Grant Morrison and Rags Morales' majestic opening storyline! $3.99 gets you front row seats to the ascension of the DC Universe's first Super Hero as The Man of Steel goes toe to tentacle with the all-new Brainiac for the final fate of Metropolis!
Preview
The Comic
I know I said that last issue would be the last one I picked up, but since this one is solicited as the final one for the opening story, I guess I will pick it up. And I'm sorta disgruntled by what I picked up.
I know that since this is the final part of the story, no one in their right mind would pick up the issue. Who would want to come into a comic when it is the last comic of the story? Well, that doesn't always happen, and you have to be able to summarize the previous events in the book while being able to advance the story, or in this case conclude the story. While it does it in parts, there will still be a lot that just goes over the reader's head.
Now the story overall that is being concluded isn't really something that can go over a reader's head, until you start to look at the details. Morrison is trying to introduce the next story arc while at the same time concluding this one. This isn't something that isn't unusual to happen, we see Geoff Johns do this all the time. The important part is to make sure that you conclude this story's arcs first.
If the job of the first arc is simply to develop Superman's powers so they grow exponentially and put him in the suit, then that is what this arc did. If the point was to make a coherent story, it kinda missed it with this issue for me.
Superman is battling Brainiac, and also the scientist guy who is wearing the armor controlled by Brainiac. I forget his name and the comic didn't mention it so who cares. But Brainiac and the army/cyborg dude seem like they are the same person from the art and the text doesn't really distinguish between the two as well since the army guy has some sort of split personality thing going on.
Superman defeats Brainiac, which we knew would happen. He does so by flicking his ship that brought him to earth, which has been shrunk previously by Brainic, at Brainiac. The ship has some sort of crystal computer and it grows which crystallizes around Brainiac, or through him, just something like that.
Superman then says to reverse the process of shrinking Metropolis, and now that his ship is in control of the alien vessel, the process gets reversed. Then we start seeing the next arc get planted and the conclusion of this one.
Basically - Clark gets told by his current editor to accept the job that the Daily Planet offered him. His landlord, Mrs. Nyxly (Superman fans will know that name from a famous villain) tells Clark that she will keep his secret that he is Superman. And Superman gets the key to the city. He reveals his origin to everyone in a press conference. Superman goes to his parent's graveside and says that he is slowly fitting in. He then goes up, up, and away. Luthor is revealed to be Clark's insider source for his reporting needs. and its revealed that Superman has made Brainiac's ship his new fortress of solitude.
In the epilogue, we get someone approaching a hunter asking if he would like to kill a bullet proof man. The hunter shoots a T-rex and says that there is no such thing as a bullet proof man.
I am still holding the opinion that this story would work better in the previous DC universe and not in the new 52. This was not a very good origin story. Or first adventure story. If you look at Clark Kent and the world that we know him to reside in, the only thing that has changed for him from the first issue is that he has a costume for Superman that is more than just a T-shirt. He was always hounded by the Daily Planet for a job, now he has decided to go there. I don't think that Lois Lane learned anything or had her character advance. Same for Jimmy Olsen. Luthor might have been a bigger change, but the reveal at the end that he was playing all sides seem to indicate that he was prepared to win no matter the outcome.
Basically, a lot of ideas were presented to us, and none of them seemed to be developed. I come out of this comic just not caring about Superman. He doesn't inspire me, not how Morrison was able to inspire me about Supermen in All Star Superman. This could have been so much better.
The Art
Inconsistency. This book had three artists, and the dip in quality of the art throughout the first 8 issues is just awful. The first issue was great. Spectacular. Now it just looks like a cheap imitation of that first issue. I could've sworn that Jimmy Olsen looked very different in previous issues. And what was with Superman's costume changing in each panel in the middle of the fight? I understand that the suit is controlled by the thought of the wearer, but there didn't seem to be any logical sense of the change in it. The story just didn't match what was going on.
And that politician handing Superman the key looked like a bad imitation of the Smiler from Transmetropolitan. The art also looked like a weirdly inked version of Lee Bermejo's art.
The Cover
The cover matched the comic perfectly, in the sense that it didn't inspire me at all. You can't see the big bad enemy, its covered up with the title of the book and all the other little words on it. Not even Superman looks to be all that clear. Not enough time was taken with how to design this cover, and it shows. I don't see why the old costume in the background is a focal point on this cover. It just makes me cringe.
And again, the cover shown here is actually a much better colored version that the one I got. I don't know if its because my shop only had the Digital Combo pack that I had to get and they color it different, but the cover shown here actually looks better than what was produced.
Grades
Words: 3/10
Pictures: 2/10
Recommend: Only if you just want to see how it concludes. Don't go near it otherwise.
Buy Next Issue: Nope. Not even the "preview" of the next arc, nor any of the hints of what is come that was laid out throughout the issue really gets me to want to continue with the comic. Maybe sometime down the line, but for now I continue to ignore anything Superman related. It's a shame really, I really did want to keep picking up this book.
Previous Issues
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