Comic Review: The Return of Superman

Published: April 5th, 2016
Written by: Gerard Jones, Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern
Art by: Jon Bogdanove, M.D. Bright, Tom Grummett, Jackson Guice

DC Comics, 464 Pages

Review:

Well, this is a step up from the previous two volumes in the larger The Death/Return of Superman saga. This is also the fourth of the five big chapters but now that Superman is back, we can stop spending time on mediocre replacements and get back to business.

The four replacements are still here, however, but now they have to find their place in the world with Superman reclaiming his mantle.

Two of these replacements remain heroes and two let their villain flags finally fly for all to see. Where these characters would end up wasn’t a surprise, though.

I think that the most impactful thing about this story isn’t simply Superman’s return, as much as it was seeing him return to Lois after all she had been through in the previous three chapters of this multi-year saga.

Once Superman actually returns, you’re not totally sure it’s him but as a reader, you hope it is and it’s really a breath of fresh air, as the replacements just didn’t cut it. I also think that DC Comics knew this and brought the famed hero back earlier than they probably wanted to.

Regardless, it’s good that he did return, as it was like a shot in the arm to this story, which I found myself losing interest in. Had I been buying these and reading them back when they were current, I know that I would’ve stopped before we even got to the return.

In the end, I’m not super keen on these books, beyond the pretty emotional battle that ended with Superman’s death. Although, this did make up for some of the lower points a bit and it sets up the next showdown between Supes and Doomsday, the jerk that killed him.

Rating: 6.5/10

Comic Review: Reign of the Supermen

Published: April 5th, 2016
Written by: Dan Jurgens, Gerard Jones, Karl Kesel, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern
Art by: Jon Bogdanove, M.D. Bright, Tom Grummett, Jackson Guice

DC Comics, 325 Pages

Review:

I’m not going to lie, even though I slept on this big event back in the early ’90s, I went into this with some real enthusiasm, hoping it would be interesting and have a real purpose.

Sadly, this started out kind of neat but quickly devolved into a clusterfuck without any real sort of cohesive narrative trajectory.

With Superman dead, four new figures pop-up and try to fill the void. Three of the four believe themselves to be Superman while the fourth was simply inspired by him.

As we know now, years later, two of these Supermen would go on to be villains: Cyborg Superman and Eradicator. As for the other two, Steel would just continue to be Steel and Superboy would just stay Superboy and go on to be a really popular character in his own right.

Ultimately, I just didn’t care about any of this and even though I can see how some of the new characters may have resonated with some people, none of them have ever really grabbed me.

I guess, in the end, I can say that I’ve now actually experienced this once important major comic book event. But honestly, fuck these characters. I can see why they brought Superman back almost immediately after this experiment.

Rating: 5.25/10

Comic Review: Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, Vol. 6: Zod’s Will

Published: September 25th, 2018
Written by: Robert Venditti
Art by: Brandon Peterson, Rafa Sandoval, Ethan Van Sciver

DC Comics, 113 Pages

Review:

Man, this was a refreshing read after coming off of the massively disappointing and extremely long Age of Apocalypse. It took me a week to get through that beefy X-Men event and after finishing it, I needed something fun and cool. This was it!

I haven’t read much of the Green Lantern stuff after the Sinestro Corps War storyline, which is a decade old at this point. But the few arcs I’ve read from Robert Venditti have been pretty good and maybe I should read the whole run.

I picked up this one because it pitted two of my favorite characters against each other: Hal Jordan and General Zod.

The story is about the two men coming into conflict when the Green Lanterns discover Zod and his family, along with Eradicator, on a planet where they seem to be enslaving its people. In reality, the citizens of the planet worship Zod as a deity. All the while, he is there to harvest an element that could be used as a weapon in the future.

While there is a great battle between the core Green Lanterns and Zod’s family, this is primarily a political thriller that makes Hal Jordan walk the line between anti-hero and antagonist. You know that Zod is most likely up to no good but Jordan jumps the gun and takes the law into his own hands with his trusted allies behind him.

The story doesn’t have a true resolution and I’ve read a later story where Jordan and Zod have to be reluctant allies but maybe I need to read what happens in the arc just after this.

Zod’s Will was intriguing, fast paced, full of action with solid character interaction and dialogue.

Rating: 8.5/10
Pairs well with: the other collected volumes in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps.

Comic Review: Superman, Vol. 1: Son of Superman

Published: January 10th, 2017
Written by: Patrick Gleason, Peter J. Tomasi
Art by: Patrick Gleason

DC Comics, 163 Pages

Review:

A few friends of mine have talked up the Superman stories that started with DC’s Rebirth up until Brian Michael Bendis showed up and took over all the Superman books.

So starting at the beginning, I’ve got to say that this arc really peaked my interest. It establishes an interesting direction for the character and his son, the current Superboy, Jonathan Samuel Kent.

This story also features multiple Supermen, so I’m not sure what that’s all about, as I didn’t read any of the New 52 stuff before this.

But I love Clark in this story, his relationship with his son and the fact that he and Lois aren’t in an incredibly weird and uncharacteristic spot thanks to Bendis being Bendis.

Patrick Gleason does some stellar art and his story, which is also written by Peter J. Tomasi, one of my favorite writers of the last few years, especially, is pretty compelling and just feels like classic Supes.

I think I’ll check out the first volume of Action Comics‘ Rebirth run next, as that usually runs parallel to the events of this book.

So for fans that aren’t really digging Bendis’ Superman experiment, this might satisfy you more.

Rating: 7.25/10
Pairs well with: Superman and Action Comics at the start of DC’s Rebirth.