#scott lobdell

This story centers around Bizarro, his origins, and his perspective on past and present events with his teammates, Jason (Red Hood) and Artemis.

Like previous stories, I loved seeing the brotherly relationship between him and Jason. It was also nice to see how and why Bizarro was just as fond of Artemis despite her showcasing a hard exterior in the earlier parts of this series.

My favorite thing about this fic was how seamlessly it fit Gotham heroes (ex: members of the Bat Family) and villains (ex: Dr. Pyg) into each of the chapters/mini stories.

Speaking of chapters/mini stories, this didn’t feel as cohesive as the previous parts of the series and left so many aspects of the main story unanswered. Therefore, this is probably my least favorite part of the series so far.

Nevertheless, this was still very enjoyable and has become one of my favorite comic series ever.

Links to book:

Kindle: https://amzn.to/4gTaf7k

Paperback: https://amzn.to/4eGOBSm

Taglist:

Action Comics

Ah, Grant Morrison. I have a lot of conflicting feelings on their work, to say the least.

All Star Superman was the thing that made me “get” Superman as a new reader, why he’s compelling, inspiring, important, and complex. 

Their Batman run remains the only comic that ever gave me a headache from the very first page. 

As always, I approached this with as open a mind as possible. I know the pitch, “1938 Superman in present day,” and I remembered this was a more aggressive take on the Man of Steel from what I prefer. If you read part 1 of this retrospective, you already know my feelings on that. That aside, I can see why people like this.

The art from Rags Morales is decent, very dynamic and sells the whole “action” part of Action Comics. There were a few wonky eyes, but nothing overly egregious. Love the little Golden Age touches like some of the fonts used for the credits. The writing and dialogue was also fairly tasteful, though Lex was a bit more annoying than I think he was intended to come off as. Also the name Glen Glenmorgan drives me up the fucking wall, but whatever.

The characterization for the main characters was fairly strong, and we actually managed to include everyone in this first issue too. Clark, Lois, Jimmy, and Lex all at least put in an appearance, and we get enough to demonstrate their personalities and relationships to the reader.

However, I still don’t like this interpretation of Superman as the canon version of his backstory going into the New 52. I mean I don’t like this as the canon backstory regardless of era, but you understand what I’m saying.

I am aware this is supposed to be in line with the character as envisioned by Siegel and Shuster in 1938 (and unlike a lot of people endlessly repeat that defense, I’ve actually read those stories).

This was released in 2011.

We were working under a different conception of Superman by that point.

Superman doesn’t just go around waging war on automobiles anymore (though I could use a bit more of that), Superman is also supposed to be the example set for the rest of the DC Universe. He sets the standards all other heroes follow, and so it’s very important how he’s portrayed early on. If he’s overly aggressive and stupid, that could be a harbinger of things to come. Hint hint.

More importantly, this doesn’t feel like the Golden Age Superman. Not really. This feels like a modernized version of 1938, with traces of Smallville woven into his DNA. Zahri actually pointed that out to me, but even if she didn’t I would have clocked the “no flights, no tights” thing immediately. Even someone like me, who’s only seen maybe 10 episodes total, caught the vibes. Hell, when Superman’s holding up Glen Glenmorgan (I want to puke every time I think about that name), the bastard even screams, “somebody save me!” 

C’mon. 

This isn’t a knock against GA or Smallville Clark, I think both of those are great and valid versions of Superman. But that’s not really what I want from a canon origin for my favorite hero in the modern day.

That’s where the fifteen years and restored continuity kinda saves it.

As the canonical origin of Superman, I don’t care for this. I like something a lot more traditional. As an “Ultimate Universe” reimagining, I could potentially find myself reading the rest of this. An alt. universe depiction of Superman that blends the Golden Age and Smallville? I might enjoy that! But that only comes with the benefit of time. In 2011, I can assure you that I did not want to pull Action Comics, and wouldn’t until Rebirth.

Due to the nature of my own [stupid] rules, I have to give this an up or down. And going off of my own criteria—would I purchase the second issue as a reader in 2011?—I will give this the down. That said, once I start my full series retrospectives in earnest, I may revisit Action Comics. If only because I will need some Superman to read.

The Verdict: 👎

Superman

This one is much easier: down. Way down. Down, down, and down again. Ironic, given this was the very first comic I ever pulled! Well, one of them. It was the first one I ever wanted to pull, so that counts for something.

I love George Pérez, but this is just a very standard issue of Superman. From what I understand, that was by necessity. Morrison wasn’t telling Pérez or Superman Ed. what their plans were, and so Superman had to play it safe until Action caught up to present day. The result is a book woefully underwhelming compared to Pérez’s Wonder Woman relaunch. It’s such a shame, but I really can’t have any other conclusion. I wouldn’t pull this, even though I did as a teenager. Back then it’s just because I wanted to read about Superman monthly, and this was the best way to do it.

Let’s start with the positives: the voice for Superman is decent. Actually, all of the characters feel like themselves, and in the New 52 that is not a guarantee. Clark’s reason for being at the scene of the action is also in line with his personality in Action, so that was nice.

The fight was meh. I really wasn’t interested at all. They should have used a villain, any villain, but someone with some personality that Superman could also spar with verbally. Something to make it a bit more of an engaging read.

Now for the bad: why did we waste a full page on a tie-in for StormWatch? Why not Superboy or Supergirl, you know, books that actually relate in some way to SUPERMAN? Doesn’t make any sense. Didn’t make me want to read StormWatch or any of the WildStorm titles for that matter. It took me out of the story, and for a first issue in a new universe it had zero place being here.

And what was that ending?

At this point Lois & Clark were married for 15 years real-time, so not only is this jarring for the old reader, it also takes new readers who only know like four things about Superman to start (Kryptonite, Lex, glasses, Lois) off-guard.

I understand they really desperately wanted “This ain’t your daddy’s Superman!” but this is just weird. I don’t even think breaking them up for a reboot is the worst thing in the world (even if I would rather chew glass), and if you’re gonna do that you may as well give Lois a new love interest. But this? Just…why? There are a hundred different ways to introduce a new love for Lois and shake up the status quo, but they went for the worst way.

Next: this costume is ugly. I really just hate it. Loathe it, even. I think the first Rebirth design was worse, but that was paired with a great character. This is a bad costume on a worthless character, hence its shittiness is multiplied tenfold. You know what you can change about Superman’s costume? Fuck and all. You leave it exactly how it is, maybe adjust the colors or size of the S very slightly, and that’s it.

Finally, I want to talk about some symbolism.

There’s a bit at the beginning about the demolition of the old Daily Planet building that I think could be read as a commentary about the New 52, but I’m not sure what we’re supposed to get from it? DC is in good hands even though they blew up their continuity? Out with the old and in with the new?

Whatever.

Here’s how I read it: we destroyed our perfectly good building and ruined years of history because we can’t see past our own nose, and replaced it with a grotesque and misshapen gestalt of trendy designs that will look outdated in five years and we’ll have to tear down anyway due to a faulty foundation.

Was that not what I was supposed to take?

The Verdict: 👎

Superboy

This’ll be short because I don’t have a great deal to say, but this wasn’t bad. High praise, I know, but seriously this was decent. Art is slick. This is a cool reskin of Kon’s origin, but would I pull the next issue? Personally, no. It’s not bad, but it didn’t really get me invested in seeing more.

The Verdict: 👎

Supergirl

Aside from that ghastly costume, I enjoyed this! Well, it piqued my interest. There’s a lot of good character stuff right up front, a strong direction for the series right off the bat, and an interesting take on Kara coming to Earth.

It would have been nice to see a bit of variation in the setting, but that’s an extremely minor nitpick. Otherwise, the art by Mahmud Asrar is spectacular, and the colors from Dave McCaig really create a somber tone early on, and then transitions to a more action-oriented color scheme once Kara starts using her powers. I like that, the colors help tell the story.

We really only get a small taste of a story here. I think we get just enough that I’d be willing to read the first trade’s worth of issues. That to me makes it the best of the New 52 Superman books.

Woof.

The Verdict: 👍

And that concludes our survey of the Superman titles! Yeah, only four, I know. There was a time when there were four solo books for Superman. Alas, it was 2011 and not 1991.

I’ve made no secret of my distaste for the New 52’s Superman. Despite it being the first version I pulled regularly, it is also the version I have the least interest in or desire to read. This reread did very little to dissuade me of that opinion. And to be fair, in Superman proper he was fine. It’s a shame the book doesn’t give me much to work with. It’s not terrible, but it did nothing to make me want the next issue. Out of the four, only Supergirl really made enough of an argument for me to pick up #2.

Unfortunately, I know the end of this song. It only gets worse as the titles continue, until finally DC has New 52 Superman killed in the most cartoonish and over the top painful way imaginable and replaced him with the Post-Crisis Superman (and Lois). I was a teenager when that story came out, and you woulda thought my favorite baseball team just won the World Series. Still one of my favorite moments in all of comics, even if it is a convoluted mess.

So far, we’re sitting at 4 out of 15 titles getting the thumbs up. That ain’t a great ratio, but I have the feeling we will see a boost with the next slate of books.