Release Date: October 9th, 2013
Rating: 1/5 Stars
Publisher: DC Comics
Written By: Charles Soule
Art By: Tony S. Daniel
Price: 3.99
Review:
Much like a good chunk of fans, I’m not a lover of the New 52 and Superman is one of the less than stellar remakes for me. I’ve said before that I like the mythos and the grandiose ideas in DC but I almost never really connect with their characters. I like a Batman or GL trade every now and then or a Justice League graphic novel one-shot type story but I’m not in it for the long haul. That being said, the reboot still feels unnecessary after all this time and everything seems far too rushed. This book is a shining example of that thought process. It may seem like I bash DC, I love them, but the New 52 is just not it for me.
This story relies heavily on readers being well-versed in the previous happenings of the New 52. Mainly Diana and Clark’s stories. I, sadly, am not. Apparently Superman and Wonder Woman are in a secret relationship. It’s a decent, albeit transparent, attempt at explaining some of Diana’s thought process and her outward displays of her uniqueness. Clark is the complete obvious and keeps his personality, powers, and crime fighting closer to the vest. Then Doomsday shows up. That’s the gist of this book. It’s just boring to me and unnecessary. Much like most of the New 52 has been for me. There isn’t much else to say about the story really. There are some subplots about Clark and some news blog or something. It should be really cool to watch these two team up against Doomsday. The romance and Diana’s desire to go public just doesn’t interest me. This seems like the main theme of the book so I doubt it’ll reel me in later. I really just gave it a try because, A. I almost never check to see the teams behind books as I like surprises and B. I half expected a Superman/Batman type of scenario. DO NOT expect that level.
Tony Daniel’s art has been somewhat strange lately to me. Action poses are beautiful. They’re very kinetic and full of movement and emotion but when characters aren’t throwing punches or flying, they’re static mannequins. I’ve been a fan of his exaggerated anatomy since the start of his career because he makes it believable. Recently it seems like he’s trying to be too realistic with the anatomy and it just comes off as a bad Ed Benes impression. I hate to rail on him because I really liked the direction he was going in when he first started drawing for DC. I’m just not drawn into his work lately. I suspect it has something to do with the frequency and the amount of work he’s cranking out. It all feels rushed.
I expected a masterpiece closer to Superman/Batman and that was my fault so don’t go in thinking this is THAT. It’s far from it and just feels like another filler book for the New 52’s quota. I keep giving DC a chance with this new universe and I just can’t find a comfortable place in it for me personally. Now that I’ve lost interest in the Lantern Corps and Justice League Dark (which I really just read for the art) there isn’t much else I’ll be coming back for. Sadly, DC still suffers from the problems it’s struggled with for a long time and that’s connecting their Godlike characters to regular readers who want to believe in them but are given cardboard cutouts with cookie cutter dialog. At least the cover is AMAZING!
