WARNING: The reviews presented on this blog are usually written a week or so after the book has been released to allow for the reader to have a chance to read it. However, in case you haven’t read the book consider this a SPOILER WARNING and know that all aspects of the issue will be covered and should read this later in case you don’t want it ruined. Thank you for your time and attention.
And now, on with the review.
A lot of people really like this title and believe it to be the best Superman book in ages.
I don’t think I’m one of them.
It’s not that I think the book is bad in any way. The writing is good. I’m not always thrilled with Frank Quitely’s art, but that’s because I don’t really care for his take on Superman, but I can’t say that it is inferior in anyway. The storyline is well thought and Morrison is obviously having a ball.
And yet I still don’t care for it all that much.
I guess it boils down to the fact that I don’t like this version of Superman. Morrison is doing his own thing but he is still working in the Silver/Bronze Age framework with a heavier emphasis on the Silver Age more often than not. I’m not a big fan of the Silver Age. I don’t hate it, I just don’t prefer it either.
Overall I did enjoy this issue. It was interesting to see Superman getting his affairs in order before he dies. On an emotional level I really got into “Neverending” and appreciated it on that level.
My problems rest in the particulars of the story. I’m a pretty simple soul when it comes to Superman. I like a grounded, down to Earth take on the Man of Steel. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the imagination involved in crafting the far out and cosmic flavored stories, I just don’t care for them. I know, I know. Superman has all of these fantastic powers so his stories should be fantastic as well. I’m not down with that. Then again I got into Superman during the late eighties and early nineties when his stories were a little more grounded, so that explains the bias. I think the more real world the surroundings are the more super Superman appears.
So when Superman creates a whole new Earth as part of an experiment there is this involuntary eye roll. It’s interesting, just not my bag so to speak though the bit at the end with one of the denizens of Earth-Q creating Superman in a comic book was a nice touch. A little much, but a nice touch.
In the end while I had my personal quibbles I liked this book. Sure Quitely still draws the cape too short for my tastes the writing and the art gel in this book and make it something special. A lot of people seem to be responding to this story and that’s good. Despite my overall feeling I do look forward to seeing how this particular storyline wraps up.
More to follow…