Filed under: Comic Reviews, DC Comics | Tags: DCNew52, Grant Morrison, Lex Luthor, Rags Morales, Superman
Issue #2 from the Morrison/Morales writer/artist team comes off the back of one of the strongest titles from DC’s reboot….but could this be sustained……Morrison’s involved…..so what do you think??
Now from the review of issue #1, we were introduced to a Superman with attitude being hunted by a bald-headed, stubborn Lex Luthor…..and I for one couldn’t wait for them to face-off against each other. The issue opens with the image of Supes in an electric chair and in the torturing hands of Luthor, a stark image for any comic book character…and even moreso with a big hitter like Superman….so we know from here that there’s a struggle for power between them.
Luthor’s insists that Superman is never referred to as human…and considered an alien only worthy of being called “it”. An ethical argument in a comic??…surely not…..and yet these BIG questions are vintage Morrison….never afraid to have the reader think a little bit more outside the spandex word he’s writing in…..and the thing is…..it’s written with so much subtlety that we may not even pick up on that straight away.
Superman manages to work up his strength between the surge of electricity administered under Luthor’s command and breaking free, he is his first target….threatening to break his scrawny neck if they don’t return his cape….only to let Luthor go and try to find it himself. A pointless barrage of bullets are fired Superman’s way and his quest to find his cape takes him through armed guards, brick-walls and deeper into the base.
He does find his cape but he also finds a strange ship, which seems to draw him, closer and we get a splash of images as the ship communicates with him as Kal-El and speaks of Krypton. Superman pledges to come back for the ship in good time and he smashes his way free from the military prison. The last 2 pages of the issue sees a steel soldier program be mentioned and an alien ship hovering over the Earth….and I can’t think which of those is going to be the most interesting….only Morrison knows that for sure I guess.
One gripe I have with the issue is the artwork….where I felt issue one was quite consistent…..we seem to have a strong 3 or 4 pages to start and then it becomes a bit more basic somehow….which is a pity because the writing stays strong. The next couple of issues will be telling for whether the title can hold onto a steady start and hopefully just a blip with the artwork – which may well be down to the tight timelines DC are keeping on when these issues are to be released and for there to be no slippage with the releases.
G-Man
7/10
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