Rating:  -
NB: I only read the first book, i.e. the first part of the story
I am a fan of Lee and Azzarello. But.
Lee's art is nice and detailed but is a bit self-celebrative. It is cool to look at the pages, but this is not his best work. And I don't like his rendering of Superman. I guess his work was influenced by Azzarello's writing, that was slow and over philosophic without being catchy at all. The author of 100 bullets tried something new here, went for the big story with big thoughts, and ended up with a very slow story filled with silence and a Superman a bit out of character.
...er, don't think that I didn't like this book at all. It was actually a good reading and way better than the average superhero book you can find on stands. I was just disappointed it wasn't a "Five Stars" comic.
Excelsior!
-Ant.
Rating:  -
I am not going to get into the actual story in this book but I want to explain to the casual reader that this book is perfect for someone who has never or rarely read a superman comic. This story has been disliked by a lot of regular superman fans because it is a different take on superman than he is usually portrayed. Usually superman is seen as a perpetually optimistic hero without flaw. Brian Azzarello's superman is a man questioning his role on earth and his place with regular human beings, considering he is an alien himself. What responsibilities does he have? should he get in the middle of human conflicts? This story has very real analogies to past and current struggles in other countries. I understand how someone who really knows and loves Superman wouldnt like this story. It is definitely a departure. But I personally thought it was great to see Superman looking at the big picture instead of just the immediate threat. Superman shouldnt be a pessimistic character, if he was, he wouldnt be superman, but dont all of us at some point take a step back and look at ourselves from an outside perspective? Thats what this book does, and its an excellent departure.
Rating: -
Superman faces a series of challenges in this "graphic novel" reprinted from six issues of the 2004 Superman comics.
The action starts after the mysterious disappearance of over 1,000,000 people, including Superman's wife, Lois Lane. The Man of Steel is wrestling with his own fears and doubts. Is there some way he could have prevented the disaster? But action fans, fear not, the story heats up quickly.
Superman decides to end a war in an unnamed middle-eastern(ish) country -- by disposing of all the wepons. This brings him face-to-face with the dictator/freedom-fighter of a neighboring country -- and with a ultra-powerful mercenary. Superman's battle with the man-machine-monster named Equus rages through much of the book. (It's strongly reminiscent of the "Death of Superman" battles.) I didn't expect the twist that wraps up the fight, though writer Brian Azzarello did set it up well.
The story's not over there. Superman's problems continue when a mysterious sorceress summons the powers of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. They struggle to a standstill. When the elementals threaten to destroy humanity, Superman steps beyond his normal "good-guy" image with a final solution of his own.
Warning: In case you missed the small print, this is Volume One. Most of storyline wraps up, but we still don't know how Superman can get back the missing millions (and Lois) or who the mysterious sorceress is. A panel at the very end adds another twist to that question.
Overall, the story is a nice balance of character angst and super-action. Jim Lee and Scott Williams (the artists) give us a rather darker view of Superman than you might be used to. But it does fit the rather grim, sometimes introspective, storyline. The book bounces around a central issue that often gets passed by in such stories. What are the responsibilites of being the most powerful being on earth? What happens when personal feelings clash with those duties?
The book does suffer from a problem facing most comics today. I always wonder how much value I'm getting for my entertainment dollar. It has a pretty high list price for a pretty low page count.
Still, if you're a fan of Superman... or of a well-written, nicely drawn comic, it might be worth it.
Rating:  -
This is not to say Azzarello is a bad writer. Far from it. He's proved himself time and again in the "100 Bullets" series. But this time around, Azzarello is way out of synch with the main character. Superman as presented here is a hovering, cryptic brooder, and the priest character he talks with is a befuddled mumbler. The dialogue is terrible.
Interesting super-villians are introduced but never explored to satisfaction. Many scenes devolve into extended navel-gazing gab-fests. The action at times is spectacular, but the characterization is so sloppy it's hard to get involved in the story.
The art by Jim Lee and Scott Willimas, however, is jaw-dropping. Superman has never looked so powerful, or majestic.
Definetly worth a buy, but for the art alone.
Rating: -
Jim Lee's art shines, and it's a shame. Azzarello's writing does not lend itself to the action scenes that Lee's art is best for, instead focusing on talking heads most of the time.
Unfortunately, it's only on a rare occassion that you actually know what the heads are actually talking about. Azzarello's idea of deep, meaningful writing is "lots of cryptic dialogue and unfinished sentences." The story plods along at a snail's pace to a conclusion (in the next volume) that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense, which is unfortunately par for the course for this story. Throw in the now all-too-common brooding, doubtful Superman, a bunch of new, unexplained villains and other characters, and a terrible mishandling of Lois and Clark's relationship (including a sex scene! Guess that answers the "man of steel, woman of kleenex" questions), add yet another version of General Zod, and you have a recipe for a story that never came even close to living up to its hype.
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