Rating:  -
When I first looked at this coy of Red Son I was afraid I stumbled upon a poor reversal of Superman's roles. But I thought Amazon reader's reviews couldn't have been so wrong. I started reading it and by the end I was glad I bought it. Great scenario and an interesting combination of smart villains and political satire. The graphics nicely enhance the scenario. It's a good looking comic with a nice story and a very nice ending in my opinion. If you're reading this review I recommend you get the deluxe edition. I bought the soft cover just before I saw there was a hardcover available. It would have added a nicer feeling to it.
Rating:  -
I picked this up for two reasons: One, I love Dave Johnson's covers for 100 Bullets and two, the premise seemed interesting.
After reading Superman: Red Son, I realized two things: One, this book is a true classic and two, it has fascinating parallels to an Incredible Hulk story by Peter David, "Future Imperfect".
In both stories, the main ominpotent/invulnerable characters of their resepctive universes (DC's Superman, Marvel's Hulk) are posed perhaps the most obivous yet complicated question by their writers: What is stopping these unstoppable but heroic beings from taking over Earth? And once the unstoppable but heroic beings do take over Earth, how do they choose to rule? The two stories have completely different answers to that question, but both are extremely well written and both also happen to look great, too.
Now maybe this all old hat to many readers and I am (as usual) late to the party. Nonetheless, this was like finding a hidden treasure on the comic book store shelf. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Rating: -
okay, dig it man.
what if kal-el, the last son of Krypton, you know, Superman, landed in communist Russia instead of Kansas?
an awesome graphic novel, that's what.
that's basically all you need to know.
well,that, and the fact that superman grows up embracing the hammer&sickle instead of truth, justice, and the American way.
Even if you're an amateur comic enthusiast, its just a great story.
the only reason I give it 4 stars is because, without ruining the ending for who hasn't read it yet, let's just say a time paradox is involved.
and if anything pisses me off more than jump puzzles, its a time paradox.
But that's personal. besides that, awesome story.
Go buy it right now!
you can always return it if you don't like it.
Trust me tho, you will.
Rating:  -
"Superman: Red Son" features the most brilliant premise I've seen in the Elseworlds series: the boy of Krypton lands not on a rural American farm, but instead on a rural Soviet collective during the same time. Naturally as he grows up he acculturates into the Soviet Union and finds its values natural and right.
What a wonderful opportunity to explore the origins of right and wrong, of our conceptions of justice, and how our ideas about morality are largely products of a place and time we were born into without being consulted about the matter.
At least, this is what I thought this graphic novel was going to be as I eagerly awaited it in the mail. (It seems to be in the process of going out of print.)
Alas! When it arrived, it was a comprehensive disappointment. Sure, I didn't have the setup wrong, but what could have been an immortal exploration of the tyranny of culture and the genealogy of morals got quickly bogged down in explaining how the new milieu dovetailed with the doings of the other DC heroes, and what was going on back stateside. The remainder of the book involved a hackneyed plot to wreak destruction by -- you guessed it -- Lex Luthor.
What a lost opportunity. Needs to be redone.
Rating: -
A self contained Superman story that was absolutely incredible. I'm not even a big Superman fan, but if I had to shove one Superman book into a friends face to read, it would be this one. Actually if a friend asked me to borrow my top favorite graphic novels, this would be one of them in the stack along with books like Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Sandman and Hellboy.
But let me tell you how I really feel... :)
The artwork is very nice all the way through the book. I have no complaints here. Does a beautiful job bringing the story to life.
The story in case you haven't figured it out yet, is sort of a "What if" Superman landed as a child in the Soviet Union instead of America. It seemed so simple and so well done that I just couldn't believe it had not been written until now.
Luthor, Green Lantern Rings, Wonder Woman, Batman...All play more than exciting roles in this book.
It ends very well, with a full circle of events that I found brilliant. .
Highly recommended
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