Books : The Return of Superman

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Satisfies!
For any Superman comic fan - get this book - it's GREAT! Even classic! Yes, there are five characters in this story who claim or appear to be Superman and only one of them is truly the real thing. Yes, the plot twists and turns as the story slowly reveals the natures of all the imposters. Yes, it is a great payoff in the end, with a happy ending. Read it as the conclusion to The Death of Superman and A World Without Superman.

My favorite parts are the origin of Steel and his connection to Supes, the Eradicator (who is a complex character - good/bad together), and the Cyborg character - wierd!!

Any complaints that too many characters spoil the story - I have to disagree and say that they all make you appreciate the true Superman and his good character when he finally shows up at the 2/3rd mark in the story.

And Supes with a mullet (long hair from being gone so long -- or because it was written in the early 90s) is just plain humorous. But it works fine for the story.

A huge book - fantastic value - and you'll blaze through it!!! This one definitely satisfies!

Rating:

- Superman Comes Back to Life Even Better Than Before
This is a great book that chronicles the period after "Funeral for a Friend" and shows the triumphant return of Superman after he was beaten up by Doomsday. The four imposter Supermen offer an exciting element of wonder and treachery to the story. This is a great buy.

Rating:

- Surprisingly exciting
The final chapter in Dan Jurgens' Death of Superman trilogy, Return of Superman is an exciting and massive final nail in the coffin. After Superman's body mysteriously disappears, four superhumans appear in a crime ridden Metropolis, all claiming to be the real deal. We have the Cyborg (not Vic Stone from Teen Titans either) who looks like Superman with a Terminator-esque endoskeleton taking up half of his body. There's the Eradicator, who wears a visor and kills the criminals he fights. We have Superboy (who was never handled well, except by Geoff Johns in the much later relaunch of Teen Titans), a younger clone of the Man of Steel, and last, we have Steel; who is weapons designer John Henry Irons in a suit made of steel (and subject of the ungodly bad movie Steel starring Shaq). As this massive TPB goes on, we learn just who's who, and what the Cyborg is really up to; all of which leading up to the return of the real Man of Steel. Though the dialogue may be corny, there are a number of pivotal moments here. This is the first appearnces of Superboy and Steel, as well as the destruction of Coast City; better known as home to Green Lantern Hal Jordan, which would lead to the much maligned Green Lantern Paralax saga where Hal goes insane. The art varies from issue to issue in this TPB, but there's nothing overly bad to be found here either. All in all, Return of Superman isn't an essential addition to your Superman library, but it is pivotal chapter in the life of one of the most popular and oldest superheroes in comic book history.

Rating:

- I Hate Superman
Even though I have a Superman shirt, I hate Superman because he is too unrealistic. In the DC Heroes game he is listed as godlike, and he is just too fake for my taste, though I do like the Superman movies and even the new Superman movie, I prefer Azrael as my favorite and The Sandman mystery theater, prefering even Batman because he's more realistic. This filithily chessey cash grab by DC Comics was to return the Superman character to his origins as gothic and simply to sell some extra copies for a world famous comic publisher that was highly geekified. This is like Killing Muppets. The whole thing when read borders on disturbing, a cheesey cash grab by DC. Of the four pretenders claiming to be Superman, my favorite is Steel who has body armor and a steel hammer, and also like Super Boy, who is a more realistic version of the same Krypton alien formula of Superman and Bizarro. It's ironic that Doomsday kills Superman finally- all this by Luthor, Bizarro and company and some rookie gets him. This was around the same time as Batman's Knightfall saga, and I saw advertisements in those comics for Reign of the Supermen when I picked up all copies containg the Cyborg and the first appearance of Steel. Comics can improve the reader's art skills, but drew controversy their outfits were really racey for the time. This all just to sell some extra copies by DC who didn't bring in many new readers like myself and most olders readers were disgusted.

Rating:

- when bad writing gets drawn out
I was a big fan of the Death of Superman and even bought World Without Superman just for story points but this is just too much. Like most Superman stories it doesn't benefit from having a creative writing staff and this one isn't any different. It just takes the story of Supermans death and draws it out as far as it can possibly go until you reach a very un-satisfying conclusion. To this day I still wish I just read the cliff notes because suffering through this hunk of junk just wasn't worth my time.

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