Superman Annual #2

Superman Annual #2.  This was an interesting story, I was a little annoyed that the creative team chose to us a Noir style of conveying the story.  It was rather suspect when the first thing that happens is Lois Lane dies.  Then we a have an annual long story explaining how we end up with Lois Lane dying in Superman’s arms.  There is an innocent victim looking for help, Lois Lane does her reporter thing and then the big reveal.  It turns out Brainiac infected a number of random humans with a super virus that gives them powers.  This was a warning that Brainiac would be back.  Oh and Lois Lane is not dead maybe, but she has been infected by the Brainiac virus.  It turns out that this annual was actual just backstory and advertisement for an “event” in the normal Superman and Action Comics universe.   The entire story was suspiciously heavy handed and left this reader rather disappointed.

Batman Superman #2

Batman Superman #2 was much better than the first issue.  It appears that our heroes Superman and Batman have been moved through time and dimension to a world that has other versions of Superman and Batman.  These versions appear to be older and wiser in addition to being married.  The story is still a little choppy in places jumping without transition.  But now that we have more of the players discovered things will hopefully improve story wise.

Superman Unchained #2

Superman Unchained #2 : The Unchained book is a great idea.  It is Superman with different stories and at the moment we are still dealing with a younger hero.   Unfortunately while issue number one was entertaining, issue number two was just more of the same.  The world is scared of Superman, they all know he is just here to take over the world and kill all the humans.  This despite the fact that he has done nothing but be a good guy.  Lex Luthor has even been found to be evil and locked up in jail.   But that is all ruined with this lame terrorists group that is impossible to find or fight.  The “countdown” to save the people in the collapsing skyscraper was badly done.  This is Superman he is not going to fail.  If he was to fail it would not take this many pages, he would just wake up from being hit by the robot and it would all be over.  Then there is the Cock fight (really I’m not making this part up) with Lois Lane’s father.  It seems he has daddy issues and is taking his issues out by building super weapons to kill Superman.  After issue number one I was hoping that quality would continue but unfortunately the quality of the story failed immediately upon reaching issue two.  I hate to say it but even the art is just not up to the quality of issue one.  The art seemed phoned in.

Batman Superman #1!

Batman Superman #1 was terrible; the writing was sloppy and inconsistent.  Having the two big guys of the DC universe team up in their own book should have had a better less stupid story.   At this point I’m just going to move on and not waste my time trying to point out the bad.  The good is we see Superman and Batman and apparently how they first met in the DC New 52 universe.  The writer seems to be trying to teach the reader something about bullies in an allegory.   But that does not really work when the fight setup is a fake.

Superman Unchained #1

This review my be a repost enjoy!:

Superman Unchained #1 was a very entertaining comic book.  The action, the story telling the artwork flowed across the pages of this comic.  There is no boring origin story and almost no mention of Superman’s human parents and hometown.  The story simply starts out with the destruction of Nagasaki Japan by the American’s dropping a bomb that looks a lot like a human during World War 2.  We then flash to the present where Superman is saving the day as someone has managed to fire satellites from Earth orbit at the planet like giant bombs.  Superman mentions that he has destroyed or diverted all the satellites heading for populated areas and we get to watch him work to literally defuse the most dangerous satellite shooting out of orbit.  The satellite has a reactor core that would be like a bomb if it were to hit the Earth.  Superman fixes the bomb problem by slowing the descent by disabling the Satellites decent.   Using his X-ray vision did not work to short out the engine controls so Superman changes the wavelength of his vision to Gamma vision and that turns off the engine.  In the end Superman manages to save the astronauts and the military base that was being targeted.  Back in Metropolis Superman interrupts an escape attempt or helicopter crash. During which he has an interesting conversation with Lex Luthor that was as I said interesting and full of potential – Lex actually sounded smart and composed compared to how he had been acting in other New52 Superman stories.   The next scene is with Jimmy Olson and Clark Kent, Jimmy looks a lot like Seth Green for some reason, it might be the new hipster look or I am just getting old.  While the two are making chit chat Lois Lane calls to point out errors in Clarks latest Superman Saves the Day blog post.  While they are talking the Daily Planet Chief Perry White comes in to complain to Lois about advertisement placement.   Lois drops at least one clue about how the plot of the comic will develop and then tells Clark that the reason his article was wrong was because Superman had stopped all eight Satellites heading for Earth.  Superman takes off to see who or what had deflected the Satellite and finds a big handprint on the Satellite debris that he does not recognize.  Superman is then attacked by torpedoes.  We then flash to a secret military base full of cool looking high tech weapon systems. All the while Lois’s dad (apparently) monologues about how being discovered by Superman is not really a problem because they have their own Superman already – the end.  Then there is a short story of Perry White’s past and a pair of binoculars his Great Uncle gave him, binoculars that appear to be the very pair used in the first pages of this comic book.  While Perry is talking there is another story also in the current day of a fishing trawler pulling a man from the ocean whom wants to talk to Lois Lane badly – even though his eyes appear to have been melted.  There is also an interview with Scott Snyder and Jim Lee that was just somewhat interesting.  At this point I just want to know how the American Government managed to keep a being as powerful as Superman a secret for seventy years?  They kept this super being a secret mind you while he / she has been used in operations during the seventy years since the creature was dropped on Nagasaki Japan.  If this comic book turns into an American Military against Superman comic I will not continue to read or buy the comic.  If I wanted a teen angst story I would just read one of the million X-Men comic books that Marvel Comics produces.  I do have a hope that having Jim Lee on the creative team means that the stories will be good and in which case I will continue to buy this comic because issue number one of Superman Unchained was well done and entertaining.

All Star Superman #1 SE!

All Star Superman #1 Special Edition was an advertisement for a graphic novel.  The story was typical Superman and very entertaining.  It appears that Lex Luthor has figured out a way to kill Superman after all.  The cliffhanger was entertaining.

Adventures of Superman #1

Adventures of Superman #1 was alright but really nothing special.  The comic was three short but complete stories.  The first story has Superman fighting a homeless guy who took some drugs that gave him superpowers that allow him to fight Superman toe to toe.  The homeless guy dies and of course it turns out to have been a plot by Lex Luthor.   The second story was one that has been retold many times, it is two kids player Superman and arguing about who gets to be Superman and who gets to be the villain (and which villain).  It was kind of a cute story with sloppy but alright art.  I am not sure if this was their desire but we see Superman eavesdropping on the kids playing Superman.  So either Superman is super narcissistic and likes the hero worship or he is creepy spying on little boys.  The third story has Bizzaro as the villain.  Somehow Superman convinces Bizzaro to leave the earth wearing some kind of harness – the harness is a NASA wearable probe and Bizzaro is off visiting another planet.  I don’t know the story was weird even for a Superman story with Bizzaro.

Batman #20 !!!

Batman #20 was the continuation of the stupid Clayface story with Clayface having a new power when he mimics other people.  The fight was interesting none the least.  I especially like how Batman fakes out Commissioner Gordon with the supposedly fake DNA to show he was not actually Bruce Wayne.   This all seems to just be an excuse to set up the Batman Year Zero storyline starting next issue.  There were a few weird things going on that could only be explained by no one knowing who Batman really was.  Then there was the Superman team-up story with the demon or ghost.  It was interesting and thankfully short.  I did think it was funny that Superman could not find Batman at the end of the story.

Batman #19

Batman #19 was a horrible story.  I am not even sure where to start because we the readers did not get the full story and the issue ended on a cliff hanger.  There was a second story with Superman but otherwise I’m disappointed.  The Superman Batman team up was interesting and could be cool.  But I would have much rather had the main story finished.  Even having Clayface and Robin flashbacks could not save the main story that felt much more like a Requiem story than anything.

Superman Unchained #1 (SPOILERS!)

Spoilers Below for Superman Unchained #1!

Spoilers!
I do not normally post reviews of comics this close to release!

Superman Unchained #1 was a very entertaining comic book.  The action, the story telling the artwork flowed across the pages of this comic.  There is no boring origin story and almost no mention of Superman’s human parents and hometown.  The story simply starts out with the destruction of Nagasaki Japan by the American’s dropping a bomb that looks a lot like a human during World War 2.  We then flash to the present where Superman is saving the day as someone has managed to fire satellites from Earth orbit at the planet like giant bombs.  Superman mentions that he has destroyed or diverted all the satellites heading for populated areas and we get to watch him work to literally defuse the most dangerous satellite shooting out of orbit.  The satellite has a reactor core that would be like a bomb if it were to hit the Earth.  Superman fixes the bomb problem by slowing the descent by disabling the Satellites decent.   Using his X-ray vision did not work to short out the engine controls so Superman changes the wavelength of his vision to Gamma vision and that turns off the engine.  In the end Superman manages to save the astronauts and the military base that was being targeted.  Back in Metropolis Superman interrupts an escape attempt or helicopter crash. During which he has an interesting conversation with Lex Luthor that was as I said interesting and full of potential – Lex actually sounded smart and composed compared to how he had been acting in other New52 Superman stories.   The next scene is with Jimmy Olson and Clark Kent, Jimmy looks a lot like Seth Green for some reason, it might be the new hipster look or I am just getting old.  While the two are making chit chat Lois Lane calls to point out errors in Clarks latest Superman Saves the Day blog post.  While they are talking the Daily Planet Chief Perry White comes in to complain to Lois about advertisement placement.   Lois drops at least one clue about how the plot of the comic will develop and then tells Clark that the reason his article was wrong was because Superman had stopped all eight Satellites heading for Earth.  Superman takes off to see who or what had deflected the Satellite and finds a big handprint on the Satellite debris that he does not recognize.  Superman is then attacked by torpedoes.  We then flash to a secret military base full of cool looking high tech weapon systems. All the while Lois’s dad (apparently) monologues about how being discovered by Superman is not really a problem because they have their own Superman already – the end.  Then there is a short story of Perry White’s past and a pair of binoculars his Great Uncle gave him, binoculars that appear to be the very pair used in the first pages of this comic book.  While Perry is talking there is another story also in the current day of a fishing trawler pulling a man from the ocean whom wants to talk to Lois Lane badly – even though his eyes appear to have been melted.  There is also an interview with Scott Snyder and Jim Lee that was just somewhat interesting.  At this point I just want to know how the American Government managed to keep a being as powerful as Superman a secret for seventy years?  They kept this super being a secret mind you while he / she has been used in operations during the seventy years since the creature was dropped on Nagasaki Japan.  If this comic book turns into an American Military against Superman comic I will not continue to read or buy the comic.  If I wanted a teen angst story I would just read one of the million X-Men comic books that Marvel Comics produces.  I do have a hope that having Jim Lee on the creative team means that the stories will be good and in which case I will continue to buy this comic because issue number one of Superman Unchained was well done and entertaining.