Keeping up with comics is ridiculously expensive if you want to keep up with a number of titles that come out every month. Not everyone can do that–I definitely can’t. So welcome to One and Done, a weekly column where I go to a comics shop and try to find one good book that’s worth the exorbitant price. It’s not easy.
I really didn’t want to spend four dollars on a comic book this time. June has been an expensive month for me, and I didn’t have a lot of leeway this week. Which is a shame, because Simon Spurrier and Jeff Stokely’s Six-Gun Gorilla finally came out in trade paperback, and as someone who loved Spurrier’s work on X-Men: Legacy I would love to be reading and writing about that right now. But I could only spend four dollars at the shop, not twenty.
Instead, I bought Superman #32. I almost didn’t. Money’s tight, and I know how the vast majority of cape comics work: a dash of plot, a load of action, and a cliffhanger for dessert. Not to mention the fact that publishers are absolutely trigger happy with “events” and “crossovers,” which is pretty coercive and stupid but also has worked for literally ten straight years so of course they’re not going to stop.
Anyway, I should tell you why I bought Superman #32, instead of, say, Trees #2 (which is worth getting, Trees #1 might still be free when you read this. If it isn’t, let me know. I will tweet you a very entertaining plot summary) or Flash Gordon #3 (which I hear is Very Fun Comics). Some of you probably know why, because if you pay even the slightest attention to mainstream comics online, it’s painfully obvious why Superman #32 is A Big Deal. But bear with me for a paragraph or two while I address The Casuals.
On the Hype Scale, Superman #32 lies somewhere between “New J.K. Rowling Book (Non-Harry Potter Division)” and “Apple Releases New iPhone.” This is because Superman–despite bearing the name of and being about the oldest, most famous superhero in the whole world–has not been a very good book for about three years straight. And this week’s issue #32 marks the introduction of an Acclaimed New Creative Team, which makes it the Perfect Jumping On Point. The hope, then, is that this book will stop sucking.
But that’s a very general explanation for the hype. There’s an equally specific one, and its name is John Romita Jr.
Superman #32 is Romita’s first DC Comics work, after a legendary 30-year career of working almost exclusively for Marvel. That’s like Derek Jeter leaving the Yankees to play some games for the Red Sox, to use a sports analogy. He’s joined by writer Geoff Johns, who had an acclaimed tenure telling Superman stories in Action Comics a while back, and has spent much of the last decade remaking the DC Universe in his own image.
He’s a smaller part of the hype, but only because LOOK AT THE TALENT WE POACHED is a much better headline than GUY WHO DID GREAT STUFF HERE ONCE RETURNS TO HOPEFULLY DO GREAT STUFF AGAIN.
They’re joined by Klaus Janson, an inker who a good enough artist in his own right to get people excited about him drawing a book by himself, and Laura Martin, an award-winning colorist. So, the reasons to buy this book are stacked up right there in the credits.
So is it any good? No. Not if you paid four dollars for it.
That qualification is important, and should be adjusted based on how you feel about the reason we’re all here: John Romita Jr.’s art.
I, for one, really enjoy JRJR. He has a distinctive, blocky style that often feels refreshingly blue collar. Sure, his faces tend to all look similar and he can get really weird with anatomy–Superman’s head completely disappears in the fourth figure of that cover illustration up top–but there’s a lot to love about how he portrays things like physique. His Superman–and Clark Kent–is built like a truck, but not bulging with muscles made of marble. This Kal-El is less Greek god, more caped linebacker. It really helps to convey a sense of might, not just strength.
But man, the story on this thing. Let’s start with this. Here is the solicit (that’s comic speak for ad, I suppose) for Superman #32:
““THE MEN OF TOMORROW” chapter 1! A NEW ERA for SUPERMAN begins as Geoff Johns takes the reigns – and he’s joined by the legendary super-talent of John Romita, Jr. in his first-ever work for DC Comics as they introduce Ulysses, the Man of Tomorrow, into the Man of Steel’s life. This strange visitor shares many of Kal-El’s experiences, including having been rocketed from a world with no future. Prepare yourself for a run full of new heroes, new villains and new mysteries! Plus, Perry White offers Clark a chance to return to The Daily Planet!”
There are two plot points mentioned in that solicit. They are the only two things that happen in the book. There is nothing I could spoil for you if I wanted to. There’s some stuff in there about Clark not having much of a personal life and Jimmy Olsen not knowing what to do with his fortune, but they literally don’t go anywhere, as they’re most likely B-story stuff to check in on throughout the run whenever we need a break from Superman punching giant robot gorillas.
Oh, and Superman also punches a giant robot gorilla, but there’s no reason for it other than giving JRJR something dope to draw. That’s something I take issue with. I mean, if you’ve got it, use it, but use it in a justified way. If you want to have a giant robot gorilla fight (and there’s nothing wrong with that, those are awesome), then make it amazing, make it happen for a reason, make the script earn the art it asks for. Don’t waste an artist’s talent or a reader’s time.
One of the things I don’t really understand about how comics are critiqued and received are the standards that we hold creator-owned books like Saga or Fatale or Mind Mgmt to, and the ones that we judge mainstream superhero comics by. Cape comics get a pass on a lot of things: bad dialogue, barely any plot, and a near-sociopathic insistence on buying multiple titles to get a “full story,” as if they still cost ten cents a pop.
You’re going to read a lot of reviews saying how great Superman #32 is. A lot of those reviews will likely be written by people who also adored books like The Wicked + The Divine #1, a book absolutely full of great ideas and hidden meanings and lots of potential energy. Superman #32 has none of these things. So why would we call it good?
Superman #32 is a bad comic book. But ‘The Men of Tomorrow,’ the larger story of which Superman #32 is the first part, could be absolutely fantastic whenever it’s done. Everyone working on it is top notch.
But there are ways to make a good comic book, to tell a good serialized story twenty-two pages at a time. The stands are full of good examples, and we read them every week.
This is not one of them.
As always, support your local comic shop if you can, patronize your local library if you have one, and say hi on Twitter if you like.
Be back in a week.
Disagree on nearly every point. JRJr draws excellent facial expressions in addition to being one of the best action artists in the business (that double KO panel alone would tell anyone that). He also did some innovative things like showing super speed by having Clark Kent’s body dissolving into streaks to reform as Superman when he’s leaving his apartment. I also like how he makes New 52 Superman’s awful costume look good. Only a handful of artists have succeeded at that so far.
Johns is also bringing back the characterization and plotting that made his previous Superman run so good. I’m interested in where this story with the Earth-based analogue for Superman will go. Two characters that started in the same place (metaphorically) whose situations are now completely opposite. It’s like doing a story where Superman finds out Krypton never blew up after all. A great idea.
It works as serialized comics because I bought this issue on the strength of the creators’ names and the story and art have convinced me to buy the next issue. I suggest anyone else who likes good Superman comics do the same. And for anyone who doesn’t want to buy full price comics there’s always waiting a couple months for it get to knocked down to $2 on Comixology.
“You’re going to read a lot of reviews saying how great Superman #32 is. A lot of those reviews will likely be written by people who also adored books like The Wicked + The Divine #1, a book absolutely full of great ideas and hidden meanings and lots of potential energy. Superman #32 has none of these things. So why would we call it good?”
Because they are each being judged based on what they are, which isn’t the same thing. It’s like evaluating The Hangover and Schindler’s List on the same meter. They have different storytelling goals and the structures. It’s good for *what it is*, which is corporate super-hero excitement.
So is this going to be a weekly column where author complains about some comic book that he didn’t like? Because otherwise it doesn’t really make any sense to pick up Superman #32 and hope for good “one and done” story.
I USE t o enjoy Johns writing, but I now (and I have posted this in other sites), I consider Johns the Michael Bay of comic books.
As for the JrJr’s art, I enjoy most of his stuff, but I have to state, his artwork was sloppy at best and the issue (yes, that is a pun) also shows how STUPID the armor looks.
What might not be too obvious to readers (and reviewers) who are picking up Superman #32 as a jumping on point is this: Johns is clearly trying to jettison most of the trash that built up from the previous issues. Jimmy Olson a multi-millionaire? Brooding Clark running a news blog? I think it’s pretty obvious that Johns really, really likes everything the pre-N52 Superman had going for him. Most of the issue is spent trying to reset the tone of Superman to be more in line with that. That can read as filler if you weren’t exposed to the last few years of Superman books. But if you have been exposed, the time spent on this shift is pretty necessary.
I was curious about JRjr’s take on Superman, so I flipped through a copy of this issue. Honestly, it did not grab me. But maybe I will like future issues, and purchase them… we shall see.
If you prefer books like Trees, Saga, Fatale, The Wicked + The Divine and Mind Mgmt, you wasted your four dollars. Paying that much money knowing that you probably won’t like it just so you can give it a bad review on a comics site really doesn’t make sense. Superman can be a polarizing character for a lot of people who read comics, sometimes you’re just better off purchasing that issue of Trees. You might not have been able to call it a bad comic online but you’d have gotten your money’s worth.
I looked at your Twitter feed and noticed that you ask people to check this piece out by saying that you “sass Superman” in it. I now see the point of your article.
“Be back in a week.”
Please, don’t.
It’s very clear that you are writing “link bait” to get people to pass your review around and fume and fuss and not actually contributing anything to the dialogue.
This is counter to the fantastic journalism that Heidi does elsewhere on the site it’s why this is such an anomaly.
Had you wanted to be constructive, you would have reviewed a title where we _should_ have given someone our money.
There are any number of titles with creators who need the ink.
Show us who those people are instead of wasting everyone’s time just writing a contrary review for clicks. Point us in the direction of titles that people should be reading, but aren’t.
@ all
maybe after three positive reviews in a row, about indie (w+d) or minor (she-hulk, moon night) books he just wanted to review a more popular and mainstream book but didn’t like it?
Wait. People aren’t actually shocked that there is a review at comicsbeat that slams on one of the mainstream titles from one of the big two?
If anyone. ANYONE. actually expects some sort of positive review for one of the big titles from either of the big two, they need to go to one of the more mainstream comics sites. Comicsbeat is dour on anything that isn’t indy, female-centric, or non mainstream. It’s who they are.
It’s like asking PETA for their review of Morton’s Steakhouse.
@all
Hi folks! Unfortunately I can’t be down in the comments as much as I’d like to be, but I do read all of them and try to consider them in my work–I don’t consider this column as just a place for reviews, but a sort of discussion. So even if I don’t respond to your comments in a timely fashion, I want to thank you for them, and know that I’ll probably end up addressing them directly in a future column.
Thank you all very much for reading.
“But as soon as the mortgage invoice comes in the mail, I suddenly have such an urge to work faster!” –JRJR (in that interview thingy in the backs of all of DC’s comics this week)
This is where I think my enjoyment of JRJR’s work happens–whether or not he’s rushing. Some of this issue looked rushed and inconsistent. Underwhelming.
Pass.
Mr. Rivera stated his thesis: to pick a title from the stands to see if it was worthy of his time and money. This transaction happens every week, especially with #1 issues. First the fan must notice the issue, then the fan must buy the issue, and then enjoy the issue enough to buy the ongoing series. (For me, I usually end up waiting for the trade, and even then, with so much good stuff to read, I probably won’t get to it until the next decade.)
This issue was designed for just that purpose.
It did not succeed, in Mr. Rivera’s eyes.
Myself, I prefer “The Adventures of Superman” digital-first comic. Lots of non-52 Superman stories, many of them very enjoyable. For New52, I liked the recent “Doomed” event, which took the “Death of Superman” and flipped it.
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