Superman #8 Review
The Man of Tomorrow sees a vision of tomorrow, that makes one pine for yesterday.
Superman #8
Superman’s on the run from a strike team, and their dialogue indirectly tells us that he’s been fighting with the Justice League. It turns out to be a dream, which also turns out to be another dream in a vision that has been induced by Helspont. Helspont seeks to sway Superman to his side and cause, but Superman refuses and resists. Superman is left with questions that will have to answered later.
The art of the issue sucked me in immediately. The colours, the poses, the splashes, all of it made for the visuals that the comics medium should have. It’s without question that Superman is one of the hardest working comics of the New 52. However, once the reading portion comes into play, that is when the bottom drops out. Superman as a character of the New 52 has yet to be established. So when the issue opens with him on the run, the reader is left to wonder what and why it’s all happening. For all that’s been established, Superman could very well be capable of doing something like this, or was it another simulacrum akin to Perez’s run? The anti-Superman, anti-superhuman theme is better for an X-men story, as people laying in wait, ready for Superman to go ape-scat and turn into Idi Amin Dada, just don’t lace well with a character who has been a global figure for good during the last 70+ years. The rant that Helspont goes on with is as perplexing as Superman’s willingness to listen to him. It’s a wonder that Superman attacks Helspont at all, as he seems to be content hearing him out, taking a hit from a mass of mountain, shrugging it off, and returning to listening some more. It’s obvious that there is some bigger story lurking for Superman and the New 52, but it’s being executed so maladroitly that issues like Superman #8, which a Superman fan should be jumping up and down about, can only be taken in with distance and emotional detachment.
Superman’s costume, for me, is a problem. It doesn’t remove the memory of the classic, the true costume, if you will, and it gives the aura of falseness to the character. In the vision sequence, Superman is hit with what should be red sun radiation and it’s effective. What is the sense of having battle armour, if the best it does is mimic Extremis and the Symbiote? The strike team mentions the indestructible cape as a concern, but not the equally, if not more formidable, armour. If the new suit is not going to offer any protection to Superman other than to preserve his modesty, then it is pointless. The argument I heard about the classic costume, was that the “red undies” needed to go. If that is the case, why is the new costume being drawn with the lines to delineate trunks? Undies are OK so long as they are monochromatic? Malarkey.
Again, for a comic that is working so hard, and really doing it’s best to hit the right notes, there is something going on here that makes it hard to fall in line, let alone in love.
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATING
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Art, art, art! | Superman shouldn’t seem false, and this comic makes him more and more artificial |
| Rating |
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