So I finally broke down and decided to read some of the Superman New 52 books. It only took me 4 years to do it. But with the new reboot to the DC Universe called Convergence due out this month, I felt it was finally time to give this book a try.
This is not your dad's Superman. This isn't even your Superman. However, writer Grant Morrison did a pretty good job crafting a new Superman that builds upon the nostalgic mythology of the Man of Steel that we all grew up with, while subtly modernizing him for the millennial crowd.
Throughout the past year, I have been working for a comic book website as the new comics Admin for the DC books. So I've had a chance to be able to familiarize myself with some of the newer storylines of the New 52. For example, during the Forever Evil storyline we learn that Superman had just been shot in the head with a Kryptonite bullet. With that discovery, you would think it was something that was just thought up within the last year or so. However in an issue that was published four years ago, we see a time-traveling Legion of Superheroes, along with the Man of Tomorrow, attempting to save the Man of Steel from being shot with that 'silver bullet.' That means that Morrison and the DC editors had to have come up with this storyline almost 5 years ago or more. You don't see this of dedication to story craftsmanship anymore.
The New 52 has its haters and I must admit I have been begrudgingly frozen to the idea. That doesn't mean that there haven't been any really good stories. The sweeping Batman 'City of Owls' storyline was really good and there have been some pretty decent stories such as the Black Canary/ Zatanna team-up by Paul Levita, and, of course, Forever Evil. I'm going to add Morrison's Action Comics to the list of really good New 52 books.
I must say something about the art, however. There's just something a little off about artist Rags Morales and his rendering Superman particularly when in his secret identity of Clark Kent. Besides looking like a rejected Jack Davis sketch, the New 52 Clark looks like a 50 pound weakling with coke bottle glasses. Am I to assume that when Clark Kent dresses as Superman he somehow inflates himself with muscles? Plus the hair styles of Clark and Jimmy Olsen are ridiculous. I don't think anyone in the past 5 years with a shaggy Beatles rip-off in real life compared to those two characters.
Speaking of Clark Kent when he becomes Superman, when the first images of the new 52 Superman were released on social media, fans the Man of Steel protested having him dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. But, Clark has no idea about his Kryptonian heritage until the unfolding events of this story. So I must give a pass to the questionable costuming. Besides, it's a trend that is temporary, as Superman discovers an adaptable costume (similar to the unstable molecule costume of the Fantastic Four) that clothes Superman in his traditional red and blue motif during his final confrontation with Brainiac.
Brainiac actually brings everything full circle. In this volume the villain informs Superman that the earth is but one of a few hundred worlds slated for demolition by an unknown force and his plan to shrink cities is the only way to preserve these soon to be destroyed civilizations. I was very confused when DC decided to build the Convergence reboot around Brainiac because when DC does a retool, the Flash is usually the character the story revolves around. (With the arrival of the Flash in the 1950s it signaled the beginning of the Silver Age and the foundation of the multiverse. Flash has also played a major role in the Crisis on Infinite Earths and Flashpoint; two stories that further rebooted the DCU.) Despite the fact that it does not look like the Flash has a very big role in Convergence at this time, I find it apropos for Brainiac to be the main villain since Morrison hinted at yet another reboot as early as issue #4 of Action.
The level of detail in the blueprints for the New 52 books and whatever the post-Convergence DC Universe will look like has inspired me to search out new 52 titles in order to better understand the sweeping changes planned for the latest reboot. One good thing is that this book is proof that though DC wants to keep modernizing heroes for the next generation, they in no way don't have respect for over 75 years of comics history. Now willing to read more non-Batman New 52, I'm sure there will be countless more Easter Eggs and nostalgia and homages to discover in those books and I look forward to unearthing them.
Worth Consuming.
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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