Superman #681 (DC – Robinson / Guedes / Magalhaes)
“New Krypton” Part 2! Picking up directly from SUPERMAN: NEW KRYPTON SPECIAL #1, 100,000 Kryptonians have descended on Earth. But their introduction to the world follows a bumpy road, and humans and Kryptonians alike are wary of one another. Meanwhile, Clark must say goodbye to a long-standing member of his supporting cast while the threat behind Atlas makes his next move against the Man of Steel!
Okay, so I’m all in on the New Krypton storyline. I love Action Comics right now under Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. I’ve added the whole ‘New Krypton’ cross over to my Pull list, and I hate the cross over gimmick shtick. Everything is set up, where do Superman’s loyalties lie, how will the other heroes react, will the Kryptonians be polite house guest or aristocratic snobs, Supergirl’s parents are back and all her old friends, how will Superman juggle the biggest event of his super life with the biggest event in his Earth life, who will comfort Ma Kent? Brainiac is still out there. These storylines are very compelling. I can already feel the time bomb ticking.
This to me is truly one of those ACTUAL comic book events (like the Claremont/Byrne X-Men, Miller Daredevil and Moore Swamp Thing, Ellis Authority) that happen naturally out of the existing storyline, and have the potential to change the character for the good for a long time coming, and maybe the medium. Those were my expectations.
So, along comes Superman #681, so far so good. I liked the additional story line of Supergirl & her parents meeting the President (whose plane she crashed). I like the sense of everything moving too fast and being just about out of control. So far so good.
AND THEN, THEN what the heck kind of stupid ending do they put in? There’s no rhyme of reason for it. The storyline has so much going for it already, why would DC throw this crap in? The ending of this book took my rating from an A down to a C-. There’s no need for this ending and there’s no place for it in this story line. I can only hope there’s something else behind it, but even then it doesn’t make sense how it could come to be.
And I’m not a big fan of Magalhaes’ inks over Renato Guedes. The success of Guedes’ simple art is his absolute mastery of the anatomy. Magalhaes doesn’t share that talent and it shows. The colors went a bit too heavy and muddy for Guedes’ art also, which benefits from a more simple, water colory style.
This cross over will also suffer from too many hands in the kitchen, to many writers, and too many writers told by editors they need to come up a New Krypton story. It’s not a process that has ever produced great results. Name one….
Superman #681 C-. I am so annoyed.
