Comic Review: Superman (2018 -) #2

Superman (2018 -) #2

DC Comics

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artists: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert

Someone, somehow, managed to pull the whole Earth into the Phantom Zone, right under Superman’s watch. To make matters worse, some of the worst criminals of Krypton are kept there. And then there is Rogol Zaar, the boring Big Bad of Bendis’ Man of Steel, hell-bent on destroying Earth and Superman.

The problems don’t end there, though. The lack of sun means that Superman will slowly lose all of his powers. The laws of physics are also completely broken, as different rules apply in the Phantom Zone. And, you know, there is no sun.

What’s Good

The whole premise of the story is quite interesting. Bendis does a good job of painting the whole picture and showing us just how high the stakes are. And they are mighty high. He also sets up an interesting mystery, seeing as pulling a planet with more than 7 billion souls in the Phantom Zone is unheard of. The big question is just who could possibly do that and how. It’s a nice mystery and, personally, the main hook of this story.

The Phantom Zone is a really cool place, and I look forward to learning more about it. The appearance of Nuclear Man, the villain of the 1987 movie Superman IV: Peace on Earth, is an interesting choice. Could this mean that the Phantom Zone is shared between different universes? Or is it just a simple cameo?

Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Oclair Albert do the heavy lifting with the art department, and they do a great job. Everything is nicely textured, and Sinclair’s colouring adds some nice flair to the whole deal. There are quite a few spreads and splashes in this issue, and they all look magnificent. Every blow in every fight displays power and might, and it’s a joy to look at.

What’s Bad

The premise of the story is great, and the art is exceptional, but the characters…the characters are abysmal. Bendis does a good job with Superman; I’ll give him that. But the rest of the cast? Horrible. Batman makes a cameo over the Martian Manhunter mental link, and he is just awful. Rogol Zaar remains a dud, despite some exposition in the first few pages of the issue. And the Flash…boy is the Flash awful in this book. I had hoped that his similar missteps from Man of Steel were a one-time thing, but Bendis continues to write him as a man-child. And for some reason, Barry has red hair. Now, he does say that he forgot which Flash he was for a second, so this might just be the Phantom Zone messing things up. Or it could be a colouring mistake by Sinclair. Either way, I won’t hold this against Bendis…for now.

Verdict

I still have mixed feelings about Bendis’ Superman. He started his Man of Steel pretty well, only to run it into the ground by the end of the miniseries. The Superman series continues the story threads set up in Man of Steel and handles it pretty well with the help of the art team, despite the god-awful character work. However, there is a constant fear that he will mess it up somehow and that this was the wrong character for Bendis. Hopefully, he’ll prove me wrong and end up doing a good job overall.