Well, it has come to this. When I started this month, this was the first thing on the docket. I thought I would’ve gotten it out of the way first, but reading 30-something issues from this era of comics is a bit much. Still, I had to finish this race here. Last time, I said that this story killed the New 52 Superman. Was I right to say that? Not sure because I don’t know what DC’s plans for this version of Superman were. Still, you never know. Also… I kinda liked bits of this. Yeah, it’s actually a shocker.
So, what am I talking about today? After the Convergence
event, DC transitioned from New 52 to “DC You.” Basically, the idea was to just
go off the wall with certain things. Tom King was doing Omega Men, Hal wasn’t Green
Lantern… again, someone finally decided
to give Starfire some frakin’ clothes (yeah, I’m bitter about how they treated
my girl), Martian Manhunter got his own book, and Batman turned into a
robo-bunny. Geoff Johns started up “Darkseid War” as well. This was a weird
era.
As for Superman, someone had the “interesting” idea to out Superman’s double life as Clark Kent to the world. From what I can tell, it was mostly done for shock value. A lot had been done to this version of Superman. His parents were dead, he lost his marriage with Lois, he was in jeans during his early days, he hooked up with Wonder Woman, he got turned into a Doomsday (I’ll touch on that some other time), and he got a “totally rad” power called the solar flare. So, they decide to have Lois Lane out him, and not only that, he loses his powers. That’s a lot for one character, man.
Superman: Truth started during June of 2015 and ended during
March of 2016. It spun through the main Superman books and the Superman team up
books like Batman/Superman and Superman/Wonder Woman. I’ll list the writers as
well as the main artists because there were a crapton:
- Divergence #1
- Action Comics #41-50 - Greg Pak, Aaron Kuder, and others
- Superman #41-50 – Gene Luen Yang, John Romita Jr., Howard Porter, and others
- Batman/Superman #21-27 – Greg Pak, Adrian Syaf, and others
- Superman Wonder Woman #18-27 – Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, and others
Throughout all four books, Clark gets put through crap. The citizens of Metropolis are divided on how to treat him. Superman also has to deal with a new robotic Batman who is also wary of his deeds. This also messes with his relationships with the League and with Wonder Woman. Throughout the books, Clark does lose himself a bit. He joins an underground fight club at some point, he starts to become more cynical, and he throws on Godsmack’s “I Stand Alone” in the background. He also tries to investigate HODOR-ROOT and see who the big villain is. What he doesn’t know is that all of the threats he faces (the Black Mass, HODOR-ROOT, the Supremacists, and others) have a central figure: Vandal Savage.
As things ramp up toward the end, Superman is pretty much
left with 1/50 of his power since Vandal Savage has siphoned it all. It turns
out that he plans to bring the comet that gifted him with immortality to Earth
and rule. He uses all his organizations as well as his many, many children to
make this happen. He even incapacitates the Justice League. As for Superman… he
takes this as a challenge. Even though his power is gone, none of what he’s
gone through destroys his will to protect the world. With the help of all his
allies and a lot of Kryptonite, he’s able to face Savage and his forces. Does
he also get his powers back? Well, “The Final Days of Superman” does take place
after this, so my guess would be “Yep!”
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| So... what does kill you can actually make you stronger??? |
OPINION
So, what did I think of all this? To make it short…, I kinda liked it. While there were bad things done here, I can’t call it a complete misfire. I’ll touch on more below, but the story at least tries to make this era go out with a bang.
Story
While I usually start with good things, let’s get the bad
out of the way. From the start this story was kinda flawed. It all had to do
with that pesky new power Clark got. Right after he got the thing, it was
already becoming a go-to power for him. I was already giving glares at that
because Clark shouldn’t be this stupid. The power knocks the rest of his
abilities off for a day, so that’s dumb. Of course, he does say that he liked
doing it because it made him really fit in, but that’s kinda rubbish.
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| Uh, Clark... why are you being such a douche? |
In fact, Clark does some pretty out of line things during these stories. He gets distrustful of everyone as well as Diana, he joins a fight club (though I’m mixed on that), and he tries to go at everything alone like an idiot. It’s like the writers wanted him to be an ass. I was even calling him that at some point! It felt like someone wanted him to be brought as low as he could be. I know that can affect folk, but that shouldn’t change someone that much let alone Superman. Something tells me they noticed that because he does start to act less a-holish towards the end of the storyline. It’s also possible the writers got forced to make him dour by DC editorial, and I know DC editorial could be a pain at this point.
The stories really tried to push for that “A Man Alone” vibe with how certain folk like Perry White, the new Batman (James Gordon), and others treated him. Some of it does make sense because Clark did lie to them for years, but even then, some of it goes too far. One person that really got screwed with was Lois. We knew she released the info, but we didn’t know why until a few months later. That was definitely a screwup on DC’s part. It seems like the New 52 just screwed over Lois too much. I can list more things like some screwy writing from good writers and some lackluster lackey villains, but it’s time to get out of the Negative Zone for now.
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| I get Perry would be upset, but this was pushing it too far. |
Even though this new status quo isn’t that good, Pak, Yang,
and Tomasi do the best they can with what they’re given. Even though Clark has
some pretty out of character moments, he still rises to the occasion. He does
his best to help folk even when his powers are so low in Action Comics. It was
also interesting to see some commentary show up here. We get some xenophobia as
well as a case of police brutality. I wonder what the public’s opinion would be
if this came out later. I know the anti-SJW crowd would be annoying… like they already
are.
Seeing Clark get
thrown into different situations was interesting. While the underground
fighting arc was weird, I kinda liked it. It’s not like Superman’s never done
weird stuff before. Seeing him interact with Gordon in Batman/Superman was also
interesting. In a way, it’s kind of a flip on Clark and Bruce’s relationship
with Gordon being more rule-based and Clark being more rebellious. Superman/Wonder
Woman is probably my least favorite of the bunch, but you did get some good
moments there. The moment Clark meets Barack Obama was interesting to say the
least.
When “Savage Dawn” hits, things start getting better. I thought having Vandal Savage be the big villain of the story was cool. Yeah, they could’ve went with one of Superman’s regulars, but this works as well. Besides, it’s not like anyone was using the dude. I also think he was a bit of a villain to Superman back in the early 80’s, so kudos to the callback. Even though his plan is stereotypical (world domination and power), seeing what methods he used was good. Even when Superman eventually gets his powers back, Savage and his children still pose a major threat to Earth.
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| If there's one thing I don't like about Gordon's time as Batman, it would be the lack of mustache. |
Overall, the story was a little below average. The books were all over the place quality-wise, and Clark had some pretty bad moments. Still, there was good to be found in these pages. The best book story-wise is probably Action Comics with Superman coming in at second. Batman/Superman had its good moments while Superman/Wonder Woman stays in last place. I think part of that has to do with the fact that I’m not that big a fan of this coupling. I see why it ultimately got wiped out in Rebirth.
Art
The artwork as a whole is a little mixed for me. thing I
definitely liked was the cool but simple design for Superman. He basically
looked like a grown up Conner Kent. I also loved the use of the Max Fleischer S
symbol. I will say that the buzz haircut was a bit much, but it make sense that
Clark would want to look anonymous. Unfortunately, he looks like most video
game protagonists from the 2000’s. I’m looking at you, Commander Shepard and
that dude from the Infamous games!
Each book’s artwork varied for me. Action Comics mostly had Aaron Kuder and Scott Kolins. They were good for the most part. Kuder definitely brought a different look to Superman in general, and that can go either way. Luckily, Kuder stuck to that landing. Kolins was alright here, but not too great. Batman/Superman had some pretty good artwork from Adrian Syaf and Cliff Richards. We also got to see most of the main Bat-family here drawn pretty well. We also got Aquaman making an appearance, but he was wearing that weird suit DC threw him in at this time.
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| Hmm… insert random hashtag here. I think I know what I'll need to use for a post on Twitter, though. |
The main Superman book is probably the most mixed. It started out with John Romita Jr. doing the first arc, Howard Porter doing the fight club arc, and a mix of artists doing Savage Dawn. By the way, there were so many artists on this Truth story at the end! Even Dan Jurgens came in to do some of the annual for this book. I’ve said my piece on Romita’s Superman, so I’ll say it again: No. It just doesn’t look good to me here. Yeah, he has some okay moments, but overall, I’m not a fan. The rest of the art on this book was a little better with Porter looking pretty good. As for Superman/Wonder Woman, we mainly had Doug Manhke doing the art chores. He would get helped out by others like Syaf and Cliff Richards. The artwork here was pretty good.
Overall, the artwork was good but it had its low points. It definitely helped out when the story wasn’t shaping up to be that good. As for the book with the best artwork, I’m not sure. You had a lot of good artwork all over the place. Even though it was my least favorite book story-wise, I might actually say Superman/Wonder Woman had the best art around. Action Comics was very close.
……………………………………
In the end, Superman’s first public identity reveal was a mixed bag. While I jest that it killed the New 52 Superman, it didn’t do this new version of Clark any favors. It’s easy to see why DC ultimately brought back a more classic Superman in Rebirth. While there were some low moments, I did like New 52 Superman. If he were given a little more love and breathing room, he might’ve lasted a little longer. Still, I’m liking what we ultimately got with Superman later. I do recommend you at least check this story out and make up your own mind. Well, I got one more for my time with Superman. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and hang in there, folks!
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| As much as this fight club arc felt weird, it was fun. |
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