Well, well. Looks like Superman has got quite the all-star team duo working on it now. Geoff Johns is taking writing duties with John Romita Jr. as the artist.
Can they live up to their renown and deliver us a truly great Superman experience? Is it good?
Superman #32 (DC Comics)
25 years ago in a secret government lab in Nebraska, a very familiar scene is taking place. Cut to the present: Clark Kent has been called to the Daily Planet by Perry White. He wants Clark to return to the Planet and start writing for them again, since with recent events (Forever Evil and all that), the demand for skilled writers is high. Clark is unsure he wants to do that and decides to go think on that.
Look, this is what happens when you text and photograph. Bad things happen.
Superman #32 brings the feeling of a brand new beginning for the series.
We’re seeing a new status quo, new direction for the characters, lots of interesting setup for storylines all over, new characters, new villains, all the works. Plus, it feels very accessible to new readers since it helps fill in the audience on what has been happening.
Geoff John’s writing is strong overall and has helped me become more invested in this book than I likely ever have. The characters so far are good and are accurate representations to who they are or how they have been acting throughout the New 52. There is an exception with Superman himself being considered lonely and isolated, however. It honestly doesn’t make much sense since Superman/Clark Kent hasn’t been really depicted as a loner at all during this reboot. This story idea might make more sense if it happened earlier in his career, but not now.
Sing it with me people: “Look at this photograph, every time I do it makes me laugh.”
The dialogue is genuinely good and really helps bring these characters to life, especially in a scene between Jimmy Olsen and Perry. The pacing and storytelling is good here, with no really dragging moment (outside of the opening to a certain degree) and it feel dense, with a lot of things going on. The new character and villain(s?) introduced here aren’t really developed yet, but there is a lot of potential with them depending on how things go from here. Speaking of which, there’s a lot of potential wit this issue and I’m really excited to see where the comic goes from here as long it doesn’t take any steps backwards.
Romita Jr.’s artwork is very good. He does a great job at capturing the mood and tone of myriad scenes through the characters, their body language and through their expressions. The layouts are very nice and well put together, coupled with some great imagery and sense of detail, leading to some impressive looking pages (plus that coloring is fantastic as well). The action also looks flashy and impressive. At one point towards the end, it becomes a bit harder to fully grasp what we are looking at since you can’t really make out what Superman is fighting. Otherwise, very impressive.
With his heat vision, he must save a lot of money on his gas and heating bills.
Is It Good?
Superman #32 is a great and really downright enjoyable start for this new creative team. It’s ambitious, exciting, really accessible for new readers, and looks fantastic to boot. It’s familiar at points and the theme of loneliness doesn’t go that well with the character, but this new direction for Superman is really good and highly worth your time.
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