Ok, so anybody who has read previous reviews or knows me in the slightest knows that I’m not a massive fan of the big blue Boy Scout otherwise known as Superman. Why are you reviewing this I hear you all cry or at least the two of you that I know will read it, cheers mum!! Well, I guess it’s down to two things really. Firstly, as much as I hate to admit it a part of me wants to like Superman and all that he upholds. Those of you in my age group will no doubt remember growing up with constant re runs of Christopher Reeve Superman films being shown over and over at Christmas and I for one started dreaming of flying around the globe and saving the world as a result. The thing was that it wasn’t about being cool or impressing the ladies, I saved that for the teenage years, it was about doing the right thing, upholding ideals and being a stand up guy. Superman was always incorruptible and served a greater good than his own which I guess struck a chord in a very naive 8 year old boy who was pretending to fly around a room with a towel tucked into his t-shirt saving the world in my own little way. That very small part of me that is tucked away deep in me wanted to give this book a shout. Secondly, as others might know I am a huge JMS fan from his days on Babylon 5 all the way through to the immensely entertaining Thor books at Marvel so I felt I had to give it a shout.
For those of you that don’t know, the Earth One series are original graphic novels set on an alternative Earth and will serve as a re imagining of popular DC heroes. What’s that I hear you all cry? Is this meant to be like the Ultimate universe in Marvel? Haven’t DC tried this with the all star line? Well, actually, yes is the answer to both of those questions and when I had initially heard of this project I was very excited. Geoff Johns will be handling Batman and JMS has just relinquished his monthly hold of Superman and Wonder Woman to concentrate solely on OGN’s like this one and has indeed signed up to write more Superman Earth One. This is where the problems start for me, this was billed as a bold re imagining of Superman legacy but in fact it’s been nothing like that in my opinion. The book basically boils down to a young Clark trying to find his way in life after college whilst shying away from his destiny as seen by his folks until a common alien enemy threatens all which galvanises him into stepping into the red and blue. Yaaaaawn!! Superman versus alien threat?!! Where have I seen that before? Oh yeah, everywhere. That is the book in a nutshell. The main villain in the story has absolutely no depth or any pathos whatsoever unlike somebody like Luthor so you don’t care in the slightest what happens to him or his cause. As a bold re imagining it simply does not work at all. It doesn’t bring anything new and is no better than what you might get from Smallville which quite frankly is an embarrassment. I can imagine the Superman faithful hating this book because it strips so much of that unflappable moral fortitude Superman is famous for away from him and leaves him as a bit of an angst ridden cliché. All that being said I found some merit and a little potential in exploring this side. Clark exploring the fact that he could have all the material things he could ever want if he decided to use his talents for self gain even though he wants to do it for his mother so that she can have a comfortable life. What if he was just a bit of a knob that was self serving? Wouldn’t that be a fresh and different angle to approach things from? Also, Krypton was destroyed by a neighbouring species in the book which also brings up an interesting angle of vengeance. What if he was just an angry, self serving brat looking to find his way in an alien world? Ok, that’s not new in the world of comic books but it’s new for the big Boy Scout. Let’s give that a spin and see where you can take him.
All in all, given the level of hype surrounding this book I would have to say that it quite frankly does not deliver. I’m ordinarily a big fan of Shane Davis’ art work but even that left me a little cold. It wasn’t terrible and you can very much see the potential in his work but it simply does not seem to ever hit the heights. The story itself didn’t get me going in any way but has left the door slightly ajar for what could possibly be an interesting take on the Superman mythos. JMS, you have much work to do if you are to save this one. Over to Geoff Johns and his re imagining of Batman on Earth One, please don't mess this one up!!
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