Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Adventures of Superman #589

Adventures of Superman #589

Scheduled to arrive in stores: February 14, 2001

Cover date: April 2001

2001 Shield No. 15

Writer: Joe Casey
Penciller: Duncan Rouleau
Inker: Jaime Mendoza and Marlo Alquiza

Return to Krypton - Part 2 of 4: "Second Honeymoon"

Reviewed by: Neal Bailey (baileyn@cc.wwu.edu)


First, a quick aside. ONLY ELEVEN MORE ISSUES UNTIL ISSUE 600! YIPPEE!

Okay. Have to control myself... review imminent... here we go:

Superman floats in space, disoriented, perhaps unconscious, after putting his all into blasting Krypton out of an orbit that would lead it to certain doom...

Back in Kryptonopolis, Lois, Lara, And Jor-El observe this dilemma, and make haste to save the savior of Krypton. Lara gets into a rocket from Jor's lab and takes off to save Superman.

She acquires him easily.

At a government facility, an unauthorized vehicle in space is detected. General Zod examines it menacingly. "Jor-El", he notes, with an angry look that intimates nothing but a serious mad-on.

Superman is placed into a yellow goo, reminiscent of the Kryptonian Matrix regeneration chamber, or the bacta tank from Star Wars, and he is soon on a table, recovering. It seems that he's lost most of his power in the process of saving Krypton.

General Zod addresses the Imperial council, attacking Jor-El's actions as illegal, reckless, too far. The council reccomends the Eradicator Solution.

Clark and Lois enjoy the Fire Falls of Krypton, enjoying what seems to be Superman's first vacation.

They move on to Atomic Town, a center of commerce. Lois worries about maxing out their credit, joking.

They climb Mt. Mundru, a Kryptonian mountain. Clark takes the rope way, Lois takes the anti-gravity belt way. Very Star Trek 6.

Kal and Jor speak of Kal's home planet, but Kal is very vague, only offering a description of potential. Jor-El thanks him.

Clark tells Lois that he is feeling a strong connection to Krypton. Lois realizes it will be harder to call him Smallville.

In his lab, Jor-El works with a visual machine. Lara pokes fun at him.

The wall implodes inward, and a pack of robots resembling Kryptonian battle suits attack, at Zod's command.

Jor-El, utilizing gauntlets, attacks back.

A robot stuns Lois.

Clark, utilizing his bare hands, annihilates.

Jor asks Kal if he's done. The robots are decimated. Kal says that he is.

Clarks is really beaten up. Their belts, the connection through the Phantom Zone, are destroyed. Jor-El worries that now the council is after Kal and Lois, as well. 4Story - 4: Here's a disclaimer I will now put on my reviews: Never mind continuity. I love the continuity, and let me state that the creators are breaking my heart by taking the work of creators previous by manipulating it in unjustifiable ways, but I must say that unless I disregard discrepancies on a whole I cannot objectively review.

That said... good story, taken out of the context of the past. I wondered for a while how Superman could maintain his powers, then I realized that he can charge up a bit, and I let it slide. It takes the things that have been established before, in the eighties, nineties, and other time periods, and it twists it so that the modern reader can understand it, without blaspheming.

Casey makes a marked improvement on his last issue, but he still needs to work on inconsistencies in his story. Superman and Lois go tourist shopping and traveling, but they have no money. How did they get it? Krypton is highly advanced, and yet they have prohibitions against space flight? Superman magically jumps from a tank to a table. Too much is allowed for the reader to assume, and that's hard to usually say in a comic. Is he hurt? Why did heat vision fuzz him out so much? Admittedly Superman's most draining power is the vision, so maybe that isn't so bad. Zod lacks justification as a power. Why does he hate Jor? Why is he so mean? I know, but a kid, or someone who's never read a Zod issue, or seen Superman II will have a really hard time.

Great story though. I had to dig to find the inconsistencies. I just read right along, having a grand old time. The art corresponds well to the writing.

Thoughts on the big picture so far? What of Krypto? What will happen to the future if Kal influences the past so directly, assuming that this Krypton really exists? What of everything we know so far? Hard to cover in four issues, especially taking their time with the story as the creators seem to be doing... Why are they not in constant communication with Emil? Why didn't they at least appraise Steelworks that the trip was a success? Questions I hope will be answered.

5Art - 5: Wonderful. This artist is amazing. He takes one of comic's worst conventions, in my opinion, the splash page, and he makes every page two or three splashes, with close connection and attention to story. I'm very impressed. Very little empty space, and dark without being pessimistic. Great.

1Cover Art - 1: Lousy. Lousy lousy lousy. These covers are gimmicky, they are cheesy, they are not related to the scenes in the story. Jor-El vs. The Atomic City. Ok. What the hell is that? Jor-El doesn't even fart at the Atomic City, a reference made in passing, briefly, and he certainly doesn't tote a big gun. This is an obvious homage to the 70's, but no one will get it save the most die-hard fan, and even that die hard fan, myself, is not very impressed with obscure misleading advertising. I liked last weeks cover a little more, but not much. Maybe a two. I hope these Krypton covers get better.


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2001

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