lvenger's Superman Unchained #7 - Out of Time review

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    The S Stands for Ass Kicking

    Superman Unchained #7 Review

    Although I’m reviewing this issue of Superman Unchained earlier than I usually do, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s been a long wait for the 7th issue of this series with 2 more still to come. The last comic was in March so it’s been well over a 3 month wait for fans of this series. Nonetheless, this issue promised action galore in the Batcave so it has a lot to live up to suffice to say.

    Premise

    Superman faces General Lane and The Machine’s Anti Superman army (not the same as Morrison’s one) at The Fortress of Solitude to protect Lois and the Earthstone Crystal. Meanwhile, Batman is forced into a battle of survival against Wraith in the Batcave with Wonder Woman’s assistance.

    SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT!

    Scott Snyder and Jim Lee have certainly cracked upon the intense action sequences in this issue as they’ve pulled out all the stops to finally give readers several awesome fights all in one issue. But before the action begins, Snyder opens the issue with General Lane giving Superman a timed ultimatum of surrender. Whilst Snyder has kept the New Krypton/New 52 trend of General Lane being an antagonist going, he does so in a compelling way. Though it’s clear Lane has the wrong end of the stick, he does have somewhat understandable reasons for doing so. It’s just evident they’re diluted by misunderstanding as well as operating clandestinely with The Machine. He even gets some chuckleworthy dialogue such as “put on some of that death metal you like” and firing off missiles to a presumably metal drumbeat. But the real standout points of the pre Fortress fight is Superman and Lois’ conversation. Snyder writes both characters impeccably well here and nails a classic interaction that has made Clois shippers (I don’t like, support or approve of shipping btw) swoon in delight over Twitter and Tumblr. Superman is shown pondering Wraith’s message and taking on board the fact that his moral decisions have made enemies on a global scale who have the means to take him down. Yet Clark hasn’t wavered from doing what he thinks is right no matter what the consequences to him may be, even if it’s his own life. That’s something we need to see more of from Superman in The New 52; a little moral certainty in his decisions and his actions. Making him human and vulnerable without downplaying his godlike qualities and role in the world. Likewise, Lois shares an understanding for Superman’s moral steadfastness and Snyder really got her determined resolve to stay involved in this conflict even if it’s beyond her comprehension. There’s some excellent chemistry in their dialogue much more reminiscent of the Pre reboot interaction for the most part than there has been in The New 52. Though it’s platonic friendship chemistry, Snyder’s depiction of this scene may make nostalgic readers yearn for a time when Clark and Lois were more than just friends given the connection they share in this scene.

    But enough of the pre fight conversation, this issue is practically all out action and a lot of it involves Wraith vs Batman & Wonder Woman in the Batcave. Now, before you ask whether I’m going to criticise this issue for including Batman in it a bit, the answer is no. “But why?!! He’s taking up space from Superman’s anniversary series!” might be the response. For me, that only demonstrates the stakes of Superman’s storyline that it involves other characters from the DCU as well. Besides, there have been numerous complaints that the New 52 isn’t connecting characters together yet when this series does, it’s criticised for it? Moving on, if you were to ask me whether the action lives up to the wait, I’m not gonna lie, hell yeah it does! Snyder and Lee pull out all the stops in a fight that wrecks the entire Batcave. Almost every iconic vehicle/area/trophy in the Batcave is involved in some way during this fight. Apart from Alfred but I’m sure he’ll kick Wraith’s butt next issue. The Batplane is dropped on Wraith’s head, Batman goes flying through the giant Joker playing card, Wonder Woman gives Wraith a penny for his thoughts and Wraith wrecks the giant T-Rex and the Batcomputer. Some may say it’s pointless to wreck these iconic landmarks when they’re going to be fixed outside of this series but it demonstrates the scale as well as the size of the destruction Wraith’s battle with Batman and Wonder Woman is capable of causing. Furthermore, I did like how Snyder didn’t turn Batman into Batgod against Wraith yet still had him pull off some good hits against Wraith as well as hiding via the stealth suit. It lived up to Snyder’s statement that it was more a battle of survival for Batman than anything. Of course, the crowning jewel for this Batcave battle is that a lot of the fight takes place in one page or two page spreads and they look glorious. I’ll delve more into them when I talk about Jim Lee’s art. However, it is impossible to ignore the glaring flaw of this sequence, namely the fact that Wonder Woman does not say a word. She doesn’t even grunt when Wraith hits her. I don’t mind Batman being involved because he plays a part but all Wonder Woman does is basically act as another one of Batman’s gadgets in this fight. Snyder said that Wonder Woman would step up in this issue but all she did was hit Wraith with the giant penny. She had a more important role in the last issue than she did here. Given how well Azzarello portrays Wonder Woman, it’s not right to have a voiceless Wonder Woman appear in a cameo. A few lines wouldn’t have been remiss.

    For those of you who thought Batman hogged too much of the limelight, I’ll move onto the badassery that is Superman’s battle at The Fortress. Upon The Machine destroying the Fortress, Superman activates special armour to protect him in battle. And by the fangasms of fangasms, it looks awesome! The design is superb (but that’s Jim Lee for you) with the colours and layout of the armour being a reminder as to why one shouldn’t rush Lee’s work. It looks like a combination of Superboy Prime’s armour and a certain cover to JLA/Avengers #4. Don’t tell me you can’t see the similarities. Upon donning his armour, Superman engages The Machine in a superbly laid out and brilliant fight. Snyder and Lee had the right idea for this fight by having Superman seem a small lone figure in the fight capable of performing titanic feats. Such as twirling massive tanks and robots like a rodeo rope in a circle then slamming into the ground with a mighty fist breaking a huge chunk of ice. It’s a solidly crafted fight that demonstrates the strength and power Superman is capable of along with demonstrating how he uses his powers in a creative manner. This is something Snyder and Lee have been doing throughout the series quite successfully. And whilst Superman engages The Machine in battle, we also get a great Superman moment in the midst of battle too. Superman relates the fable Lane told him in Superman Unchained #2 about the roosters and the wolf (Sidenote: Lane actually said it was a fox) and gives Lane a different meaning to the fable. Rather than it being about the strength of armies and of vigilance to potential evil like General Lane supposedly does with The Machine, Superman states the fable is about humility and helping others see the bigger picture before it’s too late. Again, this is another reason I’ve been loving Snyder’s Unchained writing. He takes meaningful themes and plays them up throughout the series tying them into the central plot of what he’s writing. It’s worked really well here and I hope he keeps pulling stuff like this in the last two issues. Because to turn a fable about roosters being eaten by a carnivore into a positive message of striving to do better with other people, that represents how Superman should act in a nutshell. Always looking for the light in the darkness. It’s a shame that the Fortress fight ends with Superman yelling angrily at Lane after Lois saves him with the Earthstone crystal. I like that Lois is still central to the plot but ending with Superman snapping after Snyder had characterised him so well in the issue isn’t what I had in mind personally.

    Before moving onto the art, I’ll take a moment to note another criticism with this issue. Not the delays though, I’ll come to that in another review. Instead, I’ll look at another issue related to delays aka the sub plots. Since the series has started, Snyder has set up many sub plots. Remember Coulder’s Leap from the first issue and issue 5? Snyder still hasn’t come back to how that flashback with Coulder shooting Superman ended. Or what about Lex Luthor weaponising Jimmy Olsen? We only get 3 panels on the first page dedicated to that sub plot. Yet it’s supposed to play a part in the finale for this series so Snyder needed to devote more time to what Lex’s plans with Jimmy are. Without that extra development, Lex’s sub plot may come out of nowhere in the finale.

    As for the art, whilst I’m peeved at Jim Lee for taking so long, this issue shows the full fruits of his labour. Lee knocks a home run outta the park with his art. The action is dynamically drawn on a glorious scale and really benefits from Lee’s detailed spread pages. Lee cuts loose in bringing the biggest action onto a splash page from Superman’s badass new armour to the Batplane falling on Wraith’s head. Even in close up dialogue sections, Lee still keeps his pencils mostly clean without an over abundance of lines in there. Furthermore, Williams’ inking enrichens the art with superb colours and a great pallete for the appearance of the issue. Two splash pages, one of practically every Batmobile ever charging straight at Wraith and the final page (aka my new favourite Jim Lee Superman image) are now amongst my favourite art for this series.

    Overall, Superman Unchained #7 is a fun issue full of bombastic action, excellent characterisation and ramping up the tension for the finale of this plot. On the one hand, my numerical score for this series does qualify for a 5 star comic (since there aren’t half stars for reviews anymore.) But on the other hand, the problems with this issue, while small, are obvious. And there could be other problems other reviewers have picked up on as well. Thus, whilst I really enjoyed the issue, I don’t think my opinion of it is enough to ignore the issues with this comic. So I’ll keep the score at 4 stars out of 5 despite my high score for the issue.

    Final Score:

    • · Story: 8/10
    • · Art: 10/10
    • · Overall: 8/10

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