A Shockingly Late Review
Well now it’s the summer and I have time to spare, I thought I had better do a major catch up on my Grounded reviews. This comic was released months ago so it’s way past time I did something in order to rectify my failure at keeping up to date with my reviews. Anyway, Grounded has been a storyline of ups and downs for me. Can this issue be an up for the story?
Synopsis
Superman heads to Las Vegas following a summons from Jimmy Olsen where Livewire has taken hostages and her powers seem to have fluctuated out of control. Can Superman stop her?
SPOILERS!!!
The Good
· Firstly I love the setting of this story. Las Vegas was one of my favourite holidays ever so I’m pleased seeing it in a comic, particularly when my favourite superhero is visiting one of my favourite American cities.
· Livewire’s power upgrade is a necessary one to contend with Superman. I mean even after COIE, Superman is still pretty powerful as power levels go and he needs challenges that are more than a match for him. The control Livewire exhibits over her powers from actually hurting Superman to keeping hostages penned up in a lightning cage demonstrates how much of a threat she is to the Man of Steel.
· Also, Chris Roberson once again does a great job on the dialogue. Gone is JMS’ harsher Superman replaced by the stoic speech Roberson has Superman deliver. Roberson is a writer who can produce dialogue fitting for the Man of Steel and he has been consistently doing that since Superman #707.
· Furthermore, reading this issue gives me the feeling that the Livewire portrayed in the comics is closer than ever to the Livewire in the Superman Animated series of which I am a huge fan of so I am glad that Roberson chose to stick closely to the animated portrayal of Livewire as a destructive force who has it in for Superman. And you can’t ask for a better Livewire than that.
· Roberson has Jimmy show some brains and intuition which demonstrates the evolution of the character over the years from a young boy tagging along on stories to get a by line to a man who goes out of his way for the story and can take care of himself. Having Jimmy call S.T.A.R labs to find a way of stopping Livewire and using the key Superman was given at the start of the issue to ‘ground’ Livewire really shows how Jimmy has come on since being a mere office boy in the Daily Planet.
· Then there’s a moment which most fanboys were either surprised, pleased or haunted at seeing. The return of the Superman Blue Suit! It’s a real treat seeing this infamous costume of the DC universe again and the way in which it is used to contain Livewire’s excess power and return her to the normal state of mind again is a cool practical use of a costume that is not in use anymore and probably never will be, following the DCU reboot.
· Eddy Barrows and JP Mayer are doing the art for the entire issue and that is brilliant. Eddy’s pencils capture the lifelikeness of the city of Las Vegas, the facial expressions of the main characters as well as scared civilians whereas Mayer’s inking makes the action sequences jump right out of the page. Flawless artwork in this issue.
· The cover is shockingly good (pardon the pun). A great eye catching image slightly spoilt by the tagline but a brilliant cover nonetheless.
The Bad
· My least favourite supervillain of all time, Mrs Jennings is back to serve a minor, pointless role. Seriously there is no originality to this mind controlled peon. And dropping a crystal which reveals what she is doing to Superman doesn’t add to her appeal either. It just makes me dislike her even more. And she isn’t doing very much either in this issue. Thank God she’ll be erased from existence in the DCU reboot.
· Another con of the issue is Superman’s lecturing preachy speech about America at the end. Yes if you’re a red blooded American this’ll appeal to you but one I’m British and two this preachy speech is to rectify the media backlash that came with Action Comics #900 when Superman’s renouncing his American citizenship was blown out of proportion and misreported by the American media. So DC decided to back down from a brave and creatively innovative decision to make Superman a citizen of the world and just made him an American preacher in the last page of this issue which really detracts from the otherwise great story.
So a couple of flaws aside, this is a step on the right track for Grounded. A nice story for a change but it will soon lose its appeal in the next couple of issues. Well in Superman #713 but that’s another review for another day.
Final Score
Story: 7/10
Art: 10/10
Cover: 9/10
Overall: 9/10