Clark Looks LIKE Alex Mercer
J. Michael Straczynski is writer wit interesting interpretations on different Types of characters, His spider-man was awesome ignoring a few major problems, his Thor is wildly acclaimed for being one of the greatest stories ever , and in General he is considered to be a good writer, so when i came across this book i wanted to pick it up since i have just myself become a superman fan. i've never been urged to read superman comics, even though i've read some of the Important Ones such as Birthright and All-Star Superman, but after watching the Man Of Steel i was much more interested in supes than i was before, so essentially the movie really did it's job. Moving On
One of the first things i've Noticed is that Clark Kent is vastly different from what i've seen him in comics and in the media In General, well the at least from the start. Clark is by all means a perfect guy, he is smart, he is powerful, he can do everything. Now Normally this would be Bad, because Superman is supposed to be near Perfection, while Clark is supposed to be the Clumsy Nice guy, but i am Ok with this considering some factors. My Favourite character, The hulk, changes his personality and characters many times, he has done so before, but his main essence stay the same despite how you look at it, the same thing can be said here. When i'm reading an ALTERNATIVE story about superman, i am looking for something different, this is exactly just that, i'd be mad if the mainstream clark kent started acting this way, but since this is earth one clark kent, i see no reason to for this. Also wasn't Supermans Real reason for creating clark Kents Clumsy character for concealing his identity? Here he isn't even sure if he wants to be superman, he wants to live a Normal Life and just be happy with what he does, so it does really makes sense that he would use his special abilities to some specific extent no? And since Clark kent Becomes his normal Self at the end of the Story, so i really see no problems here, in fact i'd go far as to say that i really liked the way clark was shown here, he is still human, and thats vividly shown here to be honest.
Now some problems i do HAVE with the villain of the story , Tyrell doesn't seem like a good villain to me. As i said, i am new to superman but excuse me to say this, but what exactly is his plan? he just comes up to people out of absolutely no where and says " Hey guys you know what? I have this target, no clarification on who he is or where he possibly might come from, but he has got to appear or i kill people, like a lot", mhh okay? you see this is something i didn't enjoy, even clark himself can't be sure that HE IS the target they are looking for , maybe if he said more than just " This random guy i want to catch might just be here", he could have gotten a better response, i know this is a bit nitpicking but i just couldn't get passed it. Also, what does he want to kill the Last of the Kryptonian? didn't they destroy their whole world? and wasn't their motivation to get rid of them and get generally better resources? and even that seems off, The war started because Terylls people didn't have good conditions on their planet and they wanted Kryptons resources so what does destroying their planet bring them? it was part of the deal but WHY would they agree to that? and traveling around the world for a guy who just might possibly be dead? why? this is a HUGE Gap of logic which really annoyed me. also i Do hope the mystery guy does get revealed in vol 2 , because it just leaves a huge plot devise in the story, along with a huge gap.
Both Lois and Jimmy and very important here. To me, Jimmy was the real highlight, and it's a bit sad he got taken out of the movie, but oh well. Lois was a bit passive, she was in character but she was just simply their if you ask me, she only got "activated" at the end of the story, to play a major role for clark kent, not superman, while jimmy's speech about truth leading superman in putting on the costume was just simply beautiful. Jimmy felt alive and energetic as well as important, he tried to save superman even though he is not nearly as strong as him. Though he stepping into a gravitational ray was a bit stupid considering that if it was pinning superman down, it would have crushed jimmy. The flashbacks are amazingly well organised to fit the situation, and to get a glimpse at how superman came to be the man he is today , the lead up was amazing as well. i always also enjoy the previews of alien technology, and getting a glimpse at Kryptons culture was always amazing in my opinion. Jonothan and martha were absolutely fantastic as well, they felt VERY important to the story but also to supermans formation, which is exactly how it should be.
The final fight wasn't much to speak of either, i get that this is more of a origin story but i was at least hoping for a cool final fight, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't " SUPER" either. Furthermore, i get that perry was basically desperate that to get the Daily planet in the Big leagues again , but it was too convenient that he rolled this easily with clarks story about " HAVING an interview with superman", but again, comics are like that sometimes.
Now the art was absolutely brilliant. I loved supermans consume design, it felt in many ways modernised but also stuck to it's main roots. The biggest highlight is the Technology and faces. The space ships looks amazing and Inventive in many different ways, it's alive and you can feel how different it is from everything else. As for the faces, You can literarily read the expressions and the emotions from it, Clark didn't even need to say anything, his condition was basically plastered all over his face, and it was quite frankly amazing. Terylls design was cool, and this isn't easy to do, one change could have ended up him looking like a clown, and there is only ONE clown that doesn't make us Laugh in the DC universe, so props to davis for making Teryll look cool. All in all, this was a fun read, but it's by no means the greatest story ever, it is still an interesting take on supermans character, and if you focus on the characterisation, it's ok. it has it's moments.
2.5/5
