Ok... That Happened
Warning: Review Contains Spoilers
Many of Superman's villains react to the news of his secret identity being revealed. Many view points told by many writers. Who wrote what? I couldn't tell you.
The Good
Some of these reactions are hilarious and fitting. I particularly enjoyed Luthor and Jokers bit
It's actually how I would do it if I were writing this book.
Toyman's reflection on his life and turning face was actually a bit of a nice touch.
The Bad
Ok, here we go.
Starting with my most minor: There is divisive art juxtaposed throughout this story. I get it's purpose. It is meant to signal a change in character point of views but it felt very weird here and when I say divisive, I mean some of the art really falls flat for me.
Next Toyman's story kinda got over shadowed by the whole Leviathan thing going on. It felt tacked on to me and pulled away attention from Toyman himself.
Next, some of the stories were uninteresting. I just found myself not caring about a lot of what was happening.
Finally my biggest...Oh boy. This is going to sound biased.
So apparently there have been 1792 Monguls. Each one a vicious tyrant. Each One killed Their father...
This is way too many Monguls. This ruins his individuality and diminishes most if not all potential for depth. Over 1000 of the same person. That is so freaking stupid. Jr back in the day was just a lazy attempt to bring Mongul back without actually reviving him. He is no longer needed as a character. Why bring him back into this. Hell the New52 understood his unoriginality and changed him to Jochi.
There was something that I initially liked, but grew to hate shortly upon reading it. Upon learning Superman's identity, Mongul Sr goes into a fit about Superman's life style and choices. At first I thought this was a tad stupid as I doubt Mongul would care about Superman's other persona; however, as I kept reading I grew to like what was happening. Mongul Sr began to reflect on his own life and his conflicts with Superman, having a hard time grasping Superman's choices. It was the first time he started questioning himself and could have gotten more depth. I started to really like what I was seeing, but then this book RUINED Everything...
Mongul Jr murders his father in cold blood and takes the throne
I am having a hard time finding words to express my disappointment.
We're back to the same ol' war mongering ruler who's just a weaker, less interesting version of Darkseid. We finally appeared to be tapping into some of Mongul's potential as a 3-dimensional character and the writer ditched it in favor of cheap shock value.
What also pisses me off is it not only retcons his origin, but also conflicts with current continuity. Mongul is currently fighting Superman right now in Bendis run. It's still ongoing. Is that Jr or Sr that he is fighting? If it is Jr, Why is his armor exactly the same as his father? If it is Jr, Why does all of the dialogue sound like it is coming from bitter rivals as opposed to a first meeting, as this book confirms that Jr has never met Superman before?
There is a lot to unpack here, so I might save it for a blog.
Verdict
F*ck this story.