Reviews

Superman: Savage Dawn by Greg Pak, Peter J. Tomasi, Gene Luen Yang

ogreart's review

4.0

I never really followed the New 52, but it was not hard to catch on to where this was going. I had a good time. It had some character exploration. It had action--lots of action. There were twists and turns I didn't see coming. All in all it was enjoyable.

stressedspidergirl's review

3.0

It was fine.
The way they cut the comic so that they didn't really include the full arc was kind of annoying. But that's on me for not hunting it down true comic fan style.
I have no idea why people from the daily planet were locked up or why Diana felt a need to interrogate people or why Clark felt all that upset about it.

But I wish I knew how they were going to prevent him from dying.

brandonatwood's review

4.0

This got more into the heart and motivations of major characters which added a layer of depth beyond the typical grandiose action sequences.

There were definitely plot points left out and this could have been much cleaner, but enjoyable all around.

iainkelly_writing's review

3.0

As with many of the crossover storyline, this collection suffers from different writers and artists and different styles mixing together. It also assumes a lot of knowledge from the DC Universe and previous storylines. The Vandal Savage plot makes little sense or isn't fully explained. That said, some of the art is terrific, and it's always good when Superman is tested.

earlapvaldez's review

2.0

Outside the idea of considering Superman without the "Super," I'm not really impressed with the narrative. It lacks depth and the events are so sudden.

spencerg444's review

2.0

This was just not a great book. Even with this collection organized as well as it could be, this crossover event has very evident seams in it's storytelling. It is obvious the writers did not work closely together as each issue seems to have a different tone and key story moments are not well explained.

This isn't an awful book, and there are some cool moments, but there are just too much good content out there for me to waste my time on such a below average book. Honestly, it felt like the writers all went into a room and had a great outline of a story and some good moments, but then they all left the room to go do their part and never talked again. The few really cool "WOW" moments don't feel earned, and the payoff to the reader is dulled because you sometimes don't know why or how it happened. I'm not a reader who needs every detail explained to them, but the writers owe it to us to give a little explanation for why major events happen in this story. For instance:

Spoiler

Superman regains his powers by falling into the fortress of solitude (as he is about to die of course), which instantly heals him, and he flies out to go punch the bad guy in the face, in some deus ex fortress

This happens in a few pages with no explanation, in a story arc that is focused on exploring superman without his powers. It just feels cheap. The ending of this book also felt somewhat bizarre with the cliffhanger involving the Wonder Woman issues at the end. I think the writers expected a "WHAT!? I have to read more!" ::excited:: reaction, but what I felt was a "WHAT!?….I have to read more...." ::confused:: reaction.

If you own this book and have kept up with N52 Superman up to this point, I would suggest you give it a read, but if you do not own this book I can't recommend someone seeking this out.

lukeisthename34's review

2.0

Just felt like more of the same. Nothing particularly interesting or worthy of praise.

birdmanseven's review

4.0

And so ends one of my favorite arcs in recent memory. The 4th star is generous because the ending is a little lackluster. It's funny how quickly the status quo reverts once the main obstacle is overcome. I would have preferred a more epic conclusion, but what a ride.