Scan barcode
Reviews
Superman, Volume 2: Return to Glory by Howard Porter, Peter J. Tomasi, Mikel Janín, Gene Luen Yang
geekwayne's review against another edition
4.0
'Superman, Volume 2: Return to Glory' collects Superman issues 45-52 and Annual 3 and it tells quite the tale.
Events leading up to this collection have Superman's identity outed by something called Hordr_root. His Clark Kent identity as well as his job are gone. So are most of his powers. He finds himself adrift and alone. This leads him to an underground fight club in Oakland called Mythbrawl where he makes ends meet by fighting little known gods from other countries.
He is on the trail to Hordr_root, and this leads him to who is behind Hordr_root, Vandal Savage. Vandal got his powers in the comet that was supposed to wipe out Krypton. Instead the comet was diverted and headed to Earth instead, and Vandal Savage found it. Now he wants to create an army of super beings out of his descendants.
In a last ditch effort, Superman tries to get his powers back in the most extreme way possible, using kryptonite. Will that fix things or be the end of Superman?
The only problem with a major story-line like this is that it tends to spill out into other books. This means that there are times when things happen in other DC titles that are not included here. Sometimes there is a recap to catch the reader up. Sometimes there isn't. This leads to gaps in the story.
But the art is consistent good across the artists here, as is the writing. It turns into a moving story and I can't wait to see what's next.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
Events leading up to this collection have Superman's identity outed by something called Hordr_root. His Clark Kent identity as well as his job are gone. So are most of his powers. He finds himself adrift and alone. This leads him to an underground fight club in Oakland called Mythbrawl where he makes ends meet by fighting little known gods from other countries.
He is on the trail to Hordr_root, and this leads him to who is behind Hordr_root, Vandal Savage. Vandal got his powers in the comet that was supposed to wipe out Krypton. Instead the comet was diverted and headed to Earth instead, and Vandal Savage found it. Now he wants to create an army of super beings out of his descendants.
In a last ditch effort, Superman tries to get his powers back in the most extreme way possible, using kryptonite. Will that fix things or be the end of Superman?
The only problem with a major story-line like this is that it tends to spill out into other books. This means that there are times when things happen in other DC titles that are not included here. Sometimes there is a recap to catch the reader up. Sometimes there isn't. This leads to gaps in the story.
But the art is consistent good across the artists here, as is the writing. It turns into a moving story and I can't wait to see what's next.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
stressedspidergirl's review against another edition
3.0
So, I had read the other one, Savage Dawn, that included some of the things cut from this HC and this had other things cut from SD so it was a kind of confusing blend and there were recaps of even further cuts, so basically unless you were reading like 20 different comics apparently and magically can figure out which trades you need I have no clue how you'd follow the whole story, or how you'd fill in all the gaps the trades leave you with.
They even have pages of recaps inside because they know they aren't doing a good job telling you what's happening or telling the story.
Also I really really don't see how killing Superman is a return to glory, personally. Not that he was "our" Superman, and it forces "ours" to reveal himself to help out, but all of it being a mess, and Jimmy somehow being one of the Hodr bots or whatever with no explanation for why... also like straight up Clark has the WORST friends in this. He's a homeless vagrant with no support or money and he's starving as a human it's an absolute mess. Tldr: I wasn't super engaged in this story, the whole ultimate sacrifice thing kind of rang hollow because I didn't really believe anyone in the league even cared about him.
The story was either cut so that you never saw his people trying to help him or support him, or they didn't. So when they were "sad" he died it was like... ? You let him hang around homeless and starving and didn't lift a finger to help him out. I can't believe any of this... the only real support or assistance he had was being part of an underground fight ring of gods... ... I... what? Someone really enjoyed American Gods by Neil Gaiman, I felt.
Some part of me would really like to read the entire arc, no cuts, and have some clue of what's actually happening, but on the other hand this was such a mess I have trouble believing it's any better when it's complete.
They even have pages of recaps inside because they know they aren't doing a good job telling you what's happening or telling the story.
Also I really really don't see how killing Superman is a return to glory, personally. Not that he was "our" Superman, and it forces "ours" to reveal himself to help out, but all of it being a mess, and Jimmy somehow being one of the Hodr bots or whatever with no explanation for why... also like straight up Clark has the WORST friends in this. He's a homeless vagrant with no support or money and he's starving as a human it's an absolute mess. Tldr: I wasn't super engaged in this story, the whole ultimate sacrifice thing kind of rang hollow because I didn't really believe anyone in the league even cared about him.
The story was either cut so that you never saw his people trying to help him or support him, or they didn't. So when they were "sad" he died it was like... ? You let him hang around homeless and starving and didn't lift a finger to help him out. I can't believe any of this... the only real support or assistance he had was being part of an underground fight ring of gods... ... I... what? Someone really enjoyed American Gods by Neil Gaiman, I felt.
Some part of me would really like to read the entire arc, no cuts, and have some clue of what's actually happening, but on the other hand this was such a mess I have trouble believing it's any better when it's complete.
philipf's review against another edition
3.0
Yang’s writing is fantastic, but it gets hampered by having to incorporate events/crossovers.
birdmanseven's review against another edition
2.0
There has to be some currency in DC packaging issues this way, but I can't for the life of me see it. I loved the Truth arc and here I am giving this section a bad review. Basically you get a couple of issues in sequence where Superman is in an underground fight ring (which was actually pretty dumb), then you bounce around among a few different big crossovers. It makes absolutely no sense to read. They do give you a "previously on," but it kills the story. Why not just collect the issues in story order? I will never understand this.
sfian's review
4.0
Wow! Didn't see that coming (and somehow managed to avoid all spoilers).
Loses a point for doing what DC does - collecting issues from a single title and ignoring crossover issues from other titles.
Loses a point for doing what DC does - collecting issues from a single title and ignoring crossover issues from other titles.
More...