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A review by rhganci
Superman, Volume 1: What Price Tomorrow? by George Pérez
3.0
(3.5 STARS) There has to be a certain magnitude to Superman's villains, as he is the most magnanimous of the DC superheroes. In this first Superman story of the New 52, Superman deals with other survivors of destroyed civilizations, confronts Metropolis' public opinion towards him and his powers, and tries to remember where he's been over the span of a few weeks. In the end, the story communicates well Superman as an adherent to a warrior-servant's code, but falters in delivering a coherent narrative with a few too many explanations in the final 10 pages.
The story's chief concern is whether or not the city of Metropolis can trust Superman to be a benevolent protector, or if his presence makes more trouble than it's worth. The three-in-one villain gets parsed out evenly through the first three parts of the arc, and while I do enjoy the freak-of-the-week approach to comic storytelling, these freaks have no pretext outside the "call of the wild" issued from the Himalayas in the volume's opening pages. I understood that the city was in peril, and that Superman's objective was to save the city from that threat, but Perez's handling of the story did little to go beyond that. Most of the weight of the story's focus came from supporting cast members, especially Lois Lane and the smarmy Billy McCoy. Their sort of overwatch of Superman's doings really held the disconnectedness of the storytelling together and effected the story's main communication about heroism, ethics, and intentions. Other notable aspects include: the non-love story between Clark and Heather, which received no introduction, and a wildly dismissive conclusion; the cliffhanger with Superman dropping Billy McCoy from the Daily Planet building, which would have been really painful to have to wait a month to follow up on; the arrival of Supergirl and the nicely handled tie-in with Kara's throwdown in New York City (my favorite moment of the volume).
The artwork was terrific, with the new Super-suit and its blue-with-red-accents really being a nice move for the character model. The close ups were really expressive, especially at the story's most intense moments, and while Superman's fights and their scale can get a little hard to follow due to their scopes, at no point did I fall out of touch with the action, especially during the flight sequences in and out of space. All in all, while the storytelling lurched a bit and I really didn't get the sense of Superman's urgency or circumstances that I'd like to in an A-list book like this, the supporting cast really helped the story to communicate the city's regard for their protector--before, during, and after being imperiled--and helped to enmesh Superman in his new circumstances in Metropolis, as a Kryptonian alongside Supergirl, and as a Lois-less Clark Kent. The backup feature promises more post-colonial goodness to follow, and as with all of the other volumes 1 I have read, I look forward to the next story with Superman.
The story's chief concern is whether or not the city of Metropolis can trust Superman to be a benevolent protector, or if his presence makes more trouble than it's worth. The three-in-one villain gets parsed out evenly through the first three parts of the arc, and while I do enjoy the freak-of-the-week approach to comic storytelling, these freaks have no pretext outside the "call of the wild" issued from the Himalayas in the volume's opening pages. I understood that the city was in peril, and that Superman's objective was to save the city from that threat, but Perez's handling of the story did little to go beyond that. Most of the weight of the story's focus came from supporting cast members, especially Lois Lane and the smarmy Billy McCoy. Their sort of overwatch of Superman's doings really held the disconnectedness of the storytelling together and effected the story's main communication about heroism, ethics, and intentions. Other notable aspects include: the non-love story between Clark and Heather, which received no introduction, and a wildly dismissive conclusion; the cliffhanger with Superman dropping Billy McCoy from the Daily Planet building, which would have been really painful to have to wait a month to follow up on; the arrival of Supergirl and the nicely handled tie-in with Kara's throwdown in New York City (my favorite moment of the volume).
The artwork was terrific, with the new Super-suit and its blue-with-red-accents really being a nice move for the character model. The close ups were really expressive, especially at the story's most intense moments, and while Superman's fights and their scale can get a little hard to follow due to their scopes, at no point did I fall out of touch with the action, especially during the flight sequences in and out of space. All in all, while the storytelling lurched a bit and I really didn't get the sense of Superman's urgency or circumstances that I'd like to in an A-list book like this, the supporting cast really helped the story to communicate the city's regard for their protector--before, during, and after being imperiled--and helped to enmesh Superman in his new circumstances in Metropolis, as a Kryptonian alongside Supergirl, and as a Lois-less Clark Kent. The backup feature promises more post-colonial goodness to follow, and as with all of the other volumes 1 I have read, I look forward to the next story with Superman.