Previously…
Scott Snyder's success on the New 52 Batman run has
prompted DC to have him and Jim Lee do a new Superman book. Obviously, the
intention is two-fold, one, hype 'Supes' in time for the movie and two have a
superstar writer and artist make ‘Big Blue' cool again. I'll be 100% honest I'm
really in this to see if Snyder can do with the ‘ Last Son' what he did with
the ‘Dark Knight'.
Situation
We open up over Nagasaki, August
9th of 1945. For those of you asleep in history class that was the day Fat man
and Little boy destroyed the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, to force the
Japanese to surrender during WWII. At least that's what we thought as Unchained
tells us a slightly different story, one that the government has kept from the people. In the present day, Supes is deflecting
seven satellites and space stations thrown into the Earth by some unknown
force. After a daring rescue, Superman travels to Metropolis, where the
infamous Lex Luthor on his way to
super-max makes origami visions of the city out of pages from the Iliad. Superman questions him a bit then flies off to his life
as Clark Kent, unemployed blogger, where he blogs about himself as Superman,
chills out and discusses bagels with Jimmy Olsen. Lois contacts Clark to tell
him that his blog was wrong and Superman deflected eight satellites and not
seven. The last scene in this issue presents the reader with a conspiracy and
hints at a secret weapon the military has had since that faithful day in
August.
Story
Scott Snyder has done a great job at casting a net of
mystery into this ‘Man-of-Steel’ story, which is something I did not think
could be done. I’m not used to seeing Supes have to figure things out without
punching them, and the possibility that the military has something that could
match ‘Big Blue’ makes this at least a worthwhile book to check out. What
intrigues me is the constant level of distrust for authority and power; Snyder
builds in the current DCU reminding this reader a bit of Christopher Nolan’s Dark
Knight movie trilogy. Now I know this is a superhero book and it has a high
chance of turning into a punch-face-fest, but the fact that Supes is actually
going to need to use his investigative skills to crack this, adds a fresher
spin on a character that has been bland for years.
Pictures
Jim Lee, what can I say about him?
He's a legendary artist, one of the modern pioneers in the field of creator
owned work and co-publisher of DC comics. Of all the things I can say about Jim
Lee I'll say this, he doesn’t finish what he starts. I love Jim Lee's art I
have since Hush, but I'm not sure he's gonna have time to devote to this book
and his other duties. He didn't seem to when he was Editor-in-Chief of Wildstorm and books he was working on, namely the Intimates, got cancelled. However, let's hope he can do this book at least for an
arc and then maybe Greg Capullo can come in. Alex Sinclair reminds us the Superman is
still the brightest hero of them all and while the suit has changed the big blue blur stands out like the star on the Christmas
tree.
The Real
Good start to a book that I otherwise wouldn’t have read if
the writer and artist didn’t catch my attention. I look forward to seeing how
his mystery unfolds and what Snyder does to make this bland character
refreshing and new. On the plus side, this was a great marketing tool and I am
now even more psyched to see the Man-of-Steel which I may or may not review.
Rating 3.5/5
All images credited to Comic book Resources
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