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Superman, Vol. 1: What Price Tomorrow? (2012)

by George Pérez(Favorite Author)

3.33 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1401234682 (ISBN13: 9781401234683)

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

publisher

DC Comics

series

Superman Vol. III

review 1: Fun - excitement - interesting - fresh - engaging - and other words that don't apply to this volume. No offense intended to the great George Perez and his lifetime of fine work, but this was just dull. We've seen this in most every science fiction show already, and if it was dull on Babylon 5, it was dull in the "New" 52. I guess the point of this relaunch was to shake it all up, make it all different, and by that they meant break up all the good relationships that took 60-some years to develop and frustrate all the loyal readers (because OLD = BAD and NEW = GOOD, and loyal readers = useless detritus and new readers = the best thing ever). The Daily Planet is gone, Perry and Lois and Clark are all separated, the Kents are dead, and no one likes Clark, really. In order... more to make the Superman world "fresh and relevant," the Daily Planet has been sold to arch-villain Morgan Edge (who is now African-American, but I'm sure no racism was intended in that switch, since it clearly is working out for Nick Fury). Doing things the old-fashioned way (with honesty and integrity) are as buried as Jonathan and Martha, but only Perry seems to care (maybe Clark, too, but he spends so much time dazed and confused we don't get to know this version of him much, other than he cares about the poor and displaced and his old apartment building doesn't exist anymore). Also, for no explicable reason, Perez has Superman narrate all his thoughts, but his thoughts are more like stage direction and ultra-obvious commentary, nothing truly insightful or worthwhile. Perez seems stuck in the old days of having characters narrating all their motions. Oh well.Like Alex Ross' Justice, this volume has the potential gem of "what if Metropolis lost its faith in Superman?," but like Justice it gets sidetracked with all its other things (though the other things here are far more confusing and old hat than Justice) and sort of abandons that idea by the end in very rapid and unbelievable "oh, sorry, Supes, we love you and always did" epilogue panels. This story just doesn't know where it wants to go and takes a long, dull journey to prove it to everyone.
review 2: (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. less

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