Superman #2

On to the New 52 #2's!

Title: Superman
Issue: 2
Date: December 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: George Perez
Artist: George Perez, Jesus Merino
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Will Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: George Perez, Brian Buccellato

Let me get this out of the way first: George Perez over-writes. Dialogue good, but every so often it veers into the realm of slightly-too-wordy. Narrative captions are WAY too wordy. Remember the old adage in writing, "Show, don't tell."? Well Perez is doing way too much telling, especially considering that he's got an entire art team (which HE is part of) to present the story visually. Everything that happens in this book is over-explained, especially in the first-person narrative captions in Clark's voice.

Which is too bad because plot-wise I'm digging this series. It's old-school Superman, and it is the exact kind of story that I always liked best with Superman: The kind where Superman, in spite of all those powers, has to rely on his intelligence to win. This has a very Silver Age feel to it, with Superman taking on a monster with a kind of extreme invisibility. None of Superman's super-senses can detect this critter at all. Fortunately, though, the monster is perfectly visible to everyone else, and Clark ends up using a pretty amusing tactic to get the better of the creature.

This is the second random monster in a row, and it looks like we're set up for a third one next issue. I know some fans won't be into this, but as I said, I like some old-school Superman action.

There's also a really good scene here between Clark and Lois as Lois is moving into her new corner office. I liked the handling of their friendship and their professional relationship. A few of the lines were slightly forced (and wordy; see above), but for the most part it was a nice chance to give the two character the space to show some different sides of their personalities.

We also get the reintroduction of another supporting character from the 1970s: Cat Grant. And General Lane gets an extended scene as well. He's being played up as the J. Jonah Jameson of the series, with the overriding motivation that he thinks Superman causes more problems and danger (to his daughter!) than he solves.

The flaws in the writing are definitely an issue here, but I'm still having fun with this title.

Rating: 6.5/10