War Of The Supermen Over In One Month

Boy, The DC Source blog dropped a bomb yesterday when it announced that the War of the Supermen event will be completed within the month of May. Here is the link:
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2010/02/10/prepare-for-the-100-minute-war/

That's right, all 5 issues will be released over the course of May! This won't be a dragged out event taking up much of the year. It's a done in one month mega-story! The Source also posted the 'in progress' Eddy Barrows' covers of the mini-series as well.

The above picture is listed as the cover to War of the Supermen #0, the issue available on Free Comic Book Day. I wonder if DC has scrapped the J.G. Jones cover we initially saw solicited for this issue.

Anyways, here are a some pieces of the announcement and my usual commentary.

Same thing, folks, and it’s all hitting in May, courtesy of writers Sterling Gates and James Robinson. An epic, defining battle for the Man of Steel unleashed in one month. Because super-beings that fly fast? Well, they fight pretty fast, too.

“The war between New Krypton and Earth has been the worst kept secret in comics the last several months. The number of mocking ‘Wouldn’t a world of supermen defeat Earth in five minutes?’ questions I’ve been assaulted with have undone years of therapy. Now, thank Freud, the time for secrets is over, as the two sides are finally going to war! And it’s going to last a lot longer than five minutes–100, to be exact, told in 25 minute increments.

Hurray for Supergirl scribe Sterling Gates for getting to be the co-writer on such a huge event in the DCU. It is a well deserved gig and it also reassures me that Supergirl will be handled the right way in such a major story arc.

The war itself only last 100 minutes in comic book time so each issue takes 25 minutes. So the question is how does this war wrap up so quickly? Doomsday weapons? New Phantom Zone? And what are the losses on both sides?


Jokes aside, this 100 minute thing made us realize that spreading the story over several months would kind of deaden the impact of the timeframe device, not to mention starting the war a month after #0.

It has been a while since a major event like this has played out so quickly. I think DC 1,000,000 also came out on a weekly basis. I wonder if the concept of 'event fatigue' prompted this rapid turn- around. Even though lots of readers complain about event fatigue, the event books sell very well. From a economic point of view, these books succeed.

But part of me wonders if this time schedule was also dictated by the waning sales of the Superman titles and the need to put Superman back in his books. I think people are waiting to read Superman adventures in Action Comics and Superman, adventures that aren't tied into New Krypton. So rather than drag out the story with months of crossovers in the super-titles, it is all wrapped up before summer.

Besides, with five covers by Mr. Eddy Barrows, and Eddy being joined on this thing by the likes of Aaron Lopresti, Jamal Igle and Eduardo Pansica, why wait to put the issues out?”

So I don't usually like the idea of rotating artists through one arc but with the truncated release dates, I understand the need for it. And there is no denying the talent that DC lined up for this. I have talked about my feelings for Eddy Barrows and Jamal Igle on this blog before. I think it's great that the creative team of Supergirl taking such a prominent part on this huge event!

I don't think I have talked much about Aaron Lopresti. I have loved his work on Wonder Woman over the last couple of years. I think he does an absolutely spectacular Diana. So I look forward to seeing his take on the Superman family.


With Superman caught between the war-hungry factions of General Zod and General Lane, could any victory be much more than Pyrrhic? What side will Supergirl take, and could it find her at odds with her cousin?

Hmmm ....

So on the cover of War of the Supermen #1, Supergirl is laying into Ursa. I really really hope we get to see that fight.

But on the cover of War of the Supermen #2, Supergirl is front and center carrying the Krypton standard. And Superman doesn't look too pleased. I really have come around on Barrows' version of Supergirl.

While I think that Superman is going to be conflicted in this war, Supergirl will probably be more conflicted. I have to assume that Alura will be on the Krypton side. So between mommy and the time spent on Earth, Kara will have a tough decision to make. I hope she ends up on the side of Earth because if she is an agent of New Krypton, she will be more ostracized on her adopted planet.


Where are the other “Supermen” of the DCU, like Steel and Superboy? Right in the thick of it, is the answer.

Looks like Superboy is about to eat Non's fist on the cover of the first issue.

Another side effect of the short 100 minute time span of the war is that we won't have to wonder about the other Earth heroes if they don't show up. With the war over so quickly, maybe the other heroes won't have time to mobilize. With this book only lasting 4 issues, I can only hope that the super-family are the stars.

A side effect of Jamal Igle penciling one of the mini-series issues is that he won't be working on Supergirl #52. Here is his blog post about it:
http://jamalligle.blogspot.com/2010/02/war-of-supermen.html

Again, I think it is great that Igle is working on this book. It is well deserved as well! As for Supergirl #52, I hope that DC gets Matt Camp to fill-in again.


I hope it has come across that I am pretty happy about this 'done in one month' time table for War of the Supermen. And it looks like the right talent has been attached to the book.

Everyone else as excited?