Friday, January 4, 2013

Review: Superman #15


I haven't had much good to say about Scott Lobdell's work on Superman. His Clark has been petulant and creepy. His Superman has been condescending and haughty and feared by people. His Lois has been superficial and tough to take seriously. And his Kara has been bratty and mean.

But one thing I think Lobdell does have a grasp on is Lex Luthor.

Superman #15 came out this week, an issue which shines the spotlight on Lex Luthor and returns him to arch-villain status in the DCnU, a vicious brilliant man who has no problem standing up to Superman as an equal. This Luthor is deranged and malevolent. And he reads very well, making me understand just why Superman would fear him.

On top of that, for once I felt that sort of inspiring Superman, the sort of hero whose simple presence can help people try to do better. In this issue, we see a sort of warming of Superboy as he sees just who Superman is.

Now some of the other warts that have bothered me about this run are still present in this chapter of H'El on Earth but this was definitely my favorite issue by Lobdell so far. And I have to admit I bet a big part of that is that Supergirl isn't anywhere to be seen here. And since she isn't here, she can't be misrepresented.

Kenneth Rocafort's art remains top-notch. I will say that at times the crazy panel shapes lead to a lot of negative unused space on the page. And sometimes a crazy panel isn't necessary when the picture is simply someone talking. But the images themselves are beautiful. On to the story.


The title of the issue is 'Because I'm a Scorpion', the final line of a fable where a scorpion stings a turtle carrying him across a river dooming them both. He is a scorpion, foolish destructive behavior should be expected. It is a cautionary title and reminded me that, as a reader, you have to take everything Luthor says with a grain of salt. Anything he says might be a lie to lead to Superman's destruction, even if there is significant property damage.

The issue opens with Superman heading to the prison Luthor is in, a secret facility, heavily defended, with exactly one prisoner.

Now one thing I have complained about in Lobdell's book ... heck in the DCnU in general ... is how Superman is feared and not trusted by a bulk of the populace. Here the military surrounding Luthor's prison open fire on Superman.

Not talk to him.
Not warn him.

Open fire.

Heck, isn't Superman responsible for imprisoning Luthor? Why would he break him out?

Even the military staff treat Superman pretty poorly, firing some bile about how superior Superman acts and how that is why people hate him. Sigh ....


As I said before, one of the things I like about this issue is how Superboy warms up to Superman throughout the book. Despite being saved by Supergirl (who told H'El to spare him) and Superman (who whisked him to safety and gave him the life-saving super-suit), Superboy isn't really down with being part of the super-family.

In fact he says it outright. And Kon's expression is perfect, that slightly raised eyebrow giving a feel of sort of ennui about the El family.


Earlier Superboy asked Superman if was a prisoner of the Man of Steel. Here he calls Superman a 'colossal butt' because Superman is literally dragging Superboy along with him through the death-traps of this prison. Superman isn't even sure if Superboy's powers will help him survive. So there is a bit of that haughty Superman here, racing ahead with at least some disregard to Superboy's health ... even if it is a little.

And I also don't like the fact that Superman has already written off Supergirl, thinking she has already been manipulated into following H'El. Of course, given how she acted in Superman #14 I guess I shouldn't be surprised he thinks that.

But it again brings back the old argument. Why has Superman not reached out to Supergirl earlier? Maybe if he tried harder to befriend her, she wouldn't fall into H'El's arms so quickly.


Despite this, Superman is still a pretty good guy here. And there is some country boy charm in him. He tells Superboy that he had Luthor design his own prison. Superboy thinks it's crazy but the look on Kon's face says more. There is a half-smile. Maybe that craziness appeals to Kon.

Of course, the lunacy of trusting Luthor to make his own prison is ... well ... lunacy. Even if you 'play to his vanity', how do you trust that there aren't a million back doors?

This is a good example of how the crazy panel shape seems unnecessary here and leads to a lot of dead space.


And finally we get to Luthor, scarred and in shackles.

Earlier we see Luthor shaving and preparing for this encounter. I thought that was a nice touch. He will always want to look his best in front of Superman, as if this stretch in isolation hasn't broken him in any way, even stubble.

Shockingly, despite being cut off from the world, Luthor seems to know everything that is happening in the world. He even knows just what Superboy is. The 'pale shade of the grandeur of its donors' certainly hints at the Luthor being the human DNA 'father' of Superboy even here in the DCnU.

Luthor's emotions all reek of a superiority. Whether it is this aloof smug smile or an angry outburst, all of Luthor's talk is aimed down at the recipient. And that makes him all the more intriguing and all the scarier. If we are all ants ... even Superboy ... then Luthor has little regard for us.


And Luthor even knows about H'El. And he has figured out his plan. To get enough energy to go back in time to Krypton, H'El will need to collapse our solar system into a big bang-esque event. So now there is a very real threat to Earth. Hmmm ... maybe Supergirl should have asked H'El about these details before getting siding with him.

Of course Superman could press Luthor on how he knows all this and has figured all this out. But he doesn't.

And Superman accepts it all as truth. In fact, Luthor thinks Superman knew all of this anyways.

At the very least, we as readers now have something more to cement H'El being a bad guy. 


Now throughout this issue, we see that Luthor's face is pretty badly scarred. We finally get some answers.

Luthor thinks Superman came to Lex to see if there was an way to stop H'El without killing. Because, after all, Superman tried to kill Luthor they last time they tangled, the end result being those scars.

Now I can take a lot. But I can't take a Superman who tried to kill someone. Hopefully Luthor is grandstanding. But we don't have a denial from Superman, just a piercing look at his eyes.

Seriously ... Superman doesn't kill, doesn't try to kill, shouldn't be tempted to kill.


Superboy seems to have turned the corner a bit, siding with Superman and even willing to call in the Titans to help. That edge, the 'I don't care about your family' 'why are you a colossal butt' sentiment seems to have softened a bit.

And that is even with Superman getting a bit high and mighty, questioning 'unsupervised super-humans'. Seems a bit too Big Brother-ish for me. After all, wasn't Superman himself in the Legion, a club for young super-heroes?


And Superman doesn't want the Titans help. Not when he has the League.

But read that purple prose in the corner, the overly sentimental saccharin text box where Superman and Wonder Woman want to fall into each others' arms ... if it weren't for the secret nature of their love and the impending doom of the solar system.

I don't know, it reads a little hammy, especially given the tense tone of the rest of this issue.

But with the League (minus Green Lantern) behind him, an assault on the Fortress is imminent.

I know I only scratched the surface of the Luthor interaction but it really is the high point of this issue and well worth reading. Even in chains you can feel the menace of him. And that is how you should feel about Luthor. He is a man who can challenge Superman. He should be scary.

But I also felt that, for the most part, Superman was done fairly well here. There is a quiet strength in him that plays off nicely in comparison to Luthor's rants. And, that steely resolve in the face of this villain seems to inspire Superboy.

It isn't a perfect issue. It is better. But there isn't Clark here, or Lois, or Supergirl. And as those have been some of the biggest weaknesses of this book, I am not surprised that this read a little better.

Unfortunately, this cliffhanger means we are going to see Supergirl vs. the JLA. And at some point, H'El must be partially successful because we know  from the zero issues that the super-family end up on an intact Krypton. How do they get there?

Overall grade: B/B+

11 comments:

Martin Gray said...

Excellent review as ever. That's a great point about Luthor wanting to look his best in front of Superman.

I wonder if Superman was really at the prison to make sure Luthor knows there's the chance of someone else beating Superman, tease him into helping out against H'el. And we know that Luthor hates aliens ... and if the world ends, he's not going to get his revenge, is he?

Call me a masochist, but I can't wait to see more of Lobdell's Clark and Lois. And Cat too.

Anonymous said...

Okay so now Lex Luthor is supposed to be Dr, Hannibal Lector? I thought The Joker was supposed to be Hannibal Lector, or the Human Eraser or the Calendar Man or whoever is DC's scary psycho this month.
It is soooo hard to keep track these days.
Ah but next month, KARA SMASH AVENG-er-JUSTICE LEAGUE!
PUNY META HUMANS NO MATCH FOR SUPERGIRL!!!
Can't wait

JF

Anonymous said...

At this point, the H'el on Earth saga looks disturbingly like the Matrix storyline before she discovered Luthor had cloned her. I frankly don't like Supergirl being turned into a misguided anti-hero.
-- DW

PRgirl1294 said...

Even the military staff treat Superman pretty poorly, firing some bile about how superior Superman acts and how that is why people hate him. Sigh ..."

From what I've read, I'm pretty sure that it's mostly people who are in authority who fear Superman. I know that you may not like that, but this kind of thing is actually very realistic. And I know that you read comics to try to escape reality, but I'm here to tell you that reality is inescapable.

"So there is a bit of that haughty Superman here, racing ahead with at least some disregard to Superboy's health ... even if it is a little."

I'm pretty sure that if Superboy showed even a little sign of the gas affecting him, Superman would have taken him out in a nanosecond. Like he said, Superboy has to be near him because that's the only way to protect him since he's a "person of interest".

"But I can't take a Superman who tried to kill someone... Seriously ... Superman doesn't kill, doesn't try to kill, shouldn't be tempted to kill."

As Martin Gray pointed out in some way, it seems more that Superman may have wanted to kill Luthor at one point, but pulled back at the last second. But either way, I understand that you grew up thinking of a more idealized version of Superman, but you need to understand is that Superman is Superman, not Jesus Christ (or whatever person you believe in). And it is said that though Jesus never sinned, even he was tempted to sin at some point. So you can't say that anybody shouldn't feel temptation to do anything.

"And that is even with Superman getting a bit high and mighty, questioning 'unsupervised super-humans'... After all, wasn't Superman himself in the Legion, a club for young super-heroes?"

I think that what Superman is concerned about is not that the Titans are young, but that they're not being held accountable by anybody, unlike the League and the Legion, who are being held accountable by their respective governments.

Anj said...

Thanks for the comments PR. I enjoy hearing what others think about these characters because maybe I am off the mark.

You make me sound old! :-)
I know I am.

But here is the thing. I don't mind heroes being tempted to cross a line and stopping. I agree that is natural. And I read comics with those characters.

And I don't mind authorities fearing vigilantes. I don't. I read those characters' books too.

But I just think that Superman is different. He should be the ideal that other heroes strive to be like. He should be the idea that has them stop before they cross the line. If he comes close, why should they stop?

Superman is different for me.

It seems like an upside down world where Batman is mentoring a dozen people and has the respect of the Gotham PD and Superman is a lonely loner who is shot at by the military.

So maybe I put Superman on a pedestal. But isn't that where he belongs?

PRgirl1294 said...

@ Anj: I understand that you want Superman to be that ideal hero that everyone looks up to, but like I said, he's not Jesus, meaning he's not perfect. And they've been that thing where he's been mistrusted by authorities and tempted to cross a line even before the New 52, in case you haven't read the "Public Enemies" story arc.

Also, I wouldn't worry about H'el being partially successful with his plan, 'cause according to recent interviews with Scott Lobdell, the time travel story from the zero issues don't take place immediately after the "H'el on Earth" crossover. See these links:
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/superman-16-lobdell-interview.html
http://www.comicvine.com/news/interview-scott-lobdell-on-superman-lois-lane-and-shirtless-kryptonians/145758/
http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/01/03/interview-scott-lobdell-superman-16/

Jay said...

I for one want it revealed that Superman nearly killed Luthor. Whether it was the briefest moment in which in Superman's mind he said "I'm going to kill you", only to pull back, or he just loses himself in a rage, I'm all for that. I want Lex to be able to push Superman's buttons to that degree. The no-kill policy shouldn't be easy. There should be a conflict there when it comes to the worst of the worst of criminals. It should take effort for him to take a different path and stay his hand time and time again. That's an interesting character. And the idea that Lex might have done something so heinous to make Superman's resolve in that ever briefly slip, makes him more worthy than ever to be called Superman's greatest foe.

Anj said...

I want Lex to be able to push Superman's buttons to that degree. The no-kill policy shouldn't be easy.

Thanks for the comment and great point. I suppose if Lex ... and only Lex ... can get under his skin that much, it'll be better for me, more tolerable.

Saranga said...

I bought this b/c yoou praised it so highly Anj.
Kon's role in this was enjoyable and the art was fabulous - it's almost good enough for me to try the next few issues out, despite my reservations about characterisations.
The main thing I disliked was Supes putting Kon through those challenges w/o knowing if he'd survive. I want my Superman to be a good person, full of compassion for those folks on the side of good.
The Superman who did that to Kon is not agood person. He's stroppy and selfish.

Jay said...

If he wasn't a good person he wouldn't have protected Kon from He'l, nor donated his costume to save Superboy's life afterward. Looking at the prison situation, and knowing what Superman can do, Superboy was in absolutely no danger. Had it turned out Superboy could not function in the prison's atmosphere, Superman could have had him back out the door into fresh air before he even realized he couldn't breathe.

PRgirl1294 said...

Two more things I'd like to say in response to this review:

"Despite being saved by Supergirl (who told H'El to spare him) and Superman (who whisked him to safety and gave him the life-saving super-suit), Superboy isn't really down with being part of the super-family."

I don't think that Superboy knows that Superman is one of his donors and that he's actually part of the Super-family. Considering how he's been looking for answers about his origins, I'm pretty sure that if he did, he would be a lot more interested in them and that when he finds out, he will be. That being said, I hope that it happens in "Superboy #16".

"Why has Superman not reached out to Supergirl earlier? Maybe if he tried harder to befriend her, she wouldn't fall into H'El's arms so quickly."

If you're talking about before the events of "Superman #14", I'm pretty sure that he tried as hard as he could to befriend Supergirl, considering that he was busy dealing his own problems and she was flying around the world and keeping herself hidden, which would have made it hard to find her. As for after the events of "Superman #14", I'm sure that Superman wanted to prepare himself for H'el before he tried to reach out to Kara again because if he'd gone to her without preparing for a fight and failed to reach out to her, she would have summoned H'el and Superman would have gotten his butt kicked even worse.