Adventures of Superman Book of El #9 came out this week and pushed this storyline forward, explaining a bit more about the aspects of Olgrun in this far flung future. The solicit said that Supergirl was finally going to enter the story but alas, the solicit was wrong. Kara is no where to be found.
Phillip Kennedy Johnson is doing what he does best here, building a world and a history that we saw in Last God, Warworld, and even now in Infernal Hulk. I have said before that I don't think I quite see the big tapestry and occasionally need to remind myself who is who. But there is a depth to this story that I think might be best served when reread, including the text pieces at the end, a sort of appendix/bible for what we are seeing in the story. I almost wish this was a 2 year series where all the exposition in the backmatter was shown; some of the things discussed there sound amazing.
Unfortunately, this is a 12 issue series and we are now 75% done so some things here happen almost too quickly, without explanation, as this story careens to its end. The turnaround for Theand'r for example is confusing to me.
But I don't want to ignore the fact that Johnson not only understands Superman but understands the inspiration he is. We see it in the star-children. We see it in most of his descendants. Superman himself is tremendous in this.
Scotty Godlewski is back on art and this might be his strongest issue. There are Olgrun manifestations, undead Warzoon, battles on Tamaran, and a killer cliffhanger.
Last issue we saw Pyrrhos threatening to kill Osul to wrest the Olgrun aspect out of the Phaelosian.
One of the things I have struggled with in this title is Kryl-Ux's motivations and plots. Kryl-Ux wants to unify the pieces of Olgrun into himself to re-write the universe. We have learned that he knows where many of the pieces were but never went for them? So why now.
At least we get a little info here. When Osul came into the future, all the aspects of Olgrun were in one place, and perhaps more activated than in the past, wanting to be together. Maybe this is why Kryl-Ux has been biding his time. He needed all the aspects available.
I like how the Wrath of Olgrun, within Osul, manifests as a sword Pyrrhos is getting ready to pull out of Osul's chest. But thankfully, Osul is able to stop it by becoming Olgrun, at least in some energy form.
What a fantastic splash page by Godlewski, showing the terrifying power of Olgrun that Osul has within him. Beautiful.
Even better are Osul's words, lessons taught by Superman that villains are people who have been hurt or are afraid. There is that Superman inspiration.
I talked about some rushed pieces of the stories. Here Ronan has somehow taken a piece of the Brainiac 4 IT from the wreckage early in the series, made it into some sort of tracking beacon/Alexa, and now it has somehow built itself a robot form within Pyrrhos' stronghold, with powers. And it is an ally! I have no idea how all of that happened but here we are.
That Brainiac seems to have freed Rowan and Ronan from their cage and the three of them with Osul overpower Pyrrhos. Again, Osul stops the others from pounding on Pyrrhos, calling on the wisdom of Superman saying 'papa says we don't hurt people'. So cool to see the child Osul being the voice of restraint.
I love the designs of these characters, especially GL Rowan.
Ronan offers Pyrrhos a place back in the El family, uniting with Superman. But Pyrrhos wants no part of it.
Love the energy in the art of that first panel. And like that Pyrrhos is out there as a wild card.
Outside of Tamaran, the rest of the Els try to stop Kryl-Ux's invading Warzoon.
As I said, Kennedy Johnson is world-building here and I need a reminder of stuff now and then. So hearing how 4 aspects of Olgrun are tied to people in the El family was eye-opening to me. I, of course, knew this having read the book. But don't think I recognized how crazy that is until it was said succinctly like this.
And I love Superman here. He just wants to bring his kids home.
Why do I get the sense that these kids aren't coming home and staying in this future state?
In another plot point that flips almost to quickly, we see Theand'r finally get angry at the treachery of her husband Doukis and decide to lash out against her spouse and the Warzoon troops.
We have seen her kowtow to her husband. There was some veiled threat by him that he had something on her. We have seen how terrible she has allowed things to come to on Tamaran. I just don't think I know enough of her backstory to understand why she let him command her so. So I don't think I can appreciate this awakening by her either.
But glad she isn't going to let her people be slaughtered.
Again, another great design by Godlewski.
More wisdom of Superman.
Here is Otho, the new Black Racer and therefore a new agent of death.
But even Death won't kill. Superman taught her better.
Great cliffhanger.
The undead 'Unmade' Mongul is on Tamaran and ready to throw down.
Awesome. I have been waiting for Mongul to show up. Boom!
The backmatter is all about Pyrrhos who supposedly killed Darkseid, fought with the Els, was put in the Phantom Zone, and came out again. Crazy. I wish I saw that!
But we also get some Krypton continuity here too! When I saw the Wizards of Juru and Thul-Kar mentioned, I smile! Deep cuts!
I think the overall feel of the book is more to my liking than all the moving parts. I get the sense I don't know what I don't know. This felt like the best issue of the series so far. I love how Superman is portrayed here. And as I said, I will miss PKJ.
Overall grade: B+
1 comment:
Oh hang on, I have backmatter only in 1, 2, 4 and 5… have I been missing out?
These last two issues have been much more satisfying, I’m finally starting to remember who everyone is. You’re so right about the story seeming to have missing bits, feeling rushed, if I didn’t know better I’d suspect the 12 issues were being truncated to ten.
Post a Comment