Review: Return Of Superman 30th Anniversary Special

Last week, the Return of Superman 30th Anniversary Special came out, a square bound, ten dollar tome looking back at the Reign of the Superman story. DC did a good job getting the band back together. Dan Jurgens, Louise Simonson, Karl Kesel are back writing. Ordway, Jurgens, Jon Bogdanove, and Tom Grummett are on art chores for the flashbacks with Travis Moore doing the framework story. Only Roger Stern and Jackson Guice are missing.

I suppose this book was written for people like me who lived through the 'Reign of' and the 'Return of' Superman. This book looks back at the time when the real Superman was dead, there were 4 Supermen running around, and readers were wondering if any of them were the Superman.

Jurgens handles the framework story of Lois reading from Perry White's journal from that time period and his reactions to the different Supermen. It was quite fun to look back at then the Cyborg Superman, Steel, Superboy, and the Eradicator were relatively unknown. Seeing Perry fall for the Cyborg's pretending to be Superman brought back memories of buddies who thought so too. (I had my money on the Eradicator ... as usual I was wrong.)

But it is the flashback stories where we see those characters in the early stages of their careers that was the most fun. I loved all the Superman books then. I loved the Kesel/Grummett Superboy. So the nostalgia engine was cranked up reading these books.

When it all is said and done, there is a nice sentiment to the story, a reminder that the real Superman is the standard other try to live up to. 

This was pretty pricey but I gobbled it up. 

On to some details.

Return Of Superman Cards!

Hat tip to my blog friend @FKAJason (who runs the excellent Captain Atom Blog Splitting Atoms)  for sharing the Supergirl relevant cards from The Return of Superman card set from 1993.

As I have said in the past, the Matrix Supergirl prior to the Reign of the Supermen storyline was something of a muddle, a being totally being used in all ways by Lex Luthor. Prior to that she had been insane, wandering the cosmos, and then finally a slave of Brainiac.

But once Superman died and Funeral For a Friend and Reign of the Supermen happened, Matrix started to turn more towards the light. She started to question Lex's motives. She totally realized the hero that Superman was. She decided she would become the hero and defender of Metropolis. And she followed him into the battle against the Cyborg Superman.

This card has a great art by Jackson Guice. I love ... and I mean love ... Guice's take on Matrix. Just great.

I love how this card stresses the fact that Supergirl has become Metropolis' new defender.

And I also love that they simply say 'born in a lab on a faraway planet' instead of trying to explain the Pocket Universe in the small amount of text space they were given.

"Her brillian psionic powers make her a formidable opponent for any who cross her path!" Nice.

And there is this card titled 'Boy Meets Girl!' which uses the cover art of Adventures of Superman #502.

This was something of a high water mark for the Superman books. Guice was on Action. Here we see Tom Grummett's work on Adventures. And the running arc of the four supposed replacement Supermen was a done very well.

The idea that one of the replacements was actually Superman in some way was a very good mystery.

And given the unclear future for Superboy given his impetuous nature, this card correctly states these two could be enemies, friends, or something more.

Thanks again to @FKAJason for sharing these! And I am glad that Supergirl got some mention in this card set!