Superman #154

Reviewed: Superman 154 by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness

The Plot: Superman battles Brainiac and Metallo while Metropolis undergoes a mysterious transformation.

What a disappointment.

It's ironic that I jumped back aboard this title after many, many years away because of the two top names on the masthead. Loeb's writing of Superman on other projects has gotten raves, and McGuiness's style seemed a great match. Even the preview art I saw seemed to make this title the one to watch in DC's new, reconfigured, standalone, no crossovers between the titles reconception of the Superman titles.

Loeb's first two issues, with guest artist Mike McKone, were terrific. I really was waiting for this issue, the first by the regular team of Loeb and McGuinness, with great anticipation.

What a goddamned disappointment.

Just three issues into Loeb's run, with McGuinness's debut issue, we're already into a multi-title crossover. The thing that brought the Superman titles down just recently, remember? Anyone? Bueller?

I knew I was in trouble when I saw the "Y2K 2 of 5" logo on the cover. Frankly, I pretty much lost all hope right there. Because you know what?

I won't buy these multi-title crossovers. Not anymore. Marvel and DC (never mind Image and the other lower-tier companies) have proven, time and again, and then again and again and again to make sure we get the point, that they can't do crossovers that don't suck.

These crossovers, whether ongoing such as with the Spider-Man or Superman titles, or limited events such as DC's Genesis or Marvel's X-Event of the month, are almost uniformly editorially-driven rather than creator-driven, and frankly, if editors were that good at creating comics, well, they'd be creating comics.

When DC first began interlocking the Superman titles (in the John Byrne era, if I recall correctly--moreso after he departed) it seemed innovative and new. Fresh, even. It was nice to get a new story every week.

Times have changed.

An important factor is the economy. While overall, the economy is said to be booming, I don't see any projections on CNN about the hopeful outlook for comic book budget projections. I don't spend as much as I used to on comics, and you really have to be doing a good job month after month to get me to stick around.

It's difficult for me to imagine what creators DC would have to put on the Superman titles to get me to buy all 4 (or 5, or 6...) each month. They've just demonstrated again and again that the interlocking of the titles cripples the abilities of the creators to tell compelling stories.

When they announced they were relaunching for the "New Millennium" (currently being celebrated by innumerates everywhere), and they announced the creative teams on the various titles, I thought I'd try Loeb and McGuinness's work. Hell, I was looking forward to it. Why? Because it was going to be a standalone title. It was going to be a standalone title.

So I'm a little pissed. Didja notice? This issue, frankly, feels a lot like a slap on the face followed by a hearty "Har har har" or perhaps "Bwah ha ha." They got me.

So, knowing I had no idea how this five-part story began and would never read the ending, I cracked it open and had a look.

The first two pages started off well, with some nice shots of Clark Kent in crisis (his parents are apparently missing amidst the transformation of Metropolis) and preparing to change to Superman. This leads to page three, a full-page shot of Big Blue going up, up and away.

Sigh. McGuinness's full-page shot, really his debut moment as penciller, is singularly unimpressive. It's a deep perspective shot that comes off flat, with a generically determined look on Supey's face--signifying nothing.

Page four and five are much better, a double-page spread of Superman getting his first look at the Metropolis of 2000. It's inspired by the animated series look that the city had, which is great, but, uh, didn't they stop making that show? Like, years ago?

Plus, I know I'm being nit-picky here, but am I the only one who realized that, as impressive as this two-page shot is, Superman is mostly a cape and head?

On page 6, things get really bad. Brainiac attacks Superman, and this is where I really, totally and completely ceased to care. A really, really, REALLY annoying, flat, uninspired, stupid, goofy looking CGI version of Brainiac is used for the remainder of the issue. He looks like something from a videogame ad from the back cover of a comic book, not a character that should actually be in one. Especially one as important to the future success of the company's flagship character. The caption at the bottom of this page says it all: "awful."

The rest of the issue is concerned with Superman beating on and getting beat on by Brainiac and Metallo, and the Metal Men show up for, uh, some goddamned reason. McGuinness has transplanted Captain Marvel's eyebrows to Superman, his apparent bid at innovation, and on the final page, Superman Blue shows up--guaran-damn-teeing that if it was even within the realm of possibility that I might have bought the continuation of this story in another title, I would instead use the money to, say, buy toothpicks to stab my own eyes with. Dull toothpicks. The fact that McGuinness's take on The Electric Superman is as bad or worse than any of the worst Image art ever produced just adds to the bitter, bitter taste this piece of junk left in my mouth.

Then they have a text page with illustrations showing how they came up with Brainiac's stupid new look. They are so proud.

Jesus, God, this book was awful. Awful, awful, awful

I'm not dropping the title. Yet. As I said, Loeb did a nice job on the previous two issues, and I'm willing to forgive this if it doesn't happen again. He has a great handle on Lois Lane, perhaps the first time ever she's been treated as human, and I'm looking forward to seeing how her deal with Lex Luthor pans out.

Maybe next issue, they'll stick to their guns and tell some stories that, if they are continued, at least stay within this title. Maybe there won't be anymore CGI characters. Maybe things will get better.

But I was a lot more optimistic about this title a month ago. And optimism will keep me buying a title for a very, very short period of time.