Everything that has a beginning has an end, for it is only in a story’s end that it truly has meaning. It’s hard to say goodbye to the things we love, but it has to be done. Also, other clichés to establish that I’m really sad about this.
Come join me as we bid a fond farewell to an icon with “Adventures Of Superman” #17, the last print issue of the series.
Written by Steve Niles, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Jerry Ordway
Illustrated by Matthew Dow Smith, Valentine De Landro and Steve Rude
Superstar creators unite for the final issue of the series! First, a Superman/O.M.A.C. team-up as only Jerry Ordway and Steve Rude can deliver!Then, when Lois Lane gets Superman a mystery gift for Valentine’s Day, Superman speculates with his friends about what it could be–and what he should get her in return!
Finally, Superman is confronted by a ghost from Krypton! Don’t miss out!
Yes, technically, “Adventures Of Superman” ended in April with the 51st digital chapter, making it almost a year in full. Yet there has still been a backlog in collecting those chapters in print issues as we see this final print issue collect the last three digital chapters. What really made “Adventures Of Superman” special wasn’t just that it kept the classic red trunks costume at the forefront of each story, but that each story existed free of continuity allowing each creator to bring out their love for the character by telling their Superman story. Along the way we saw creators like Chris Samnee, Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt, Joelle Jones, Marcus To, Tim Seeley, Mike Norton, Sean Galloway, Ron Marz, Evan Shaner, Joe Keatinge, Ming Doyle and Tula Lotay all bring their style, flair and love for Superman to the digital screen and page in the best celebration of the character I have seen in a while.
Sure, there have been ups and downs, not everything is for everyone after all, but one thing always spoke true: the story, in both the writing and the artwork, always came from the heart and spoke to why people love this character. This final issue collects the final three digital chapters by Steve Niles and Matthew Dow Smith, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro and Jerry Ordway and Steve Rude, respectively, and I could not think of a better endcap to this series.
If “Adventures Of Superman” showed one thing it was the strength and versatility of Superman as a character. This wasn’t simply a case of almost a year’s worth of stories in which Superman punches his problems, and one of the best examples of that is the first story in this issue by Steve Niles and Matthew Dow Smith. Niles is perhaps mostly known for his work with horror comics and he does not disappoint here as he and Matthew Dow Smith place Superman in a moon-based ghost story. While not especially scary, Niles goes a long way in building a story that Superman expressly cannot punch his way out of and must empathise with the situation he is faced with. It is a story that could have perhaps done with a little more breathing room as the ending seems a little abrupt, but it still really works overall as an exploration of Superman in a rather unfamiliar format.
This is helped a lot by the artwork by Matthew Dow Smith and especially the colours by Jordie Bellaire, who really needs no introduction at this point. Smith’s artwork is very clean, simple and to the point with a focus on telling the story over flashy distractions. It’s substance over style and it shows that he was a great choice to work with Niles as there are moments in here that are truly chilling thanks to the artwork. The colours by Jordie Bellaire are a lot more muted than you would expect from a Superman story, but it works here as even during the brightest scenes there’s an off-settling feeling that something isn’t quite right. Again, it’s a nice little story that perhaps could have done with an expansion to give it some breathing room in terms of pacing, but it was still a nice change of setting for the character and speaks to his versatility.
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The next story is one that I anticipated highly when it was revealed and did not disappoint. The creative team behind the upcoming “Bitch Planet”, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro, team up here for something of a romantic adventure. Taking place just prior to Valentine’s Day, this story plays excellently into DeConnick’s skill with dialogue and inter-character banter as she instantly nails the characters of Superman and Lois Lane and makes for a really fun story. A stand out are the scenes in which Superman teams up with Batman, Wonder Woman and then Aquaman as the banter between the characters is both funny and touching and always off-set by background events that really bring a sense of visual comedy out of Valentine De Landro’s art.
While the original half-page format of the digital chapters may hamper an artist’s storytelling abilities, especially when the two half-pages are noticeably pasted together in print, it does not show with De Landro. From an explosive first page involving getaway cars and machine guns to Lois hitching a ride on an airplane’s wing (it makes sense when you see it), De Landro nails the adventure feeling of DeConnick’s script while making for some beautiful pages. A highlight of this is a page that shows Superman working with Batman to help a train cross broken tracks that is simply gorgeous in its simplicity and speaks to the hearts of both characters. The icing on the cake comes with Matthew Wilson’s bright and vibrant colour palette that brings the whole package together with a Silver Age flair. It’s a sweet, charming and touching story that is incredibly heartwarming and shows that this is not a creative team to mess with.
Our final story is really something special, though. Jerry Ordway and Steve Rude are two figures I would not hesitate to call legends of the industry and seeing them team up to tackle a character as legendary as Superman together is something special. Though some may be disappointed that this is just as much of an O.M.A.C. story as it is a Superman story, seeing Ordway and Rude channel Jack Kirby to bring a team-up that feels like it fell through time from the 80’s completely made up for it. Sure, this is the story that really won’t be for everyone, especially as Ordway’s writing harkens back to the style of writing of the time that may seem outdated today; there are a lot of thought bubbles, characters monologuing their actions to explain them to the audience and even Superman outright stating the moral of the story in the last panel. But as the final story of a series that was built around Superman stories that couldn’t be told anywhere else I can’t think of anything more fitting.
The whole aesthetic of feeling like a story that Jack Kirby never told is also present in the artwork as Steve Rude forgoes his rather famous painted style to evoke Kirby in both style and storytelling. The storytelling here is a total throwback with a lot of large panels, usually in a six panel grid, and a lot of static posing from the characters. This is helped by the colours of Glenn Whitmore, who uses a very flat palette under Rude’s heavy inks to evoke that retro feeling on the page. The only thing missing from the artwork is a solid Kirby krackle and I would have been convinced that this was the Jack Kirby story that time forgot. This one is a story perhaps more niche than most, but if you can appreciate what Ordway and Rude are going for here then you can tell that they completely stuck the landing and took the bitterness away from it being the last story by reminding us of a simpler time for comics.
Of all the stories over the course of “Adventures Of Superman”‘s 51 chapter run, there are no three stories more varied in their style and tone to have used for the final issue. From Niles and Smith’s empathetic ghost story to DeConnick and De Landro’s touching romantic adventure to Ordway and Rude’s throwback to a time gone by, this issue showed that this series really did have something for everyone. It ran the gamut of Superman stories, placing him in almost every scenario and style imaginable and was a great reprieve during the times in which it seemed like the New 52 had no idea what to do with the big blue. While creators like Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder and Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr. seem to be turning the tide as to how Superman is used in the New 52, it’s still bittersweet to bid farewell to a title that brought out the best in the creators that worked on it by showing a Superman that was truly timeless. Still, there’s always hope, right?
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Even if there isn’t a story that speaks to you in this issue, I guarantee there is one in the 51 chapters of “Adventures Of Superman” overall that will remind you just why Superman is so great. Fare thee well, “Adventures Of Superman”; you will be missed.
