Written by Grant Morrison (Main Story) and Sholly Fisch (Back-Up)
Illustrated by Andy Kubert (Main Story) and ChrisCross (Back-Up)As the assault from an alien threat takes a turn for the worse for Metropolis, keys facts about Superman’s past are brought to light for the first time! And how can certain elements from The Man of Steel’s future help to prevent the theft of the millennium? Don’t miss this awesome issue from series writer Grant Morrison and the guest art team of Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang!
It all begins again for the first time! Being part of the New 52 means that there is a new origin waiting to be uncovered for each character (provided they don’t have a bat or a lantern on their chest, anyway), and Superman was no exception to that. This time, it’s Morrison’s turn to tell us how Kal became Clark and how Clark became Superman. Being the resident Superman fanboy, it was expected that I take the book, right? Take a trip with me into the Phantom Zone to see how this book stacks up!
Of course, by “into the Phantom Zone” I mean “beyond the cut!” But as a note, there are slight spoilers discussed.
There is possibly no character with more origins than the Last Son of Krypton. Since Smallville started in 2001, there have been no less than three variations on the beginnings of Superman before this one, including Smallville but not including this one. I’m not even including Elseworlds tales like Secret Identity. That’s a lot of rocketing from Krypton.
But regardless, how does this stack up against the other tales I mentioned?
2003’s Birthright is probably the benchmark origin for Superman. No other origin has come along that resonates as well as that one, putting a character like Superman in a realistic world and not making it silly or forced. That’s the opposite of the world our DCnU Clark is in, as Morrison is one that revels in the surreal. This book is almost the polar opposite of that, as Morrison’s work often revels in the more surreal side of comics, especially when dealing with The Original Super-Hero.
In some ways, you can consider this to be a prequel to his magnum opus All-Star Superman. In All-Star, he masterfully told this same origin in 4 panels and 8 words. This book expands upon those 8 words and fills in the gaps between that beautiful page and the following story. It works too. Perhaps not as elegantly as one might expect from Grant Morrison, but it works.
The most interesting choice in the book was the decision to have Brainiac provide the narration to the story as the computer onboard the ship that brought him here. It’s a rather stark departure from the previous Brainiac incarnation, and one that brings it closer to the Smallville origin of Milton Fine and Brainiac.
The idea of the villain narrating the story brings a whole new perspective to the origin. It’s something that isn’t used very often in the way of telling these sorts of stories; and you can imagine how, say, Batman’s story would read differently if it was Joe Chill who told the story.
But I digress. The story is well told, and is a serviceable replacement origin. It’s already more engaging than the Johns Secret Origin from 2009, but not quite as engaging as that Birthright book I love so much. What this book does really well, and even better than Birthright, on the other hand is make his origin more integral to other books in the universe, for better or worse. While Legion of Super-Heroes and Legion Lost are not good books by any stretch of the imagination, this book establishes them as important to read, and even piques my interest to go back and read those. Even their Whovian Time-Lock seems to tie into the Brainiac storyline in the pages of Action Comics. That sort of cohesion is really appreciated as much as it is maligned, because now to get a full story, you need to read, well, terrible comics.
Continued belowOne the art side of the things, Andy, the Kubert brother du jour, provides art, and he’s a serviceable replacement for the seemingly tardy Rags Morales, who will return in issue #7. Andy Kubert makes for some of the best splash pages in the new 52 so far, with a breath taking display showing the actual destruction of Krypton, which is probably the most doomed planet in the history of fiction, perhaps more than Alderaan even. There have been so many depictions of the destruction of the planet, that to stand out, you have to be REALLY good. His storytelling also helps set off the book, as with Morrison’s style, books live or die by the artist’s storytelling abilities. I felt there were some funky designs, but they didn’t detract so much from the book that it was unreadable. But, for future reference, the rocket design seemed a little messy, especially after entering the atmosphere.
The back-up story, written by Sholly Fisch and illustrated by Chriscross, sheds a bit of light on Ma and Pa Kent’s life before Clark. Filled with bible allegories and flat out comparisons, the story doesn’t’ really add much to the saga, but makes for a fun diversion from the main yarn. The art doesn’t look quite as good as the main story itself, but is in no way terrible. It simply has a softer feel to it, which fits the story more than Kubert’s art could do.
All in all, this is a quite entertaining version of events that doomed Krypton but gave us our big blue boy scout. The question remains how long it’ll remain canon, although I hope it’s soon. I’m not sure I can handle another origin in the main universe again.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – Buy
