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Review: Superman #712

By | June 24th, 2011
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Written by Chris Roberson Kurt Busiek
Illustrated by Eddy Barrows Rick Leonardi

Meet Los Angeles’s newest super hero in the latest Chapter of “Grounded”: Sharif! But Sharif discovers that in today’s current cultural climate, some people don’t want his help — they just want him gone. Can Superman aid Sharif and quell a prejudiced public, or are there some problems too big even for the Man of Steel to solve? Krypto!

It’s this week’s “controversial” issue: what was supposed to be a story about an Islamic superhero has ended up being about an American superdog. Was the story too controversial? Did it really have something to do with kittens?

Oh well. None of that matters right now. We’re given a five year old story about Krypto, so let’s talk about it after the cut.

I can enjoy a good spot of controversy. I think most people do at heart. Especially in the world of internet “journalism” (however you’d like to define it), it’s always great when something happens that allows you and your respective publication to pull back the curtain and point fingers at whoever. In this case, we have Superman #712, where the absense of the character Sharif is being immediately interpreted as Islamaphobia by other venues. Not so much by this one, though; I actively try and avoid getting Multiversity mixed up in that kind of business (it’s good for hits, but sometimes I feel dirty accusing companies of blatant racism, especially without knowing all the facts). Pointing fingers never helps anyone, especially when there’s one simple thing that gets overlooked: There is still an issue on the stands to talk about, isn’t there?

Ok, granted: this might not be the issue you wanted. But this is the issue we have. On top of that, it’s an issue that has been missing for five years. So now that it’s here, why not enjoy it and/or talk about it a bit?

So. The Krypto issue. Long lost, it follows the poor pup as he deals with the death of Superboy in Infinity Crisis and the absense of Superman who, following the crisis, was depowered for a whole year. It’s a cute and poignant litte story about the devotion of a pet, somewhat along the lines of Futurama’s famous “Jurassic Bark” but much less heartbreaking. Krypto flies along in the world searching for his companion and friend, but is ultimately left all alone on a rock in space. For anyone that has a pet, it’s sure to bring a little flutter of emotion in your heart.

The only problem is – this issue is so late that it’s basically useless now. That might seem like a harsh way to put it, but look what has happened in those five years: Superman was repowered a year later, and Superboy came back in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds. Since then, we’ve had two titles that have featured Superboy and Krypto hanging out (Adventure Comics and Superboy, respectively). We’ve been able to see their relationship flourish even more now that Conner is alive again, and thusly reading a five years late issue doesn’t have as strong an impact. Really, it barely has any impact. I can remember Conner when he was gone, but after the issue is over you close it and say, “Well, let me go read the latest issue of Lemire’s Superboy; they’ll be together there, no worries.” The loss of Conner isn’t part of the story because he’s already gone, so as you read it you’re not implicitly seeing it as a singular element of the issue; it’s just history now. Maybe if Conner weren’t around it’d be more meaningful, but as it stands there isn’t much to get choked up about. It’s an out of place and out of context story of yesteryear, and it kind of boggles my mind why – as much as I enjoy a good pet related adventure – they decided to throw it together at the last second like this.

Ultimately, it comes down to this: say what you will about the year long arc, but DC claims that part of the reason that the Sharif issue was canned is because they don’t think it fits into Grounded thematically. Alright, I will accept that as blankly as I possibly can. I’ll just nod my head, smile, and say, “If you say so!” I don’t need to get enraged about it. Maybe it was just a terrible issue? (I doubt it.) But to replace it with this just seems even more inappropriate. No matter what it was that made the Sharif issue canned, whether it be kittens or insensitivity issues, there is no way at all that a Krypto issue factors into this storyline better – especially one that takes place five years ago! There is just no way that it fits into the story. None. I can’t buy that logic, DC. On top of that, for someone like me who has been enjoying Grounded (to an extent, anyway; it’s not perfect, but it’s not as bad as the internet likes to pretend it is), it kind of feels like a slap in the face from the publisher. Not the heaviest slap in the face (because it stars an adorable pooch, so awww), but this is an instance where I personally get the feeling that DC Entertainment does not care about the story, nor do they care about the fan (me or anyone else). That’s arguably my harshest criticism: DC seems like a company that wants to be higher in the marketplace than it is but it is very fearful of the reactions from the larger world, so after the controversy that Superman has brought in the past year it almost seems like they’re just playing it safe against the larger media at the expense of the fans that read the comic (because let’s be honest: a large portion of the people who raged against the whole “Superman is no longer American” bit don’t actually read Superman right now).

Continued below

DC is a curious place right now. As much as I would like to pretend that I really understand them having spent a couple years now analysing trends in the industry, it seems like everything is going to hell behind closed doors. It’s getting fairly sad to be a DC fan at this point; I want to believe and will keep supporting them in other titles (I’ve got a few new books on my pull for their relaunch), but I want to read a Superman comic that isn’t being treated like garbage. That seems like an easy request, right? Paul Cornell is kicking ass and taking names on Action Comics (so thank you for that), but between JMS dropping this comic and now Chris Roberson being treated fairly poorly (considering he had no idea this was going to happen until the 11th hour), the general feelings of disrespect are felt here. DC can’t claim Roberson was late, and neither was the artist Eddy Barrows. The comic was ready. I can’t imagine that a company like DC didn’t know that the fan reaction would be negative. So if you have a character as big as Superman – a flagship character, mind you – it doesn’t make any sense to give him two titles when one is great and one is kicked around. It just looks bad.

I like Krypto. I really do. I like Busiek’s writing, even when he gets excessively expositional and dense (Avengers Forever, anyone?). I can appreciate a good Krypto issue when I’m given one, and this is a good issue about Krypto. But it is late. It is late beyond all belief, to the extent that it is literally no longer relevant. That is something I can’t appreciate. No matter what was wrong with the original #712 issue, attempting to toss something out of the gate at the last second is disrespectful to fans and creators. That turns a “good” Krypto issue into a “whatever” Krypto issue, and suddenly I’m writing a rant as opposed to a review and can’t even really bother to give the issue a real rating since there is no reason to buy it.

Who knows: if this issue had come out five years ago like it was supposed to, perhaps I’d be writing to you then about how great it is, and how heartbreaking it is to see Krypto go through the loss of someone in a way that humans can’t fully understand. I’d be writing allegories to my own experiences with pets, and the dog I left at home when I went to college (he’s fine; he’s my dad’s best friend now). But this isn’t five years ago. It’s 2011, and I’m supposed to be buying the “Grounded” arc. I had no plans to revisit Infinite Crisis any time soon, and perhaps when I do I’ll reconsider my stance on the whole ordeal/issue. However, if DC is going to treat this like a throwaway issue – because make no mistakes, that is exactly what has happened here – then that’s exactly what I’ll do myself with my copy. This will just get tossed in a longbox, and I’ll go on to pay more attention to comic books (and companies) that treat me as a fan better than this. Call me when Roberson’s issue comes out.

Although, maybe the only thing that was really missing was a Connie Francis soundtrack.

Final Verdict: It doesn’t even matter. Pass on it.


Matthew Meylikhov

Once upon a time, Matthew Meylikhov became the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Multiversity Comics, where he was known for his beard and fondness for cats. Then he became only one of those things. Now, if you listen really carefully at night, you may still hear from whispers on the wind a faint voice saying, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as bad as everyone says it issss."

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