Scans: War of the Supermen #1
Written by JAMES ROBINSON and STERLING GATES • Art by Jamal Igle & Jon Sibal
There are at least two levels to every story arc--the idea and the execution. Sometimes I adore the idea but the execution leaves me cold (Busiek's year-long Trinity is a good example of this. How could you screw up a story focused entirely on the relationships between Clark, Bruce, and Diana? Well, by removing them from the world entirely for about half of the arc, turning them into personality-free symbolic archetypes for another third, and introducing a ton of sidetracking storylines).
At the other extreme is War of the Supermen, which I think is very well-plotted, well-written, with good characterization and pacing all around. It's just that the concept is giving me some real serious reservations.
So Reactron (murderer of Zor-El) is being held prisoner and tortured by Alura in Kandor. However, Luthor takes an opportunity to plant a massive bomb on Reactron. When Alura and Kara go to check on him, he taunts them both, saying that Luthor has used him to get his revenge. Alura, realizing what's coming, shoves Kara into a highly shielded room and tries to stop the reaction, but she's too late. Kara is flung free from the explosion, but Alura and all the remaining civilians on New Krypton (the army fleet has left it for now) are vaporized.
Zod and Kal, slugging it out in space at the time, can only watch helplessly. The look on Zod's face as he watches his world destroyed is absolutely devastating.
Ugh, the frozen tears. *cries* That killed me.
Kara remembers Reactron's taunt about Luthor, seizes the Kryptonian flag, and flies off. At the end of the first issue, Zod rallies his troops, all of whom have now lost loved ones and an entire planet, and they prepare to attack Earth. It's all very sad and very moving, and the scene with Kara and Kal is wonderfully-done (they use the silence of space very effectively, and the grief is so palpable).
But here's the thing: Lex Luthor is now a genocide. That's a line I believe he's never managed to breach before (not for lack of trying, of course)--but now he's responsible for the extermination of an entire planet of people. As shardsofblu notes, how can the Supers EVER allow him to walk free again after this? We all know he and Lane will never face lasting justice for a crime of this insane proportions, so it just leaves me feeling sick and sad. I knew NK had to go, but I had hoped it would get re-shrunk, or its core would be unstable. Even having Brainiac destroy it would be better--that's what Brainiac does, after all. Knowing that its human murderers will live on to flourish and taunt Kal and Kara is a terrible thought.
And for what? Luthor, the army fleet is already off-planet. You've massacred a planet full of civilians and left an army of superhumans mad with grief, with nothing to return to and no reason to live. That's brilliant! >_<
So in short, this is a really well-written comic about a concept that I think is very poorly thought-out.
There are at least two levels to every story arc--the idea and the execution. Sometimes I adore the idea but the execution leaves me cold (Busiek's year-long Trinity is a good example of this. How could you screw up a story focused entirely on the relationships between Clark, Bruce, and Diana? Well, by removing them from the world entirely for about half of the arc, turning them into personality-free symbolic archetypes for another third, and introducing a ton of sidetracking storylines).
At the other extreme is War of the Supermen, which I think is very well-plotted, well-written, with good characterization and pacing all around. It's just that the concept is giving me some real serious reservations.
So Reactron (murderer of Zor-El) is being held prisoner and tortured by Alura in Kandor. However, Luthor takes an opportunity to plant a massive bomb on Reactron. When Alura and Kara go to check on him, he taunts them both, saying that Luthor has used him to get his revenge. Alura, realizing what's coming, shoves Kara into a highly shielded room and tries to stop the reaction, but she's too late. Kara is flung free from the explosion, but Alura and all the remaining civilians on New Krypton (the army fleet has left it for now) are vaporized.
Zod and Kal, slugging it out in space at the time, can only watch helplessly. The look on Zod's face as he watches his world destroyed is absolutely devastating.
Ugh, the frozen tears. *cries* That killed me.
Kara remembers Reactron's taunt about Luthor, seizes the Kryptonian flag, and flies off. At the end of the first issue, Zod rallies his troops, all of whom have now lost loved ones and an entire planet, and they prepare to attack Earth. It's all very sad and very moving, and the scene with Kara and Kal is wonderfully-done (they use the silence of space very effectively, and the grief is so palpable).
But here's the thing: Lex Luthor is now a genocide. That's a line I believe he's never managed to breach before (not for lack of trying, of course)--but now he's responsible for the extermination of an entire planet of people. As shardsofblu notes, how can the Supers EVER allow him to walk free again after this? We all know he and Lane will never face lasting justice for a crime of this insane proportions, so it just leaves me feeling sick and sad. I knew NK had to go, but I had hoped it would get re-shrunk, or its core would be unstable. Even having Brainiac destroy it would be better--that's what Brainiac does, after all. Knowing that its human murderers will live on to flourish and taunt Kal and Kara is a terrible thought.
And for what? Luthor, the army fleet is already off-planet. You've massacred a planet full of civilians and left an army of superhumans mad with grief, with nothing to return to and no reason to live. That's brilliant! >_<
So in short, this is a really well-written comic about a concept that I think is very poorly thought-out.