SUPERMAN #701

Review by: TheNextChampion

What did the
iFanboy
community think?

557
Pulls
Avg Rating: 3.6
 
Users who pulled this comic:
Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Art by EDDY BARROWS & J.P. MAYER
Cover by JOHN CASSADAY
Variant cover by JOHN CASSADAY

Size: 32 pages
Price: 2.99

This site went absolutely bananas over this. I must admit I am one of those men who made it turn into bananas. Clearly there is a divide over who will like this or not. For the sake of mine (and everyone else’s) sanity, I will not go any further then how controversial this new run of Superman has become. Ever since the master plan of this arc has been announced I have been excited for this new story by JMS. Did it meet it’s expectations though?

Well……

Let’s get to what is the worse part about this issue. It’s the art ladies and gentlemen. Now maybe it’s because I am not used to the works of Eddy Barrows. Or maybe just something didn’t feel right while reading this. I’m not sure as of yet. All I know is, that there were some really fugly panels in this. Faces are very inconsistant and their expressions are very bizarre. There’s always a tendancy, at least I noticed, on how some artists really like to show teeth on their characters. Don’t know why, but Barrows really wants a lot of people to smile in this. It just unnerved me and I know that is a weird complaint but it did take me out of the issue a bit. There are also some weird choices in this. I don’t know if it was in the script or not, but to showcase the drug dealers trying to stop a fire (will stop there for lack of spoilers) was just odd to see. That’s not to say there isn’t some bright spots in this. The beginning pages are really good and Barrows does a good job to showcase just how ‘giant’ or ‘godlike’ Superman is to others. Still, I just felt that art was the low point of the issue.

On to the story itself. ‘Oh!’ is what I said when I kept reading on. I just loved every single page that JMS put into this. I love the idea of this story and so far JMS starts it off with a bang in my hometown of Philly. He gets the voice down for Sups quickly and he handles the media attention of it well. This is the Superman I want all the time in comics. Not a guy who fights aliens 24/7 (not that I don’t want action) but a guy who is just a bit more ‘superior’ then the average person. The whole sequence with the jumper was really well done for me. Now, is it better then Grant Morrison’s take in All Star? No. But I think JMS handled it well enough and made it tense to see whether he would make Superman go that far in terms of saving that woman.

There’s not an alien, supervillain, or anything remotely sinister in this. JMS is going to go full gusto, it seems, with having this arc just be Superman walking across the country. For me, I am happy with what I read and I felt JMS did a great job with the first issue. Could it have been preachy at times? Maybe, but considering JMS does start his runs on anything a bit preachy I can overlook it. If only Eddy Barrows art could be better then what it was. It could’ve been my POTW had it been better. As it stands, it’s a great first issue and I cannot wait to see where Superman decides to walk to next.

Story: 5 - Excellent
Art: 3 - Good

Comments

  1. I like your review in that I am glad to see someone articulate what they like and appreciate about this story concept. First, art is subjective, of course, but I thought Barrows art was the only good thing about this issue. 

    So much of the story didn’t seem to make sense. I know the actual walking around is symbolic, both to us and Superman himself, for a more "grounded" perception, but it seems forced and flat out bone-headed. If he’s going around helping people with normal problems, he could certainly do it faster by flying and zooming around to do so. It was little things like heat zapping the power cord of the police spotlight that don’t make sense. I don’t know how much those machines cost, but it was still destruction of government/public property for a JMS moment. Pointing out the fuel line rupture on the first page seems pointless since the guy still has to go to the mechanic to get it fixed, or, if he does it himself, still has to actually fix it. Thanks, Supes, for saving him 20 minutes of poking around.

    Now, despite all that, I really, really enjoyed the compassion and humanity displayed in the pages where he floated with the suicidal woman on the ledge. 

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