What was the last “great” Rolling Stone album? This question could be debated for days but I believe the general consensus is their last really good record was around the Exile on Main St., early ’70’s era – Sure some Some Girls in 1978 is pretty good but for the most part The Stones hit their peak in ’71-’72. After “Exile” they should have called it quits, but no, Mick, Keith and Co. kept putting out records for the next 40 years, each one a little worse the the last (I’ll let Tattoo You off the hook thanks to “Start Me Up”. That tune is just too catchy.)

What was the last “great” Jim Lee comic? Again, a question up for debate, but hey it’s my review so I get to pick and I’m gonna say the last time Jim Lee was a really great was during his “Hush” Batman run (only then for the first 6 issues) – and honestly, if I really want to nitpick, the last time Jim Lee felt “relevant” was during his X-Men run back in the early ’90’s. Funny thing though, when I was checking out Jim Lee’s work he honestly hasn’t done as much as I thought – it just seems like there should be more comics listed there on his Wikipedia page.

At any rate, what I’m saying here is, The Stones and Lee need to retire.

This issue of Superman Unchained reads like a aging comic artist trying to fit in with the cool kids. I almost feel embarrassed for Jim Lee. His work here in this issue looks like some second rate “knock-off” artist of Jim Lee. It’s bad. It’s not good. There are a few pin-up pages that do look alright but you can tell he had most likely drawn these months ago and just photo-shopped in the art when the story called for an “awesome Superman pose”! But overall the art feels OLD and TIRED and BORING.

In these days of David Aja’s, Chris Samnee’s, Arron Kuder’s, and Francesco Francavilla’s, Jim Lee’s art just doesn’t hold up anymore. It doesn’t move the story forward as much as is it freezes it in place to say to the reader, “hey, check me out! I’m Jim Lee and I drew this!”

To emphasize what I’m saying here let’s take a look at this weeks Marvel Comic release of Hawkeye #12. As chance would would have it I read Hawkeye right after I read Superman Unchained and thank god, cause it immediately got rid of the bad taste “Unchained” had put in my mouth. Hawkeye’s artist this month was one of those aforementioned cool kids, Francesco Francavilla and he delivered a stunningly beautiful issue and took Fractions story to another level – which is what good artists do. But as much as Hawkeye #12 pleased me it also saddened me. It reminded me of one of my favorite Scott Snyder stories, Detective Comics #874 (part of The Black Mirror story arc). That issue was also drawn by Francavilla and brought out the best in Snyder and made a fan of his storytelling. The synergy of the writer and artist is felt in Detective Comics #874, it is felt in Hawkeye #12, but it is noticeably absent from Superman Unchained.

Bottom line I suppose is I sorta knew what I was going to get with Lee on art duties and that the real reason I took the time to write this review, the real reason I’m disappointed is that….

…expected more from Snyder.