pspin's Superman #14 - H'el on Earth: Build a Parachute on Your Way Down review

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    Superman #14 Review

    Superman #14 Review

    Overview:

    H’el makes quite the entrance as he confronts Superman and Supergirl.

    The Good:

    The story really takes off here and it looks great. I have not read previous issues, only the crossover ones, and so far the story is great. It is very consistent and flows smoothly from one issue to the next, this one picking up form Supergirl 14. The way that H’el makes his claim to the House of El changes the story a little bit and adds an interesting dimension to show what happened to Krypton. When this is combined with Superboy 0, it is really nice to see the communication between the series play out like this.

    Scott Lobdell does a great job with the writing, especially making H’el a relatable character. Overall there is a nice consistency of all of the characters across the series (Supergirl and H’el.)

    The Comicvine review was critical of Lobdell’s portrayal of Clark as a creepy and jealous best-friend-of-the-hot-girl given his interaction with Lois in the beginning of the issue. I must disagree with that. Seeing Clark as a little creepy and jealous makes him a little more human and the only reason that it stood out to me was that it is a bit of a departure from the regular "boy scout" Clark that he has been for so long; but this is supposed to be a slightly younger Clark and he has all of that power, it would make sense that he would try to find out about what is going on in the life of the woman he loves. So while seeing him like this all of the time would be bad, every once in a while is not a bad thing.

    Kenneth Rocafort’s art is, as always, great in all aspects. His take on Supergirl was nice to see and very good.

    The Bad:

    Nothing much as the issue spends a lot of time fleshing out why H’el is doing what he is doing. It is a bit light on action but there is nothing majorly wrong with it. The biggest problem I have is not knowing H’el’s power set, I understand that they are supposed to be mysterious but it is getting borderline too much with all that he can apparently do.

    Verdict:

    Solid writing and great art continue the crossover and really bring it to life. Besides the fairly controversial portrayal of Clark, there are mostly good things with this issue. Anyone looking for a lot of action will be disappointed as there is mostly dialogue here but the action is on its way given the ending.

    4 (4.2) out of 5

    1 Comments

    Avatar image for tomlikesfries
    tomlikesfries

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    Edited By tomlikesfries

    Really good review.

    I might actually pick up issue #13 and this.

    Other reviews for Superman #14 - H'el on Earth: Build a Parachute on Your Way Down

      Superman #14 Review 0

      Cover/Solicit - 4/5- Would I pick-up the comic based on the solicit/cover alone? Are the alternate covers appealing? Does the solicit/cover portray what happens in the issue?Art - 4/5- Do I personally like this artist's style? Does the artist stay true to the characters appearance?Colors/Ink/Lettering - 4/5- Does the work blend well with the artist? Is the coloring/inking enjoyable and easy to distinguish what's happening? Can I easily read the lettering?Layout/Flow - 4/5- Does the layout of the...

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      Division in the House of El 0

      The first year of this series was terrible, but since the arrival of Scott Lobdell as of issue 0 the series has become what it should have been all along, great. I have been a Superman fan since a child so seeing the main Superman series do so dreadful whilst others like Action Comics doing so well wasn't nice. Nothing against any of the other series, and mainly Action Comics, which Grant Morrison has done a great job on, but the main Superman series should be the best like the main Batman serie...

      1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

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