I'm Not Stupid, I SEE What's Happening, You Don't Have to Tell Me
The Good: While its not a great cover, its still a better cover than the last issue. It doesn't turn me off as much.
The concept is extremely interesting. Superman is fighting an enemy that only he can't see? That's a really unique concept, and it's executed pretty excellently for the most part...
The Bad: ...Except it's extremely confusing. How come normal humans can see it, but Superman can't even whne he simulates normal human sight? Why go to the ridiculous degree of effort to be invisible to Superman, but visible to normal humans? How come cameras can see the monster, and Superman can see the monster on camera? It makes for an interesting fight, but it makes very little sense.
And Perez, I'm not an idiot, ok? You don't have to explain every single thing that happens in detail with the absolute clunkiest of dialogue.
And while there were some pretty fantastic metaphors about Superman and his relationship with the media... that were just TRAMPLED when they were blatantly spelled out in the end with awkward exposition. There was some decent subtlety being built, and then every effort was made to utterly bury it and burn it.
And everything's made worse when they force the tired played out idea of 'Is Superman a Danger By Existing? Does he draw threats to him?' I was barely an interesting idea when first played out, and at this point its just a stupid cliche. But no, that appears to be the entire theme of this FREAKING ARC. Not only do I hate the idea, it's being forcibly shoved down my throat at literally EVERY opportunity.
In Conclusion: 2/5
It was a cool idea, and there were a lot of good things within, but they all got trampled over after being trampled by the horrendous 'point out the obvious' dialogue, and the cancer of the bad ideas. I was REALLY hoping this issue would be better, and for a few pages there I was enjoying myself. Then people started telling me about what I was seeing and my heart sank. This series is making me think George Perez is a bit of a relic. He's much more suited to something of a different age. But again, that's just what I gather from my limited exposure. And he's not as bad as John Byrne. But I can barely find a reason to read this when there are so many far superior New 52; even Supergirl and Superboy are better.
