Great Story Marred by Occasional Instances of Lazy Writing
COMICVINE'S TOP 100 SUPERMAN STORIES #22
Superman Secret Origin is a modern re-telling of Superman's origin and early escapades. For those that missed the reviews of the first four issues, the miniseries began with a couple weak issues dealing with Superboy before getting very much better in issue 3.
This issue still has a lot of what I liked in the past few issues. Artists Gary Frank (pencils), Jon Sibal (inks) and Brad Aderson (colors) use Christopher Reeves as the character model for Superman, and have great attention to detail, using modern illustration technology (the reflections on an auto body that Superman picks up early in this issue are amazing) without over-using them. The only complaint with the art is with the covers that often seem to depict things either an issue ahead or an issue behind the current issue's story.
Writer Geoff Johns takes characters from the past such as Metallo and Parasite and seamlessly integrate them into a single storyline. But, the writing in this issue is marred by a few flaws that in my estimation take it down a star. Some of these flaws are relatively minor. Short jumps in time excused perhaps because Superman moves at super speed... At one point in this issue Superman saves a firefighter and civilian by catching a burning timber - in the next panel he has to save them before the fire explodes - which he does. But rather than give some thought to the practical matters - what does he do with the timber? He can't just drop it on them. Does he in a split second decision throw it? If so where? Could that not add air to the fire and make it worse? What if he threw it and caused more damage, or worse hurt other people while saving these two?
Such practical, albeit fairly mundane, questions that could be asked would make Superman comics a far more interesting read, however they aren't a major criticism, more like a minor nitpick. The big issue I often have with Superman as a character, is that it's easy for writers to just make him do anything - he's Superman, his powers must be limitless. After that same fire in this issue, he says that he knew it was arson because he saw (we are never shown) the traces of gasoline with his microscopic vision. Nevermind the fact that microscopic vision is a power I'd rather see done away with - he has it, fine. But does he know what every single chemical compound looks like on a microscopic level and can sort them out at a glance in his head? This is what I mean by lazy writing and having him be able to do everything.
Similarly, late in this issue, Luthor performs open heart surger on Sgt. Corben. Not a cardiac surgeon in Luthor's employ - Luthor himself. Emergency open heart surgery with no prep time at that. Just like I don't like a Superman who can know and be skilled at everything simultaneously, I also reject the idea of a Luthor that can be a shrewd billionarire businessman, and a master of every form of science known to man, including cardiothoracic surgery with no time to crash course himself in it.
The final flaw of this issue that really got to me was a two-fold one. At one point, Sgt. Corben orders his soldiers to 'stand down'. They do not listen to him and keep shooting. This is not something U.S. soldiers would do - directly disobey orders en masse. As bad as that is, it's the allows for the incredible coincidence of a bullet ricocheting off Superman and hitting just the right spot on Metallo's armor (which comes with a Death Star-like tiny vulnerable spot previously unmentioned) to allow Superman to escape.
It's still an above average issue. One that has a lot of excitement and action, in fact. And it ends on a great cliffhanger. So, while it's not up to the quality of the past couple issues, it still ranks as an above average comic in a serious that is far above average.
