"...let's see what we can do this time."
Superman Secret Origin Part 5 of 6 features Superman still helping out around the city. Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are taking photos and writing stories, respectively. Lex Luthor is getting increasingly frustrated with the coverage of Superman, specifically the hope it's giving people. John Corben makes an appearance at the Daily Planet. Throughout the issue we see vintage Clark Kent knocking things over to cover an escape to make the change into Superman. Parasite makes a cameo. The main troublemakers in this issue, besides Lex, come in the form of General Lane and Metallo. We see, at least in my opinion, much like the Parasite, a re-imagined origin story.
The Good
Gary Frank has delivered a consistent series and this issue is no different. There's just something about the art that lets you know that these events transpired years ago, as it should be. It's like a throwback
Lex Luthor, in my humble opinion, has been given an almost fresh life in this series, just the character portrayal alone is something to rave about.
Obviously Geoff John's writing is top notch as usual. With retelling anyone's origin there's the possibility of getting stuck, but throughout the run I've been entertained by this re-imagination of the classic Superman stories.
John Corben's story, enough said.
The Bad
There's really not a lot that I would consider bad, more of a pet peeve I suppose. I understand everyone's love and affection of Christopher Reeve's Superman and to be honest I'm one of those people, but I think it's a little much. I feel like it's kind of being forced a little, it's not damaging to the story, it's just in some panels it comes across as weird to me.
The Inconsistent Schedule
This has been one thing that has really killed the momentum of this book. By all rights this should have been finished a couple months ago. I realize Geoff Johns has a lot on his plate, and it might not even be his fault, but the lack of consistency I feel is damaging the interest in it.
Overall it was a really good installment to this arc. Like I said though, the timing is getting a little annoying. If you haven't been reading this 6 issue series then you can't really jump on in issue 5, so go get the back issues. If you've been following it you won't be disappointed, the story progresses naturally and the concluding issue should be pretty amazing.
