Review: Superman #14

Quick Summary

Pros: The story is great so far and will immediately pull in any reader’s interest. It also brings in concepts and ideas that fans have been wanting to see for a while, specifically Multiversity. In addition, art by Ivan Reis always looks fantastic.

Cons: There are very small aspects that will affect different readers differently.

Overall:  This is a great start to a story arc that promises to be something really and truly special. It manages to incorporate the past while it pushes toward the future in a way that will make you appreciate both. It also seems to be setting up for some real great things in the issues to come so hopefully those issues will live up to the hype as well as this one did.

 

Story

The excitement is real as the first part of the Multiplicity event is finally here. Tomasi and Gleason are bringing together tons of interesting and fantastic concepts here and it is looking good so far. Although just the first issue, I am very hopeful for this story arc as a whole. So far it has already brought together Multiversity, the New Superman, and other Supermen into the story and promises to do even more as it progresses. The hype for this issue has been very intense so far and reading this shows that the hype has absolutely been justified. Let’s hope the rest of the series can deliver in a similar way.

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This is a really solid introduction to Multiplicity and a great way to build excitement for everything coming up. This issue gets you excited to read more. The entire concept behind the Justice League Incarnate returning is fascinating and brings up as many exciting questions as it answers. Why are they there and what is this threat they are facing? How does the New Superman play into this? And how will all of this affect the multiverse going forward? A good comic manages to deliver on your excitement for it while also getting you excited for more. This is exactly that good comic. Hopefully all of this will finally lead to a more clear answer behind Mr. Oz’s statement that Superman is something unique in this multiverse.

Whenever Grant Morrison writes for DC, he ends up weaving some of the most interesting and mysterious details into the continuity, concepts that will blow your mind if you think about them enough. However, many times these details are not followed up upon by anyone but him. This is why it is so cathartic to see a comic like this in the current continuity. Multiversity has barely received a passing mention, since it happened, yet it was one of the best things DC Comics has done with their muliversal continuity. I’m sure that anyone who read and enjoyed Multiversity will be overjoyed to see its return here. Also, who knows, maybe this will open up the doors to other aspects of Multiversity to leak into other comics.

This was such a great issue that it becomes very hard to find any major downfalls to it, the ones that exist are mostly ones that will vary based on personal preference. For example, the issue is a lot better if you have read Multiversity first. However, the work is also written so that it actually does not dive too deep into Multiversity content; if I was going into this without knowledge of Multiversity I would think the existence of these alternate Supermen was just something additional that Tomasi and Gleason were introducing. Overall, the flaws in this issue will vary from person to person, but there are no flaws here large enough to even be worth mentioning.

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Art

Ivan Reis was perhaps the perfect artist for doing this piece for multiple reasons. For one, his superhero art is always spectacular and has a wonderful “comic book feel” to it that few can match. What I mean by this is that he is able to draw people and places in a way that makes them look like they do in our real world, but still retains a look of fantasy. This makes all of his drawings feel like they are really in the idyllic world that comic books take place in.
In addition, Ivan Reis was also the person who first drew much of the Justice League Incarnate in Multiversity. This makes the art feel a little more authentic to the story it is continuing. It also pulls the reader’s mind back to Multiversity in order to make those subconscious mental connections. I think this was a nice little addition that really helps put the reader in the perfect state of mind for reading this.