DC Comics 2021
Written by Robert Venditti
Illustrated by Wilfredo Torres
Coloured by Jordie Bellaire
Lettered by ALW’s Dave Lanphear
Superman ’78 tells a brand-new adventure in the world of the beloved film. A bright, shining day in Metropolis is interrupted by a mysterious drone that crash-lands in the city and starts wreaking havoc. This looks like a job for Superman! But where did the metallic menace come from, what is its purpose, and who is Brainiac?
Honestly I was going to pass on this one but when I was at my local shop my friend who works there said he’d flipped through it and it was really good. So upon his advice I decided to take a closer look at it. I’ve been a Sueprboy fan, from his days with the Legion and a Sueprgirl fan but never really a Superman fan so this really was a stretch for me. But I fondly remember the film and as I read this I realised just how well Robert captured the feel of those films. The meek and timid Clark Kent who no one would realise was really Superman and how he managed to be so convincing with his aww shucks attitude it really brought back fond memories of being a kid.
I am super impressed with the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does this utterly phenomenal job in bringing their personalities to the forefront. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, introducing the characters and establishing when this takes place takes us back to a much more innocent and simpler time.
I am thoroughly loving the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and grow. From the opening on Krypton to seeing how Clark stalks Lois, yes he casually bumps into her constantly and we all know that’s pretty much stalking and everything in between adds this depth, dimension and complexity to the story beautifully. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is perfectly achieved.
I’m always impressed with the interiors from Wilfredo. Granted this doesn’t really look like Reeves or Kidder but the feeling of who they are is still infused in what we see. The linework is phenomenal and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work we see throughout the issue is rendered exceptionally well. I’m loving the fact that we see backgrounds incorporated as we do to enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is brilliantly rendered.
There are so many things about this issue to love and that the robotic Brainiac, Super Powers collection, is simply a tool of the being we know is a stroke of genius. I am also struck by how much this engages the reader because while Superman survived the planet's destruction we know Argo City does as well and Brainiac should have the bottled city of Kandor so there’s a lot of Kryptonians left in this universe, and this isn’t even counting those in the Phantom Zone. This is a sensational issue and it makes me look forward to what else we’re going to see. With some stupendous writing and incredible characterisation being brought to life by these utterly charming interiors it’s like we’ve been transported back in time.