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geekwayne's review against another edition
4.0
'Superman Reborn (Superman, Volume IV)' by Dan Jurgens, Peter J. Tomasi, and Patrick Gleason collects issues from Action Comics and Superman. It attempts to pull in all the different Supermen and combine them into one.
The Superman of the beginning of the story is new to his Earth. On this Earth, Superman died, but a Clark Kent with no powers was left behind. Lois tries to figure that out, but not before Clark goes weirdly creepy and kidnaps her son Jon. There's a reason for that which you will have to read to discover.
Along with that, Superwoman is critically ill and she comes to Superman for help. Her story gets kind of shunted aside to focus on the Superman story.
The various versions of Superman that have been around for the past few years are referenced at one point or another. I like the story they came up with. All the storylines are a bit of a mess and this tries to reconcile that. I think it does a farily good job of that. The art is pretty even between issues of Action Comics and Superman. I like the twists and turns this title takes, and the strong sense of family at the heart of it. This is a Superman that I hope we get to keep for a while.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
The Superman of the beginning of the story is new to his Earth. On this Earth, Superman died, but a Clark Kent with no powers was left behind. Lois tries to figure that out, but not before Clark goes weirdly creepy and kidnaps her son Jon. There's a reason for that which you will have to read to discover.
Along with that, Superwoman is critically ill and she comes to Superman for help. Her story gets kind of shunted aside to focus on the Superman story.
The various versions of Superman that have been around for the past few years are referenced at one point or another. I like the story they came up with. All the storylines are a bit of a mess and this tries to reconcile that. I think it does a farily good job of that. The art is pretty even between issues of Action Comics and Superman. I like the twists and turns this title takes, and the strong sense of family at the heart of it. This is a Superman that I hope we get to keep for a while.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
daileyxplanet's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed in this crossover. I have been loving Jurgens' run in Adventure Comics and Tomasi as well, but this just fell flat. I don't hate Mister Mxyzptlk, but he's not my favorite either, so when he was revealed as the duplicate Clark Kent, I was pretty disappointed.
Him being jealous of Jon Kent made sense, but still fell fairly flat for me.
Him being jealous of Jon Kent made sense, but still fell fairly flat for me.
captwinghead's review against another edition
3.0
* received from edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. *
I’ll begin by admitting that I 100% don’t understand what happened between New 52 Clark and Rebirth/Pre-52 (?) Clark. I’ve read wiki articles, I’ve read two volumes of Rebirth Supes and someone tried to explain it to me on Twitter before I read this book and I feel like I know less about what transpired. As I understand it (and for the love of Rao, please correct me if I’m wrong) but New 52 Clark disappeared and Pre-52/Rebirth Clark took over? And that’s the one that married Lois and has Jon as a son? Is that right? Did I ace the exam?
All of this to say that the perfectionist in me had a hard time pushing past that confusion and just reading this book. However, I tried not to let that affect my enjoyment of the book. Onward!
So, this book centers around Lois trying to discern who this mysterious Clark Kent is. There’s a Clark Kent that seems to be an exact replica of her husband. They have a lot of the same memories, mannerisms and share a lot of personality traits. This Clark doesn’t seem to have any powers and he’s living life as a mild mannered reporter. She endeavors to figure out who he is.
Antagonist!Clark is super creepy towards Lois. Which, while unsettling, made for a pretty interesting plot. I must say that, similar to Tomasi’s Superman run, Lois is a bad ass in this book! i really liked her character. Jon was great here, as well! I’ve really come to love his character from Tomasi’s Superman run and Super Sons. Weirdly enough, the one character I didn’t get a super great read on in this book was Superman. I felt like this focused more on Lois and Jon dealing with the matter at hand and their perspectives on Clark.
Spoilers ahead!
The conclusion was a little confusing as well. Especially because, as I mentioned, I’m still not 100% on how the Clarks came to be. However, once I got past that, this was a pretty entertaining book. The art was great and I really like the characters. It's a recommend if you're enjoying Rebirth Superman and looking for more of that vibe.
3 stars.
I’ll begin by admitting that I 100% don’t understand what happened between New 52 Clark and Rebirth/Pre-52 (?) Clark. I’ve read wiki articles, I’ve read two volumes of Rebirth Supes and someone tried to explain it to me on Twitter before I read this book and I feel like I know less about what transpired. As I understand it (and for the love of Rao, please correct me if I’m wrong) but New 52 Clark disappeared and Pre-52/Rebirth Clark took over? And that’s the one that married Lois and has Jon as a son? Is that right? Did I ace the exam?
All of this to say that the perfectionist in me had a hard time pushing past that confusion and just reading this book. However, I tried not to let that affect my enjoyment of the book. Onward!
So, this book centers around Lois trying to discern who this mysterious Clark Kent is. There’s a Clark Kent that seems to be an exact replica of her husband. They have a lot of the same memories, mannerisms and share a lot of personality traits. This Clark doesn’t seem to have any powers and he’s living life as a mild mannered reporter. She endeavors to figure out who he is.
Antagonist!Clark is super creepy towards Lois. Which, while unsettling, made for a pretty interesting plot. I must say that, similar to Tomasi’s Superman run, Lois is a bad ass in this book! i really liked her character. Jon was great here, as well! I’ve really come to love his character from Tomasi’s Superman run and Super Sons. Weirdly enough, the one character I didn’t get a super great read on in this book was Superman. I felt like this focused more on Lois and Jon dealing with the matter at hand and their perspectives on Clark.
Spoilers ahead!
Spoiler
It’s revealed that Mister Mxyzptlk was posing as Clark as a disguise after he escapes imprisonment. He’s bitter that Superman didn’t come looking for him in the time the the was missing. This is a typical Joker/Batman type plot where the villain feels a connection with their heroic counterpart. I actually found this interlude form Dini to be quite entertaining. I liked the art style and the bright contrasting colors. I liked that Jon was the one to hear the story, although I wish Mxyzptlk didn’t kidnap my son to get to this.The conclusion was a little confusing as well. Especially because, as I mentioned, I’m still not 100% on how the Clarks came to be. However, once I got past that, this was a pretty entertaining book. The art was great and I really like the characters. It's a recommend if you're enjoying Rebirth Superman and looking for more of that vibe.
3 stars.
lanternatomika's review
3.0
The Rebirth era was all about fixing the problems of The New 52, and this storyline kinda merges the new Superman with the one from before Flashpoint.
Except didn't New 52 Superman die? That's what they said in DC Universe: Rebirth.
I've only recently started caring about Superman, so I don't know enough about the version of him that's replaced through Superman Reborn. A lot of this was confusing, and it didn't help that the villain was Mr Mxyzptlk, a pretty confusing Superman villain.
That's a me problem, I think. If I had the background on this story, I would've enjoyed it a lot more, and the art was pretty sweet! Also, I hadn't read a Tomasi and Gleason collab since I finished Grant Morrison's Batman saga, and it was nice to come back to their style.
Except didn't New 52 Superman die? That's what they said in DC Universe: Rebirth.
I've only recently started caring about Superman, so I don't know enough about the version of him that's replaced through Superman Reborn. A lot of this was confusing, and it didn't help that the villain was Mr Mxyzptlk, a pretty confusing Superman villain.
That's a me problem, I think. If I had the background on this story, I would've enjoyed it a lot more, and the art was pretty sweet! Also, I hadn't read a Tomasi and Gleason collab since I finished Grant Morrison's Batman saga, and it was nice to come back to their style.
murphyc1's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty hard to follow. However, there are a couple nice Superman Family scenes and a moment in which writer Dan Jurgens makes us empathize (a little bit) with Mr. Mxyzptlk.
The difference between the artwork of Doug Mahnke in the Action issues of this crossover arc and Patrick Gleason's in Superman is absolutely jarring. Mahnke is one of DC's most competent workhorses, whereas Gleason's work is hideous and amateurish. Perhaps the best thing about this volume are the variant Gary Frank covers in the brief gallery in the back of the book.
The difference between the artwork of Doug Mahnke in the Action issues of this crossover arc and Patrick Gleason's in Superman is absolutely jarring. Mahnke is one of DC's most competent workhorses, whereas Gleason's work is hideous and amateurish. Perhaps the best thing about this volume are the variant Gary Frank covers in the brief gallery in the back of the book.
twilliamson's review against another edition
3.0
With the aftermath of the New 52, the DC Universe got really, really weird. It's a struggle to keep everything oriented to the new status quo, and Superman Reborn finally attempts to bring together the two disparate visions of Superman, much like the Superman Annual issue attempted to do through having Superman meet Swamp Thing and the Green.
This four-part story reintroduces Mxyzptlk, and uses his background--and recent history--to finally suture together the weirdness of what happened to Superman post-New 52. The whole plot feels much like a course correction of sorts, a righting of the ship that feels necessary to finally condense the new DC universe back to a single, more coherent storyline.
It doesn't quite work; it still relies too heavily on recent events, and the insistence of a DC continuity in this new universe is just as frustrating as it has ever been. Still, that the story wants so desperately to finally return the identities of Clark and Lois to their rightful owners is heartening, and the final thoughts regarding Clark's love for Lois, and vice versa, is the real heart of these characters.
In other words, this is an interesting story with pretty clumsy and regrettable execution, but is otherwise a service that does seem needed for the betterment on the whole of the DC Universe, especially as it regards Superman.
This four-part story reintroduces Mxyzptlk, and uses his background--and recent history--to finally suture together the weirdness of what happened to Superman post-New 52. The whole plot feels much like a course correction of sorts, a righting of the ship that feels necessary to finally condense the new DC universe back to a single, more coherent storyline.
It doesn't quite work; it still relies too heavily on recent events, and the insistence of a DC continuity in this new universe is just as frustrating as it has ever been. Still, that the story wants so desperately to finally return the identities of Clark and Lois to their rightful owners is heartening, and the final thoughts regarding Clark's love for Lois, and vice versa, is the real heart of these characters.
In other words, this is an interesting story with pretty clumsy and regrettable execution, but is otherwise a service that does seem needed for the betterment on the whole of the DC Universe, especially as it regards Superman.
miamollekin's review
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
violet_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
babettes's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
It’s so solid. A great Superman story for this specific retelling of his character. Wow