Comics

Superman #1 by George Pérez & Jesús Merino

Having read the new Action Comics #1 yesterday, it seemed only sensible to read the other Superman reboot today. Whereas the former has been one of The New 52's more praised books, Superman has proved more divisive.

No surprises, really: Action Comics' "Young Superman" story is the kind of tale that always messes around with the status quo and accepted continuity; Superman, however, is set in the 'present day' of the new DC Universe, and it makes significant changes to the pre-New 52 setup. Clark and Lois are no longer married, for instance, and apparently have never even had a relationship; Perry White now looks less a roly-poly editor and more a slightly older Man Of Action; and Lois is heading up a digital division for the company that's just bought out the Daily Planet. How very Modern.

As someone who didn't read Superman before, and isn't necessarily intending to keep it up now, I'm not necessarily all that bothered by all that. It makes sense to move with the times after all, and this is the way the news business is going. Plus, if you're trying to attract new readers, many believe the setup is a will-they-won't-they between Clark and Lois, not a married couple, and it's probably wise to play into that. Is it right to play fast and loose with continuity and character development for the sake of engaging new readers? Well, that's a much wider debate the whole industry needs to engage with.

The issue does make mistakes for every reader, mind. There's some dreadfully clunky dialogue and exposition, most of it coming when the story ought to be getting more exciting rather than more wordy -- this is a comic, not a novel, so ditch the prose description of the pictures! Then there's a one-page aside that apparently serves no purpose other than to shill Stormwatch, a completely unrelated New 52 comic (which was released weeks before this one, in fact) -- a stupid distraction. And apparently having cast Justin Bieber as Jimmy Olsen is obviously a bad idea.

Other than that, though... It's not one I'll be rushing to buy in print, but I might check out issue two sometime.