I haven’t read a new Superman comic since the first few issues of the New 52 Superman. That was several years ago, but supposedly Rebirth is a new jumping off point so I should be okay, right? Well… Before we dive into it lets understand what I knew going in. Clark Kent is Superman. The New 52 Superman is dead. This comic will feature the Superman from the universe/timeline/whatever we are calling it that happened before the New 52. This Superman is still married to Lois Lane. Got it?

The comic starts off with thieves mid heist as the cops and Jimmy Olsen sit outside mid siege. But there’s a man with an S ready to stop the thieves. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… Lex Luthor claiming to be the new Superman. Luthor says Superman is dead, and he is honoring him as becoming the next Superman.

Meanwhile, Superman from other world/timeline/thingy, Lois Lane, and their son Jon (who also is gaining super powers) are unpacking in their new home. This is probably the best part of the book, which sadly lasts way too long. Jon is asking all of the questions you would want to ask Superman if you were a kid, about aliens, space, and why can’t we just use super speed to unpack instead of doing this the hard way?

Sadly this moment is interrupted by seeing Luthor on the news doing something most vile… proclaiming to be a good guy and promising to keep Metropolis safe! There is a brief skirmish, that Superman starts, and then Clark Kent shows up? Who everyone apparently knows is/was Superman and should also be dead… and at this point my head just started hurting a lot.

So New 52 Superman is dead, but New 52 Clark Kent is alive. Old universe Superman is here and wants to stop Luthor, whose only crime is stopping a robbery and saying he wants to honor Superman. Since he doesn’t trust Luthor (even though Superman and Lois say they researched this world’s Luthor and showed he wasn’t all that bad) he then gets into a hugely destructive fight in the middle of the city, cause reasons.

Who am I supposed to be cheering for? Which Superman is which? Why does Superman come out of hiding just to pick a needless fight? Are any of these REALLY Superman? Is this just a bad retread of Reign of Supermen? I just don’t know.

This is where continuity is a giant pain in the ass. I shouldn’t care which Superman is from where. But the entire story seems to be all around which continuity matters, and sadly none of the characters are really interesting. It feels like a bit of a blasé Superman story. Which is a shame.

The art is pretty good though. The super 90s style that infected early New 52 isn’t around which makes me happy. There was a little heavy shadowing, but nothing that was really bad. The colors and shadows did seem to disappear on every shot of the Superman symbol, which at least shows that there’s light still possible even with continuity headaches.

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