By Damien Becton
Brian Michael Bendis makes his (official) debut on Superman with this week’s relaunch of the hero’s main title. It has been a long awaited debut as the past couple of months DC has been promoting this story with “BENDIS IS COMING” ads. Now he's here, and paired with Ivan Reis. So, does this issue live up to the hype? For the most part, yeah, it does! It’s everything you would expect from a good Bendis book - and some bad things you would expect.
Issue #1 of this relaunch piggybacks off of the The Man of Steel, the weekly Superman book that Bendis also wrote. Many things are shoved into this book: Lois and Jon are both gone while Clark goes out to look for them, Clark takes time to reminisce over his family, he erects a new Fortress of Solitude with the Justice League, and he is also paid a visit by another alien team member. While it may sound like the book is overstuffed, it doesn’t feel that way and it truly breezes by.
If you’ve read any Bendis books over the past two decades, then you probably know that he doesn’t shy away from his sense of humor - and, in this book, he executes it well. There’s a point in the book where he converses with Martian Manhunter, and several times in the middle over the conversation, he has to pause and address an emergency that is taking place somewhere else in the world. Many may think that the Bendis’ comedy beats may grow old or stale, but here, I believe it is done extremely well.
A negative of the book, again, is a common occurrence in a Bendis title: the heavy dialogue balloons. While this book in particular is not the worst that I have seen, there is a panel that occurs towards the middle that I had to reread a couple of times so that I would be able to understand what was going on. I was not sure which balloon I was supposed to read first or second or third. After a couple mixes and matches of the word balloons, I believe that I finally discovered the right order and proceeded to read the rest of the book. The point is, I shouldn’t have to think about what order the characters are speaking in a comic book.
Ivan Reis’ art is excellent is the book, as well. Each of the Justice League members looked great and the conversation between J’onn and Superman was done extremely well. I was never bored looking at any of the panels or had trouble following along from panel to panel. I’ve come to expect a lot from Reis and he doesn’t let me down here.
Overall, the book is a triumph and a welcome addition to the Bendis and Superman catalog. I think that Bendis will be able to hit all the right notes by not making Superman too deep and grim while avoiding the super-campy stuff. He has a track record of creating some fun stuff. Hopefully he can keep this up because if this first issue is any sign of what is on the horizon, then we are in for a fun ride.
SCORE: 4/5
Superman #1
DC Comics