DCU Comic Book Reviews

FINAL CRISIS SUPERMAN BEYOND 3D #2

Superman Beyond

February 2009

Written by Grant Morrison

Pencils by Doug Mahnke

Inks by Christian Alamy with Tom Nguyen, Drew Geraci, and Derek Fridolfs

Covers by J. H. Williams and Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy

Synopsis

Ultraman has read the Infinite Book and realizes there is a God and his name is Mandrakk.  He is building a bridge from the void into the multiverse.  Meanwhile, machines from the void invade Limbo.  Ultraman wants to take the ship and tell the world of Mandrakk.  Captain Marvel stop him.  He tells Superman the Monitors have the power to stop the invasion, but they need the help of Captain Adam, who slowly develops a new understanding of reality.  There are no dualities, only symmetries.  He then fuses Ultraman and Superman into one, a gigantic thought robot that takes them to the world of the Monitors.  There, Superman confronts Mandrakk, who holds the key to save Lois.  Superman is able to defeat Mandrakk and return to Earth to save Lois.  However, Mandrakk still lives and he creates Ultraman as his First Knight of Terror.  When Superman is at his weakest, Mandrakk will come with an army of millions.    

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

At its heart, the plot of this book is fairly simple:  Superman’s wife is gravely ill so he travels to another dimension, where he stops the onslaught of the bad guy, and then returns home to save his wife.  Hell, a good portion of this issue is spent on the superhero plot cliché (the fight between Superman and Mandrakk).  But as simple as all that sounds, Morrison peppers the narrative with ideas, concepts and situations that do not normally appear in a comic book.  It is the amalgamation of Morrison’s high concepts that he has been investigating and exploring as a writer for however long he has been doing this and the format and conventions of a superhero comic in which the hero wins despite impossible odds.  Overall, I am not sure it is perfect and there are parts where I think Morrison takes the concepts slightly too far (the pseudo techo-babble jargon can give you a headache sometimes), but I would prefer a comic that stretches and tries to do things differently than one that settles to recycle tired conventions.  This is the type of book that I will be able to read multiple times and enjoy it more and more because of so much that Morrison has put into it. 

I think what Morrison is mostly writing about is the nature of creating comic books.  The “To Be Continued” at the end of this issue is a comment about the serialized nature of comic books; these stories never end and the characters will always go on.  All comic books end to be continued in the very next issue.  At one point, Zillo Valla declares that there is one story that is unstoppable, which is the origin story of Superman.  It will always go on (note the wink to the reader with the words “I can’t wait to her it”) at the end.  Based on this issue, I get the feeling the Monitors are supposed to be representatives of DC writers, artists and editors, the ones who create the stories that we read each month.  Mandrakk then represents callous companies who try to shut down comic books.  And Nix Uotan represents Morrison, the one who is trying to break down the walls of comic book conventions for something different and unique.  Or am I reading too much into it?  But then, that is why this book is so fascinating. 

The art is not quite clear, but I am guessing that Superman puts the elixir in his mouth (“I daren’t speak”) and then transfers it to Lois when he kisses her at the end.  I was expecting to see something pass between them, but there is nothing there.  Perhaps a few drops of blood? 

Essentially, Mandrakk needs to attack and conquer the Void first because that is the beachhead (in war terms) or the entry point into reality itself.  Limb is the place of forgotten or near-forgotten characters, the last stop before disappearing from reality altogether.  So, by stopping Mandrakk, Superman saves the multiverse.  Well, at least until Final Crisis #7, when I am thinking Mandrakk returns for his final assault.  

Finally, I will reiterate what I said in my review of the first issues of this story regarding the use of the 3D.  It is not a bad idea and I kinda like the effect, but when only a portion of the book is in 3D it hurts the reading experience.  Who wants to put on and take off their glasses as they are reading?  Actually, I read it the first time without bothering with the glasses.  For the second reading, I put on the glasses and just flipped through the pages without reading the words.  When I sat down to read it, I had the glasses off. 

I have a list (found if click here) of the supposed reading experience of Final Crisis, per writer Grant Morrison.  Based on the list, this issue is extremely late (by several months).  In fact, the second panel of page 20 of this issue (what shall we engrave upon your tombstone) is the first page of Final Crisis, issue #1.  Given the huge gap between the first and second issue of Superman Beyond, I’ve got to wonder if there is some kind of issue dealing with the 3D.  Or was this delayed because the main series has largely been devoid of the Monitors?  By releasing the book now it kinda cements the return of Mandrakk and explains more about Nix Uotan and what is happening with him. 

I am amused that there is an ad for the Watchmen graphic novels opposite a page feature the Dr. Manhattan analogue Captain Adam.  Further, the ship on that page has the same color scheme (Yellow with splashes of black and red) as the covers to the Watchmen book.

 

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