DCU Comic Book Reviews

WAR OF THE SUPERMEN #4

The Battle For Earth

July 2010

Written by James Robinson and Sterling Gates

Pencils by Cafu

Inks by Bit

Cover by Eddy Barrows and Aaron Lopresti

Synopsis

Led by General Zod, the Kryptonians have invaded Earth.  At the White House, Supergirl fights Ursa.  At Project 7734, General Lane orders to take no prisoners and to execute any captured Kryptonians.  In Metropolis, Superman fights General Zod, who taunts the Man of Steel with threats against Lois Lane.  In Washington DC, Ursa defeats Supergirl, but in turn is attacked by Krypto.  Then Guardian, Steel, and Superboy arrive to help.  Superboy then orders Krypto to retrieve something from the Fortress:  the phantom zone projector.  Superboy flies around the world and captures as many Kryptonians as possible.  Meanwhile, Supergirl, Steel, and Guardian invade Project 7734 headquarters.  Supergirl attacks General Lane, ready to exact justice for the death of her parents, but Lois Lane convinces her not to do it.  However, rather than be captured, General Lane takes his own life.  In Metropolis, Superman continues to fight Zod.  Superboy arrives with the Projector.  Zod claimsthat even is put in the zone, he will escape.  Superman knows this so he locks himself in the zone along with Zod, in order to prevent him from escaping.  However, Chris Kent proclaims himself guardian and using the last powers of Nightwing, returns Superman to Earth.  Later, everyone’s lives continue as they dream of a better world. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I hate to repeat myself, but I think the weekly schedule helps this mini-series immensely.  This was an extremely fast paced story that rushes through the war.  It is structured well and it reads well enough the first time through it.  I felt like I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to see what happens next.  A lot does happen in this issue.  The problem, of course, is that the more you think about the story and the issue, the more it falls apart.  The biggest is that Superboy was the ultimate hero, the one who though to use the Projector and the one who (apparently because we didn’t see it) raced around the world to capture the Kryptonians.  It is a good thing he caught everyone before he visit Zod and Superman (note:  sarcasm on).  Anyway, the best I can say is that it was fast paced and it is over; now, we can move on to other stories. 

In a way, this story was a reboot, taking the entire Superman franchise and returning it to the way it was before Geoff Johns brought Zod into the DC universe, what, three years ago?  Zod, Non and Ursa are back in the Phantom Zone.  New Kryptonian is gone.  Hey, Supergirl is an orphan, just as she was before it all started.  Clark and Lois no longer have a son.  Mon-el and Guardian are no longer in Metropolis.  Lois’ father is dead.  Everything new is old again.  Granted, Robinson and Gates leave the door ajar with the news that some Kryptonians are still on Earth, hiding, and of course Zod and the rest in the Phantom Zone.  All of the toys are still available to be played with, but for the moment that are being put on the shelf for other stories to be told. 

There were a number little and big pay offs in this issue to the events that have occurred in the Superman family of titles for the past two or so years.  The big payoffs are noticeable; it is the little payoffs that irked me, because there were there to provide resolution but ultimately didn’t really make sense.  The best (somewhat) is the Guardian’s confrontation with Codename:  Assassin.  I say somewhat because it has been so long since the events that Guardian describes that it took a moment to remember what the hell he was talking about.  The others are really lame, such as the four panels of Steel laying the smack down on Atlas (he couldn’t beat him earlier, but can do it now?  Does that make sense?) or even lamer (like the one panel of Supergirl putting smackdown on Superwoman).  Worse, what the hell happened to Lucy Lane (aka Superwoman) after that?  No mention of her, at all, in the epilogue at the end. 

I don’t buy Sam Lane’s suicide.  It feels more like a plot contrivance to remove him from future stories (or basically a return to the status quo before the Kryptonian story started) and less like a good character moment.  You might argue that perhaps Lane knew that Natasha’s knowledge would unravel his position as the General of the United States army, but it seems to me that Lane would be ready to fight against anyone who might discredit him.  He has the ego and the confidence to battle against anyone.  Killing himself feels like a cowardly act, something that Lane would not be. 

Again, I should point out that Zod should not be able to wield a Kryptonian knife.  Just holding the thing close to him should cause him a lot of pain.  But, at the very least, it is consistent with Ursa’s use of the knife earlier in the story.