Superman Unchained is the newest Superman title from DC Comics. It conveniently was timed to release the same week that Man of Steel is being released in theaters. However, this is not just an attempt to grab some cash because DC has pulled out the big guns for this title with Scott Snyder and Jim Lee. Snyder is riding high due to his exceptional run on Batman and I am really excited to see what he does with Superman. Jim Lee is, well, Jim Lee. Either you love him or you don’t. I have always been a fan of his art and his Superman is one of the best of all time.
This is the first Superman title I’ve picked up in months because I am just not a fan of what they have done with the character in the New 52 world. With that being said, the talent alone made this a must buy. Speaking of “buy”, my only major negative is the price. $4.99 is just absurd. What a hard pill to swallow.
What about the story? Well, we start out with a flashback to 1945 and an unknown figure with red eyes seen in the skies over Nagasaki. Snyder manages to sneak in a “it’s a bird, it’s a plane” reference pretty early on. It made me smile so, no harm, no foul. We quickly jump to present day with a little internal dialog of Superman reminiscing about his days in Smallville. It’s a nice moment that is replaced by a phenomenal sequence that is Jim Lee at his best. Lee takes a panel that many artists would have probably glossed over of Superman breaking apart a falling satellite and puts so much detail into it that it almost feels like it is moving. Speaking of satellites, they are falling out of the sky. This is the eighth one today and Superman is convinced that it is intentional. Someone is “guiding” them towards Earth. More heroics and several more nicely written scenes by Snyder and I am starting to feel like this might be the Superman that I’ve been missing.
We get a quick appearance by Jimmy, whoops sorry, Jim Olsen, Lex Luthor and Lois Lane. Then Superman is off to investigate a satellite that appears to have changed course and landed in the Andaman Sea. The rest of the book gets spoilerish pretty quick to explain, but we are introduced to some well known and not so known characters, including the big bad mystery man from the opening pages. All in all, it’s a great first issue and I’m really interested in seeing what this superstar creative team has planned.
We get a bonus story by Snyder and Dustin Nguyen starring Jimmy, dangit, Jim Olsen and Perry White. It’s only a few pages, but it is tons better than the whole Channel 52 stuff they’ve been doing in the backs of books lately, this one included.
