Superman: Endgame

Writers: Joe Kelly, Jeph Loeb, Stuart Immomen, Mark Millar & Mark Schultz

Pencils: Butch Guice, Ed McGuinness, Stuart Immomen, Doug Mahnke, German Garcia, Kano

Inks:  Kevin Conrad, Mark Propst, Richard Bonk, Cam Smith, Jose Marzan, Jr., Tom Nguyen, Marlo Alquiza

              I haven't read a Superman title in a few years, so I decided to order one of the more recent trade editions. I've been hearing positive things about how the Superman titles have come together under changed editorial direction in the past few years, but really never having been a dedicated Superman fan I found it easy to avoid. With the alternative being locking into four series, plus specials, in order to keep up on the continuity... I've tended to let it slide. Guys like me must drive the comics companies nuts. I complain when there's a lot of out-of-continuity activity going on in the spin-off series - you know, like when Spider-man is in New York in Amazing, but is in the second part of some deep space adventure over in Spectacular - and then I avoid another series because it's all tied together in a Buy Them All package. (Okay, it's probably obvious I haven't picked up a Spider-Man comic since well before Byrne's Chapter One, but Spidey was often all over the place before, so he seemed a good example.)

              The story in this collection is set on New Year's Eve, 1999. Ah, that Y2K nostalgia. Along the way we get a history lesson on Metropolis and the Luthor family. Interesting stuff here and there. Ultimately its central theme is the connection between the two, and by the end of this five-issue collection I get an inkling of what led to the later, successful presidential bid by Luthor that only the ostriches haven't heard about by now.

              By and large, the main story and its component stories work. There's a fairly strong sense of characterization for each of the main players. The narration is largely provided by the main players. Some are real-time and direct, while occasionally one runs parallel, with thoughts by one character in one place running over the action of another (usually Superman) in another circumstance.

              The guest-stars include the Metal Men, and gave me an update on some unpleasantness I didn't know about; they lost a member along the way, I have no idea how or how long ago, and I won't say who in case it would be a surprise to someone thinking about reading the story. We also see Red Tornado, which I'd thought DC had all but forgotten. I'll have to tap one of my stalwart DC, post-Crisis (post Zero Hour, etc...) continuity experts to find out where Red Tornado fits in these days. I don't even know if he was ever a member of the JLA now. But.. I digress.

              The artwork varies with the component parts. Look, I'm an older guy... maybe that makes me a little inflexible. It's arguable. There's no getting around the fact that I vastly prefer the look of pencils by Immomen or Guice over the comparably cartoony work of McGuinness or Garcia & Kano.  The McGuinness/Smith work was highly-touted, so someone must really like it. To be fair, it tells the story, but as soon as the McGuiness/Smith team hits the look of the characters changes; while Superman himself suddenly bulks up in a way that makes him look a little stocky, that's nothing when compared to the shift in Lois. Aside from the unexplained change in clothes and hairstyle - which could be attributed to a respite between issues - Lois appears to drop a decade. To make things even more ridiculous by the final chapter, when Garcia & Kano take over, Lois becomes even younger and more rounded - utterly unrecognizable without the dialogue - young enough to land Clark in jail unless the laws concerning age of consent are markedly different on Earth DC than they are here. The worst thing I can say about Guice's Lois is that she's patterned strongly after Margot Kidder, which I suppose is akin to the hommage seen in a recent issue of Starman, where there was a rather Christopher Reevesish Superman guest-starring. I don't necessarily give it a hearty approval, but at least these are understandable, recognizable moves. The Mahnke/Nguyen art, not to leave anyone out, is darkly effective for the Darkest Hour aspect of their chapter. Their mix is strongly reminiscent of Mike Mignola - I realized this when  I almost looked for Hellboy to pop up. It does make for a Superman who looks as if he has something evil on his mind, though.

              So, will this sampling pull me into buying the Superman titles regularly? Sorry, guys. However, I am interested in tapping into more of these trade collections. I wish they'd go for a better package deal on these, though. Seven or eight issues should make up one of these trades, not five.

                                                              MJN

Any comments?