32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One Of The Most Epic And Riveting Large-Scale Superman Arcs, September 3, 2009
This review is from: Superman: Ending Battle (Paperback)
Reprints Superman (1986 series) # 186, Adventures Of Superman # 608, Superman: Man Of Steel # 130, Action Comics # 795, Superman # 187, Adventures Of Superman # 609, Superman: Man Of Steel # 131, and Action Comics # 796.
Sometimes in the comic books world, a major story that embodies the word 'epic' - in all the best senses of the word - comes along and flies under the radar of much of the comic-reading public, simply because it wasn't accompanied by the requisite hype blitz. Such was the case with 2002's Superman crossover 'Ending Battle', which sold good numbers but certainly didn't set the comics world ablaze the way an event of this magnitude - one of the definitive story arcs for one of comicdom's top characters - might have been expected to. And it was only just recently that it finally got its own Trade Paperback edition. 'Ending Battle' might be compared in scope to
Identity Crisis (DC Comics) - in ways smaller, because it focuses on one hero (Superman, obviously) but in ways larger, because it's a globe-spanning tale bringing in a ton of characters for some of the grandest action and most seemingly insurmountable obstacles the Man Of Steel has ever faced.
It starts with an attack on one of Superman's oldest and closest friends, Pete Ross (who's actually serving as the Vice President of the United States at the time this story takes place) by the Master Jailer and Neutron, an attack Superman manages to put a stop to without too much difficulty. Superman might think that this particular adventure ends then and there except for a phone call placed shortly thereafter - to Clark Kent, Not Superman - expressing no surprise that the plot was foiled, because "You're faster than a speeding bullet." That combined with attacks almost immediately after the Jailer/Neutron incident, with separate villains targeting both an obvious choice (Ma and Pa Kent) and a less obvious one (Clark's old high school football coach Walt Andrews, who even I had never heard of before this arc) and the pattern is undeniably clear: someone major knows Superman's secret identity, and is getting at him by targetting everyone he's ever been close to. It's been a nightmare scenario for Superman all along, and for most of the other superheroes - hence the need for secret identities in the first place - and now it's all coming true with terrifying speed that even Superman might not be able to contain. Some of the initial wave of foes being sent in for the attacks are relative lightweights, including Terra Man and especially Ratcatcher, but the stakes get rocketed right into the stratosphere when one of the attackers is Evilstar (frequent Green Lantern adversary), a character with a power level that can threaten entire planets. From there Superman has to fight the fight on three fronts - directly, against the increasingly dangerous opponents joining the fray; pre-emptively, trying to round up all likely targets to a secure location and enlisting allies to protect them (who ultimately may not be up to the overwhelming onslaught they're about to face); and ultimately, to find and confront the mastermind behind the whole affair. There are several potential candidates, but one stands out as liklier than others in Superman's mind... Whether he's right or if it's some less heralded dark horse villain who's stepped in to pull this off, isn't revealed until later in the story.
'Ending Battle' called in a huge array of villains from the ranks of Superman's enemies (and sometimes from outside those ranks; I don't think he'd ever encountered Evilstar, for example, before this) plus a host of brand new (mostly as-yet unnamed) powerhouses for a veritable war against the Man Of Steel. When you stack these kind of odds against your protagonist - even one on a Superman level - and then aim to have any chance at all of having the good guy win, or even just hold his ground against so much powerful opposition, you run the risk of, well...of just having the story fall on its face and look stupid. Probably every comics fan has read at least a couple of stories where it's a case of, "there's no way, if they're going to be even roughly consistent with pre-established power levels, or even the power levels within this one story, that this guy's gonna last five minutes, unless it's just that he's Scripted to win". In 'Ending Battle' though (and I'm not going to reveal whether Superman's efforts are a 100%, unqualified success or not; but by the time he's taken down Evilstar and is still keeping up with the new villains, you know he's at least doing pretty bloodly well for himself) it doesn't seem fake. That it re-establishes Superman on an even higher power rung (not quite as high as the post-
Infinite Crisis Superman power levels, but I think even DC realized they'd set him a bit TOO high at the end of Infinite and in the issues immediately folowing, and pulled back on the reins a bit so he was more believable after a few months) and does it so credibly speaks volumes of the skill with which this arc was put together. Superman's arguably pushed harder than ever before, and we see him adapt by using his powers in new ways, but it doesn't feel contrived. For an arc of this scale, if you want to keep presenting the character with credible challenges afterwards, you can't have literally All his rogue's gallery going after him, so: no Doomsday, no Darkseid, no... I'll just leave it there and say there's a few other major enemies he doesn't take on directly in Ending Battle. But those that are there represent some A-list villains by themselves. You can see Mongul and Silver Banshee right on the cover, so it's not giving anything away to say that they're in here - characters who can give Superman a real tough time one-on-one, let alone partnered together and with a slew of other powerhouses (sometimes big-name ones, sometimes obscure). I'm still, after all this time, impressed that they pulled this off so well.
It's not all non-stop action, with lots of suspense in here as well, and some dramatic revelations and consequences in the final acts. There are two moments in particular from Action 796 (the finale issue to this arc) that are really emotionally powerful and just shocking.
Drawbacks - in a couple of the issues (each title had its own artists), the art on a couple of the villains could have been rendered a bit better. There's one I'm thinking of in particular - who I won't reveal because he came in later on in the story - who could have benefitted from a more photorealistic depiction, rather than the highly stylized one he got. Other than that (and one's hard pressed to even notice so minor a shortcoming on the first read), no drawbacks I can think of.
Although not the most heralded of the big, multi-issue Superman arcs, in my mind it's one of the most essential. If you're a DC fan or comics fan in general and haven't read Ending Battle yet, I really encourage you to get it as soon as possible.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An action-packed Superman story anyone can enjoy, December 4, 2009
This review is from: Superman: Ending Battle (Paperback)
I picked this up from my weekly comic shop visit after reading Stephen O'Blenis' in-depth review and I must say, it was pretty darn awesome.
I don't want to go into a long and drawn-out review but there were so many excellent qualities to it that I could not see myself giving it less than five stars.
"Ending Battle" has all the elements of what makes Superman a cool character. Superman is one of those characters that receives a lot of criticism. He is too powerful this, he is too much of a wuss that, he wouldn't do this, or he wouldn't say that.
I'm sure the extreme Super-skeptics could pick this apart and find something wrong with it but for everyone else who just wants a solid Superman story, then you can't really go wrong here.
If you have the basic idea to the Superman mythos (Lois, the Kents, Jimmy Olsen, he works for the Daily planet... ect) then you can pick this up without having to have read 38 previous Superman volumes and pinpoint which continuity he falls under.
There is a wide array of villains in here and it does reference some events (like the "Imperiex War") that I was not familiar with but it does not affect the story or the pacing at all. It was kind of breath of fresh air in the event-driven world of comics we all now read in.
The story progressed well, the dialogue was fluent and crisp and the action was delivered really well. The writers really utilized Superman's abilities and powers to orchestrate action-packed battle sequences that felt like a well-done summer blockbuster movie. I really want to nerd-out and describe some of them but I'm going to refrain from the spoilers.
I even dug the suit change, after a few pages I did not even notice it.
Bottom line is that this story may not be a career-changing moment in the Superman mythos but it is one of the best examples of a solid Superman tale that is not an origin, or else world tale (I don't count All Star Superman because it was out of regular continuity).
On top of everything else, 8 issues for $15 bucks is a steal. I'm actually ordering a couple more "Ending Battle" trades to give out as Christmas presidents to my friends who have never really given the man of steel the chance he deserves.
Hope that helps.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superman's True Character, October 12, 2010
This review is from: Superman: Ending Battle (Paperback)
This book compiles one of the best stories related to superman's character.
It establishes that no matter how bad things are, killing is not an option that our hero will take.
It shows us how well trained superman is, not only in the application of his powers, but in his amazing auto-control for not injuring badly his enemies (no matter what they have done to him!).
Specifically, superman will never try to kill simply for revenge, even if he is being hurt via his loved ones.
I believe the authors of this tale did a good job by confronting superman with an incredible number of enemies, and using Lois Lane as bait for fueling superman's quest.
This work (unlike superman's story leading to Infinite Crisis, from DC) show why superman has been (and still remains) the prime fictional hero in US society and I would dare to say a beacon to aspire for the rest of the world.
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