Customer Reviews

Superman: Ruin Revealed (Adventures of Superman)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This trade collects:

Superman #218-2002 (written by Mark Verheidan (Smallville) and illustrated by Ed Benes (Birds of Prey).

Adventures of Superman (written by Greg Rucka and art by Karl Kerschl, Morales et al.)

Action Comics #829 (written by Gail Simone and art by John Byrne)

Wonder Woman #219-220 (written by Rucka, art by Morales, Johnson et al.)

This is the collection that is an extension of the OMAC Project. It takes place when Superman is min-controlled by Max Lord and attacks several members of the JLA obviously including Wonder Woman. The story overall is written very well, especially the portions written by Rucka. He really delves into the Superman character and knows what makes him tick. He also captures the relations between the big 3 JLA members very well. Yes, they are colleagues, yes they are friends, but there are certain lines that they are not to cross. The Wonder Woman issues after the big event is also handled very well as she re-examines her friendships with Batman and Superman in light of the recent events and her actions. And last but not least, is the fight scene. Long have comic fan boys (including a younger version of myself) examined the situation if Superman fought Wonder Woman...what would happen? Well, Rucka and a plathora of artists answer the question...and answers it very well. Wonder Woman is no push over and in this book, we see the warrior side of her personlaity fleshed out. She even turns her much-maligned tiara into a deadly weapon.

The only problem I had was with Verheidan's portion of the writing which is basically two issues in the book. His ideas seem all over the place and needs to be tied down a bit more, for the sake of making the story flow a little better. While, Rucka insists on slow and methodical, sharacter-driven writing, Verheidan opts for action...too much of it at times. And that's the only downside.

This book is recommended for those following the Infinite Crisis events and also for those who wants a look at the darker DC universe.

Like the previous volumes in the Ruin trilogy, this story has problems all over the place. For one thing, it's inaccessible to people who aren't long-time Superman readers. I've been reading comics for years, but no effort is made to explain Ruin's identity when he is unmasked - you're just supposed to know. Then there's the way the story jumps all around the place, in part because of Infinite Crisis and in part because like the previous volumes, DC keeps shifting writing duties around. So Superman will be worried about Ruin one moment, and the next - bam! - he decides to chase down Toyman.

On top of all this, the writing is melodramatic enough to make Jeph Loeb wince. It opens, for instance, on a six to eight page flashback of Ruin's previous attacks (played on tape), with a monologue from Lois explaining the rationale behind Ruin's strategy. But, I mean, it's pretty straightforward - it doesn't need an entire issue explaing how Superman is nigh-invincible, and the best way to get at him would be to attack Clark Kent's friends. Hasn't Luthor had this idea before? Say, every time he kidnaps Lois Lane? Throw it an idiotic plot twist like former President Pete Ross being mistaken for Ruin when Pete Ross being president is an idiotic idea in itself, and the whole thing is completely unbelievable.

I know it wasn't all written by Greg Rucka and Geoff Johns, but they're both capable of much, much better things than this.

Rucka offers to his wonder-woman readers a great story with this compilation. He is the driving force behind it. This plot was designed so a character that was suffering for lack of interesting stories could be highlighted and could be made look better than its usual standard.

The summary is simple, Superman is manipulated mentally, and is put in a situation where he is willing to kill to avenge his loved ones. This is of course completely out of character, there are many other stories out there where Superman is put under the same (or worse) scenario and he is never willing to kill.

But having him behaving as a lunatic was necessary, so wonder-woman could be used at the end of the story to stop him. Not only Superman doesn't know who he is fighting (and what he sees is different to what is happening, hence his hallucination), but because he is portrayed as completely out of control he fights like a street fighter with no training whatsoever. He just punches his way through, which is again totally out of character.

All this was orchestrated (with Rucka as the architect, although other writers were involved), so that wonder-woman could be place in a position of superiority that the character never has had. Therefore, fans of this character were happy to see it finally doing something out of the box.

In my opinion, this story does nothing but humiliate Superman and all that has been done with him prior to this plot. Fans of Superman will find this really poor and should be prepared to feel that the character is used as a scapegoat to make a second tier heroine shine for once.

If you really want to see the destruction of Superman, I would advise to read a copy of this compilation from a local library. Believe me, Superman's fans that pay for this mediocre story will feel at the end a great remorse of having spent a single penny on it (I sure did!).

This story was a prequel to the Infinite Crisis event, and used as the excuse to break up the "DCU Trinity".

The original concept called for Superman to basically lose any respect for life and put him in a position where he became the bad guy and needed to be stopped by a heroine.

Keep in mind that during those days Greg Rucka (the architect of this story) was the writer of the Wonder Woman book (which was selling very poorly until then), and a new gimmick was needed to improve sales for that character (the cover of this book was the cover of WW #219). The result was this story that shows us how superman can be mentally manipulated, and be broken to the point of being willing to kill anyone to avenge the death of a loved one.

Of course, Rucka's heroine (WW), comes at the end to the rescue, fights a zombie-out-of-control-superman (who himself thinks is fighting a monster called "Doomsday"), and gets to stop him (and even suggests that she could have killed him).

This is totally out of character for Superman, as shown in an incredible book that you can also find here (Superman: Ending Battle, ISBN 9781401222598), where the authors show us the real strength of superman. His power goes beyond the application of his super-strength and other abilities, but in his amazing auto-control for not injuring badly his enemies (no matter what they have done to him!). I would strongly recommend reading that book instead of this one.

"Superman sacrifice" is a sacrifice but of Superman's true character, it was designed by an author who never understood the man of steel, and whom is obsessed in showing us that super-heroines are better than their male counterparts. This attitude can be easily observed in any of the titles that Rucka wrote for DC during his tenure in the company. I believe this book will be enjoyed by folks that hate (or really dislike) Superman and/or are die-hard fans of wonder woman.

Superman is arguably one of the three most recognizable fictional characters in the entire world. He is known all over America, Europe, Africa, Asia, etc. He is the ultimate immigrant and embodiment of the best human qualities. Several books have been written explaining the origin and appeal of this incredible character during his long career (one of the most recent, and very recommendable: Our Hero, by Tom De Haven).

He is usually depicted as invulnerable. However, he has no defense against a terrible force that has plagued fictional characters always: Bad Editors and Poor Writers.

This title (Sacrifice) was an attempt to deconstruct the superman mythos, and give us a broken character that needed to be fixed during the next several years (hence given DC editors a nice steady income).

The storyline was presented back in 2005 when plans to refresh the entire DC-Comics line of characters were underway. At that point in time, a second tier character in need of yet again a new injection of vitality was chosen to help breaking the superman mythos: wonder-woman (a well known character in North America, and a few other countries, but basically unknown in most of the world).

The idea was to present a renewed wonder-woman that could appeal to male readers, given her a stamina almost as impressive as superman's. In addition, an emphasis was given to the few weapons this character relies upon (tiara, lasso, etc.) indispensables to ensuring her survival in a fight against the most powerful being in the DC-Universe.

This approach produced a short term interest in the second tier character, however, over the last few years the increased power levels have been a drawback for wonder-woman comics sales. After the original appeal of having a female crime fighter willing to kill if appropriate, during 2007-2010 her comic book sales were steadily decreasing to the point of selling less copies than practically unknown characters (such as Booster Gold). A new change was needed, and in mid-2010 wonder-woman was depowered (yet again), to more human levels (roughly half the strength of Superman), and a new costume was given to her. The objective is to make her close to Superman strength (70-80% of his), and focusing her adventures to the realm of magic and mythos.

Fortunately, the editors at DC comics seem to have learned that in order for their fictional universe to work, Superman needs to be the epitome of greatness. He cannot be portrayed as a supporting character (as he is in this collection) in any storyline of relative importance. This is especially true if these books have any hope to be sold outside the US, where Superman is still considered the Greatest Hero of Them All !!!

Someone beat Batman to near death.

Who did it?

Why is the Justice League keeping Superman at arm's length?

This story takes a character study of several members of the Justice League. The story is deeper than what most comic book fans appreciate. If you are not a deep thinker, then leave this book alone. If you only like non-stop action with little dialogue, this book isn't for you. However, if you like moral questions, character conflict, and a walk with the gods of the DC Universe, snag this book and give it a read. This is an indespensable chapter leading to the Infinite Crisis ahead!

This was a waste of time, the only thing I got out of this mediocre story was a lesson on how to write poor Superman stories:

1. Hire a mediocre writer.

2. Use your main character as a crazy zombie.

3. Plug-in a B-list character to stop the zombie.

4. Don't worry about destroying a Legacy.

What a waste of paper!

Okay, now I have yet to read Superman: The Journey, but from the premises I read from different comic book websites, this is definately NOT the book the two reviewers underneath read. They are talking about Superman: Sacrifice (Countdown to Infinite Crisis), NOT Superman: The Journey. I just wanted that to be known.

I wanted to like this story more than I ended up liking it.

The DC Trinity together in one TPB should almost guarantee for a great and epic story, right?

Well here we get the sense that things will be epic, but they never really turn out to be more than the start of a snowball effect that leads us (in some way) to the Crisis event of 2006.

Look, that Wonder Woman makes what seems to Batman and Superman a drastic decision is great as a plot device.

That Superman is a threat is a great plot device.

But somehow the two don't really seem to strike the right chord with me.

I am in no way against what WW does, but I am more concerned with the seeming ease with which Superman is made to be a threat in the story.

The fact that the art changes styles and seems subpar in the last part of the TPB is a real letdown for me, too. If only the art could have been solid througout, I could have let this one squeeze by with 4 stars, I think.

I don't think DC fans will be let down by this book. Casual readers may not see the events within all that big a deal.

I personally fell for the hype in this story and expected more.

I feel sorry for people who spent any amount of money on this terrible product.

If you must, borrow it, but be prepared to have a horrible feeling after completing it.

Simply bad.