Customer Reviews

Superman: The Wrath of Gog

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Chuck Austen came into this story arc, claiming he would take the character "back to his roots," to the wisecracking, violent incarnation of Superman that dominated in the 30s and 40s. For some, this would be admirable, but when such a turn flies in the face of sixty years of character development, it looks more ridiculous than bold.

Austen wrote two fill-in issues of Superman books before he started this regular gig. In both issues, a normal human character is introduced, bonds with Superman, and dies, causing Superman to begin brooding and questioning his role. In one of the issues, he goes after criminals with a fistful of wisecracks and a blatant disregard for human life, tossing inhabited cars into buildings and whatnot. That's not Superman, folks.

Austen's Man of Steel reads like Spider-Man with a cape. He tells jokes, curses, constantly doubts his abilities, and acts in wholly uncharacteristic ways. Besides that, Austen's "plot" is plagued by too many attempts to look cool with no real substance. Gog and Doomsday attack over the course of the arc that begins with this TPB, and Superman gets repeatedly beaten, even by third-string villains like Weapons Master and no-string villains like the inexplicable Repo Man. The convoluted story makes no sense whatsoever, it does not have any sort of logical flow. Austen's writing fight scenes without cohesion or continuity.

Oh, and just for fun, Austen decides to shake up Clark and Lois's marriage by divorcing Lana Lang and her husband, and portraying her as a desperate girl who can't get over her old high school crush, while simultaneously turning Lois Lane into a cold, jealous b*tch.

The biggest shame of all of this is that Ivan Reis's fantastic art is wasted on such a terrible, terrible story.

Austen can write, he proved that in the excellent maxi-series, "Superman: Metropolis." Unfortunately, his run on Action Comics lacked anything that made "Metropolis" good. Check your local comic shop for the 12 issues of that series (since I don't think they've ever been collected), and avoid this as if it were Kryptonite.

I haven't followed Superman, so I can't put this book into the context of sixty years like the other reviewers here, but as a stand alone, I really enjoyed it. I found the action exciting, and the way other hero's (like the Teen Titans) looked at Superman pretty cool. The action sequences (which one previous reviewer derides) were handled very, very well in my opinion. The art was fantastic, and it was easy to tell exactly what was happening from punch to punch.

As to the Clark/Lois/Lana part of the story -- I found it compelling, but again, I was completely lost as to where the relationships should be in the context of what previous writers have done. Perhpaps in the grand scheme things the relationships might have felt off, but for a stand alone book, it was entertaining. And as far as Superman's actions during the fight scenes -- I didn't see the lack of concern for human life mentioned by the other reviews -- at least not in this vollume, which is the only one I've read. In fact, Supe's seemed pretty self sacrificing and inspiring to me. And as for Superman beating Darksied and all his men in under ten seconds -- as I recall it, the story picks up at the end of a long fight between Superman and Darksied's men, implying the battle has been much longer than portrayed. And while Darksied does appear at the end of the battle, it is not as a participant, so it isn't quite accurate to say Supe's beat Darksied and all his men in ten seconds.

Anyway, as someone who hasn't been following Superman, I enjoyed reading this vollume quite a bit.

I suppose this comic TPB would be great if you couldn't read and just looked at the pictures. The artwork is solid and detailed. The problem is with the writing. It seems like writer Chuck Austen always wanted to write Spiderman and got stuck with Supes. The plot is scattershot and Superman spends his time making lame one-liners. There is a contrived sub-plot with Clark Kent being demoted and neither his boss or his wife will tell him about it. The soap opera BS of Lana Lang's pining for Clark and questioning of Lois Kent's commitment to her husband was pathetically weak. And there was the inexplicable fight sequence mixed in with that sub-plot that had nothing to do with anything. What was that all about? Zero stars for writing and 4 for art. If you want to have some cool pictures for your kid to look at, pick this up. If you want to read a Superman trade that is up to expected standards, forget it.

I just finished reading this tpb yesterday, and I must say that I couldn't put it down until I was finished. First off, the art was top-notch, and I loved all the single- and double-page spreads where the action practically leapt off the page. Awesome!

Now, on to the writing... I have heard many bad comments on the writing of Chuck Austen, and very often I have agreed with much of what was said. I have always thought that he does marvelous build-up and good action, but then his stories tend to fall through and lose any real hard-hitting point or make any progress at the end--almost like he squeezes his endings too short when he should take another issue to flesh out the possibilities. However, this was NOT the case with this storyline. Here is the point--normally I don't buy or read Superman because the character is too Pollyanna-ish for me. He is normally too much of the squeaky-clean boy scout. In this story, he had some grit. And come on, aren't superheroes allowed to get upset and pissed off when they are constantly being attacked? Especially when a bunch of second-string villains attack when they know he is injured?

Yes, the whole Lana Lang side-story seemed a bit forced, but sometimes maybe a writer has to push to make changes in characters that haven't really evolved or developed in the past 40+ years. At least this kept my interest. Normally with Superman's personal life, I just couldn't care less about reading more of the same drivel that I read when I was a child.

Overall, this was a good solid read with great action and awesome art, and it even managed to interest this 25+ year reader in the possibilities for Clark's personal life.

I find it hard to even describe this book. It reminds me of a mid-level action movie, the type that comes out in the Summer and does OK at the box office but is completely forgotten a month later. I found Superman: The Wrath of Gog mildly entertaining, but when I was done I could barely remember some parts of it.

The action scenes were done well, but the inclusion of far too many clever one-liners was distracting. In fact, the only reason Gog is able to get the upper hand on Superman in their big fight is because Superman was too busy pausing to say something cheesy. He is also fighting a villain he has never seen before with unknown powers, so to let his guard down so easily, just felt stupid and forced. I always thought Superman should be above one-liners and shouldn't enjoy using violence, but I guess this Superman isn't for me.

The other main story of this book is a Clark/Lois/Lana love triangle, though there isn't much to say about it. I enjoyed it at first, but was very sick of it by the end. I had no opinion of Lana Lang before this,as I haven't read much with her in it, but here she comes across as desperate and annoying.

After years of being foretold in cameos, mentions, and future-set/Elseworlds stories, Gog - one of the DC Universe's ultimate villains - finally arrived in current time-frame, non-'just-a-glimpse' DCU continuity in the epic arc starting in Action Comics # 814. "The Wrath Of Gog" reprints Action #s 814-819, plus the 'prequel' back-ups from Action # 812 & 813 (the main bulk of those issues can be found in the collection "Superman: Godfall").

The main saga takes place in Action Comics #s 814-818, which kicks off with the Man Of Steel informed by an unlikely source that the Doomsday monster is back on Earth, leaving Superman to recruit a small team of allies to begin the search for Doomsday, now apparantly - according to the source - possessed of intelligence. It's in Smallville, where a trio of the Teen Titans are dispatched to, that Gog abruptly and catacylsmically makes his very public arrival. Armed with mega-powerful future weapons, and himself among the most powerful metahumans in existance, Gog also wields his ability to dart in and out of time to make himself practically invincible.

In the wake of the titanic clash between Superman and Gog - which ends quite strangely and leaves it clear that the full story has only begun to unfold, a terribly damaged Superman finds himself under siege by a host of long-time adversaries hoping to take advantage of his weakened state. After years of having come to the aid of virtually every major DC hero, Superman finds himself in the relatively rare circumstance of having to depend heavily on a group of hastily assembling champions to protect him. Incidentally, kudos to the creative team for adding in a couple of less expected, less frequently seen characters to the Doomsday-searchers and the 'cavalry' in addition to characters like Wonder Woman and Superboy, who are often in on Superman adventures that feature a group effort. After the big saga comes Action Comics # 819, which might normally be called an 'aftermath' issue, but is so good I don't really want to use that tag, and which also veers off from just following up events from the main saga quite a bit. Every so often an issue of the Superman titles will focus on the relationship between Superman/Clark and one or members of the so-called 'supporting cast' - Ma and Pa Kent; Jimmy Olsen; etc. In 819 Lana Lang takes center stage in a quite surprising and exceptionally well done 'personal' kind of storytelling. # 819 also introduces two new villains, Sodom and Gommorah - whose names derive from their ability to cause living tissue to turn into salt - who are original enough but who will have to wait for another day to really be developed; their role, and the battle role in the issue, takes a backseat to the main story.

We're presented with a slightly different take on Superman in these issues, one who fits well with the brief humorous respites amidst all the grand action and drama, but I don't think it's an inconsistent take. Even Superman's spirits and tones have to occasionally vary over the years, and at its heart I feel it's a more faithful version of the character than has occasionally cropped up, i.e. the incarnation of the Man Of Steel from the "Ten Cent Adventure" one-shot a couple of years before these books, and the immediate issues of "Superman" following it. I'm not trying to slam Steven Seagle, who wrote this issues - his take on the character improved rapidly after his debut to where, just a few months later, he was putting out really excellent issues. But those first couple, I didn't even recognize the character. There've been a few other instances like that with Superman over the years, but the little nuances Chuck Austen added in here worked fine, I thought. Characterization was a strong point across the board, with a few new characters introduced, and very proficient handling of Wonder Woman, Gog, Lana, and the others. The art by Ivan Reis and Mark Campos was outstanding; a few of the far-off facial expressions could have used a touch of work (definately Not a problem with any of the closeups), but other than that flawless. One thing I really liked was that no matter how fast or slow the story was progressing, the art flowed with it extremely well.

The issues collected here are indispensable for the Superman fan. "Wrath Of Gog" is followed by the collection "Superman: In The Name Of Gog", which reprints Action #s 820-825.

I enjoyed this comic but had one problem with it, Superman just wasn't...well Superman. Several of the other review's of this book have said pretty much the same thing, and I have to agree. I saw this book in my local comic shop and the art caught my attention it was spectacular. I didn't take the time to read any of the story I just went home and ordered my own brand new copy. The story was good, well paced with plenty of action. The best part of the story was the ending when you could see the direction the whole thing had been leading to, very well done. The problem was the characterizations, they were off. Most were just a little of, somewhat uncomfortable. But it was Superman, the focus of the story and the series, the character that everyone knows, who was unrecognizable. Yes the outfit was there, the cape and the "Big Red S", but the character just wasn't Superman. You could have pulled this plot, and even the sub-plots, substituted any of a number of different superheroes into the lead roll and fit their friends, family and enemies into the other roll's and this would have been a great book. But this wasn't a Superman story because Superman just wasn't in it.

reprints ACTION COMICS #814-819, plus backups from #812-813

Keep in mind the writer of this book has been fired from both major comic companies because of how badly his books sell, and any critics of his are in his own words "40 year old virgins" or "12 trolls", he thinks he is a god amogn writer.

now about the story, he turns superman into a cocky guy who will endanger people, a wisecracker who is not even funny, he tries to turn him into Spider-man, his clark kent side is so whimpy Woody Alan would come off like clint eastwood compared to him.

and how about ruining great villains? Darksied is one of the most feared villains in the history of DC comics, he can wipe out people with a single blast of omega vision, he is almost a god, him and superman have had epic battles..and austin writes him and his vast army of very powerful creatures, and his son kalibrak who is also powerful..all being defeated in the space of ho 10 seconds by superman..alone, yeah great writing there chuck!

now for the clark kent side, he is also the hard luck kid, his wife and boss can't even tell him he's been demoted, makes no sense of course, i mean your own wife can't tell you? or the boss? but hey austen writes lois as being a witch anyway, he said in interviews he hated her and loved Lana, so all of a sudden she's mean, lana is a stalker who leaves her husband for clark, and clarks parents, who love lois now don't care for her, they tell Lana we never cared for her really, we always liked you..yeah that's the way to write ma kent.


and it just continues, the villain Gog? badly written as are all the rest, doomsday shows up, people don't act right, austen gets an idea anr runs with it, he admits he can't wait to make changes so he just does it.

so please look to some other great superman books, Superman: Unconventional Warfare by Greg Rucka is a great new book and worth checking out.

I just want to say that Ivan Reis' artworks here stand cool. Also, the first time of Gog's appearance.