“Superman: Earth One” Vol.2 (DC)

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski | Artist: Shane Davis | Inks: Sandra Hope | Colours: Barbara Ciardo

Young Clark Kent continues his journey toward becoming the World's Greatest Super Hero, but finds dealing with humanity to be a bigger challenge than he ever imagined! From a ruthless dictator to a new love interest who’s NOT Lois Lane, things are never easy for this emerging Man of Steel.

And the worst is yet to come, in the form of a man-monster with an insatiable appetite, the Parasite! The only thing that might appease his hunger is The Last Son of Kryptonian! But that will also mean he will have Superman's powers without his conscience, and Kal-El cannot come anywhere near him, even though he has to stop him!

The first volume in the Superman: Earth One story was one of my favourite graphic novels last year – it balanced a great new reinterpretation of the Superman origin story with some of the best artwork I’ve ever seen. It had heart, it had strong writing, and was visually stunning. Volume 2 continues this trend.

Recent Acquisitions (November 2012)

It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a post like this – I’ve posted the occasional pic of new arrivals and purchases on Twitter. This month, though, I seem to have had a particularly varied selection of new acquisitions, so I thought I’d write up a bit of a post.

Here’s the selection:

A few of these actually arrived a long time ago at my previous address, but for some reason they’ve not been very good at telling us they’ve arrived. Also, a package was delivered by UPS in October, but they decided not to tell me. Which is really frikkin’ unhelpful. So, if a publisher has sent something to me in New York via UPS – I’m sorry I haven’t said thank you. I never received it, due to frustrating continual, seemingly endless need to move.

Anyway, on to what has arrived…

“Before Watchmen” Third Month (DC)

Reviewed by Abhinav Jain

The second month of Before Watchmen releases was 50/50 for me, as you can read here. Len Wein’s Ozymandias #1 disappointed me as much as Brian Azzarello’s Comedian #2 did, while Darwyn Cooke’s Minutemen #2 was great, as was as his co-authored Silk Spectre #2 with Amanda Conner. In August, the new round of Watchmen comics got their first 5-issue month in which we were also introduced to Brian Azzarello’s and J. Michael Straczynski’s second titles, Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan, respectively. So let’s see how the month went...

Reviewed: Night Owl #2, Rorschach #1, Dr. Manhattan #1, Minutemen #3

“Before Watchmen” First Phase (DC)

Reviewed by Abhinav Jain

My prior experience with Watchmen is limited to the 2009 film adaptation. I remember that it was an extremely weird experience, as I had no prior familiarity with it and I was rather confused for the whole of it. My friends helped fill in a few blanks later during dinner and then that was that. As you can no doubt tell, I was not motivated to go pick up Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel and read the source material.

Recently, however, I’ve been getting back into comics after a rather long break, and when I heard that DC was planning a prequel phase, the Before Watchmen series, I was mildly curious. I like the idea of prequels, especially for things like these. To give but one example, Tolkien’s Silmarillion is one of my favourite novels ever; although it is almost entirely prequel stories set in Middle-Earth and in Valinor and our heroes of the original trilogy barely feature in it.

So when the Before Watchmen comics started releasing last month, I picked them up one by one: the first issues of Minutemen, Silk Spectre, Comedian and Nite Owl. I still somewhat prevaricated on this, and didn’t read them right away as I had some other reading commitments to get out of the way first.

“Superman: Earth One” (DC)

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski | Artist: Shane Davis

Forget everything you know about The Man of Steel and brace yourself for a staggering new take on the world’s most popular Super Hero. What would happen if the origin of The Man of Tomorrow were introduced today for the very first time? Return to Smallville and experience the journey of Earth’s favourite adopted son as he grows from boy to Superman like you’ve never seen before!

This is the second Superman graphic novel I’ve read (after the thoroughly underwhelming All-Star Superman Part 1). Superman: Earth One is set in an all-new continuity apart from the pre-New 52. It takes us right to the beginning of Clark’s experiences in Metropolis. To be perfectly honest, this is what I’ve always thought Superman comics and graphic novels should be. The quality of the writing and artwork, the accessibility for people not steeped in the extended weirdness canon that became the Superman world… This is superb.