I really wasn't looking forward to this title. Though I enjoy Daniel Zezelj's artwork, his stark style didn't seem to suit the title character or setting, and Chuck Austen's recent work on the Super-titles and other super-hero books has been uneven lately. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a story with a nice balance between grounded, human elements and a creepier science-fiction atmosphere that makes the most out of some of the more over-the-top developments in the Superman titles in recent years.
Daily Planet photojournalist Jimmy Olsen is good at his job, but he's well aware of the down side: being reviled by the objects of his assignments. Jimmy's job is to shoot the news, and often, it's an ugly thing. People -- like the wife of an assassination victim -- mistake Jimmy's job as a symptom of a cold, callous heart. But he's just a regular guy, creeped out, like many other citizens of Metropolis, but the seemingly living Brainiac-13 technology that transformed the burg into a literal city of tomorrow.
Zezelj's gritty, thick-lined, dark artwork captures the mature mood of the script quite well. It establishes immediately that this isn't going to be the typical Superman story, but rather than it's far darker in tone that the typical superhuman scraps and Lois-'n'-Clark love-ins we expect. Villarrubia's textured colors suit Zezelj's heavy, angular style perfectly. The use of the watch imagery in the latter part of the book is the more impressive visual in the issue. It looks like it might be a photoreference, but its intermingling with the B-13 circuitry makes for a powerful representation of the old being submerged by the new.
One part of the story here is Jimmy's, and it's through his experiences and perceptions that we come to know the city. As a journalist, I was immediately hooked by the narration and its perceptive examination of the demonization of the media. Yes, sometimes, it's merited, and at others, not so much. Austen handles the realities of the profession with nuance, intelligence and a grounded voice.
I'm also impressed with how the writer elicits chilling tones of the supernatural using technological elements. The fluid, infectious nature of the Tech in this story is presented in a serious light, and Austen manages to hide its more fantastic and implausible qualities in order to tell a compelling story. In the process, he provides new readers with plenty of exposition. This is a strong, accessible first issue.
