SUPERMAN #181
"The Mirror Crack'd"
Mildly Recommended (5/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Ed McGuinness
Artist: Cam Smith
Colors: Tanya & Richard Horie
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
Well, this is a big leap in quality over last month's visit with Dracula. It's a pleasure to see McGuinness's art back, and Bizarro is a fun character. On top of that, Loeb and the other Superman writers have piqued my curiosity with this General Zod storyline, even though I still don't understand how it came to pass. The problem here is that goofy Silver Age elements have crept back into the world of the Man of Steel, robbing an incredible plot of what credibility remains.
Superman and Bizarro wake up one morning in their separate homes to discover they've switched bodies. Bizarro rushes off to The Daily Planet unknowingly dressed as Clark Kent, while the Man of Steel appeals to his JLA friends for help, but his appearance poses problems. Both powerful figures collide in the skies over Metropolis, wrestling each other and with their senses of identity.
McGuinness's square-jawed vision of Superman has always been sharp and fun, but his exaggerated, cartoony style suits Bizarro even more. He captures the characters monstrous yet innocent nature nicely, and the Hories' bright colors suit the Man of Steel and his twisted counterpart.
So Superman and Bizarro switch bodies? Why? The status quo is firmly in place at the end of the issue, so the Freaky Friday plot doesn't seem to have any purpose. Furthermore, in order to arrive at this point, one has to accept from rather contrived plot points. Loeb takes us back to unseen events from the "Reign of Emperor Joker" storyline, and the fallout of the "Our Worlds at War" crossover from last summer. We go through all of that, and for what? So Superman and Bizarro can duke it out for a few pages? Loeb doesn't advance the General Zod plotline at all in the process. That's too bad, because that dictatorial subplot seems interesting, but I need to know how it came to be and exactly what's going on.
So the backwards-thinking Bizarro is back in the DC Universe. And Krypto. And General Zod. What's next, Beppo the Super-Monkey? There was a reason that DC and John Byrne rebooted Superman back in 1986: because the character was saddled with a continuity that boasted too many contrived elements like these that just didn't cut it for an audience that expected more refined storytelling. Byrne breathed new life into the Man of Steel back then, but it seems he was also just starting the cycle anew, if this book and other recent Superman stories are any indication.
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