Joe Casey offers up an inventive and edgy take on a classic Superman villain in a story that captures the immensity of the title character's powers and potential for insane science-fiction fun. After reading the entire issue, though, something didn't quite sit right with me, and I realized it was a couple of elements. One was context, and the other was content. Casey and Adlard deliver an exciting, dark and imaginative romp through the world of the Man of Steel, but it's one that doesn't work quite as well due to the broader setting of shared continuity.
A couple -- a male and a female -- of other-dimensional origin, with seemingly unlimited power and imagination, arrive on Earth for a bit of fun, and they figure they can get a solid day's entertainment out of eliminating the planet's gravity. Super-heroes the world over rush to save lives in the face of the tragedy, but they're really just treading water in the midst of an impossible tide. Superman devises a plan to restore gravity, and it involves some consultation with a size-changing, costumed colleague.
Adlard's gritty style has always struck me as an unusual choice to bring DC's iconic super-heroes to life, but it's effective when the story calls for an edgier feel. That's certainly the case here. His darker style brings tension and gravity -- tone, not the physical force, jeez -- to the tale. He captures the destructive nature of the crisis, as well as the frantic urgency with which the protagonists take action. His stuff is a little sketchy at times, especially when it comes to the extraneous characters, and I can't help but think that a few more gruesome details of the chaos engulfing the planet might have added to the already serious tone of the story. The Hories bring an important sense of energy to the artwork with their colors.
Casey bring an Authority-like level of insanity and power to the world of Superman, not to mention the same kind of inventive take on super-heroes and their abilities. The problem is that the reader can only handle so many of these world-ending crises -- especially ones that resolve within hours -- before it just pushes things too far. It's not Casey's fault; it's an inherent flaw with the shared continuity of a long-standing super-hero universe such as DC's.
There were a couple of scenes that really didn't make much sense. Casey's addressing of a loose plot thread involving the Persuader comes from out of nowhere. Furthermore, I had no idea what Perry White's hospitalization was all about.
One qualm I did have with the plot, though, the absence of a real point to the story. It promises to represent a new status quo for one of the Man of Steel's best-know foes, but I'm doubtful of how long the new vision will last. So aside from that "re-imagining," what was the point of the story? The plot lacks a human focus, a key element of characterization. It might have been nice to see Superman reach a breaking point rather than deal with the threat in a somewhat non-chalant manner
