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Superman Unchained 12/15/2014 7:43:19 AM
This post originally appeared on thunderalleybcp.com.
Superman Unchained was supposed to be THE event comic book of 2013.
Superman Unchained boasted a blue chip creative team in writer Scott Snyder, artists Jim Lee and Scott Williams and colorist Alex Sinclair. It was keyed to the release of Man of Steel, the long awaited Superman film reboot. And it promised a timeless, iconic take on Superman and his supporting cast.
Things didn’t go quite as planned. Some of the reasons are apparent in the collected edition of Superman Unchained, now available.
Superman Unchained had a lot going on. The plot commenced with satellites plummeting from space, which teased the threat of a terrorist group called Ascension. Other mechanical attacks led Superman to a secret military project in the Southwest. Run by General Sam Lane, Lois’s father, “The Machine” revolved around Wraith, an alien with powers similar to Superman’s. Having landed on Earth in the 1930s, Wraith covertly had worked for the U.S. Government ever since.
Meanwhile, fishermen pulled a half-drowned man from the waters off Nova Scotia, pleading to see Lois. Lois flew out to the site and ran afoul of Ascension, becoming their prisoner. Ascension’s shadowy leader detailed the group’s connection to The Machine. Back in Metropolis, Lex Luthor escaped prison and kidnapped Jimmy Olsen.
Superman and Wraith clashed, though Wraith seemed to regret that they weren’t necessarily on the same side. The pair teamed up to repulse a robotic attack on Tokyo, then chased Ascension. Ascension had created a new mineral, Earth Stone, which it used to take control of various machines. General Lane used Wraith to locate the Fortress of Solitude, then launched an insane attack on it, despite that Superman had taken Lois there after rescuing her. Somewhere in that sequence, Ascension found a way to launch all the world’s nuclear missiles, but Superman used the Earth Stone to repel them.
During the military attack on Superman, Wraith confronted Batman in the Bat Cave and fought both him and Wonder Woman. Superman and Wraith had a fierce rematch that climaxed at the center of the Earth. Then, of course, aliens (Wraith’s people) prepared to attack Earth. Luthor offered a way to repel the invaders, but one that would kill Superman. A climactic space battle ensued.
The plot of Superman Unchained seemed to confuse complex with complicated. Odd, since Snyder is a great writer who’s usually very good at choreographing an intricate, long-term plot. That didn’t really work out here. The various plot threads of Superman Unchained seemed to take a long time to come together and then didn’t really mesh that smoothly. The story seemed to have a difficult time deciding what the real “ultimate” threat was supposed to be.
Wraith may have been cast in an antagonistic role, but wasn’t a villain. In fact, he’s one of the more interesting facets of the series. Ascension turned out to be a time-consuming red herring. Luthor had almost no purpose in the story and seemed inserted almost solely because an “iconic” Superman story demands the presence of Lex Luthor. The alien invaders received almost zero development and are thus hard to care about as a threat. Ultimately, the plot seemed to involve throwing everything at the wall, but unfortunately, very little stuck.
Characterizations varied wildly. Snyder had a nice handle on Superman/Clark Kent. He managed the trick of presenting Superman’s nobility and intelligence without making him priggish or impossibly perfect. Snyder also did a strong job with Lois, spotlighting her bravery and resourcefulness. For fans who have been missing the Lois/Clark relationship since The New 52 wiped out their marriage and recast them as barely friends, there were a lot of nice moments. Lois and Clark had some appealing phone chats filled with good-natured rivalry. Lois and Superman shared some nice scenes in the face of impending doom. It was a nice reminder of how important the iconic couple’s bond is to the franchise.
Superman’s friendship with Batman also got a nice bit of space. It’s no shock that Snyder would write Batman scenes well and the bond between DC’s most important heroes came across as genuine. Wraith also was presented in a rather interesting way. He took an almost fraternal interest in Superman, in spite of his accurate assessment that they were inevitably to be at odds.
More problematic are the other villains in Superman Unchained. Ascension took up a lot of plot room, but never felt more than generic and ultimately amounted to not much. Worse was General Lane. His handling here is downright atrocious. His insane declamations came across as the worst parody of jingoistic fervor. He’s impossible to take seriously. Luthor may as well not even have been included in the series. His scenes were almost entirely wasted. In fact, there are a lot of unnecessary scenes in Superman Unchained. Thematic flashbacks to Clark’s childhood turned out to be too on-the-nose and added almost nothing. Several of the chapters ended with two-page epilogues illustrated by Dustin Nguyen. They’re fine, but clearly were included as a means to help the Lee/Williams team meet deadlines, before the series switched to an “it’ll come out when it comes out” schedule.
With such a diffuse plot, keeping track and making sense of the developments were difficult enough when reading the story straight through. Given the major scheduling delays, one can only imagine how maddening collecting Superman Unchained on an issue-by-issue basis must have been.
The real reason to check out Superman Unchained is the art. The Lee/Williams team has been working together so long, they just click effortlessly. The series provides the duo with ample opportunity for one- and two-page spreads, letting them showcase all kinds of dramatic spectacles. They get to illustrate panoramic space scenes, massive urban battles, underwater struggles, Arctic wastelands and a rousing showdown in the Earth’s core. It’s a dream assignment for artists and the duo make the most of it. If fans had to wait longer than expected for these issues, at least Lee and Williams made it worthwhile. Sinclair’s colors are a perfect complement. The action comes across as bold, bright and dynamic. The book just looks great. A nice bonus in the collected edition is the series of alternate covers by a variety of top artist depicting Superman throughout various eras.
If Superman Unchained ultimately falls short of the mark, it still was an often interesting attempt to craft a timeless Superman saga. If not the most necessary story in the Superman canon, it has enough pluses to be worth reading.
