Superman: The Coming of the Supermen

Superman: The Coming of the Supermen #1-6

by Neal Adams

From legendary writer/artist Neal Adams comes a threat so epic it will take more than one Man of Steel to handle it in this new 6-issue miniseries! Superman is facing his worst enemies as terror is taking hold of Apokolips. There's also another planet that has been deemed as the New Krypton which is facing some of this evil.
Collects SUPERMAN: THE COMING OF THE SUPERMEN #1-6."

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Superman, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

200 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2016

About the author

Neal Adams was an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Adams was inducted into the Eisner Award's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Harvey Awards' Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999.

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

HOLY FUCK THIS WAS BAD!
I'm not even sure the word bad does it justice. I started reading this thinking it was a new comic, published in 2016, then after a few pages I assumed it was something from the 80's that was reprinted in 2016. So I read the whole fucking thing trying to keep in mind this was an older comic.



BUT IT ISN'T!
When I finished, I started poking around to see where the hell this particular story fit into Superman's timeline. That's when I realized this was actually written/published in 2016, and this was just an unbelievably ridiculous story!



Not sure what the hell this was supposed to be, where this takes place, or why anyone thought it was a good idea to start with, but I'm sure there are people that will like it.
Personally? I can't believe I wasted an hour of my day with this garbage.
Dumb plot, corny dialogue, and weird art.
PASS!

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know Neal Adams is a comic book legend but this is truly awful. His art's not even very good. And that dialogue! Yikes, it's the poorest written dialogue I've ever read. It's even more glaring because Tony Bedard scripted the first issue and you can really feel the difference once you get to the second issue. The entire book is filled with gems like , "And that bad taste in my mouth is Darkseid." Oh!, and Superman is a huge dick in this book. He's constantly screaming at people and flying off half-cocked. Truly terrible.

[Jesse A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this was just cartoon foolishness. Not my favorite.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

via NYPL - What a train wreck. For the first half of the book, this is basically a big, dumb punch-'em-up. The plot is barely hanging together, but it's at least coherent - nothing you'd ever recommend (unless you really enjoy the sloppy detail of latter-day Adams' artwork, which does have a certain frenetic appeal), but not without some minute pleasure. Then ... plot threads and plot twists are introduced and forgotten with total abandon: the reveal of Rafi and his dog makes no sense; the alliance between Luthor and Darkseid is the worst brand of backstabbing, odd couple comedy; the other Supermen disappear (then reappear) without ever adding anything; Lois Lane tags along to add nothing to the narrative; even the artwork and punch-'em-ups descend into indecipherable messiness. I'd give this one a pass if I were you.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 2 out of 5]

So after reading Batman: Odyssey, I should have known better than to read this one. But I didn't...

I will say that I was able to read this series from start to finish, which I wasn't able to do with Batman Odyssey. Then again, this series was 6 issues, and Odyssey was 13. I got about halfway through Odyssey. So technically, I got about the same way through both. Hm.

Anyway, this series was at least slightly easier to follow than Odyssey, even if it didn't make much more sense. When I read Odyssey I literally didn't know what was happening from page to page. In this one I knew what was happening but what was happening just didn't make sense. Okay, so now my review is starting to ramble just like these comics have.

The bottom line is Neal Adams remains a great artist, and the art alone saved this from one star. However, he needs to leave the writing to the writers. While this didn't suffer from the wordiness of Odyssey, the characterization was horrible. Luthor acted more like the Joker, and Darkseid acted like a schoolyard bully, and not the smarter ones. Even Superman seemed to flip from clueless to arrogant. I really find it hard to believe something like this even got published by a major publisher. Unless you just want to look at some pretty pictures, I'd say skip this one.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neal Adams is Back!!! So Neal is back, he does both the art and story for this comic, so this is his baby! So the story is, that Darkseid has invaded earth, and four mysterious supermen have appeared wearing Superman's costume! Elsewhere, Superman stops some terriosts in Eygpt, and there he ends up taking in an orphan boy and his pet dog! This is very much the 80s-90s superman, so don't be expecting the modern superman we've come to know; if you like that, you will enjoy this read, plus Rebirth seems to be bringing us back to this kind of superman, so it fits! I found the artwork and story to be pretty good, I don't regret supporting this comic! Negatives, I would say, the Supermen themselves, kinda don't do anything really, which is disappointing since their in the title! Although the story is good overall, the dialogue can get a bit cheesy, here and there, which is on the one hand understandable since its supposed to be retro, on the other it can get annoying! But other then that, I thoroughly enjoyed this comic!

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is pretty rough with several story pieces that failed to connect together. So you get told stuff is important and it never pays off.

[Colin Parfitt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

This is really bad. I need a bit more from Superman story than him grabbing people and shouting "what's going on?" every few panels.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neal Adams was many things: accomplished artist, champion for creator rights, insane conspiracy theorist. One thing he was not, at least in his later years, was a competent writer.

Boiled down to a word, The Coming of the Supermen could be described as 'chaos'. Not the fun sort of Grant Morrison chaos either.

We have a fairly simple plot about Darkseid wanting to invade the surviving Kryptonians' home on Nibiru (a secret extra planet in our solar system believed to exist by real-world conspiracy theorists) or maybe Earth. It is unclear.

And that, my friends, is the problem- a great deal about this story is unclear. For one, it assumes we know a fair bit about the story's background without actually explaining it to us. Why is the planet of Apoklips destroyed and since when is New Krypton on its own planet? I'll be the first to admit I'm not an expert on Superman lore but by the time of this comic's publication those things have not been true for at least half a decade if they ever were. And I'm not against non-canon stories playing with DC history but those only work if they anchored in some exposition.

Beyond that Adams introduces many plot points that go onto be ignored or muddled. Why introduce the fact that the people of Apokolips originated from Earth and never follow that up? Why is Superman confused about the presence of other Kryptonians when he knows a planet of his people exists on the other side of the sun? Who the hell is the alien that shares Superman's ancestral name of El and why is he in this story? These are just a few of the questions the book left me with and that's not even mentioning the atrocious dialogue.

Amongst all this bafflement it is easy to forget the real strength of this book- its art. While Adams had adopted a somewhat looser style since his heyday in the seventies, his art remained dynamic and detailed. And despite the odd pacing of the narrative, the page layouts themselves flow admirably. What's more, unlike other pre-00s artists who survived into the age of digital coloring, Adams' style doesn't stand out as odd or anachronistic when contrasted by the modern flourishes of his collaborators- a real win in the era of Romita jnrs Superman: Year One or Frank Miller's confusing cover work.

All in all, this was a weird one. DC evidently let one of the stars of its past have free reign in making a Superman story completely of his own. The result is stilted, over-packed and confusing to a fault. I recommend this only to Adams superfans, Superman completionists or anyone who enjoyed Tommy Wiseau's The Room.

[Jay · Rating 1 out of 5]

During an attack on Earth by the forces of Apokalips, three super-powered strangers dressed like Superman arrive to defend the planet! After Superman himself rescues a young boy and his dog in the middle east, he begins to unravel the greater plot allying Darkseid with Lex Luthor!

To be blunt, this was really disppointing. This takes place in some version of DC continuity that I'm completely unfamilar with - a reality where an Earth-like planet exist on the opposite side of the sun where Kandor has been released from its bottle and Apokolips is encroaching on their settlements. I'm assuming this is something from the Silver Age, but I have no reference to that. I found the plot to be pretty disjointed and forced in a lot of ways. Things just seemed rushed and didn't develop in a natural way.

The characters didn't behave like any version I've ever read, but I can see it being a very Silver Age take on things. Superman would run into fits of rage and speak dialogue that was just out of character in many different ways. Lois was all gung-ho and everything you'd expect, but she was kind of bitchy at times that just didn't sit well with me. And Luthor and Darkseid were really just cardboard representations of how I've come to know the characters. Their alliance made little sense and their behaviors in the last few chapters were just nonsense.

The only real saving grace for the book was Neal Adam's artwork. While there were a few shortcuts taken here and there (copied panels mostly) he still has such a gorgeous style and clean action sequences. His panel progressions are great, and the splash panels are really wonders in places! If I revisit this series down the road, it will be simply to enjoy the artwork.

Overall, a series that I was kind of looking forward to proved disappointing in the end.

[Dave · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. This was spectacularly bad. I hate to say it, but it's true. Superman's characterization was wrong, the dialog was awful, and a lot of the artwork looked awkward.

At one point Superman needs to use Luthor's space ship and demands the "keys." Seriously? A space ship that uses keys? And to this demand, Luthor's response was "do you have any idea how much I hate your hair?" That really tells you all you need to know about this stinker.

[Zachary King · Rating 3 out of 5]

What in the name of Rao did I just read? Like the last work by Neal Adams, the incomparable "Batman: Odyssey," I can't even begin to summarize the plot for you. Apokolips is invading Earth because the Bottle City of Kandor has moved to Nibiru (yes, Nibiru, tin-foilers), and Superman has to protect a young Middle Eastern boy for reasons that have something to do with his dog and Ancient Egypt... Neal Adams is without a doubt a veteran, hero, and innovator for the comic book medium, but this is less a book and more a narrative catastrophe. It starts strong, but once co-writer Tony Bedard leaves at the end of the first issue, as Hamlet would say, "O, what a falling-off was there!" The art is great, and Adams actually has a keen grasp on how to write the warriors of Apokolips; his Darkseid, however, is just plain strange, calling Lex Luthor a "bald fish" and "pompous ass" with no hint of irony. It is head-scratchingly hilarious and never ends up making so much as a lick of sense, but after "Odyssey," what did we really expect?

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, here we finally get a chance to see a Neal Adams version of Kirby's Fourth World characters: Darkseid, Orion, Mr. Miracle, Barda, Highfather, Metron, meeting Superman again. On the side, there are these other Supermen from Kandor, who are negligible, sort of like, in the original Captain Marvel (A.K.A., Shazam) you get the Three Lieutenants Marvel. Both of these are ok, but uninspiring, just fun.
What I am left with: has anyone drawn Superman for a longer time (albeit interrupted by other business) than Neal Adams, since the mid-1960s? Did Curt Swan illustrate Superman longer?
That Jim Lee-era belt on the Superman costume sure looks goofy, though.
I actually like the Lois Lane that appears here: Lois in DC Comics has star appeal, a mystique of her own. Drawn by Adams, all these characters are sort of their most shiny selves.
Mildly recommended.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anytime you get the privilege of reader a graphic novel by Neal Adams, you will get a special treat on every page. Fair warning, the melodrama is cranked up to eleven, and there are quite a few loose ends that are not tied up.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really my cup of tea...

[Dale · Rating 1 out of 5]

Published by DC Comics in 2016.
Art by Neal Adams.

A group of men dressed like Superman crash land in an older couple's Iowa cornfield. They then fly to Lex Luthor's corporate headquarters and engage in a fight against an invasion. It is Darkseid's soldiers coming through a red "tunnel" called a "boom tube". The boom tube allows people to travel from one planet to another instantaneously - like a tunnel between worlds.

But, these three new Supermen are not very good at fighting the bad guys are are fairly confused about how to use their super powers. Turns out they are three Kryptonians that have come to defend Earth from an invasion of Darkseid's troops led by his oldest son, the immortal Kalibak, in the hopes that Superman will go to Krypton to deal with a Darkseid invasion.

Meanwhile, Superman is in the Middle East saving civilians in a war zone. Among those civilians are an orphan and his dog. Superman is stopped by a time-controlling alien that looks like a winged demon and told that he needs to take this boy and his dog home and take care of them.

So, Lois and Clark take this boy in and immediately farm him out to a nanny.

If you noticed the contradiction in the second paragraph (Superman, please defend Krypton from Darkseid's invasion while ignoring Darkseid's invasion of Earth led by an immortal thug that can rip down buildings with his bare hands) then that puts you ahead of the author and illustrator.

This collection of six comics features A LOT of yelling (giant text that fills up chunks of the page), cursing from Superman, almost everybody getting punched in the face so hard that it knocks them out and great lines like this gem from Superman as he fights Kalibak: "RETURN THE BOY! Return the boy, you worthless animal! Nothing requires you. You make our existence ugly with your presence. Give me the boy or your life is forfeit."

The lesson here is that when Superman gets mad, he will kill and he will do it sounding like he is participating in a bad session of Shakespearean improv. I can excuse goofy lines in improv - it's off the top of your head. This mess was actually written out, proofread and inked in over a period of time.

The drawings are actually not bad at all, but the layout is haphazard. Sometimes it goes all of the way across the two pages, sometimes it goes down the side of the page. It was not uncommon to have to re-read the pages just to figure out what order that it was supposed to be read.

This may very well be the worst graphic novel I have ever read. I rate it 1 star out of 5.

[Teresa Dowd · Rating 3 out of 5]

[slight spoilers] An interesting take on the relationships between Earth, Krypton, and the New Gods. I especially liked the lesson Luthor was clearly in denial about. The art was gorgeous, he was one of my favorite artists when I started my own collection in the 70s. His characters, as super or driven as they were, still had that core of humanity and expressions of empathy that were subtle.

This strength became a weakness in the story. Superman was never proactive or really had agency. He kept bouncing from one crisis to another saving a child, reacting only. The rescued child never seemed more than a token during the rescues and pursuit, right down to the fiesty puppy. The boy, with his perfect sweetness, everyone loving him, and instant learning Supes secret identity, was a Gary Stu. Learning that secret without any concern from Kal was a huge tell that he wasn't going into a regular life. Lois was good, Luthor was smarmy, and Superman had a vision- a very passive role for the story. One of the best bits was a couple griping about a changed phone plan, which had the air of a real experience, sans rural renewal.

Oh, yeah. There were other Supermen in the story. But they were wannabes who served little purpose. Most of the New Gods and big bads for Darkseid made appearances. The art was wonderful, but it was all busy rushing around without any Hero's journey involved. It was much too large a cast with all those cameos for the size of the story, Granny Goodness was one of the few to make an impression. The art was still clear and clean with beautiful inking, and that was why it got a three.

[Jon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was surprisingly bad. I’m still in shock.

Problems:

1) Superman doesn’t name call or threaten peoples lives. How can you have a Superman book without Superman acting like Superman?

2) plotting and transitions are brutal. You are hard pressed to figure out how you got to the next scene in this story on any given page

3) the villains yell and have toddler temper-tantrums. It’s out of character for Darkseid and Luthor

4) it’s titled the coming of the Supermen but we only see these new Superman 4 or 5 times in the entire series. Who are they, why are they doing this, why aren’t they around more? Beats me. Should’ve been named Superman and New Apokolips as it’s a New God story through and through

5) just misses the mark on all the characters and what makes them, well them.

This reminds me of George Lucas making Star Wars movies completely unchecked. With Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi he had other directors to look at him and say “no that’s a stupid idea, let’s try this instead”. Neal Adam’s really needs a plotter and scripter. Coincidentally, his first issue with Tony Bedard was a drastic difference in quality. But sometimes ego gets in the way. Based off how much he charges for his autograph at cons and for selfies my instincts would say he thinks highly of himself and may as a result not need help.

This story proves, in his age, he does still need help. I mean, don’t we all?

[Roberto Diaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neal Adams is a legend in the comic industry. That is undeniable. So having a work of his in hardcover, done by the time many other artist had retired, is an interesting feat.

This is not a story for the modern Superman fan. Trying to emulate the Man of Steel from the Silver or Bronze age is a thing many would not find entertaining. for me, this book was enjoyable as a window inside the mind of a creator that lived during that perio, and been published almost unadulterated.

The cheesy dialog, the fourth world characters and plot, the wacky out of continuity ideas, it can be hard to assimilate at first, but it makes for a fun ride once you allow yourself to go beyond what you know about the character post-Crisis on Infinite Earths.

And in the end, this is something that I not see as a "commercial version" of the character, and most as an auteur self contained version, more akin to the Elseworlds line or even maybe black label or All-Star line.

For people looking for something different, not essential, that is self contained and tries to mimic the all out looney of the silver and bronze age.

[E.R. Torre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wild stuff... if you’re willing to take the ride!

Neal Adams is rightly considered a comic book legend. His work on characters such as Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Deadman, The Avengers, and The X-Men still thrill readers to this day. However, my personal favorite Neal Adams work was the strange -at least on the surface- Superman/Muhammad Ali crossover. This would be the one and only time, until this mini-series, that Neal Adams would offer an extended take on the Last Son of Krypton.

While this series didn’t quite reach the levels of that book, in my opinion, there is much to enjoy in this mini-series, including Mr. Adams’ use of Jack Kirby’s New Gods. The story isn’t always easy to follow and sometimes doesn’t make a lot of sense but there’s an energy here that propelled me along despite that.

No, this work is not perfect. But this longtime fan of Mr. Adams is more than willing to join him on whatever rides he’s willing to take us on.

[Ezma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not what would be considered a "genuine" four. The dialogue is either unnaturally stilted or absurd, the plot is a mess, the characterization is way the hell off (Superman is in full-on Superdickery mode), and while Neal Adams' art is good, it definitely feels outdated.

However, did this book entertain me? OH MY YES. The action is genuinely fun, the plot is basically just an excuse for Superman to fight Apokolips forces. And the dialogue is hilariously bad. What other comic will give you Superman tearing up a lab while screaming "WHERE IS THE BLOOD"?

If you're looking for a good Superman story, look elsewhere. If you're looking for an entertaining one, the kind of book you shove in your friend's hands going "You HAVE to read this", look no further.

[Jacob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Public library copy.

This was a much lighter read than the Batman Odyssey Neal Adam's created earlier. The art could have been cleaned up because some pages looked sketchy or unfinished or even sloppy. To be clear, the book sometimes has great, wonderful art that we've come to expect from Adams. As with most modern Neal Adams' work the execution from plot to script aren't up to snuff. His best work remains his collaboration with Dennis O'Neil.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects Superman: The Coming of the Supermen issues #1-6

This started out promising, but fast took a turn for the worse. The dialouge was over-the-top, and the plot jumped so much that the story and character choices were a little hard to understand. Superman seemed out of character, and even though this is a story told outside of continuity, some things seemed so far out of the norm that this became an Elseworlds (or possibly set in the post-Crisis era of DC Comics).

[Tony Laplume · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting out-of-continuity mythic take on Superman from Neal Adams, one of the giants in superhero art. Story plays out fast-and-loose, so you will have to figure out its logic as you read along or you’ll just start rolling your eyes because it’ll just feel like gibberish otherwise. The most interesting thing it does is actually not spell everything out. I don’t know if there’s ever going to be a sequel, but there doesn’t need to be.

[Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fun to real and a throw back to the Bronze Age of Comics. The story is simple and focused. What I loved out of this story was the fight between Luthor and Darkseid, between Brain and Brawn. The story was not connected to the current comics and out of continuity.

All I can say is great!: Both Writing and Art go hand in hand and there is no complaint.

A must for Superman fans.

[Sheldon Wiebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

While superman is otherwise occupied, three more Supermen arrive to try to stave off an incursion of forces from Apokolips.

Neal Adams writes and draws a big Superman tale featuring characters from Jack Kirby's fourth World.

It works.

[Mystery Theater · Rating 1 out of 5]

Neal Adams is a legendary artist, but he really has no business writing. This reads like it was intended for the Sesame Street audience... like Spidey Super Stories.

But the language makes it obviously for adults -- M for Mature.

NOT RECOMMENDED

[Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neal Adams is a legend. The comics industry as we know it wouldn’t exist without him. But this is an insane comic. I’ve never read anything that felt improvised before, and yet it feels like Neal is just going by the seat of his pants from panel to panel.

[John Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love Neal Adams art but this story is horribly bad.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tom Scioli once set-up the notion that Krypton was a New Genesis colony. And boy, does this remind me of that.

As with Batman: Odyssey -- this is not a good comic, but it's certainly a fun one.