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Superwoman #1
Superwoman, Vol. 1: Who Killed Superwoman?
A part of DC Universe: Rebirth!
Imbued with the powers of Superman, Lois Lane pledges to use her powers to protect Metropolis as the new Superwoman. The only problem is, Lois' new powers are killing her, and neither she nor her friend and confidant Lana Lang know what to do about it.
Will Lois even survive long enough to uncover the deadly secret of her new foe, ULTRA-WOMAN? Find out in SUPERWOMAN VOL. 1, written and drawn by comics superstar Phil Jimenez (INFINITE CRISIS)!
Collects SUPERWOMAN #1-7.
Imbued with the powers of Superman, Lois Lane pledges to use her powers to protect Metropolis as the new Superwoman. The only problem is, Lois' new powers are killing her, and neither she nor her friend and confidant Lana Lang know what to do about it.
Will Lois even survive long enough to uncover the deadly secret of her new foe, ULTRA-WOMAN? Find out in SUPERWOMAN VOL. 1, written and drawn by comics superstar Phil Jimenez (INFINITE CRISIS)!
Collects SUPERWOMAN #1-7.
161 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 9, 2017
44 people are currently reading
789 people want to read
About the author
Phil Jimenez
599 books48 followersPhilip Jiménez is an American comics artist and writer, known for his work as writer/artist on Wonder Woman from 2000 to 2003, as one of the five pencilers of the 2005–2006 miniseries Infinite Crisis, and his collaborations with writer Grant Morrison on New X-Men and The Invisibles.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
May 22, 2017
I’ve come across A LOT of dire, depressingly shitty books as I’ve made my way through DC’s Rebirth line and after finishing each one I’ve naively thought to myself “Well, that’s the worst of the bunch, that’s the bottom of the barrel - nothing’s gonna be worse than (Blank)!” The first was Aquaman. And then along came Nightwing. And then Titans. And then it snowballs as you realise in horror that most of the line is utter garbage. Deathstroke. Hellblazer. Cyborg. Blue bloody Beetle.
Seeing as I’m now (thankfully) nearing the end of the Rebirth range, I think I can confidently assert this: Superwoman Rebirth is THE ABSOLUTE WORST! You won’t find a more wretched comic than this anywhere else. And I mean anywhere, even outside of Rebirth. Phil Jimenez proves himself to be yet another artist who cannot write, only this dude is exceptionally incompetent and shockingly bad at writing than most others.
The Superman line is a fucking nightmare to follow these days. I think there’s at least two Supermen flying around at the moment plus a Clark Kent who’s totally separate from them AND Lex is pretending to be Superman AND there’s John Henry Irons/Steel; so five Supermen? Then there are the ladies: Lana Lang is Superwoman. But so is Lois Lane - of which there are two, I think? There’s also a Bizarro version of the Superwoman from Earth-3. Fuuuuuuuuck. WHAT A MESS!!!!
This is Jimenez’s badly written/conceived story: Lana has to restore electricity to Metropolis after Lex’s giant battleship somehow knocks out power to the city. Wow, electrical maintenance - just what I’m looking for when I’m picking up a superhero comic! Also there’s suddenly an evil female Lex Luthor called Lena who has generic villain motivations - take over the city, make everyone pay, yadda yadda yadda. A female Superman and a female Lex battling each other. So unimaginative and contrived. Honestly, it took me two weeks to wade through this drivel because it was so unbelievably boring.
And what’s worse is that Jimenez has no clue how to tell a story well. So each page is filled with too many panels full of writing and none of it is worth reading - it barely progresses the crappy story. I’m not even convinced Jimenez even knew what story he was trying to tell it’s so unimpressive, sloppily executed and confused. After reading dozens of these cluttered, dreary pages, imagine the misery turning each page was for me and seeing yet another worthless cascade of instantly forgettable dialogue and captions! And this death-march goes on and on until the end. It’s about as fun as toothache.
Lex is written out of character as this weak cuck of a man, Lana is Bland Tough Lady, Lena Luthor is an unmemorable baddie… there is nothing good about this one. Not a single, remote thing. I’d give a more detailed, systematic breakdown of this garbage but it doesn’t deserve it - it’s not even good at being entertainingly bad, it’s simply plain awful. Also that would mean re-reading the book and it’s just not worth it. I don’t have the energy and it would exceed my threshold for pain. I’ll literally die before re-reading this book again. And, believe me, I’m staying well the hell away from any comic written by this guy in the future!
The title of the book asks Who Killed Superwoman? The answer’s right there on the cover: Phil Jimenez.
Seeing as I’m now (thankfully) nearing the end of the Rebirth range, I think I can confidently assert this: Superwoman Rebirth is THE ABSOLUTE WORST! You won’t find a more wretched comic than this anywhere else. And I mean anywhere, even outside of Rebirth. Phil Jimenez proves himself to be yet another artist who cannot write, only this dude is exceptionally incompetent and shockingly bad at writing than most others.
The Superman line is a fucking nightmare to follow these days. I think there’s at least two Supermen flying around at the moment plus a Clark Kent who’s totally separate from them AND Lex is pretending to be Superman AND there’s John Henry Irons/Steel; so five Supermen? Then there are the ladies: Lana Lang is Superwoman. But so is Lois Lane - of which there are two, I think? There’s also a Bizarro version of the Superwoman from Earth-3. Fuuuuuuuuck. WHAT A MESS!!!!
This is Jimenez’s badly written/conceived story: Lana has to restore electricity to Metropolis after Lex’s giant battleship somehow knocks out power to the city. Wow, electrical maintenance - just what I’m looking for when I’m picking up a superhero comic! Also there’s suddenly an evil female Lex Luthor called Lena who has generic villain motivations - take over the city, make everyone pay, yadda yadda yadda. A female Superman and a female Lex battling each other. So unimaginative and contrived. Honestly, it took me two weeks to wade through this drivel because it was so unbelievably boring.
And what’s worse is that Jimenez has no clue how to tell a story well. So each page is filled with too many panels full of writing and none of it is worth reading - it barely progresses the crappy story. I’m not even convinced Jimenez even knew what story he was trying to tell it’s so unimpressive, sloppily executed and confused. After reading dozens of these cluttered, dreary pages, imagine the misery turning each page was for me and seeing yet another worthless cascade of instantly forgettable dialogue and captions! And this death-march goes on and on until the end. It’s about as fun as toothache.
Lex is written out of character as this weak cuck of a man, Lana is Bland Tough Lady, Lena Luthor is an unmemorable baddie… there is nothing good about this one. Not a single, remote thing. I’d give a more detailed, systematic breakdown of this garbage but it doesn’t deserve it - it’s not even good at being entertainingly bad, it’s simply plain awful. Also that would mean re-reading the book and it’s just not worth it. I don’t have the energy and it would exceed my threshold for pain. I’ll literally die before re-reading this book again. And, believe me, I’m staying well the hell away from any comic written by this guy in the future!
The title of the book asks Who Killed Superwoman? The answer’s right there on the cover: Phil Jimenez.
April 26, 2019
An absolute slog to get through. You'd think someone who started off as an artist first would tell a story visually but you can barely even see the art with the amount of exposition on the page. Jimenez puts Chris Claremont to shame. The book is filled with all this techno babbley, psuedoscience nonsense. But the art is very good.
Both Lois Lane and Lana Lang have become Superwoman even though their costumes and powers are different. Lois almost immediately gets killed until she comes back as a ghost. Lex Luthor plays the damsel in distress for most of this book while his sister maniacally explains the plot for a couple of issues. I honestly think the DC editorial staff has just given up at this point to let this BS out the door.
Received an advance copy from DC and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Both Lois Lane and Lana Lang have become Superwoman even though their costumes and powers are different. Lois almost immediately gets killed until she comes back as a ghost. Lex Luthor plays the damsel in distress for most of this book while his sister maniacally explains the plot for a couple of issues. I honestly think the DC editorial staff has just given up at this point to let this BS out the door.
Received an advance copy from DC and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 30, 2017
This has a lot of promising elements in it. 1) 2 female leads 2) Fantastic writer 3) diverse cast 4) 2 lesbian characters and 5) pretty good artwork. Unfortunately, something about the plot didn't quite work for me.
It starts out with Lois and Lana working together. Already, this is a welcome change from some Superman works where they just exist to fight each other over Clark. I have read summaries about what happened to New 52 Superman and I still can't tell you what happened. All I know is that this begins with Lois coming to Lana for help with her new abilities. Clark has been gone for a while and they're helping each other through it. I shipped it, not gonna lie. I loved seeing them together and the banter was wonderful. I would have gladly read a book about them working together to save the world.
Lana's abilities remind me of Carol Danvers' and I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's the typical Fantastic Four question for me: why would an explosion affect 2 people differently? It's the same explosion and the same elements. I don't understand why they'd have different abilities.
The big bad in this book is Lena Luthor. I quit Supergirl after season 2's premiere but I understand she's a popular character. It seems to me that either Rebirth went a completely different way or the CW changed her character significantly. Considering what they did to Archie, I'm betting it's the latter. Here, she's kind of an interesting foe. She has a reasonable cause for going evil and I appreciate that she's a brilliant scientist.
One note: I think the female characters in this book are fantastic! They all have purposes and lives outside of supporting male characters. Lana is a brilliant. Lois is funny and brave. Traci 13 wants to protect Metropolis and her girlfriend Natasha. Natasha is a genius engineer and creates multiple suits of armor to protect her family. I couldn't ask for better representation in this book.
The Lana/John relationship bored me, not gonna lie. Although it is refreshing to see the male character begging the female hero not to risk their lives for once.
Ultimately, this book failed for me when it tried to reveal Lena's evil plot. It actually kind of overexplained and that made for boring reading. There were way too many speech bubbles of Lana trying to berate Lex for his evil acts and I understood what happened pretty much from the first few panels. It wasted time in which we could have had kickass fighting sequences and instead we were given more of Lex in prison trying to make excuses for himself. Also, Ultrawoman's suit looked hilariously stupid.
So, with less needless explanation, this could have been an even better book. That being said, I enjoyed the cast quite a bit. I like what Phil Jimenez did here and I'm interested in reading more of his work.
It starts out with Lois and Lana working together. Already, this is a welcome change from some Superman works where they just exist to fight each other over Clark. I have read summaries about what happened to New 52 Superman and I still can't tell you what happened. All I know is that this begins with Lois coming to Lana for help with her new abilities. Clark has been gone for a while and they're helping each other through it. I shipped it, not gonna lie. I loved seeing them together and the banter was wonderful. I would have gladly read a book about them working together to save the world.
Lana's abilities remind me of Carol Danvers' and I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's the typical Fantastic Four question for me: why would an explosion affect 2 people differently? It's the same explosion and the same elements. I don't understand why they'd have different abilities.
The big bad in this book is Lena Luthor. I quit Supergirl after season 2's premiere but I understand she's a popular character. It seems to me that either Rebirth went a completely different way or the CW changed her character significantly. Considering what they did to Archie, I'm betting it's the latter. Here, she's kind of an interesting foe. She has a reasonable cause for going evil and I appreciate that she's a brilliant scientist.
One note: I think the female characters in this book are fantastic! They all have purposes and lives outside of supporting male characters. Lana is a brilliant. Lois is funny and brave. Traci 13 wants to protect Metropolis and her girlfriend Natasha. Natasha is a genius engineer and creates multiple suits of armor to protect her family. I couldn't ask for better representation in this book.
The Lana/John relationship bored me, not gonna lie. Although it is refreshing to see the male character begging the female hero not to risk their lives for once.
Ultimately, this book failed for me when it tried to reveal Lena's evil plot. It actually kind of overexplained and that made for boring reading. There were way too many speech bubbles of Lana trying to berate Lex for his evil acts and I understood what happened pretty much from the first few panels. It wasted time in which we could have had kickass fighting sequences and instead we were given more of Lex in prison trying to make excuses for himself. Also, Ultrawoman's suit looked hilariously stupid.
So, with less needless explanation, this could have been an even better book. That being said, I enjoyed the cast quite a bit. I like what Phil Jimenez did here and I'm interested in reading more of his work.
July 21, 2017
I can see why this is rated so low. This wasn't the absolute worst Rebirth title, but it's certainly no where near the best either. It's just kinda.... mediocre. It has a lot of interesting elements to the story, but then they are bogged down by boring ones and it just kinda makes the story neither great/memorable nor bad enough to hate read it. It's kind of sad really, there was so much waisted potential. I'll read the next trade, but if it's not any better I won't continue with this series.
August 8, 2017
I really wanted to like it, but it's choppy storytelling and ho hum villain...yeah...
World: The art is okay, it's a bit inconsistent but overall I like it. The world building is okay, with Lex Superman doing so much in three books this was a bit of a stretch and the villain of this book whose motivation was good but the design was just weird. The world is solid but also a bit choppy in places.
Story: The story in concept is interesting with the idea of two Superwomen making it kinda fun. Then we get into the cliche storyline with Lana's condition, the villain and the city in peril once again. There was a bit too much happening for a first arc and too many characters making the story rather jumpy and paced a bit weird. It felt like a puddle jump instead of diving into characters and stories cause there was so much. I wanted more development and focus.
Characters: Lana is interesting, her internal dialog is strong and personal voice distinct. I know it's cliche but I do like her relationship with Lois. Lois is another altogether, New52 Lois get's brushed aside and much like New52 Superman I felt they were given a disservice even if they were not the most well written and received. I felt Lois deserved a lot more and honored a lot more. I think the Superman book does a lot better at that with Lois taking on Lois, but here...not done so well. Irons both uncle and niece are okay but I wished they had more development and actually their own series would be great. I just had a thought of hoping Natasha joining the Birds, that would be cool...but there are already too many geniuses on that team. The villain's motivation was okay, but her portrayal was way too simple and mwaa haa haa for my liking.
It was okay, but I wanted it love it more...but the story was choppy and wanted to do too much.
Onward to the next book!
World: The art is okay, it's a bit inconsistent but overall I like it. The world building is okay, with Lex Superman doing so much in three books this was a bit of a stretch and the villain of this book whose motivation was good but the design was just weird. The world is solid but also a bit choppy in places.
Story: The story in concept is interesting with the idea of two Superwomen making it kinda fun. Then we get into the cliche storyline with Lana's condition, the villain and the city in peril once again. There was a bit too much happening for a first arc and too many characters making the story rather jumpy and paced a bit weird. It felt like a puddle jump instead of diving into characters and stories cause there was so much. I wanted more development and focus.
Characters: Lana is interesting, her internal dialog is strong and personal voice distinct. I know it's cliche but I do like her relationship with Lois. Lois is another altogether, New52 Lois get's brushed aside and much like New52 Superman I felt they were given a disservice even if they were not the most well written and received. I felt Lois deserved a lot more and honored a lot more. I think the Superman book does a lot better at that with Lois taking on Lois, but here...not done so well. Irons both uncle and niece are okay but I wished they had more development and actually their own series would be great. I just had a thought of hoping Natasha joining the Birds, that would be cool...but there are already too many geniuses on that team. The villain's motivation was okay, but her portrayal was way too simple and mwaa haa haa for my liking.
It was okay, but I wanted it love it more...but the story was choppy and wanted to do too much.
Onward to the next book!
August 9, 2017
5 stars
RIP Lois Lane. Hope Lana will be okay. Also hope they stopped Ultrawoman. How is Lex able to be Superman? Wonder why people trust him. Would be good to save Lena.
Can't wait to read Superwoman volume 2!!!!
RIP Lois Lane. Hope Lana will be okay. Also hope they stopped Ultrawoman. How is Lex able to be Superman? Wonder why people trust him. Would be good to save Lena.
Can't wait to read Superwoman volume 2!!!!
April 22, 2017
Free copy provided by Netgalley and DC Entertainment in return for an honest review
Publication Date: 09th May 2017
Review Date: 22nd April 2017
I didn’t finish this one, at 30%. I just couldn’t bring myself to sit and read this one, I just couldn’t get into it. The action seemed promising. The plot seem promising, but it was just rather boring for me. I’ve never really been a fan of Superwoman, so maybe it was something to do with that.
I didn’t like the characters, I didn’t enjoy where the plot was going, and there was nothing in it to keep me entertained, personally.
Don’t get me wrong! You might enjoy this one. I just didn’t, probably due to not being able to ever like Superwoman growing up. Give it a go, if you’re a DC fan. This one just wasn’t for me.
Publication Date: 09th May 2017
Review Date: 22nd April 2017
I didn’t finish this one, at 30%. I just couldn’t bring myself to sit and read this one, I just couldn’t get into it. The action seemed promising. The plot seem promising, but it was just rather boring for me. I’ve never really been a fan of Superwoman, so maybe it was something to do with that.
I didn’t like the characters, I didn’t enjoy where the plot was going, and there was nothing in it to keep me entertained, personally.
Don’t get me wrong! You might enjoy this one. I just didn’t, probably due to not being able to ever like Superwoman growing up. Give it a go, if you’re a DC fan. This one just wasn’t for me.
September 18, 2025
it was giving dune at the end there.
September 29, 2020
168 pages. Collects issues 1-7 of Superwoman 2016-2017.
ART: 4+ stars (includes work by Emanuela Lupacchino, one of the best)
STORY: 2 stars (average)
VERDICT: 3+ suns.
ART: 4+ stars (includes work by Emanuela Lupacchino, one of the best)
STORY: 2 stars (average)
VERDICT: 3+ suns.
June 27, 2017
Normally I think we get a little more exposition in a "Vol. 1" -- I felt like I was playing catch-up with some storylines, most of which were probably from the last Superman cycle, which I hadn't read.
But the art is classical and bright and clean, the plot was interesting, and the title irresistible. I really enjoyed the read, but did find the big fight scene to be a little anticlimatic. Wonder Woman fighting the Titan in the Power Couple series did a better job, I think, of conveying a truly exciting and colossal lives-on-the-line kind of fight.
I'll probably read more if it comes my way, but I won't spend much energy seeking it out.
But the art is classical and bright and clean, the plot was interesting, and the title irresistible. I really enjoyed the read, but did find the big fight scene to be a little anticlimatic. Wonder Woman fighting the Titan in the Power Couple series did a better job, I think, of conveying a truly exciting and colossal lives-on-the-line kind of fight.
I'll probably read more if it comes my way, but I won't spend much energy seeking it out.
December 13, 2017
This was awesome! Lois Lane and Lana Lang as Superwomen facing off against a new and terrifying Ultrawoman is the actual Superman book we've always needed, and Phil Jimenez knocked it out of the park! This is way up there with my other favorite Rebirth titles (Batman and Wonder Woman), and I can't wait to read more (and am very sad to hear about its impending cancellation).
February 3, 2018
Filled with new characters who are never properly introduced, old ones so transformed you can't care about them, and a plot that is disconnected from everything else going on in the Rebirth universe when it really shouldn't be.
August 27, 2017
look, i get that this series isn't everyone's cup of tea... but i, goodreads user lanalang,
October 29, 2017
A good attempt that just doesn't quite get it done. This is one of DC's second tier books for me.
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2017/1...
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2017/1...
April 20, 2017
ESP/ENG
Amé muchas cosas de este primer volumen. Amé la amistad de Lois y Lana. Amé que no hicieron sólo otra historia de la familia Superman, sino que hicieron algo original dentro de esa limitación. Amé la resurección de Steel como personaje, y más aún que no le restó importancia a las Supermujeres de este libro, incluyendo su increible sobrina.
PERO
Sigo odiando lo inconsecuentes que se sienten la mayoría de las historias con superheroínas para la continuidad general y para el destino de la franquicia de superman. Es, por diseño, otra historia al margen del Universo Superman, de la misma manera que lo que se escribe de Batgirl lo es para la franquicia Batman. Creo que, más que ser culpa del autor o incluso del editor, es culpa de nuestra todavía limitadísima visión de cómo debe ser la diversidad de género en los cómics mainstream, pero ya no voy a seguir sobre ese tema porque se me acabaría el espacio.
Me divertí leyendo este cómic pero dos cosas me causaron mucha dificultad. La primera es que la voz del personaje principal, la narración, me pareció cansadísima, y la segunda es que, para un libro de acción, siento que hay muy poca de la misma. La mayor parte parece ocurrir fuera de la viñeta y se siente muy restringida en general. No sé si esto se trate del estilo artístico o de alguna (espero que no) mal fundada idea sobre qué audiencia leerá este título. Este un cómic de acción y, como bien lo sabe, las mujeres también pueden formar parte de ella.
Dicho todo esto, SÍ es un libro divertido y hay cosas que me gustaron muchísimo, así que espero leer más.
I loved many things about this first volume. I loved the relationship between Lois and Lana. I love how it stood up to the task of not just making another Superman Family story, but something really original within those constraints. I love the resurrection of Steel as a compelling character, and I love even more that he does not take importance away from the Superwomen in this book, including the awesomeness that is embodied by his niece.
BUT
I still hate how inconsequential most of these (female-led) stories feel for overall continuity and even the destiny of the Superman franchise. It is, by design, another fringe story to the Superman Universe, the way Batgirl is in the Batman franchise. This, I think, is NOT the author’s fault. Probably not even DC’s fault, it’s about how gender diversity is still largely misunderstood in mainstream comics. But I digress.
While I had fun reading this book, I found that two things about it were especially difficult: first, I grew quickly tired of the protagonist voice and narration and I also found the adventure-action part of this book somewhat lacking. Most of the real action feels left off-panel and neutered overall. I don’t know if this is due to the art-style or some weird (I hope not) idea who is reading it and why. This is an action title, and, as it damn well knows, women can kick ass too.
Still, it IS fun, and it has a lot of plusses. I just need it to maybe gel together more properly, and perhaps I need the title to be just a bit more daring.
Amé muchas cosas de este primer volumen. Amé la amistad de Lois y Lana. Amé que no hicieron sólo otra historia de la familia Superman, sino que hicieron algo original dentro de esa limitación. Amé la resurección de Steel como personaje, y más aún que no le restó importancia a las Supermujeres de este libro, incluyendo su increible sobrina.
PERO
Sigo odiando lo inconsecuentes que se sienten la mayoría de las historias con superheroínas para la continuidad general y para el destino de la franquicia de superman. Es, por diseño, otra historia al margen del Universo Superman, de la misma manera que lo que se escribe de Batgirl lo es para la franquicia Batman. Creo que, más que ser culpa del autor o incluso del editor, es culpa de nuestra todavía limitadísima visión de cómo debe ser la diversidad de género en los cómics mainstream, pero ya no voy a seguir sobre ese tema porque se me acabaría el espacio.
Me divertí leyendo este cómic pero dos cosas me causaron mucha dificultad. La primera es que la voz del personaje principal, la narración, me pareció cansadísima, y la segunda es que, para un libro de acción, siento que hay muy poca de la misma. La mayor parte parece ocurrir fuera de la viñeta y se siente muy restringida en general. No sé si esto se trate del estilo artístico o de alguna (espero que no) mal fundada idea sobre qué audiencia leerá este título. Este un cómic de acción y, como bien lo sabe, las mujeres también pueden formar parte de ella.
Dicho todo esto, SÍ es un libro divertido y hay cosas que me gustaron muchísimo, así que espero leer más.
I loved many things about this first volume. I loved the relationship between Lois and Lana. I love how it stood up to the task of not just making another Superman Family story, but something really original within those constraints. I love the resurrection of Steel as a compelling character, and I love even more that he does not take importance away from the Superwomen in this book, including the awesomeness that is embodied by his niece.
BUT
I still hate how inconsequential most of these (female-led) stories feel for overall continuity and even the destiny of the Superman franchise. It is, by design, another fringe story to the Superman Universe, the way Batgirl is in the Batman franchise. This, I think, is NOT the author’s fault. Probably not even DC’s fault, it’s about how gender diversity is still largely misunderstood in mainstream comics. But I digress.
While I had fun reading this book, I found that two things about it were especially difficult: first, I grew quickly tired of the protagonist voice and narration and I also found the adventure-action part of this book somewhat lacking. Most of the real action feels left off-panel and neutered overall. I don’t know if this is due to the art-style or some weird (I hope not) idea who is reading it and why. This is an action title, and, as it damn well knows, women can kick ass too.
Still, it IS fun, and it has a lot of plusses. I just need it to maybe gel together more properly, and perhaps I need the title to be just a bit more daring.
March 24, 2020
I can't believe I wasted more than an hour of my life reading this garbage.
First off, the gall to create two characters called Super Woman, just so you can fridge one in the first issue is astonishing.
Second, the changes made to Lana Lang from a smart and independent and stable woman to a pill-popping almost-addict with no self-esteem and the utter inability to be honest with anyone is terrible.
Third, this reads like it's part of a crossover, except there isn't anything it crosses over with - the big terrible thing that happens to Metropolis happens off-page, literally between issues.
Fourth, while I can kind of see where the Lena Luthor thing was going, the execution was terrible (and having FOUR characters with the same LL initials in one book is verging on parody).
Fifth, the storytelling is full of noise that drowns out the signals - there are multiple pages and spreads where the reading order is completely incomprehensible; there are too many stories being told, with none getting enough detail to make them interesting.
Sixth - when did Traci 13 become Jack Hawksmoor? Channeling the spirit of the cities? It's been done. And SO Much better.
Seventh - None of the action sequences here make much sense. Well, that's in keeping with the plot and characterizations; nothing in this book makes much sense. Even the art isn't great - it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between Lana, Lois, Traci, Natasha, and the Bizarro clones.
Eighth - for something this long, I would expect the story to be shown, not told, but there are massive info-dumps in every issue, and SO MUCH JARGON, much of which gets mentioned once and then dispensed with. Hypercube prisons, energy conversion individuals, B.Zarro clones, a morphing character, all of it gets thrown into a blender but not mixed into a consistent solution - there are clumps and chunks to choke on throughout.
There might have been some noble intentions behind the ideas here, but the execution is terrible on all levels. Avoid this, ESPECIALLY if you're a fan of Lois Lane or Lana Lang.
There is so m
First off, the gall to create two characters called Super Woman, just so you can fridge one in the first issue is astonishing.
Second, the changes made to Lana Lang from a smart and independent and stable woman to a pill-popping almost-addict with no self-esteem and the utter inability to be honest with anyone is terrible.
Third, this reads like it's part of a crossover, except there isn't anything it crosses over with - the big terrible thing that happens to Metropolis happens off-page, literally between issues.
Fourth, while I can kind of see where the Lena Luthor thing was going, the execution was terrible (and having FOUR characters with the same LL initials in one book is verging on parody).
Fifth, the storytelling is full of noise that drowns out the signals - there are multiple pages and spreads where the reading order is completely incomprehensible; there are too many stories being told, with none getting enough detail to make them interesting.
Sixth - when did Traci 13 become Jack Hawksmoor? Channeling the spirit of the cities? It's been done. And SO Much better.
Seventh - None of the action sequences here make much sense. Well, that's in keeping with the plot and characterizations; nothing in this book makes much sense. Even the art isn't great - it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between Lana, Lois, Traci, Natasha, and the Bizarro clones.
Eighth - for something this long, I would expect the story to be shown, not told, but there are massive info-dumps in every issue, and SO MUCH JARGON, much of which gets mentioned once and then dispensed with. Hypercube prisons, energy conversion individuals, B.Zarro clones, a morphing character, all of it gets thrown into a blender but not mixed into a consistent solution - there are clumps and chunks to choke on throughout.
There might have been some noble intentions behind the ideas here, but the execution is terrible on all levels. Avoid this, ESPECIALLY if you're a fan of Lois Lane or Lana Lang.
There is so m
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 25, 2018
The Superwoman comic is almost the definition of a squandered opportunity.
I mean, it's got a great premise of Lana Lang being a Superwoman and having to react to the death of her superly cohort, nuLois Lang. SuperLana has a great visual. Finally, the usage of Lena Luthor as a villain is terrific, both for the balance with Lana and for the secrets it reveals about Lex's past.
The problem is that artist Jimenez doesn't really seem to have the chops to be a strong writer. The story is overstuffed, while simultaneously seeming to go nowhere. It takes seven whole issues to play out this conflict with Lana, and although there are some neat mysteries early on, they never resolve into anything interesting, and then we just get long issues of conflict.
Meanwhile, the comic is too often leaning on other super-comics. There's no real introduction to the setup of Lana and her (awesome) supporting cast of John and Natasha. There's very little explanation of the old Superman's death or the rise of SuperLex. There are also some mysterious villains late on. Some of these things I understood because I've read some of the other comics, but others were entirely cryptic.
Meanwhile, Jimenez also manages to entirely fail as a visual creator, which is something that I totally don't understand. But his pages usually run 7-12 panels and they're buried under walls of text. It's just not interesting.
If Jimenez were staying on, I'd be done, because those dense, dull pages are just exhausting to read, but it looks like he only has one issue more ...
I mean, it's got a great premise of Lana Lang being a Superwoman and having to react to the death of her superly cohort, nuLois Lang. SuperLana has a great visual. Finally, the usage of Lena Luthor as a villain is terrific, both for the balance with Lana and for the secrets it reveals about Lex's past.
The problem is that artist Jimenez doesn't really seem to have the chops to be a strong writer. The story is overstuffed, while simultaneously seeming to go nowhere. It takes seven whole issues to play out this conflict with Lana, and although there are some neat mysteries early on, they never resolve into anything interesting, and then we just get long issues of conflict.
Meanwhile, the comic is too often leaning on other super-comics. There's no real introduction to the setup of Lana and her (awesome) supporting cast of John and Natasha. There's very little explanation of the old Superman's death or the rise of SuperLex. There are also some mysterious villains late on. Some of these things I understood because I've read some of the other comics, but others were entirely cryptic.
Meanwhile, Jimenez also manages to entirely fail as a visual creator, which is something that I totally don't understand. But his pages usually run 7-12 panels and they're buried under walls of text. It's just not interesting.
If Jimenez were staying on, I'd be done, because those dense, dull pages are just exhausting to read, but it looks like he only has one issue more ...
February 6, 2019
Ci sono persone che, ad un certo punto, devono capire che non tutti siamo fatti per ricoprire molteplici ruoli. E il fatto che sulla Terra esistano diversi ruoli, non vuol dire che (prima o poi) bisogna provare a ricoprirli tutti. A volte, basta svolgere un compito solo, ma farlo bene, e si sarà mille volte più apprezzati per tale semplicità, piuttosto per il tentativo di multitasking.
Phil Jimenez è una di queste persone.
Deve mettersi in testa che è un disegnatore. E basta. E' un disegnatore (un signor disegnatore, per giunta) e basta. Niente più. Perché, oddio, come scrittore non è nemmeno così male, però ha già dimostrato che quando fa due cose contemporaneamente, quelle due cose non li escono bene e finisce per far male anche la cosa che gli viene bene.
Non che l'idea di base dietro Superwoman avrebbe potuto far nascere qualcosa di decente eh, però - con Jimenez concentrato solo su uno dei due fronti - almeno uno dei due principali aspetti del volume (storia e disegni) sarebbe risultato salvabile.
E invece.
Phil Jimenez è una di queste persone.
Deve mettersi in testa che è un disegnatore. E basta. E' un disegnatore (un signor disegnatore, per giunta) e basta. Niente più. Perché, oddio, come scrittore non è nemmeno così male, però ha già dimostrato che quando fa due cose contemporaneamente, quelle due cose non li escono bene e finisce per far male anche la cosa che gli viene bene.
Non che l'idea di base dietro Superwoman avrebbe potuto far nascere qualcosa di decente eh, però - con Jimenez concentrato solo su uno dei due fronti - almeno uno dei due principali aspetti del volume (storia e disegni) sarebbe risultato salvabile.
E invece.
July 16, 2017
'Superwoman, Volume 1: Who Killed Superwoman' by Phil Jimenez is a story that seemed like it should be interesting, but it took me a long time to work my way through it.
In the new Rebirth universe, Superman is gone. In his place, Lex Luthor has power armor and wants to be the new Superman. There is also a Superwoman. Actually two. Lois Lane and Lana Lang have discovered they have powers. They are untrusting of Lex Luthor. Also, Lois' powers seem to be killing her. It may be up to Lana and a few surprise guests to set things right.
The art is fine by the series of artists in these 6 issues. I just really didn't care. It was exposition heavy, even during fight scenes. A lot of the pages had split points of view, which was fine, but it was just so dialogue intensive. I did manage to finish it, but I found myself reading it, then putting it down. That's never a good sign for me and graphic novels.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
In the new Rebirth universe, Superman is gone. In his place, Lex Luthor has power armor and wants to be the new Superman. There is also a Superwoman. Actually two. Lois Lane and Lana Lang have discovered they have powers. They are untrusting of Lex Luthor. Also, Lois' powers seem to be killing her. It may be up to Lana and a few surprise guests to set things right.
The art is fine by the series of artists in these 6 issues. I just really didn't care. It was exposition heavy, even during fight scenes. A lot of the pages had split points of view, which was fine, but it was just so dialogue intensive. I did manage to finish it, but I found myself reading it, then putting it down. That's never a good sign for me and graphic novels.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
September 11, 2017
na de dood van superman krijgen Lois Lane en Lana Lang zijn krachten maar dat blijkt niet zonder gevaren te zijn. na de dood van Lois moet Lana er alles aan doen om haar moordenaar tegen te houden en de stad te redden. omdat ik weinig weet van superman was het voor mij soms een beetje vaag en ingewikkeld. Lex Luthor is de nieuwe superman maar hij is niet zo goed als mensen denken. ik kende bepaalde karakters wel van de tv-series Smallville en Supergirl. moet er nog wel aan wennen dat Lex Luthor superman is. geen slechte strip die met elke issue steeds beter werd. en aan het einde had ik wel zoiets van ik wil het volgende deel lezen want wil nu wel weten hoe het nu verder gaat met Lana Lang.
September 15, 2020
A bunch of characters I really didn't care about and the ones I do care about weren't that fun to read here.
April 20, 2017
Damn it, I really wanted to like this. Throughout my whole time reading this, my opinion bounced back and forth like a tennis match. There were moments of genius, others of absolute confusion, and some of complete despair. First, the art in it is very nice. Loved the new looks for the Superwomen and it's rather clean and colourful. Unfortunately some of this was lost in what I found to be a complete mess at times when it came to the execution of action sequences. Honesty, on more than one occasion, I'd re-read a page or panel to try and figure out who were they talking about? How did that get there? Whatever magical/scientific principal they're discussing is totally confusing? Who is that? My confusion only seemed to increase as it went on, right down to the last panel which made me flip back and forth thinking the book was missing a page. Nope, that's how the story ended. I was left feeling a bit annoyed. Having said that, I did like Lana's internal struggles and discussions of her weaknesses when confronted with fear and her new powers. Lena's story was also interesting, but it ended up feeling a bit too much like Brainiac in the end. To wrap things up quickly here, the book pulled me in at times, but the net result felt like someone had torn out every other page or so which really took me out of the story at times. I feel that this story could have been better told and paced with an extra issue or so. All in all, really on the fence with this one.
September 17, 2017
A cluttered mess of a book, I'm afraid, and not especially worthy of your time. Avoid.
June 12, 2017
This is a big-fat-mega-bad 1 star for me. It would be a did-not-finish as well, except it came highly recommended from a friend whose book and comic tastes I greatly respect, so I was determined to stick it out and see if the ending would change my mind.
It didn't.
The whole thing is really bad.
Pretty much all around.
Superwoman, Volume 1: Who Killed Superwoman? is DC's reintroduction to Superwoman for their Rebirth event. There are two Superwomans, but one is quickly killed and the rest of the book investigates and avenges her death.
Superwoman, Volume 1 is plagued by bad writing and way too much of it. The living Superwoman internally monologues through the entire book, but she doesn't have anything interesting to say; it's all generic superhero internal strife. The dialogue is the same way - way too much of it, and most of it bad. I know DC tries to make every comic issue a possible entry point for new readers, but the constant rehashing of the plot drags at the story in a way that doesn't seem to happen in Marvel books. How many times do I have to be introduced to a powerful woman with a big "S" on her chest in a book called "Superwoman"?
The art in Superwoman, Volume 1 is fairly inoffensive, but got weird and difficult to follow at times. It's not my style. I am impressed that Jimenez wrote and drew the entire book.
The story is bad. Time-skips weren't explained and several times happened in the middle of a page, which was extremely jarring. It's possible that more DC knowledge would have made this book better, but isn't the whole point of Rebirth to reset the world to attract new readers? Still, I admit I may not be the target audience.
There was one good aspect of Superwoman, Volume 1: a diverse and powerful cast. Superwoman's SO is a black man (also a Superman? Maybe?). He takes care of his niece, a young black woman, who is also a genius and a powerful hero. She is dating another woman, a witch. That's a nice little crowd of people of color and healthy, diverse relationships, and it's nice to read about - but not nice enough to make a very bad book any good.
Book recommendations mean a lot to me. I read a lot more than most or all of my friends, so usually I'm the one begging those around me to read my favorites. I hoped when I got this recommendation that it would be something my friend and I can share...instead I'm hoping she doesn't see this scathing review. I'm sorry, Katy - I hope you still send books my way!
Read more of my reviews (plus cat pics!) on Her Little Book Review.
It didn't.
The whole thing is really bad.
Pretty much all around.
Superwoman, Volume 1: Who Killed Superwoman? is DC's reintroduction to Superwoman for their Rebirth event. There are two Superwomans, but one is quickly killed and the rest of the book investigates and avenges her death.
Superwoman, Volume 1 is plagued by bad writing and way too much of it. The living Superwoman internally monologues through the entire book, but she doesn't have anything interesting to say; it's all generic superhero internal strife. The dialogue is the same way - way too much of it, and most of it bad. I know DC tries to make every comic issue a possible entry point for new readers, but the constant rehashing of the plot drags at the story in a way that doesn't seem to happen in Marvel books. How many times do I have to be introduced to a powerful woman with a big "S" on her chest in a book called "Superwoman"?
The art in Superwoman, Volume 1 is fairly inoffensive, but got weird and difficult to follow at times. It's not my style. I am impressed that Jimenez wrote and drew the entire book.
The story is bad. Time-skips weren't explained and several times happened in the middle of a page, which was extremely jarring. It's possible that more DC knowledge would have made this book better, but isn't the whole point of Rebirth to reset the world to attract new readers? Still, I admit I may not be the target audience.
There was one good aspect of Superwoman, Volume 1: a diverse and powerful cast. Superwoman's SO is a black man (also a Superman? Maybe?). He takes care of his niece, a young black woman, who is also a genius and a powerful hero. She is dating another woman, a witch. That's a nice little crowd of people of color and healthy, diverse relationships, and it's nice to read about - but not nice enough to make a very bad book any good.
Book recommendations mean a lot to me. I read a lot more than most or all of my friends, so usually I'm the one begging those around me to read my favorites. I hoped when I got this recommendation that it would be something my friend and I can share...instead I'm hoping she doesn't see this scathing review. I'm sorry, Katy - I hope you still send books my way!
Read more of my reviews (plus cat pics!) on Her Little Book Review.
May 10, 2017
This series wasn't even on my radar until I read the first couple of volumes from Action Comics. This review is going to be filled with spoilers for Action Comics and Superman. So, if you haven't read the first 2 volumes of those yet, you might not want to read the rest of this. In the volumes of Action Comics and Superman, pre-New 52 Superman and Lois Lane, along with their son Jonathan, have stepped out into the light after having remained in the shadows for almost the whole run of New 52 comics. Once the New 52 version of Superman died, the older pre-New 52 version, who is from another universe, stepped up to fill the role of Superman because no matter what universe you're in, the Earth needs a Superman. Well, Lex Luthor has decided that he's done ruling Apokalips and he wants to be the Earth's Superman since he too knows about New 52 Superman being dead.
The Lois Lane of this world, that knew New 52 Superman, has disappeared. Before she disappeared, Lois sent the older Lois who has the son with Superman a letter telling the older Lois that if she disappeared to come looking for her. In order to track down the missing younger Lois, the older Lois impersonates her and heads to the Daily Planet. After coming up empty there, older Lois heads to younger Lois' apartment. Once there, older Lois is confronted by a superpowered Lana Lang. The 2 of them then find a video message younger Lois left for the older. In the video, young Lois says if older Lois is watching this, then young Lois is dead. Lana confirms this is true. All of this dealing with the 2 different versions of Lois takes place in Action Comics volume 2. Reading that made me HAVE to read this book so I could find out what the hell is going on.
Superwoman volume 1 has some time jumps, but the earliest moments in time are young Lois and Lana together on the Kent farm. Lois has superpowers and wants Lana to train her to use her powers the same way she had helped New 52 Superman learn to use his. Before long we learn that Lana has superpowers as well. Both women were present when New 52 Superman died. He exploded and somehow that explosion released his powers and imbued the 2 women with special abilities. Lois wound up with many of Superman's traditional powers like flight, heat vision, strength, and cold breath. Lana's powers include some of the strength, but not nearly as much, flight, and the ability to harness and release solar power in several different ways.
When the story gets to the present, Lex is unveiling a new warship that he has created to help protect Metropolis. Lana is there covering the event for the TV station she works for. Something goes wrong and the ship starts moving heading straight for a bridge that is packed during rush hour traffic. Lois and Lana swoop into action, but whatever is wrong with the ship, is also affecting Lex's power armor and he's unable to help. The 2 Superwomen keep the ship from ramming the bridge, but the weapon system starts firing on the city. The Superwomen go inside the ship to shut the weapons down and run into female versions of the Bizarro creature Lex created a while back. One of these creatures kills Lois which answers the question posed in the title of this volume and sheds light on events from Action Comics volume 2.
A couple of issues show that the ship only fired on Lexcorp properties. The lone remaining Superwoman, Lana, tries to fix some of the damage that was done. While fixing the problems, Lana's supporting cast is introduced. John Henry Irons, aka Steel, is Lana's boyfriend. His niece, Natasha, and her lover, Traci 13, are a couple more of the people we get to meet. I've never been a Steel fan. He's okay if he shows up in something for a couple issues every couple of years, but I don't care enough about the character to want him to be a major player in a series. I really don't like him being hooked up with Lana. I'm not sure how I feel about Natasha yet, but Traci 13 is a ripoff of Jack Hawksmoor. She "talks" to cities and through magic is able to do a few things with the life force of said city. I never liked Jack Hawksmoor even though his powers were extremely original. I really don't like this bland imitation.
During the issues that the supporting cast is getting introduced, Lex is captured and placed in a cell beneath his headquarters. As soon as Lana and her crew figure why Lexcorp was the only target in the attacks and who is behind it, the story goes completely off the rails. Going from issue #4 into issue #5 felt almost like there was a whole issue missing between the 2. Writer Phil Jimenez spent so much time introducing minor characters that weren't important to the overall plot that he had to cram 2-3 issues worth of plot into the first few pages of issue #5. The villain of the story and their army of female Bizarros managed to take over the entire city, capture numerous civilians for experimentation, and transport those civilians to space all without the heroes being shown lifting a finger to stop it. Without seeing any of this transpire, it was like walking into a movie that's half over. There was a major missed opportunity here that the writer could have used to show the struggle the heroes went through to prevent these events from taking place. Instead, the writer chose to waste valuable pages with needless stuff while fast forwarding the major plot points to hurry up and get to the resolution.
Phil Jimenez's writing started off fairly strong, but really lost me towards the end. I really didn't like how he portrayed Lex. Jimenez's Lex was extremely weak willed. Most other iterations of the character would have fought tooth and nail to keep these events from happening. Once he was trapped, he normally would have used his superior intellect to find a way out, but Jimenez had Lex playing a helpless damsel in distress role that was highly out of character. Once Lex was rescued, he was still useless and just stood there while the action was going on around him. Lex has always been a man of action would NEVER have just stood there like that. The writing gets 2.5 stars.
Phil Jimenez also acts as the penciler on all the issues except #3 & #4. Emanuela Lupacchino is the artist for those 2 issues. I enjoyed Lupacchino's art much more than Jimenez's. It's rare that I enjoy both the writing and artwork of one individual. Most times I feel like the creator should stick to one or the other because they spread themselves too thin trying to do both on a book. Also, most creators that write and draw are much more superior at one than they are the other and it's pretty evident which they should stick with. That's not really the case with Jimenez because he's only average at both. Neither one of aspects of the book that he contributed is better or worse than the other. The art is going to get a slightly higher score though since Lupacchino's work was factored in. The art score is 3 stars.
There was enough good about the book that I'll come back for at least one more volume to see if questions that were raised in this book get answered. I'm not entirely optimistic about future volumes, but I'll at least give them a chance to see if they improve. Even a slight drop in quality in future volumes will see me drop this series. Overall rating is 2.75 stars.
***** Note: I received a digital copy of this from DC through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
The Lois Lane of this world, that knew New 52 Superman, has disappeared. Before she disappeared, Lois sent the older Lois who has the son with Superman a letter telling the older Lois that if she disappeared to come looking for her. In order to track down the missing younger Lois, the older Lois impersonates her and heads to the Daily Planet. After coming up empty there, older Lois heads to younger Lois' apartment. Once there, older Lois is confronted by a superpowered Lana Lang. The 2 of them then find a video message younger Lois left for the older. In the video, young Lois says if older Lois is watching this, then young Lois is dead. Lana confirms this is true. All of this dealing with the 2 different versions of Lois takes place in Action Comics volume 2. Reading that made me HAVE to read this book so I could find out what the hell is going on.
Superwoman volume 1 has some time jumps, but the earliest moments in time are young Lois and Lana together on the Kent farm. Lois has superpowers and wants Lana to train her to use her powers the same way she had helped New 52 Superman learn to use his. Before long we learn that Lana has superpowers as well. Both women were present when New 52 Superman died. He exploded and somehow that explosion released his powers and imbued the 2 women with special abilities. Lois wound up with many of Superman's traditional powers like flight, heat vision, strength, and cold breath. Lana's powers include some of the strength, but not nearly as much, flight, and the ability to harness and release solar power in several different ways.
When the story gets to the present, Lex is unveiling a new warship that he has created to help protect Metropolis. Lana is there covering the event for the TV station she works for. Something goes wrong and the ship starts moving heading straight for a bridge that is packed during rush hour traffic. Lois and Lana swoop into action, but whatever is wrong with the ship, is also affecting Lex's power armor and he's unable to help. The 2 Superwomen keep the ship from ramming the bridge, but the weapon system starts firing on the city. The Superwomen go inside the ship to shut the weapons down and run into female versions of the Bizarro creature Lex created a while back. One of these creatures kills Lois which answers the question posed in the title of this volume and sheds light on events from Action Comics volume 2.
A couple of issues show that the ship only fired on Lexcorp properties. The lone remaining Superwoman, Lana, tries to fix some of the damage that was done. While fixing the problems, Lana's supporting cast is introduced. John Henry Irons, aka Steel, is Lana's boyfriend. His niece, Natasha, and her lover, Traci 13, are a couple more of the people we get to meet. I've never been a Steel fan. He's okay if he shows up in something for a couple issues every couple of years, but I don't care enough about the character to want him to be a major player in a series. I really don't like him being hooked up with Lana. I'm not sure how I feel about Natasha yet, but Traci 13 is a ripoff of Jack Hawksmoor. She "talks" to cities and through magic is able to do a few things with the life force of said city. I never liked Jack Hawksmoor even though his powers were extremely original. I really don't like this bland imitation.
During the issues that the supporting cast is getting introduced, Lex is captured and placed in a cell beneath his headquarters. As soon as Lana and her crew figure why Lexcorp was the only target in the attacks and who is behind it, the story goes completely off the rails. Going from issue #4 into issue #5 felt almost like there was a whole issue missing between the 2. Writer Phil Jimenez spent so much time introducing minor characters that weren't important to the overall plot that he had to cram 2-3 issues worth of plot into the first few pages of issue #5. The villain of the story and their army of female Bizarros managed to take over the entire city, capture numerous civilians for experimentation, and transport those civilians to space all without the heroes being shown lifting a finger to stop it. Without seeing any of this transpire, it was like walking into a movie that's half over. There was a major missed opportunity here that the writer could have used to show the struggle the heroes went through to prevent these events from taking place. Instead, the writer chose to waste valuable pages with needless stuff while fast forwarding the major plot points to hurry up and get to the resolution.
Phil Jimenez's writing started off fairly strong, but really lost me towards the end. I really didn't like how he portrayed Lex. Jimenez's Lex was extremely weak willed. Most other iterations of the character would have fought tooth and nail to keep these events from happening. Once he was trapped, he normally would have used his superior intellect to find a way out, but Jimenez had Lex playing a helpless damsel in distress role that was highly out of character. Once Lex was rescued, he was still useless and just stood there while the action was going on around him. Lex has always been a man of action would NEVER have just stood there like that. The writing gets 2.5 stars.
Phil Jimenez also acts as the penciler on all the issues except #3 & #4. Emanuela Lupacchino is the artist for those 2 issues. I enjoyed Lupacchino's art much more than Jimenez's. It's rare that I enjoy both the writing and artwork of one individual. Most times I feel like the creator should stick to one or the other because they spread themselves too thin trying to do both on a book. Also, most creators that write and draw are much more superior at one than they are the other and it's pretty evident which they should stick with. That's not really the case with Jimenez because he's only average at both. Neither one of aspects of the book that he contributed is better or worse than the other. The art is going to get a slightly higher score though since Lupacchino's work was factored in. The art score is 3 stars.
There was enough good about the book that I'll come back for at least one more volume to see if questions that were raised in this book get answered. I'm not entirely optimistic about future volumes, but I'll at least give them a chance to see if they improve. Even a slight drop in quality in future volumes will see me drop this series. Overall rating is 2.75 stars.
***** Note: I received a digital copy of this from DC through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
May 8, 2017
Netgalley kindly provided me a copy of this volume, which I read as soon as I'd finished Superman: Action Comics, Volume 2: Welcome to the Planet. This story is closely linked to the Superman one, so it helps to read them concurrently.
There is no way to write this review without spoilers, so tread carefully.
The story starts with an introduction to our two Superwomen. Lois Lane and Lana Lang were hit by New Earth's Superman's solar energy when he was killed. Subsequently they absorbed parts of his abilities - Lois has his more traditional powers, while Lana conducts electricity. They form an unlikely partnership as Lois looks to Lana for mentorship. Turns out, on this world, Lana and Clark Kent/Superman were close friends and Lana helped him reign in his powers. Lois just wants the same help.
The two women work for competitive media houses - Lois at Daily Planet and Lana, newly joining The Daily Star for their science segment. Just when they're getting used to their new lives, a strategic power outage cripples the armour of self-declared Superman, Lex Luthor, leaving Lois and Lana to do the rescuing.
This attack opens a can of worms - why were only Luthor technologies hit? While the Superwomen attempt to rediscover the truth, Lana's health begins to take a dive. And then... Lois is killed right in front of her, by a B-Zero. Apparently, that's a thing,
Turns out, these B-Zero-S work for an unknown antagonist - Lex' little sister Lena, thought to be dead, but in actuality in a coma, resting not-so-peacefully in a hi-tech dungeon below ground. Lex tried to use Superman's harnessed power to revive her, but instead made her into a monster. She captures Lex, cripples him, then commandeers his armour to place her disembodied head in, ostensibly to wreak havoc on Metropolis.
Superwoman, along with her boyfriend Steel, Steel's niece Natasha, Natasha's girlfriend Traci 13, Natasha's ex-flame Leti, Lois Lane's ghost, a defective B-Zero, Kryptonite Man's head, purple Skeletor dude, Daily Star's news producer Nadidah (a hijabi!, I'm so stoked) and random people, must come to the rescue. Yes, it's as stupid as it sounds.
In the end, the good guys win, Lex looks like the bad guy he is, the ghost of Lois Lane haunting Lana turns out to be the living Lois Lane (I've given up trying to understand that) and everyone is happy till Lana Lang dies the same way as Lois. Or well, we think she's dying. Who knows. These are comics - trust no death.
In the history of reading comic books, never have I read one that felt verbose and overlong - till this one. It is packed with words, most of which say the same thing over and over. The interplay between the two Superwomen was the best part, but Lois is bumped off in the very second issue. Far too many pages were dedicated to drawn out action sequences, none of which showcased much creativity, in fact they were often confusing and confounding.
An epic number of pages is dedicated to purple skeletor dude yelling that he won't go back to prison because they're torturing the prisoners, but instead of Superwoman and Steel simply saying, 'stop firing at people, we won't take you back there, tell us what you know', they keep attacking him, and not listening to him, thereby prolonging the scene and the length of the book for no valid reason.
The panel placement needed work - you never knew which direction to read in, and even when you did, there appeared to be gaps in the conversations or thoughts.
Continuity-wise, these characters seem to have been plonked in for convenience. Superwoman, neither of them, was mentioned by Lois or Superman till Lana actually showed up. And given that Lois was Superwomaning for a while, how come Superman never tried to engage with her?
Throughout this volume, Lana mourns the loss of her best friend Clark Kent, who died as Superman, but it was proven in the Superman rebirth comics that Clark and Superman were two different people on this Earth. But, Lana never discusses this, nor does she go looking for Clark (who has been captured by Lena Luthor, by the way. For what reason, I don't think they even tried to clarify). I don't think the authors of this series spoke to the Superman ones.
Since this comic is written by a primarily all-male team, and their protagonist is a woman, she is given several handicaps that do not allow her to be the sole hero fighting the good fight. She's talked down to almost constantly by Steel, who never respects her wishes. While a crucial fight is going on, she's at home having nightmares.
She is the sole enemy of the big bad, which makes no sense at all - why would Lena even have a vendetta against this woman? She hates her brother, make an example of him, take over Lexcorp and be the most powerful person on the planet! Nope, the writers conjure up a convoluted, incomprehensible plot where Lena wants to take over the world (or something) by becoming a machine. All while leaving her brother alive. She maligns his name, but doesn't take advantage of the same - it's daft.
And how does Superwoman tackle her? By giving her a nonsensical, condescending, gender-based spiel that makes no sense to anyone but the writers of this.
It's important to note that we have a Superwoman, who is addicted to prescription drugs, is scared to bits all the time, doesn't listen to anyone, sides with a known sociopath (Lex Luthor, don't ask) and has no empathy for prisoners being tortured. As mentioned, she also gets talked down to by her boyfriend in a public place, several times... I just can't even with DC. Seriously.
The prison torture stuff is thrown in to show how bad Lex is and I'd be fine with Lana not caring about some discipline on convicts, but experimentation and torture is unacceptable. And, she reveals her disinterest in their pain despite Steel reminding her that he has a brother in that same prison. What?
This entire volume was torturous, and it's a real shame, given that a Superwoman is a nice deviation from the all-male comics we usually get. But if it's going to be this substandard and have such little respect for the character and for women in general, we'd be better off not having it in the first place. Let's just head back to the Birds of Prey, at least they're a fun lot with rounded characters.
There is no way to write this review without spoilers, so tread carefully.
The story starts with an introduction to our two Superwomen. Lois Lane and Lana Lang were hit by New Earth's Superman's solar energy when he was killed. Subsequently they absorbed parts of his abilities - Lois has his more traditional powers, while Lana conducts electricity. They form an unlikely partnership as Lois looks to Lana for mentorship. Turns out, on this world, Lana and Clark Kent/Superman were close friends and Lana helped him reign in his powers. Lois just wants the same help.
The two women work for competitive media houses - Lois at Daily Planet and Lana, newly joining The Daily Star for their science segment. Just when they're getting used to their new lives, a strategic power outage cripples the armour of self-declared Superman, Lex Luthor, leaving Lois and Lana to do the rescuing.
This attack opens a can of worms - why were only Luthor technologies hit? While the Superwomen attempt to rediscover the truth, Lana's health begins to take a dive. And then... Lois is killed right in front of her, by a B-Zero. Apparently, that's a thing,
Turns out, these B-Zero-S work for an unknown antagonist - Lex' little sister Lena, thought to be dead, but in actuality in a coma, resting not-so-peacefully in a hi-tech dungeon below ground. Lex tried to use Superman's harnessed power to revive her, but instead made her into a monster. She captures Lex, cripples him, then commandeers his armour to place her disembodied head in, ostensibly to wreak havoc on Metropolis.
Superwoman, along with her boyfriend Steel, Steel's niece Natasha, Natasha's girlfriend Traci 13, Natasha's ex-flame Leti, Lois Lane's ghost, a defective B-Zero, Kryptonite Man's head, purple Skeletor dude, Daily Star's news producer Nadidah (a hijabi!, I'm so stoked) and random people, must come to the rescue. Yes, it's as stupid as it sounds.
In the end, the good guys win, Lex looks like the bad guy he is, the ghost of Lois Lane haunting Lana turns out to be the living Lois Lane (I've given up trying to understand that) and everyone is happy till Lana Lang dies the same way as Lois. Or well, we think she's dying. Who knows. These are comics - trust no death.
In the history of reading comic books, never have I read one that felt verbose and overlong - till this one. It is packed with words, most of which say the same thing over and over. The interplay between the two Superwomen was the best part, but Lois is bumped off in the very second issue. Far too many pages were dedicated to drawn out action sequences, none of which showcased much creativity, in fact they were often confusing and confounding.
An epic number of pages is dedicated to purple skeletor dude yelling that he won't go back to prison because they're torturing the prisoners, but instead of Superwoman and Steel simply saying, 'stop firing at people, we won't take you back there, tell us what you know', they keep attacking him, and not listening to him, thereby prolonging the scene and the length of the book for no valid reason.
The panel placement needed work - you never knew which direction to read in, and even when you did, there appeared to be gaps in the conversations or thoughts.
Continuity-wise, these characters seem to have been plonked in for convenience. Superwoman, neither of them, was mentioned by Lois or Superman till Lana actually showed up. And given that Lois was Superwomaning for a while, how come Superman never tried to engage with her?
Throughout this volume, Lana mourns the loss of her best friend Clark Kent, who died as Superman, but it was proven in the Superman rebirth comics that Clark and Superman were two different people on this Earth. But, Lana never discusses this, nor does she go looking for Clark (who has been captured by Lena Luthor, by the way. For what reason, I don't think they even tried to clarify). I don't think the authors of this series spoke to the Superman ones.
Since this comic is written by a primarily all-male team, and their protagonist is a woman, she is given several handicaps that do not allow her to be the sole hero fighting the good fight. She's talked down to almost constantly by Steel, who never respects her wishes. While a crucial fight is going on, she's at home having nightmares.
She is the sole enemy of the big bad, which makes no sense at all - why would Lena even have a vendetta against this woman? She hates her brother, make an example of him, take over Lexcorp and be the most powerful person on the planet! Nope, the writers conjure up a convoluted, incomprehensible plot where Lena wants to take over the world (or something) by becoming a machine. All while leaving her brother alive. She maligns his name, but doesn't take advantage of the same - it's daft.
And how does Superwoman tackle her? By giving her a nonsensical, condescending, gender-based spiel that makes no sense to anyone but the writers of this.
It's important to note that we have a Superwoman, who is addicted to prescription drugs, is scared to bits all the time, doesn't listen to anyone, sides with a known sociopath (Lex Luthor, don't ask) and has no empathy for prisoners being tortured. As mentioned, she also gets talked down to by her boyfriend in a public place, several times... I just can't even with DC. Seriously.
The prison torture stuff is thrown in to show how bad Lex is and I'd be fine with Lana not caring about some discipline on convicts, but experimentation and torture is unacceptable. And, she reveals her disinterest in their pain despite Steel reminding her that he has a brother in that same prison. What?
This entire volume was torturous, and it's a real shame, given that a Superwoman is a nice deviation from the all-male comics we usually get. But if it's going to be this substandard and have such little respect for the character and for women in general, we'd be better off not having it in the first place. Let's just head back to the Birds of Prey, at least they're a fun lot with rounded characters.
January 12, 2019
Um, wow. While I’ve always been a big admirer of Phil Jimenez’s work, and it’s great to see him back at DC, this was not his finest hour. Spinning out of the final days arc, Jimenez introduces us to the two new Superwomen of the DCU: Lois Lane and Lana Lang. Yet for an artist/writer, he sure doesn’t go down the ‘show don’t tell’ path, explaining and reexplaining what is happening on page. Every. Single. Page. As a result, there’s almost too much to unpack for a relatively simple story, and I’m still not sure we get any more of a sense of who these new characters are. Characters ping in from all over the place, including the heroic entry of Traci 13. Wait, who? (Seriously, she just pops in out of nowhere at key moments with no explanation as to who she is in relation to these characters). Jimenez seems far more interested in exploring Steel and his niece Natasha (which is a stronger subplot than the main), and the relationship between Lex and Lena Luthor. It’s a shame that the progress Dan Jurgens made with the character in Action Comics is completely contradictory to what Jimenez is presenting here. While this represents a complete arc, it’s definitely not a self-contained package either. There’s a potentially good story in here somewhere, but this is not it.
April 14, 2017
I’m a long time super hero fan. Super man. Super girl. Super boy. Super dog. I’ve read them all. Naturally, when I say this one, I had to request it to read and review.
First, the illustrations are okay and in full color. I prefer the old comics drawn by hand. This graphic novel is full of strong women: Lana Lang aka Superwoman and Lois Lane. That being said, the comic book is a bit confusing, as if you missed reading the first comic book, but this is the first comic book. What gives? It’s supposed to be about Lois Lane as Superwoman, but the title is misleading because it isn’t about Lois at all, but about Lana Lang.
Why the need for deception? As a stand alone comic book, it is an interesting and enjoyable read, but labeling the way it was, makes for a disappointing read. I enjoyed reading this one, though I didn’t appreciate the deception in the marketing. It should have been titled Superwomen instead because that is what this book is about.
Spoiler: superman is dead. Lex Luthor is now Superman. More of a dumb parody than an enjoyable comic book, I wasn’t impressed. Disappointed.
Thanks NetGalley for the preview. Sadly, it didn’t live up to its expectations.
First, the illustrations are okay and in full color. I prefer the old comics drawn by hand. This graphic novel is full of strong women: Lana Lang aka Superwoman and Lois Lane. That being said, the comic book is a bit confusing, as if you missed reading the first comic book, but this is the first comic book. What gives? It’s supposed to be about Lois Lane as Superwoman, but the title is misleading because it isn’t about Lois at all, but about Lana Lang.
Why the need for deception? As a stand alone comic book, it is an interesting and enjoyable read, but labeling the way it was, makes for a disappointing read. I enjoyed reading this one, though I didn’t appreciate the deception in the marketing. It should have been titled Superwomen instead because that is what this book is about.
Spoiler: superman is dead. Lex Luthor is now Superman. More of a dumb parody than an enjoyable comic book, I wasn’t impressed. Disappointed.
Thanks NetGalley for the preview. Sadly, it didn’t live up to its expectations.
May 9, 2017
Well, this was sadly mediocre. I had no real expectations going in, but I was certainly hoping for more than this. I don't appreciate the bait and switch, or how heavily the story relies on readers having previous knowledge of I don't even know how many pre-Rebirth Superman stories. Neither Lois nor Lana are characters that I want to spend much time with. And this version of Ultrawoman just does not work for me on any level. I won't say that this is the worst Rebirth book so far, but it really isn't any good, either.
April 30, 2017
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. Superwoman has been portrayed by both Lois Lane and Lucy Lane, so having Lana Lang become the new Superwoman, albeit after Lois Lane's death, was an odd choice. There was also a brief moment in time when Lana Lang was Queen Bee, so to give her an Insect Queen battle suit was odd as well. Yet, it's action packed. It's full of twists and turns. It's an enjoyable read. I just can't bring myself to dive "all in" yet.
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