Superman #3

[jmresp]

This issue was good. Don't see why people are ripping it. I also liked that there was alot of action and dialogue in this issue as well. Makes me laugh when I see complaints that people actually have to read the issue.

[The Red Deluge]

Here I am thinking "wow, we might finally get an alternate love interest for Superman" and they appear to shoehorn her out of that interesting angle as a villain quicker than than they brought her in.

Really unimpressed with this run so far, we've had the same chapter 3 times in a row. The only thing that would've made me actually like this would've been Lois having sex with another broski and therefore us getting another Clark = Forever Alone pose.

[Sacred Knight]

She's clearly being possessed just like the other two, so I see no reason to think Heather's immediately being shoehorned out as a villain. Not certain she'll stick around either, but still, no reason to jump to one conclusion or another.

[The Frozen Reptile]

Really mediocre material here. Superman always visiting the grave of his parents, never smiling, being a hard ass as Clark, is really old already. If I wanted to go read Batman with aliens, I'll go read 50's Batman.

Please don't. You'll just encourage them to reprint it....

[iRacingRyan]

This issue was good. Don't see why people are ripping it. I also liked that there was alot of action and dialogue in this issue as well. Makes me laugh when I see complaints that people actually have to read the issue.

It's all 'To Each His Own' I suppose.

I felt the issue wasn't BAD at all, but the problem for me was that we've seen the exact same story in the first three issues. Mystery alien that attacks Supes and says Krypton, Supes saves the day, ominous threat at large!

Beat for beat, they've almost been identical issues. I don't think anyone is really criticizing what is going on, they're just criticizing the fact that it has been very repetitive for the first three issues of a relaunch/reboot/whatever. We can all obviously see that there is a far larger threat in store, and rather then having 3 issues deal with identical villains, it could've all been condensed into a much more cohesive and exciting structure rather than wasting three months telling the same story with different villains.

The payoff might make it worth it, mind you, but at a time when DC wants all eyes on their flagship titles...having a scenario repeat itself three issues in a row is just going to bore people rather than suck them in. Each issue, we get left with the exact same resolution as the one prior, rather then moving the story forward.

[Auguste Dupin]

Now, to give credit to Perez, it seems obvious that he is trying to create a situation where the people of Metropolid becomes the collateral dammage of a "war" between Superman and the aliens and start to resent him for that.
Now, I agree that it would have been better to diversify a bit the nature of the threats. I dunno, with one challenging Superman physically to show him the dammages he's doing when he's going full power in the middle of the city, one for target the innocents to show him that he can't save every one at the same time..... Something like that. And giving hints to what's happening.

[iRacingRyan]

I agree completely!

I don't think Perez is doing an awful job, I just would've thought that more would've been given by now, is all. The book is a very wordy and slow read by comparison to some of the other titles out there, and having the storyline just repeat itself drags it even more.

The whole collateral damage aspect is a brilliant point to focus on and has tons of potential, but I feel like they're balking at what could be far more brilliant storytelling.

Example:
spoilers:

In this issue, they have this new ice creature freeze damn near everything and anything it comes into contact with. Supes even analyzed that they were frozen solid. Then half of Metropolis gets frozen, Lois included. They should've stopped with the initial few people, and the apartment building/parking lot and had those deaths stick. It would fuel the fire about the whole collateral damage that Superman potentially brings to Metropolis. But they just make everyone unfrozen and happy again, as if the threat never actually occured. Which just lessens the threat of both Superman and the villain he's fighting. Plus, it would allow the plot to take a far more gritty and newsworthy direction, both in-character and out. How would the Daily Planet and all the reporters therein deal with an entire building of people suddenly frozen solid and shattered, especially due to the creature coming directly for Superman? How would Clark react? Etc, etc.

end of spoilers

[upmiddowntown]

Other than a few lines of bad dialogue, I liked the issue.
Issue number 3 of my foray into the world of Superman, I think I'll stick around.
This book is intriguing.

[drakeon]

The issue wasn't terrible, but some of the dialogue is just bad. And I really don't see any reason to describe every detail of the battle with outside exposition when the art can do that. Its like watching an episode of Dragonball Z.

[dupersuper]

I agree that the "zap her with heat vision and hope for the best" thing was off, and Supes is too mopey, but I'm loving the world building with Metropolis and the supporting characters: it reminds me of the best of the triangle era.

[sethysquare]

I thought this was a great issue. Much better than first two. The art also helped i guess. I loved nicola scott's pencils i wish the outline was thicker. I find the inker's outline a lil thin. As of now nicola's pencils are keeping me in till issue 6. And ill gladly stay as long as perez is gone.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

Well, I liked this issue. It seems to be building up to a great unveiling. We'll see what the future issues hold.

[thepenguin]

Did a gemstone from Grounded sneak back in time from the Multiverse and affect Clark in this title?

[OldSchoolfan]

I couldn't imagine spending Thanksgiving without a new Superman story to read so I bought this.....a big deal for me. I liked the writing and the art, I like the Scott art team.

It looks like Perez is trying to work in all of the extra media stuff that has come before... all of the Fliesher studio threats and stuff like that...at least that's how I interpreted the three page montage towards the beginning of the story. I liked that part of the book.

Clark is still too mopey, like DuperSuper says....but at least mourning for his dead stepdad is a step up from not being able to get a date with Lois. Doesn't any one else think this is boring and a step backward in Lois and Clark's relationship? We are going to rehash this again? Really?

I see Non, Zod and Ursa when I look at that last panel. Any body else see it that way?

And, as I have said before, every one who writes Superman from now on is stuck with Morrissons Lil Abner with the red bed sheet. (That guy made an appearance in this issue too.)

It was better than JMS.....maybe I will buy issue four.

[sky dog]

I liked it. Too dialog-heavy? Sorry, I like a comic book that takes me more than ten minutes to get through. The art was perfectly fine and not an extreme departure from the first two issues, so I wasn't distracted or overly aware that it was a fill-in artist.

It's weird to say that a major title like Superman could be a sleeper hit, but it definitely has been for me. I wasn't buying any Superman titles before the relaunch and now I look forward to Superman as much as Action Comics. The latter has the cachet of Morrison and Morales, but sometimes you can breeze through the issue in no time at all and the plot is slow in developing. You can be relatively sure that in Superman there's going to be something of a self-contained story and no wasted space with splash pages and two or three lines of dialogue on a page. At $2.99 (or $3.99 in some cases) value is key, and for me Perez hasn't crossed that line where the story is overwritten at the expense of the story's pace.