Review of
The
Return of Superman, by Dan Jurgens et. al. ISBN 1563891492
Five out of five stars
Superman gave
his life defending Metropolis and Earth against the threat of the powerful
being called Doomsday. His body was placed in a public tomb and that section of
the city was made into a shrine. Yet, in the comic book world, just like the
real one, that would not be the end of the story.
A secret
government agency specializing in cloning was able to create a youthful copy of
Superman with a reduced level of powers commensurate with his biological “age.”
A biological-mechanical cyborg of unknown origin comes forward and claims to be
Superman and an entity developed from a spiritual force and restored in the
regeneration matrix with help from robots in the Fortress of Solitude also
claims to be Superman. Engineer extraordinaire John Henry Irons is able to
forge a powerful suit of armor that allows him to perform many of the feats of
Superman.
This sets up a
debate among the populace as to who is the real heir of Superman, those that
were close to him see major issues with the cyborg and the entity from the
spiritual force, for they do not hesitate to kill humans. There are several
villains that occupy the range from sultry to genocidal, where the goal is to
turn Earth into an interstellar weapon. Supergirl is a strong presence as an
ally of Lex Luthor, Green Lanterns play significant roles and the other members
of the JLA are essentially dupes.
This sets up a
large set of plotlines that are sometimes concurrent and other times distinct.
The story is complex, but as befits the complexity of the story, nothing less
than the entire Earth is at stake. Also at stake is the legacy of Superman,
both the hero and the ideals that he stands for.
Bringing the
dead back to life is always a difficult task, especially if you make it in real
and not in dream time. The creators of this story do an excellent job in
carrying out this complex task, they have created a classic Superman story.
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