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Superman (2011)
Superman, Volume 2: Return to Glory
HE’S NEVER BEEN SO POWERLESS...OR MORE NEEDED!
Life as Superman knew it is no more. He’s lost his identity as Clark Kent, his job and almost all of his powers. But he’s still Superman. And, powers or no, he’s determined to uncover the mastermind that’s taken everything from him.
Superman’s investigation leads him to an underground super fight club called Mythbrawl, which he joins to make ends meet while he tracks down Hodor_Root, leader of the crime syndicate that leverages secrets for power. Yet he soon discovers the real threat comes from Hodor_Root’s “father,” Vandal Savage, and his orchestrated campaign to reclaim the comet that granted him immortality aeons ago. If Savage succeeds, he’ll grow powerful beyond imagining. And with the comet drawing closer to Earth, Savage’s “spawn” popping up all over the world and most of Superman’s allies incapacitated, there’s no way a powerless Kal-El can persevere...unless he taps into the one thing that, whether he wins or loses, will take its toll on Krypton’s last son.
It’s the beginning of the end for the Man of Steel, chronicled by Eisner Award winner Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) and Peter J. Tomasi (SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN), and featuring stunning artwork from Howard Porter (JUSTICE LEAGUE #3001) and Mikel Janín, among others.
Collects SUPERMAN #45-52 and SUPERMAN ANNUAL #3.
Readers may want to enjoy issues #45-47 in this volume, then read Superman: Savage Dawn and Superman: The Final Days of Superman for SUPERMAN #48-50, #51-52, and related crossovers.
Life as Superman knew it is no more. He’s lost his identity as Clark Kent, his job and almost all of his powers. But he’s still Superman. And, powers or no, he’s determined to uncover the mastermind that’s taken everything from him.
Superman’s investigation leads him to an underground super fight club called Mythbrawl, which he joins to make ends meet while he tracks down Hodor_Root, leader of the crime syndicate that leverages secrets for power. Yet he soon discovers the real threat comes from Hodor_Root’s “father,” Vandal Savage, and his orchestrated campaign to reclaim the comet that granted him immortality aeons ago. If Savage succeeds, he’ll grow powerful beyond imagining. And with the comet drawing closer to Earth, Savage’s “spawn” popping up all over the world and most of Superman’s allies incapacitated, there’s no way a powerless Kal-El can persevere...unless he taps into the one thing that, whether he wins or loses, will take its toll on Krypton’s last son.
It’s the beginning of the end for the Man of Steel, chronicled by Eisner Award winner Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) and Peter J. Tomasi (SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN), and featuring stunning artwork from Howard Porter (JUSTICE LEAGUE #3001) and Mikel Janín, among others.
Collects SUPERMAN #45-52 and SUPERMAN ANNUAL #3.
Readers may want to enjoy issues #45-47 in this volume, then read Superman: Savage Dawn and Superman: The Final Days of Superman for SUPERMAN #48-50, #51-52, and related crossovers.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2016
About the author
Gene Luen Yang
325 books3,228 followersGene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. As the Library of Congress’ fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, he advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. American Born Chinese, his first graphic novel from First Second Books, was a National Book Award finalist, as well as the winner of the Printz Award and an Eisner Award. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the L.A. Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award Finalist. His other works include Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), Superman from DC Comics (with various artists), and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series from Dark Horse Comics (with Gurihiru). In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. His most recent books are Dragon Hoops from First Second Books and Superman Smashes the Klan from DC Comics.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
November 18, 2020
(C+) 67% | Almost Satisfactory
Notes: A bore to bear and hard to care, it’s dumb to dreadful to decent fare, and may’ve had meaning if it weren’t so stupid.
Notes: A bore to bear and hard to care, it’s dumb to dreadful to decent fare, and may’ve had meaning if it weren’t so stupid.
September 2, 2017
Well. Ouch.
It was pretty painful to see this weird-ass plot just sort of meander around for as long as it did.
By the midway point, I was like...
Just kill him off for God's sake! Put him out of his misery already, and quit punishing us with these nonsense storylines.
If you aren't a huge fan of Superman to start with, then this certainly isn't the comic that's going to tip the scales in his favor. I can only imagine that spending your time reading this odd smelling vomit would solidify the view that he's a crap character.
For those of you (like me) who do love Superman? Buckle up, bitches! Cuz this is one hell of a cringeworthy ride. It felt almost like they didn't know what to do after they erased his secret identity. Which...yeah, no. There was nowhere to go but down from that point.
He was pretty much thoroughly screwed by the time they got through revamping his character anyway.
All the major DC big dogs were somewhat changed with the New 52 storyline. However, some of those differences (mostly) turned out ok. Superman, though? Not so much.
With Lois permanently in the friend zone, and both Ma & Pa Kent killed off, there was nothing tangibly human in Clark's life. And once Lois outed him, he lost everything else that kept him tethered to Earth.
So, now what?
UNDERGROUND FIGHTING!
Whut? He's fighting these d-list gods so they can be remembered?
This was such a strange story choice because it didn't connect with...anything! The worst part was that it went on and on and on and for no discernible reason. I don't give a fuuuuuuck that he goes out drinking with some no-name god who dresses like Nacho Libre!
After spending too much time at the also-ran Fight Club, it's time to get on with something that looks like a story, so Hordr shows back up. Yaaaay.
Hordr <--get it? Like hoarder...only missing most of the letters.
Cuz he hoards information! Brilliant!
Stuff happens, things get broken, and Superman gets completely depowered.
Off page.
Because, of course he does.
More stuff happens, more things get broken, and Supes goes to Steve Trevor to help him get his mojo back.
Halfhearted Spoiler Alert:
He tosses himself into the giant pile of kryptonite at A.R.G.U.S. in an attempt to give himself chemotherapy. He's gonna to burn away the bad cells and regenerate the good ones.
PSEUDO-SCIENCE, FTW!
Ok, so now we're coming down to the wire.
Time to suss out who the main villain is, and what they're after...
Enter Vandal Savage! And he's after the comet that originally gave him immortality. Apparently, he's been trying for hundreds of years to get someone to launch him into outer space, so he can land on that bitch and get a massive power up.
So. Off page Vandal does some hinky shit to the Watchtower and captures the entire Justice League. Then uses some sort of super vacuum to suck all of their powers away, while simultaneously using them to charge up his machine that does...something evil.
Whatever.
Only Superman is left to stop him!
And he does! With a little help from his friends...
Yay! Everyone is happy! Hugs all around!
Major Spoilers:
I honestly thought it was going be his battle with Vandal that killed him, but nooooo.
Unbelievably, he survives all of that shit only to find out that all the power up and power downs were slowly killing him. So now you have to sit through the obligatory quasi-emotional superbyes he says to everyone.
*farts*
Whatever. Just give him a good death, already!
Wait.
Who the fuck is that no-name glowy dude?!
The hell? What was that?! Talk about anti-climactic!
This guy shows up from nowhere, gets hit by a chunk of space rock (or something), and turns into some kind of apocalypse-level threat in a few panels?!
Maybe he had more page time in another title but, if so, this compilation is shit.
Everything happened so fast. Bad guy shows up, Supes knows the only way to save the world is to do that whole fly-the-exploding-villain-into-space thing, there's a moment of Oh noes!, BOOM!, falls to the ground, everyone gathers 'round to say their last words, fade to black.
Ok, on to the next story with Super-beard!
*BRAIN EXPLODES*
I mean, you are killing off fucking SUPERMAN.
You have to stick the landing!
Instead? This:
With a bit of this:
That finally culminates into this:
I'm giving it 2 stars because it's not unreadable, just stupid.
This also has Superman: Rebirth (2016) #1 included in the end. <--I'm hoping for something that makes what I just read worth it.
It was pretty painful to see this weird-ass plot just sort of meander around for as long as it did.
By the midway point, I was like...
Just kill him off for God's sake! Put him out of his misery already, and quit punishing us with these nonsense storylines.
If you aren't a huge fan of Superman to start with, then this certainly isn't the comic that's going to tip the scales in his favor. I can only imagine that spending your time reading this odd smelling vomit would solidify the view that he's a crap character.
For those of you (like me) who do love Superman? Buckle up, bitches! Cuz this is one hell of a cringeworthy ride. It felt almost like they didn't know what to do after they erased his secret identity. Which...yeah, no. There was nowhere to go but down from that point.
He was pretty much thoroughly screwed by the time they got through revamping his character anyway.
All the major DC big dogs were somewhat changed with the New 52 storyline. However, some of those differences (mostly) turned out ok. Superman, though? Not so much.
With Lois permanently in the friend zone, and both Ma & Pa Kent killed off, there was nothing tangibly human in Clark's life. And once Lois outed him, he lost everything else that kept him tethered to Earth.
So, now what?
UNDERGROUND FIGHTING!
Whut? He's fighting these d-list gods so they can be remembered?
This was such a strange story choice because it didn't connect with...anything! The worst part was that it went on and on and on and for no discernible reason. I don't give a fuuuuuuck that he goes out drinking with some no-name god who dresses like Nacho Libre!
After spending too much time at the also-ran Fight Club, it's time to get on with something that looks like a story, so Hordr shows back up. Yaaaay.
Hordr <--get it? Like hoarder...only missing most of the letters.
Cuz he hoards information! Brilliant!
Stuff happens, things get broken, and Superman gets completely depowered.
Off page.
Because, of course he does.
More stuff happens, more things get broken, and Supes goes to Steve Trevor to help him get his mojo back.
Halfhearted Spoiler Alert:
He tosses himself into the giant pile of kryptonite at A.R.G.U.S. in an attempt to give himself chemotherapy. He's gonna to burn away the bad cells and regenerate the good ones.
PSEUDO-SCIENCE, FTW!
Ok, so now we're coming down to the wire.
Time to suss out who the main villain is, and what they're after...
Enter Vandal Savage! And he's after the comet that originally gave him immortality. Apparently, he's been trying for hundreds of years to get someone to launch him into outer space, so he can land on that bitch and get a massive power up.
So. Off page Vandal does some hinky shit to the Watchtower and captures the entire Justice League. Then uses some sort of super vacuum to suck all of their powers away, while simultaneously using them to charge up his machine that does...something evil.
Whatever.
Only Superman is left to stop him!
And he does! With a little help from his friends...
Yay! Everyone is happy! Hugs all around!
Major Spoilers:
I honestly thought it was going be his battle with Vandal that killed him, but nooooo.
Unbelievably, he survives all of that shit only to find out that all the power up and power downs were slowly killing him. So now you have to sit through the obligatory quasi-emotional superbyes he says to everyone.
*farts*
Whatever. Just give him a good death, already!
Wait.
Who the fuck is that no-name glowy dude?!
The hell? What was that?! Talk about anti-climactic!
This guy shows up from nowhere, gets hit by a chunk of space rock (or something), and turns into some kind of apocalypse-level threat in a few panels?!
Maybe he had more page time in another title but, if so, this compilation is shit.
Everything happened so fast. Bad guy shows up, Supes knows the only way to save the world is to do that whole fly-the-exploding-villain-into-space thing, there's a moment of Oh noes!, BOOM!, falls to the ground, everyone gathers 'round to say their last words, fade to black.
Ok, on to the next story with Super-beard!
*BRAIN EXPLODES*
I mean, you are killing off fucking SUPERMAN.
You have to stick the landing!
Instead? This:
With a bit of this:
That finally culminates into this:
I'm giving it 2 stars because it's not unreadable, just stupid.
This also has Superman: Rebirth (2016) #1 included in the end. <--I'm hoping for something that makes what I just read worth it.
October 4, 2016
After being blackmailed by social media villain Hordr, the world knows Superman is Clark Kent who is now on the run and depowered. Which of course means he has to become a wrestler! Oh man…
Gene Luen Yang’s first Superman book wasn’t amazing but it was ok - unfortunately his follow-up is so, so bad! This book is a cavalcade of boring storylines that don’t mesh. The unremarkable Hordr story concludes with Superman bizarrely becoming an underground wrestler, which goes on for way too long, and segues into the Savage Dawn storyline where Superman fights Vandal Savage. This is also the part of the book where the story starts skipping like a broken record.
I think Savage Dawn was a sort-of event storyline that crossed over with other titles because there are gaps between issues with blocks of text in between to inform the reader what happened elsewhere. I hate it when DC does this. Choppy narratives are horrible to read.
Then somehow Superman’s powered up again, there’s an alternate Krypton/Justice League, then there’s another Superman, then he’s dying, and then ANOTHER SUPERMAN appears! Yeah, this is one hot mess!
It’s a minor quibble but I really dislike how DC’s remodelling all of their characters that don’t look like they’re cut from wood. They made oldies Deathstroke and Leslie Thompkins (Bruce Wayne’s doctor friend who knows he’s Batman) both younger and more attractive, and now it’s Etta Candy’s turn, the large white lady friend of Wonder Woman, who’s reintroduced here as a thin black girl. No idea why either! Equality bullshit probably. The pun-name doesn’t work now and she doesn’t even play a big part in the story. Why not just create a new character?!
Superman, Volume 2: Return to Crappiness is one helluva slooooow read! It took me two weeks to slog through its 260 pages because no part of it grabbed me and I kept wanting to put it down. It wasn’t worth it - don’t do it guys!
Congrats anyway to Gene Luen Yang for being among those awarded the MacArthur “genius grant” this year (which comes with a whopping $625k windfall!). I guess the MacArthur Foundation is impressed with garbage like this and wants him to keep making bad Superman comics?! If only Scott Lobdell or Dan Jurgens weren’t white guys because by that measure they’d both be in line for next year’s prize too!
Gene Luen Yang’s first Superman book wasn’t amazing but it was ok - unfortunately his follow-up is so, so bad! This book is a cavalcade of boring storylines that don’t mesh. The unremarkable Hordr story concludes with Superman bizarrely becoming an underground wrestler, which goes on for way too long, and segues into the Savage Dawn storyline where Superman fights Vandal Savage. This is also the part of the book where the story starts skipping like a broken record.
I think Savage Dawn was a sort-of event storyline that crossed over with other titles because there are gaps between issues with blocks of text in between to inform the reader what happened elsewhere. I hate it when DC does this. Choppy narratives are horrible to read.
Then somehow Superman’s powered up again, there’s an alternate Krypton/Justice League, then there’s another Superman, then he’s dying, and then ANOTHER SUPERMAN appears! Yeah, this is one hot mess!
It’s a minor quibble but I really dislike how DC’s remodelling all of their characters that don’t look like they’re cut from wood. They made oldies Deathstroke and Leslie Thompkins (Bruce Wayne’s doctor friend who knows he’s Batman) both younger and more attractive, and now it’s Etta Candy’s turn, the large white lady friend of Wonder Woman, who’s reintroduced here as a thin black girl. No idea why either! Equality bullshit probably. The pun-name doesn’t work now and she doesn’t even play a big part in the story. Why not just create a new character?!
Superman, Volume 2: Return to Crappiness is one helluva slooooow read! It took me two weeks to slog through its 260 pages because no part of it grabbed me and I kept wanting to put it down. It wasn’t worth it - don’t do it guys!
Congrats anyway to Gene Luen Yang for being among those awarded the MacArthur “genius grant” this year (which comes with a whopping $625k windfall!). I guess the MacArthur Foundation is impressed with garbage like this and wants him to keep making bad Superman comics?! If only Scott Lobdell or Dan Jurgens weren’t white guys because by that measure they’d both be in line for next year’s prize too!
April 20, 2019
Superman's been depowered and is now wrestling for money while searching for Hordr. This goes on for a few issues, then we come to the part where I get utterly frustrated by DC. There's a Superman crossover storyline which we only get 1/5 of. The whole story is in Superman: Savage Dawn but DC has to be greedy and try to sell you the issues twice. I couldn't tell you what really happened in this crossover because most of it takes place in little half page synopses. I know Vandal Savage is the main villain and Superman finally gets his powers back and that's about it. So then this crossover ends and another one immediately follows which again is only 1/4 of the crossover. *Shakes fist angrily at DC* It's collected in Superman: The Final Days of Superman.
Received an advance copy from DC and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Received an advance copy from DC and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
September 5, 2016
I received this from Edelweiss and DC Comics in exchange for an honest review.
Holy crap, that was a lot of bouncing around. It was so bad that the editors had to insert splash pages with tiny print to explain what was happening at the start of almost every issue. Let's work the DC Comics checklist, shall we?
Time travel - Check
Inexplicable enemies - Check
Inexplicable enemies controlling lesser enemies - Check
Mandatory Justice League appearance - Check
Plot that makes no sense - Check
Cliffhanger that requires a ton of background knowledge - Check
There's more, but I'm stopping there. The plot was all over the place, the artwork was hit-or-miss from issue to issue (some of it really bad), and overall, this was just a complete mess.
Here's hoping "Superman" is fixed with the DC Universe Rebirth/Reboot. He desperately needs it.
Holy crap, that was a lot of bouncing around. It was so bad that the editors had to insert splash pages with tiny print to explain what was happening at the start of almost every issue. Let's work the DC Comics checklist, shall we?
Time travel - Check
Inexplicable enemies - Check
Inexplicable enemies controlling lesser enemies - Check
Mandatory Justice League appearance - Check
Plot that makes no sense - Check
Cliffhanger that requires a ton of background knowledge - Check
There's more, but I'm stopping there. The plot was all over the place, the artwork was hit-or-miss from issue to issue (some of it really bad), and overall, this was just a complete mess.
Here's hoping "Superman" is fixed with the DC Universe Rebirth/Reboot. He desperately needs it.
April 16, 2018
This was a hot, sad, and boring mess. Sad, because it was such a hot and boring mess.
The end end The Final Days of Superman Part 1: This Mortal Coil and Part 8: Do or Die by Peter Tomasi were OK. I liked the art by Mikel Janin.
The little blurb before Part 8 is actually super weird (and sounds kinda stupid), so I'm happy I didn't have to read parts 2-7.
Is it a spoiler, or does everyone know by now? Can we talk about it?
The death?
...
Here it is. Turn back now if you don't want to know...
Superman dies defeating "Solar-Superman", and a new dark Superman (who looks like he stepped out of the Justice League movie) mysteriously appears.
And... Superman Rebirth tada! We're just in time for a reboot.
The end end The Final Days of Superman Part 1: This Mortal Coil and Part 8: Do or Die by Peter Tomasi were OK. I liked the art by Mikel Janin.
The little blurb before Part 8 is actually super weird (and sounds kinda stupid), so I'm happy I didn't have to read parts 2-7.
Is it a spoiler, or does everyone know by now? Can we talk about it?
The death?
...
Here it is. Turn back now if you don't want to know...
Superman dies defeating "Solar-Superman", and a new dark Superman (who looks like he stepped out of the Justice League movie) mysteriously appears.
And... Superman Rebirth tada! We're just in time for a reboot.
May 19, 2021
I'll just be reviewing issues #45-47 here, since #48-52 and the annual are duplicated in Savage Dawn, which is next on my pile.
Superman heads off alone on his search for Hordr_Root, finding himself in California and a member of an underground fight club populated by gods. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Condesa are hot on his trail, while the truth about Hordr_Root leads Superman directly into Savage Dawn.
Gene Luen Yang's second arc of Superman follows on nicely from his first. Hordr_Root (despite being a silly name that's very difficult to type) is one of those villains he can't punch out of his way, so it takes a little more strategic planning to take him down. Clark's spiraling mental health as he deals with his weakening powers plays out well here; I was right to give Yang the benefit in the doubt since I wasn't sure what he was doing in terms of that plot point at the end of the last volume.
The artwork's also a step up - Howard Porter joins the title over John Romita Jr., drawing all but about four pages of these three issues with his super-detailed, bombastic style.
*insert review for the rest of Savage Dawn here* I suppose? DC's collection style for the New 52 was...suspect, to say the least. It's been teased as part of both Superman and Action Comics, so I'm hoping it's decent at least.
Superman heads off alone on his search for Hordr_Root, finding himself in California and a member of an underground fight club populated by gods. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Condesa are hot on his trail, while the truth about Hordr_Root leads Superman directly into Savage Dawn.
Gene Luen Yang's second arc of Superman follows on nicely from his first. Hordr_Root (despite being a silly name that's very difficult to type) is one of those villains he can't punch out of his way, so it takes a little more strategic planning to take him down. Clark's spiraling mental health as he deals with his weakening powers plays out well here; I was right to give Yang the benefit in the doubt since I wasn't sure what he was doing in terms of that plot point at the end of the last volume.
The artwork's also a step up - Howard Porter joins the title over John Romita Jr., drawing all but about four pages of these three issues with his super-detailed, bombastic style.
*insert review for the rest of Savage Dawn here* I suppose? DC's collection style for the New 52 was...suspect, to say the least. It's been teased as part of both Superman and Action Comics, so I'm hoping it's decent at least.
April 6, 2017
I regret every minute I wasted on this garbage. This collection has the middle chapters of a couple different major crossovers. There are several instances throughout the book where the reader is presented with a summary of what happened elsewhere in the storyline before being tossed back into the sewage flow. Godawful comic book writing at its worst.
August 31, 2022
I get it; the superhero universe is super complicated, and then there is us, the poor mortals trying to read their stories. So, as a simple fan, I have to say, I loved the graphics, but the story in this book is not presented in an easy way. Personal opinion ..
September 16, 2017
This isn't a good standalone volume because there's too much stuff missing, but I have read the missing material in other collections. The issues that I haven't read before I didn't like much. Like the fight club ones. Ugh.
February 21, 2017
'Superman, Volume 2: Return to Glory' collects Superman issues 45-52 and Annual 3 and it tells quite the tale.
Events leading up to this collection have Superman's identity outed by something called Hordr_root. His Clark Kent identity as well as his job are gone. So are most of his powers. He finds himself adrift and alone. This leads him to an underground fight club in Oakland called Mythbrawl where he makes ends meet by fighting little known gods from other countries.
He is on the trail to Hordr_root, and this leads him to who is behind Hordr_root, Vandal Savage. Vandal got his powers in the comet that was supposed to wipe out Krypton. Instead the comet was diverted and headed to Earth instead, and Vandal Savage found it. Now he wants to create an army of super beings out of his descendants.
In a last ditch effort, Superman tries to get his powers back in the most extreme way possible, using kryptonite. Will that fix things or be the end of Superman?
The only problem with a major story-line like this is that it tends to spill out into other books. This means that there are times when things happen in other DC titles that are not included here. Sometimes there is a recap to catch the reader up. Sometimes there isn't. This leads to gaps in the story.
But the art is consistent good across the artists here, as is the writing. It turns into a moving story and I can't wait to see what's next.
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.
Events leading up to this collection have Superman's identity outed by something called Hordr_root. His Clark Kent identity as well as his job are gone. So are most of his powers. He finds himself adrift and alone. This leads him to an underground fight club in Oakland called Mythbrawl where he makes ends meet by fighting little known gods from other countries.
He is on the trail to Hordr_root, and this leads him to who is behind Hordr_root, Vandal Savage. Vandal got his powers in the comet that was supposed to wipe out Krypton. Instead the comet was diverted and headed to Earth instead, and Vandal Savage found it. Now he wants to create an army of super beings out of his descendants.
In a last ditch effort, Superman tries to get his powers back in the most extreme way possible, using kryptonite. Will that fix things or be the end of Superman?
The only problem with a major story-line like this is that it tends to spill out into other books. This means that there are times when things happen in other DC titles that are not included here. Sometimes there is a recap to catch the reader up. Sometimes there isn't. This leads to gaps in the story.
But the art is consistent good across the artists here, as is the writing. It turns into a moving story and I can't wait to see what's next.
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 16, 2022
MythBrawl is pretty fun. Beyond that, you're missing a lot of the story (which takes place in Justice League, rather than in this series). Honestly, Superman's story is much less interesting than Vandal Savage's. Overall, this book was OK. I probably won't read the next volume.
October 10, 2016
So, metaphorically speaking, Superman is put through the absolute wringer, gets run over by a bus, and then had the bus throw itself in reverse and back up over him. But, hey, we're going to return him to glory after years of kicking him in the mud. Then we're going to give you an ending that makes this pathetic gesture completely null and void. Thanks, "New 52". You will not be missed.
November 27, 2016
A piece-meal story, poorly told.
November 9, 2022
Even though this story is way too long for too little content, I'd say it suffers the most from paragraphs in-between issues that summarize what happened between then and now. It really broke up the flow of a story that was just barely hanging on.
December 17, 2018
Comenzo regular termino bien y me dejo con varias preguntas que espero resolver pronto en la siguiente serie que debo leer antes del Rebirth
December 1, 2016
This volume of the New 52 Superman is quite a mixed bag. The sum of all its parts do not mix well. But their are some good ideas and a few issues that are well done. First I am not going to judge the book by a single writer because obviously their are various writers. Gene Luen Yang from American Born Chinese fame continues the story from Superman, Volume 1: Before Truth which sees a depowered non-secret identity Superman on the run and trying to distance himself from friends & family so they will not be harmed by his countless enemies. I felt like the moments with Jimmy olsen were where this half of the book shines. The main antagonist is one of the countless sons of Vandal Savage to me is just plain forgettable. LOL. I can't even remember his name. The Myth Brawl concept was pretty interesting although many of the characters were also not explained. The concept of Superman meeting and battling other deities for money is an intriguing idea. I just felt that Gene left the audience to have to figure out what myths they represent but hey Supes is dating Wonder Woman who is all myths and legend.
In conclusion Gene does handle his issues very well but I felt at time Superman was not acting like himself.
Now Peter Tomasi and Greg Pak are handling a large amount of the back half of this book. This book basically ends the final arc of the New 52 series before the New DC Rebirth Superman series. The problem is that I read most of the content for the Vandal Savage arc in Superman: Savage Dawn which collects the whole story. So the bits we get in this volume may confuse the reader because it messes with the pacing and the sequence of events in the book. Plainly put it is not fun to read a start of a story then jump to the end. Nevertheless Peter Tomasi's final days of Superman story is fantastic and I am looking forward to reading the entire tale inSuperman: The Final Days of Superman. This book is not horrible it is just not a well organized package and it displays the down side of crossover events on the comic book reader/collector. This why I do not collect issues all the time I wait for arcs especially crossover arcs to come out in trade paperback. I will read them at the library or buy collected editions if I like the story. On a high note here the artwork by Howard Porter, Doug Mahke, and John Romita Jr. is great to look at and match the writing well. But eye candy is no replacement to solid storytelling.
In conclusion Gene does handle his issues very well but I felt at time Superman was not acting like himself.
Now Peter Tomasi and Greg Pak are handling a large amount of the back half of this book. This book basically ends the final arc of the New 52 series before the New DC Rebirth Superman series. The problem is that I read most of the content for the Vandal Savage arc in Superman: Savage Dawn which collects the whole story. So the bits we get in this volume may confuse the reader because it messes with the pacing and the sequence of events in the book. Plainly put it is not fun to read a start of a story then jump to the end. Nevertheless Peter Tomasi's final days of Superman story is fantastic and I am looking forward to reading the entire tale inSuperman: The Final Days of Superman. This book is not horrible it is just not a well organized package and it displays the down side of crossover events on the comic book reader/collector. This why I do not collect issues all the time I wait for arcs especially crossover arcs to come out in trade paperback. I will read them at the library or buy collected editions if I like the story. On a high note here the artwork by Howard Porter, Doug Mahke, and John Romita Jr. is great to look at and match the writing well. But eye candy is no replacement to solid storytelling.
November 20, 2016
I wasn't a huge fan of Volume 1 - very disappointed having heard so much about the talents of Gene Luen Yang. My hope was that somehow volumes 2 would make up for it and bring a better story narrative that was easier to follow and actually made sense. Well, wrong again. This time I'm not sure how much blame lies with Yang and how much with DC but I suspect it's both. This issue s is simply and totally incoherent ad a graphic novel, it that is what it purports to be - even on that is a continuation of the first. The problem is that the plots, and there are more than one, are neither fully resolved here, which I can live with, nor fully expounded here. It's clear that parts of the story have been published elsewhere and not included in this compilation for reasons known only to the DC accountants - perhaps it was a tough year and they were looking to force everyone to buy multiple books to get one story. If so, they failed. I'd recommend saving your money and waiting until a better, more complete single volume came along that actually told a story without forcing you to refer to issues not included in the one you're reading. And the completely extraneous addition of numerous drawings to fill up pages at the end is just insulting.
October 4, 2016
This is quite long and has a lot of things going on. It's way too complicated to go on and on about the plot. I really didn't like where this went with Superman and can't say I'm looking forward to the new change. A lot of the story was missing in this trade with big gaps in the plot taking place in cross-overs. There are three or four breaks where there is a page of text summarising what happened in two other trades. I've never seen this done before and didn't like knowing that so much of the story was happening in other books. The artwork is done by a lot of artists and style changes frequently, some of it is awful and some is not too bad. Some parts of the story were pretty good but overall I was just plain annoyed with where the whole thing ended up. Not too happy about the state of Superman at this point.
November 10, 2016
via NYPL - I'll never understand why DC does this. This is the second Superman book I've borrowed from the library that collects issues of a single Superman comic ("Superman" in this case) but does not include issues of other titles that crossed over with "Superman" as part of the storyline collected here. There are some interesting character and story beats, but in this form, it's a barely readable mess.
November 1, 2016
The library had Vol 1 and 2 so even though I didn't enjoy Vol 1, I felt obligated to read Vol 2 since I checked it out also. It didn't improve my opinion of Vol 1 at all. Again with the missing issues (jumping titles), trying to write a few sentence blurb to help you understand what took 2-3 issues of another title to explain. Horrible...
November 17, 2016
I'll keep this short. I didn't like the first half of this trade. The story was just plain bad. The DCYou was horrible, and I'm glad it's done. The second half earned this the 3 star rating, that was a decent Superman story
I received an advanced copy of this from NetGalley.com and the publisher.
I received an advanced copy of this from NetGalley.com and the publisher.
September 5, 2023
Return to Glory marks both the end of the Truth arc and the start of the Savage Dawn arc for Superman here. While on the lookout for HORDR, Superman comes across an underground ring called Mythbrawl in Oakland, CA. It's more than just a low-key bash, it's a place where fallen old gods take staged fights to re-enact their stories, keeping them alive. When the leader offers Superman financial reward for his participation, he goes in for it. In the process of being a re-enactor, the Man of Steel bonds with the fallen gods and realize why he became gives him the strength to prepares to reclaim his powers from HORDR, who are hiding nearby.
Then when he returns briefly to Metropolis, still powerless, it turns out Vandal Savage is preparing for his takeover on the world. Where the strong preys on the weak, and his numerous offspring will be the ones leading the army. His plans also included trapping the Justice League and using HORDR to lure Superman over. During this event, Superman learns that he might be able to use Kryptonite to return himself to his superpowered form. But Savage's minions know this and attempts to stop Clark Kent before he can return to normal. Even with the severe disadvantages against him, Superman knows Kryptonite is the answer to his situation and must find some quick to free his comrades from Vandal's wrath.
If the Truth arc was to show hopelessness for Superman, then the Savage Dawn arc is meant to show the optimism that Superman still has that would help in returning him to form. The first two issues show the conclusion of the wondering Superman, and the rest focuses on him reclaiming his identity and reputation. Like other big crossover arcs, the entire story is not told completely here, some of it will be found in Superman/Wonder Woman, Volume 5: A Savage End and Superman – Action Comics, Volume 9: Last Rites. But I think I got the gist of most of the story here, hence why I left it at 4 stars. Superman's personality here becomes more heroic once again, and less jerky, though considering his previous predicaments during Truth, could ya blame him? I also like that the Annual gives a large insight into Vandal Savage's background while progressing to the next phase. The interactions Superman has with some of the lesser characters and his close friends are very much welcomed here too, showing the better side of him that wasn't quite seen as much in previous volumes.
To my surprise, I didn't realize this volume also included bits from Superman: The Final Days of Superman and Superman: Rebirth #1, which are major spoilers for what's to come by the end. I won't say much about them since I will make my own separate review of the last volume for the New 52 Superman soon. I will say though, I might get into Rebirth's Superman when the time comes as well. Return to Glory returns Superman to the status quo here and gives a satisfying story in the process.
Then when he returns briefly to Metropolis, still powerless, it turns out Vandal Savage is preparing for his takeover on the world. Where the strong preys on the weak, and his numerous offspring will be the ones leading the army. His plans also included trapping the Justice League and using HORDR to lure Superman over. During this event, Superman learns that he might be able to use Kryptonite to return himself to his superpowered form. But Savage's minions know this and attempts to stop Clark Kent before he can return to normal. Even with the severe disadvantages against him, Superman knows Kryptonite is the answer to his situation and must find some quick to free his comrades from Vandal's wrath.
If the Truth arc was to show hopelessness for Superman, then the Savage Dawn arc is meant to show the optimism that Superman still has that would help in returning him to form. The first two issues show the conclusion of the wondering Superman, and the rest focuses on him reclaiming his identity and reputation. Like other big crossover arcs, the entire story is not told completely here, some of it will be found in Superman/Wonder Woman, Volume 5: A Savage End and Superman – Action Comics, Volume 9: Last Rites. But I think I got the gist of most of the story here, hence why I left it at 4 stars. Superman's personality here becomes more heroic once again, and less jerky, though considering his previous predicaments during Truth, could ya blame him? I also like that the Annual gives a large insight into Vandal Savage's background while progressing to the next phase. The interactions Superman has with some of the lesser characters and his close friends are very much welcomed here too, showing the better side of him that wasn't quite seen as much in previous volumes.
To my surprise, I didn't realize this volume also included bits from Superman: The Final Days of Superman and Superman: Rebirth #1, which are major spoilers for what's to come by the end. I won't say much about them since I will make my own separate review of the last volume for the New 52 Superman soon. I will say though, I might get into Rebirth's Superman when the time comes as well. Return to Glory returns Superman to the status quo here and gives a satisfying story in the process.
December 14, 2017
Lovvveeddd this comic!!! So much happening here, it was like delving into Superman's soul.
- Superman's identity has been revealed and everyone know's about his life as Clark Kent
- He has mutated cells that have stripped him of his powers
- He's still pretty built so he's participating in low level fights for money
- Way back when Krypton was alive there was an asteroid about to make a crater on their world, so Kryptonion scientists sent out a rocket to divert its course
- The asteroid ended up passing buy Earth and sending some meteor rock down. That meteor rock was magical and gave a guy magical powers and immortality
- Superman exposes himself to Kryptonite to get his powers back and it works but there are side effects...
- The guy that got powers from the meteor rock calls himself the High Chief. He tells Clark that if the asteroid had landed on Krypton, it might have survived and his parents would've still been alive.
- I keep forgetting that Clark and Diana were a thing; they're broken up now.
- The bad guy High Chief/Vandal has created a lot of "children" and he has them attack Superman and his friends while he goes to the magical meteor orbiting Earth.
- Superman defeats the Vandal.
- SUPERMAN DIES!!!! WHATTTT. Actually, don't think I should be surprised cuz I'm pretty sure that's happened multiple times.
- A stranger with an S on his chest who isn't Superman talks about how he believes Clark will come back to life. The stranger hints that he might be another Clark Kent from a different reality.
A lot of other stuff happened, way too much detail to rewrite in a review. The illustrations are beautiful. A few days ago I was thinking how I liked the Marvel universe wayyy better than DC and then its comics like this that pull me back. Awesome.
- Superman's identity has been revealed and everyone know's about his life as Clark Kent
- He has mutated cells that have stripped him of his powers
- He's still pretty built so he's participating in low level fights for money
- Way back when Krypton was alive there was an asteroid about to make a crater on their world, so Kryptonion scientists sent out a rocket to divert its course
- The asteroid ended up passing buy Earth and sending some meteor rock down. That meteor rock was magical and gave a guy magical powers and immortality
- Superman exposes himself to Kryptonite to get his powers back and it works but there are side effects...
- The guy that got powers from the meteor rock calls himself the High Chief. He tells Clark that if the asteroid had landed on Krypton, it might have survived and his parents would've still been alive.
- I keep forgetting that Clark and Diana were a thing; they're broken up now.
- The bad guy High Chief/Vandal has created a lot of "children" and he has them attack Superman and his friends while he goes to the magical meteor orbiting Earth.
- Superman defeats the Vandal.
- SUPERMAN DIES!!!! WHATTTT. Actually, don't think I should be surprised cuz I'm pretty sure that's happened multiple times.
- A stranger with an S on his chest who isn't Superman talks about how he believes Clark will come back to life. The stranger hints that he might be another Clark Kent from a different reality.
A lot of other stuff happened, way too much detail to rewrite in a review. The illustrations are beautiful. A few days ago I was thinking how I liked the Marvel universe wayyy better than DC and then its comics like this that pull me back. Awesome.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 9, 2023
So, I had read the other one, Savage Dawn, that included some of the things cut from this HC and this had other things cut from SD so it was a kind of confusing blend and there were recaps of even further cuts, so basically unless you were reading like 20 different comics apparently and magically can figure out which trades you need I have no clue how you'd follow the whole story, or how you'd fill in all the gaps the trades leave you with.
They even have pages of recaps inside because they know they aren't doing a good job telling you what's happening or telling the story.
Also I really really don't see how killing Superman is a return to glory, personally. Not that he was "our" Superman, and it forces "ours" to reveal himself to help out, but all of it being a mess, and Jimmy somehow being one of the Hodr bots or whatever with no explanation for why... also like straight up Clark has the WORST friends in this. He's a homeless vagrant with no support or money and he's starving as a human it's an absolute mess. Tldr: I wasn't super engaged in this story, the whole ultimate sacrifice thing kind of rang hollow because I didn't really believe anyone in the league even cared about him.
The story was either cut so that you never saw his people trying to help him or support him, or they didn't. So when they were "sad" he died it was like... ? You let him hang around homeless and starving and didn't lift a finger to help him out. I can't believe any of this... the only real support or assistance he had was being part of an underground fight ring of gods... ... I... what? Someone really enjoyed American Gods by Neil Gaiman, I felt.
Some part of me would really like to read the entire arc, no cuts, and have some clue of what's actually happening, but on the other hand this was such a mess I have trouble believing it's any better when it's complete.
They even have pages of recaps inside because they know they aren't doing a good job telling you what's happening or telling the story.
Also I really really don't see how killing Superman is a return to glory, personally. Not that he was "our" Superman, and it forces "ours" to reveal himself to help out, but all of it being a mess, and Jimmy somehow being one of the Hodr bots or whatever with no explanation for why... also like straight up Clark has the WORST friends in this. He's a homeless vagrant with no support or money and he's starving as a human it's an absolute mess. Tldr: I wasn't super engaged in this story, the whole ultimate sacrifice thing kind of rang hollow because I didn't really believe anyone in the league even cared about him.
The story was either cut so that you never saw his people trying to help him or support him, or they didn't. So when they were "sad" he died it was like... ? You let him hang around homeless and starving and didn't lift a finger to help him out. I can't believe any of this... the only real support or assistance he had was being part of an underground fight ring of gods... ... I... what? Someone really enjoyed American Gods by Neil Gaiman, I felt.
Some part of me would really like to read the entire arc, no cuts, and have some clue of what's actually happening, but on the other hand this was such a mess I have trouble believing it's any better when it's complete.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2023
This volume continues the "Truth" Superman storyline that ran through three Superman titles (Superman, Action Comics and Superman/Wonder WOman), and more directly, the portions written by Gene Yang.
While the Truth storyline (depowered Superman, secret identity revealed, attacks from everywhere, losing the bonds he had with folks from both the regular and the superpowered crowd) did resonate with me up until this point, the first three issues from this collection are probably the lowest point of it. SUperman ends up in a underground wrestling club where super-powered gods duke it out to escape oblivion. Its a bit of a stupid concept. And once that seems to be over and done with, the plot just segues into a big crossover titled "Savage Dawn". Trouble is, the issues that crossover with this title are not collected here, so the story just jumps around with one page recaps of the missing portions. For the full Savage Dawn crossover, you're advised to pick up the "Superman-Savage Dawn" volume that collects all the issues pertaining to it.
SO, basically, that means that you have three issues kind of worth reading in this collection, and then disjointed issues that are just annoying read without its missing parts.
A terribly organized collected edition that its basically unreadable after its first three issues.
Recommended only if you are really invested in the Truth storyline, and have the Savage Dawn volume at hand.
While the Truth storyline (depowered Superman, secret identity revealed, attacks from everywhere, losing the bonds he had with folks from both the regular and the superpowered crowd) did resonate with me up until this point, the first three issues from this collection are probably the lowest point of it. SUperman ends up in a underground wrestling club where super-powered gods duke it out to escape oblivion. Its a bit of a stupid concept. And once that seems to be over and done with, the plot just segues into a big crossover titled "Savage Dawn". Trouble is, the issues that crossover with this title are not collected here, so the story just jumps around with one page recaps of the missing portions. For the full Savage Dawn crossover, you're advised to pick up the "Superman-Savage Dawn" volume that collects all the issues pertaining to it.
SO, basically, that means that you have three issues kind of worth reading in this collection, and then disjointed issues that are just annoying read without its missing parts.
A terribly organized collected edition that its basically unreadable after its first three issues.
Recommended only if you are really invested in the Truth storyline, and have the Savage Dawn volume at hand.
July 19, 2017
alright.... so, I have read hundreds of books with superman in them. Most of the books where he is the main character, and not with the rest of the justice league have been luke warm at best. There are way too many times where I have read a superman trade, and it has been a disjointed, confusing experience, since it usually features stories that are a part of an over arching crossover, but do not tell a complete story. There has been a ton of this, in the New 52. This book suffers from that, as well, BUT, what I will say about Gene Luen Yang's Superman work, is that it has been original. He has created a bunch of new concepts and characters, swinging for the fences. Some of it hasn't worked. Some of it has seemed outright corny, but I will gladly read a superman story that is trying to be original, that is focused specifically on superman, than read a book that is just pieces of a crossover, that is recycling old superman ideas and reusing the same villains over and over again.
August 30, 2018
Superman Volume 2: Return to Glory kick off straight after the previous book with Sups having to deal with the growing threats following the loss of almost all his powers! :D Superman Volume 2: Return to Glory works brilliantly as a character study and action packed story! :D Going in though bare in mind that the the book is not a stand alone story itself! :D It will help if you have read other ongoing plotlines and also to bear in mind that the book is clearly setting up the Rebirth storyline as well! :D
Superman Volume 2: Return to Glory itself though really keeps the pace going throughout which works really well for the story! :D The addition of the Justice League coming in as well works excellently and neatly dovetails with other ongoing stories! :D At the same time this also reflects off Superman and the opinions that the public and fellow superheroes have of him! :D This is in turn reflected back on the them! :D This really shows all the characters in a great way giving the m page time as well! :D This also sets them up for the new Rebirth as they all due for seismic shifts which means (much like Picard with Wesley in ST:TNG, or Leia and Luke ST:ROJ) that are looking at the characters for the last time new storyline wise as they are which the book a nostalgic twang to it! :D This works really well for the story and works brilliantly with action that is intense and fast-paced throughout! :D The plot itself keeps you guessing and goes with neat twists you will not see coming! :D
The are style is bright and breezy and goes incredibly well with the script! :D The panes really enhance the pace and script of the book giving everything a cinematic quality that works gloriously well with the book! :D Everything is really put on screen and Yang, Pak, Syaf and Porter produce a tale that is non-stop and really gives the characters a chance to shine! :D
Superman Volume 2: Return to Glory zing's off the page in a tale that is full of tension and set ups! :D The book is clearly a set up book but this does not take away from it in any way! :D Superman Volume 2: Return to Glory works brilliantly as part of a great whole and is full of action, adventure, heroic, daring do and set up! :D Brilliant and highly recommend! :D Brace for the next one! :D
Superman Volume 2: Return to Glory itself though really keeps the pace going throughout which works really well for the story! :D The addition of the Justice League coming in as well works excellently and neatly dovetails with other ongoing stories! :D At the same time this also reflects off Superman and the opinions that the public and fellow superheroes have of him! :D This is in turn reflected back on the them! :D This really shows all the characters in a great way giving the m page time as well! :D This also sets them up for the new Rebirth as they all due for seismic shifts which means (much like Picard with Wesley in ST:TNG, or Leia and Luke ST:ROJ) that are looking at the characters for the last time new storyline wise as they are which the book a nostalgic twang to it! :D This works really well for the story and works brilliantly with action that is intense and fast-paced throughout! :D The plot itself keeps you guessing and goes with neat twists you will not see coming! :D
The are style is bright and breezy and goes incredibly well with the script! :D The panes really enhance the pace and script of the book giving everything a cinematic quality that works gloriously well with the book! :D Everything is really put on screen and Yang, Pak, Syaf and Porter produce a tale that is non-stop and really gives the characters a chance to shine! :D
Superman Volume 2: Return to Glory zing's off the page in a tale that is full of tension and set ups! :D The book is clearly a set up book but this does not take away from it in any way! :D Superman Volume 2: Return to Glory works brilliantly as part of a great whole and is full of action, adventure, heroic, daring do and set up! :D Brilliant and highly recommend! :D Brace for the next one! :D
November 24, 2019
Superman goes American Gods via WWE? The concept behind this storyline is just stupid. Apparently lesser-known gods fight in a WWE environment for recognition. The idea is utterly out of keeping with the DC universe in general, and the implementation doesn't make it any better. Especially as the implications of it are left unexplored and the entire episode just dissolves in the face of ANOTHER crossover.
This also includes the end of the New 52 Superman series, with an ignominious end as a variety of debilitations lead him to sacrificing himself (after another crossover that is mostly not included) in a battle with another variation of Superman. It's all pretty over-the-top and overwrought, and unearned.
The art is good, but other than that, there's nothing to recommend this volume.
This also includes the end of the New 52 Superman series, with an ignominious end as a variety of debilitations lead him to sacrificing himself (after another crossover that is mostly not included) in a battle with another variation of Superman. It's all pretty over-the-top and overwrought, and unearned.
The art is good, but other than that, there's nothing to recommend this volume.
August 2, 2017
Glory? WHAT GLORY!?
Returning from the ending of Before Truth, Clark Kent is no more and there is only Superman. Superman attempts to get his powers back after having his secret exposed to the world. Basically he endures a pathetic existence.
Half the time reading this story I had hoped this would turn into the Batman Animated Series episode where Batgirl dreams that her death and exposed secret causes her friends in the Bat-family to be destroyed. But this is not a horrible dream, its all real and there is no way things are going back to normal.
After a long and incredibly stupid start - Wrestling in Mexico? Really DC? You hate him that much? Superman fights against the forces of Vandal Savage and defeats him, regaining his powers only to contract Kryptonite Cancer.
Kryptonite Cancer? The hate is unbelievable.
But he is given a slow, saddening send-off that does move well, but its marred by the appearance of a phony Superman. Could they have at least given him a better nemesis to fight?
Even worse and this is the proverbial "giving the finger" moment as Superman from the Pre-Flashpoint era returns bearded and in a black costume.
New 52 Superman dies as the Pre-Flashpoint Superman returns but with the DC Rebirth story told at the very end its implied that the New 52 Superman, though interned in the Fortress of Solitude in an urn, could very well return. I can only hope. I just wish they didn't have to have Rebirth Superman recount his previous death.
D-
Returning from the ending of Before Truth, Clark Kent is no more and there is only Superman. Superman attempts to get his powers back after having his secret exposed to the world. Basically he endures a pathetic existence.
Half the time reading this story I had hoped this would turn into the Batman Animated Series episode where Batgirl dreams that her death and exposed secret causes her friends in the Bat-family to be destroyed. But this is not a horrible dream, its all real and there is no way things are going back to normal.
After a long and incredibly stupid start - Wrestling in Mexico? Really DC? You hate him that much? Superman fights against the forces of Vandal Savage and defeats him, regaining his powers only to contract Kryptonite Cancer.
Kryptonite Cancer? The hate is unbelievable.
But he is given a slow, saddening send-off that does move well, but its marred by the appearance of a phony Superman. Could they have at least given him a better nemesis to fight?
Even worse and this is the proverbial "giving the finger" moment as Superman from the Pre-Flashpoint era returns bearded and in a black costume.
New 52 Superman dies as the Pre-Flashpoint Superman returns but with the DC Rebirth story told at the very end its implied that the New 52 Superman, though interned in the Fortress of Solitude in an urn, could very well return. I can only hope. I just wish they didn't have to have Rebirth Superman recount his previous death.
D-
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