Sign Up | Log In

Write a Review
Post a Quick Tip
Create a List
Ask a Question
Create a Poll
Create a Community

Movies •Books •Music •Food •Tv Shows •Technology •Politics •Video Games •Parenting •Fashion •Green Living •more >

Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 4

Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 4

1 rating: 3.0

Comic Book/ Graphic Novel

The Man of Steel is a six-issue comic book limited series released in 1986 by DC Comics, several months after the twelve-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths completed. The Man of Steel was written and penciled by John Byrne and inked by Dick … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Comics, Comic Books, Dc Comics

1 review about Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 4

Showing 1-1 of 1

Sort by:

The Man of Steel meets the boy he never was.

Dec 3, 2011

by Madpenguin
posted in Speech Bubbles: Comics & Graphic Novels

Rating:

In a far galaxy exists a world called Krypton that is on the brink of destruction. The planet is highly unstable and is set to explode in hours. A scientist by the name of Jor-El understands that his doom is near. He decides to put his son Kal-El in a rocket ship and plot a course for the planet called Earth. Years later, Kal-El, who is now named Clark Kent grows up to be an extraordinary talented teen, with gifts that sets him apart from everyone else. After being told his origin from his new parents, he decides to put his gifts to use by helping those in need around the world as Superman.

Previous Volumes:

Superman - The Man of Steel Volume One

Superman - The Man of Steel Volume Two

Superman - The Man of Steel Volume Three

Superman - The Man of Steel Volume Four:

Lois Lane is invited by the scientist Professor Faulkner to see her newest creation. An accident occurs in the lab which results in a huge explosion. Superman investigates and witness a behemoth of a woman surfacing through the rubble. She lashes out and a battle begins between the two. The media name her Rampage, and she quickly lives up to her namesake. -summary

Written by John Byrne, Marv Wolfman, and Paul Levitz, Superman: The Man of Steel once again collects a host of issues from the Superman mythos; Superman 7- 8, Action Comics 590 - 591, Adventures of Superman 430 - 431, and Legion of Superheroes 37 - 38. Like the last volume, the book began kind of stale and everything felt way too by the numbers. The first story is your typical superhero outing; a threat appears and Superman does what he can to stop it, not even the outcome of the battle is very interesting and neither is the mindless character of Rampage. The second story seems to be lacking some type of creativity as well, as Superman tackles the lame Fearsome Five. Ironically, this story is only interesting concerning Superman's trouble, and not the action at all. He finds himself having a hard time dealing with his double life due to Clark Kent being heavily neglected; he's missing arrangements with friends and family, plus screwing up stories for Perry. This bit of character analysis was much needed when looking at some of the weak storytelling in regards to the battles and uninteresting villains. The story featuring the Metal Men had me wanting to put this book down when I first came into it. The less said about that story the better.

For a little while this book just seemed to drag, and it can give off that feel as if you're better off reading something else. The story taking place with the Legion of Superheroes began this way also, because it felt like it was taking forever to get somewhere.Thankfully, I'm a patient reader, because this story is awesome and it's by far the best in the book, and this is coming from a non fan of the Legion of Superheroes.

The group find themselves having to do battle against the Time Trapper, and this villain comes up with a plan that merges together specific time-lines in his attempt to kill the entire group. Although it can be very, very, wordy; it's a complex and interesting story that's hard to put down once it gets going. There are many references to Crisis on Infinite Earth's, and at times it feels as if you're reliving that story again. It's a very well written story that feels bigger than what it should be with a really nice ending. The last story isn't close to as gripping, still, it was a fun read watching Superman having to battle against the elements caused by an enemy with a God complex.

John Byrne, Jerry Ordway, Greg LaRocque, and Erik Larsen are the men behind the pencils. The panels aren't always done in the traditional way, there are moments where they're in a triangle like format, but they're still easy to follow, and the large amount of dialog doesn't get in the way of the action. The illustrations are really good and keeping track of the action is easy enough, and I like how the Legion of Superheroes are so racially diverse and even have different hairstyles. One thing is for sure everything is easy on the eyes.

This fourth volume really does begin with a slow and uninteresting start that keeps the book in first gear for what appears to be a very long time. In addition, it shows one of DC's biggest weaknesses for years and it's that lackluster rogue's gallery, especially for Superman. Now I do have to admit, I can imagine some folks not getting into this book at all because the characters aren't that well developed. If you're a serious Marvel fan who isn't too well-rounded in DC, then the Legion of Superheroes and the Metal Men (especially) stories may not even appeal to you. If I already didn't have knowledge on them, then this book would have been even harder to get through. When looking at the first four books in the Man of Steel series, I would say this is the least newbie friendly out of them all.

Pros:
-Finds its footing at some point

Cons:
-Can have you wanting to quit before you get there

What did you think of this review?

Helpful

Thought-Provoking

Fun to Read

Well-Organized

Post a Comment

Scotman December 03, 2011

I'm a big admirer of Byrne. Good review! I posted some more comics polls if you're interested, gleening info off Wiki and other sites.

Madpenguin December 03, 2011

Thanks. I'll see if I can get around to them.

Scotman December 04, 2011

Thanks.

show text editor

reply to this comment

Follow this review

FM_ALEX December 03, 2011

Excellent review man

Madpenguin December 03, 2011

Thanks.

show text editor

reply to this comment

Follow this review

woopak_the_thrill December 03, 2011

I kinda remember this one. I know I stopped collecting rthis title egularly after the Apocalypse saga where Supes lost his memory. John Byrne at his prime was real good, Jerry Ordway is good occasionally but not a fan of Larsen...Nice review.

Madpenguin December 03, 2011

Larsen hasn't been much of an issue with me. And I followed Supes on the reg, even though many of his stories weren't much. But when they were good, they could be really good.

Expand 1 more response

woopak_the_thrill December 04, 2011

I liked Larsen when he did "The Savage Dragon", his style was really made for that comic.

Madpenguin December 04, 2011

I don't know why man, but I could never get into that comic. Besides Spawn, I didn't have a problem with Wildcats, Shadowhawk, and Wildstar.

show text editor

reply to this comment

Follow this review