Superman #17 review

H'el on Earth, the crossover between the Superman, Supergirl and Superboy titles, ends here after several months of hi-decibel nonsense. Supposed Kryptonian H'el has come to Earth to steal our solar energy to power his plan to go back in time to save Krypton from destruction. Supergirl has fallen for both the man and his plan and fought hard to defend him against Superman, Superboy and the JLA. Wonder Woman has overpowered Kara and showed her that H'el's scheme would mean the destruction of Earth. Meanwhile, H'el has knocked Superman into space.

This issue begins with Superman's trajectory stopped when he smashes into the silent celestial watcher some call the Oracle. The being spooks Superman with its big beady eyes, and fails to be impressed by Superman's previously hidden talent for yelling in outer space. The Watcher doesn't share this knack, but does manage to zap images of Kal-El's family's past into Superman's head - whatever could it mean? After a minute or two, Superman decides that saving Earth might be a good idea, and leaves the mystery being for another day.

On the big blue marble, most of the JLA is fighting disasters caused by H'el's science as Wonder Woman and Supergirl run interference to allow Superboy to throw a psionic spanner in the works. And indeedy, he pulls down the Star Chamber in Superman's Fortress of Solitude that H'el has been using to collect solar energy but - OH NO! - Superboy has freed the space cruiser H'el plans on climbing into for his time trip. He's been used!

(Exciting, isn't it?)

Superman arrives, punchy punch. Supergirl snivels about her rubbish taste in men, before stabbing H'el with a lump of green kryptonite, having used her girlish charm to get close to him, then passes out and is flown to the Fortress' Super-Clinic. And out in space, the Oracle still watches, thinking gloomy thoughts.

Epilogue! On Krypton, a super-fat lady sings. Kidding. Young scientist Jor-El stumbles across an unconscious, time-tossed H'el in a cave.

Oh no!

That's Scott Lobdell's conclusion. Here's my conclusion: what a bag of bilge. The narration isn't too bad, in a deliberately overstated, melodramatic way. But the dialogue, it's painful, all exposition, and sappy soap.

Take this (click on images to enlarge).
Or this.
Then there's the fact that while H'el's immediate plan is stopped, he gets away. He's been no end of trouble for the Super-Family, undoubtedly caused many deaths, and would destroy our world in an instant. But he vanishes, and Superman merely shrugs. 'He's gone, Kara. Maybe forever. Hopefully forever.'

I wish. In interviews, Lobdell has said H'el is coming back before long - methinks someone has fallen in love with his creation. Would some meddling politician please bring back the Comics Code, which stated: In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds? I can live without the punishment, but certainly H'el should be locked up somewhere. If he escapes, he escapes, but in the first instance, justice should be seen to be done. Isn't Justice meant to be one of Superman's defining tenets?
And then there's Superman's Girlfriend Wonder Woman getting smutty. Stop it, you're a princess, have some class!

There is one panel I like, Kara's final dialogue before she passes out (because girls can't take the punishment boys can, despite Kara having been seen to be perhaps more powerful than Superman in her own book). But I won't spoil that here, in case you're as daft as me and planning on buying this comic - it could be your one moment of pleasure.

Kenneth Rocafort's artwork, coloured by Blond, continues to be pretty pretty. The Oracle, rip-off of Marvel's Watcher that he is, at least has an interesting design. And there's an awful lot of kinetic energy in the layouts, while the compositions aren't bad at all. Cutting down on the cheesecake factor would be grand, though - just look at Wonder Woman in that panel back there, she's practically italicised.

So, the first meeting of the New 52 Superman Family is over and what have we seen. Superman was snitty to Kara, but finally came over all brotherly. Supergirl  fell for a monster with the subtle name of H'el and viciously attacked the JLA, Superboy and Superman, before finally coming through for Earth on being forced to accept she'd been duped, stabbing the man who stole her heart - viciously, of course. Superboy got beaten up a lot, but gained better control of his powers and personality as he was inspired by Superman.

So, Superboy came out a better hero. As for Superman, this issue shows that he still needs to work on his arrogance, while Supergirl needs serious counselling and anger management classes.

Seriously, it's not so much been a bumpy ride as a horror smash, the worst Superman Family team-up I can recall in several decades of comics reading. Some readers dismiss the all-ages Superman Family Adventures as simplistic kiddie fare, but there's more honour, heart and hope in any one page of that soon-to-be-cancelled book than we've had in this entire crossover.

H'el on Earth? H'el on the reader.

Comments

  1. A great review. I agree with you on most of it (though I don't agree that the art is pretty -- I detest Rocafort's layout style). This whole crossover was incoherent drivel.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words, Steve. I'm pretty used to Rocafort's jagged panels and the like. I'd not wish to see it on every book, but it's not disrupting the storytelling for me. I do, though, scratch my head at the randomness of it!

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    2. My apologies, Steven - I dropped the 'N'.

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  2. Whatever, I'm just glad it's over and that Supergirl manged to strike the deciding blow.
    -- DW

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    1. There is that, DW, though I don't like the ambiguity - was Kara actually trying to finish H'el off, or was the stab her idea of expediency?

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  3. It wasn't as bad as most people are saying, but it was still kind of disappointing. The art was pretty and the action was good, but we still don't know much about the Oracle or H'el. Of course, a good thing about that is that it means that we're not through with those guys.

    But one thing that was left open that shouldn't have been was how Superboy is gonna able to solve his genetic condition. As stated in "Superboy #17" and issues before that, H'el has messed up Superboy's genes so badly that he needs Superman's armor to keep them from unraveling. Because of this, I thought that Superboy would be the one to sacrifice himself by destroying the star chamber, but his condition wasn't even addressed in this issue, even as he was straining himself trying to keep everything together. Hopefully, this gets resolved in "Superboy #18", which, thankfully, comes out next week.

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    1. PRgirl, you are a breath of fresh air. No sarcasm, I'm glad someone is getting some enjoyment out of this crossover.

      I'd not be surprised were we to take away the assumption that the armour stabilised Kon for awhile, and since then the advances he's made in controlling his powers has righted him. Hmmm

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  4. So how was H'el actually stopped? He still went back in time so why didn't the earth end?

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    1. Sssh, don't ask logical, intelligent questions!

      And, yes, indeed. OI, LOBDELL!

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  5. I totally agree with so much here. This was pretty rough. And I am thrilled this is over.

    The characterization in the whole story was erratic. There were plot points that just disappear. Supergirl acts like she has multiple personalities. And worst of all she tries to kill H'El.

    H'El not only gets away but basically succeeds.

    And the Oracle, despite pages devoted to his arrival basically does nothing.

    At least the art is pretty.

    My review is done and will be up tomorrow.

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    1. It is really rubbish that after all the issues with H'el, and foreboding with the horn and herald of the Oracle going back to #1, we end on a note of 'wait and see'. An actual conclusion, one that was decent, would go some way towards restoring goodwill among readers who didn't enjoy this. And I know that we internet users are said to be not totally representative of the audience, but I can't believe the wider audience of Superman Family fans could have enjoyed this drivel.

      I shall be popping over to Supergirl Comic Box Commentary tomorrow to see what you say.

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  6. good news everyone astro city is coming back in june as an ongoing, that should help every one wash down this bad crossover

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    1. your welcome mart also what was your favourite astro city mine are confession and tarnished angel

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    2. I can't remember, it's been so long since I read any - I'm a few trades behind, but it's all quality stuff.

      Did you read this issue of Superman, then? Id love to know your thoughts.

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    3. i read only the story where he fought the insect queen and liked it, i loved how he portrayed his relationship with chris and lois it was nicely done i even liked that villain paragon teamed up with superman in the daxamite story, if you want to know more about the astro city ongoing check out mtv's interview it's very interesting also now i never planned to follow the entire crossover, i was even planning to stop picking up supergirl until the cross over was over

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    4. if i recall correctly i asked if you needed to read the other 2 super books and you said now there enough recap in each book to read individually also mart do you plan to tryy super dinosaur

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    5. Oh, make no mistake, these books are swimming in exposition - bad exposition.

      Having not enjoyed Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead, found Invincible rather ho-hum, and been turned off by the violence in the Destroyer, I think I'll pass on Super-Dinosaur. I've so many comics and books already in the house that need reading. A wonderful collection of Golden Age Superboy stories, for one.

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    6. i understand i plan to pick up astro city and have it replace the winter soldier, i also plan to pick up captain america and i'm wondering what do you think of it mart is cap's war in dimension z good also fun fact hank pym will appear in that bookas cap's gadget guy like Q from james bond he will also be a major character

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    7. I packed in Cap after #1, the art puts me off.

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  7. I wonder how the trade paper back books will go for the series. Will each series still follow in numeric order or jump from one series to the next to keep it in order? Maybe both ways?

    If you read each series in their order their stories make hardly any sense, follow directly from issue to issue the and get a really illogical story with a bad, sad ass ending.

    I worry about what the future brings to all of the Super Family titles when Lobdell picks-up and starts his H'el sequel crossover event later this year. Around issues #19-#25 issues if I remember it right and with four series involved in it, Superman, Action, Superboy and Supergirl. Something tells me Actions included in it so the H'el crossover event will get done and over with faster. :(

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  8. I imagine the collections will read choppy, with the problems that have been evident on a weekly basis simply screaming attention to themselves.

    Shall we all skip the next H'el storyline, and buy someone a present with the money saved? Or could we start a Twitter campaign to get DC to just forget H'el altogether? #H'elNo

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  9. I don't get your gripes. You dropped WW ( supposedly good writing by most critics) and called that a book that does not interest you and now you drop this. So what exactly is good writing? Oh and Diana has seen Superman hit by Darkseid. What she said does not make her slutty. And even if she said it in tongue in cheek...so damn what? She's not some precious princess either.

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    1. Hi, Ta for the comments.

      '...supposedly good writing ...' Obviously, I disagree.

      '...now you drop this'. No, I haven't, if I had any sense I would have. Let's see if I can follow my suggestion and not buy any more H'el issues.

      'What exactly is good writing?' I blog enough about what I do and don't like that more in the comments would be redundant.

      I said 'smutty'! 'Slutty' is meaner.

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  10. you know what would have been a better way to tell this story h'el is revealed to be a clone of superman made by lex luthor, luthor uses h'el's rampage to make superman look bad and have backdoor access to the fortress of solitude luthor breakout of prison and has an epic battle with h'el and save the world in flashy manner securing his freedom and making him look like a her for all the world to except to superman. luthor then prepares to use the backdoor at the fortress of solitude to steal kryptonian data and prepares to the next pahse in his scheme to give himself kryptonian powers. what do you guy's think of my version of h'el on earth good or bad

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    1. I rather like this plotline, it'd be interesting to see it played out.

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    2. if only they could have then we could have seen lex luthor in action

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  11. But we do get him in the next issue if Action Comics, rah!

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  12. i find that book very interesting also i'd love to know who is using lex luthor's power suit also mart what was your reaction to astro city's come back as an ongoing

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    1. Are you on Twitter? It's great for off-topic stuff such as Astro City. I'm @MartGray there.

      As for the query, as I buy it in trades, no big feelings other than it's great if Kurt Busiek is feeling healthier these days.

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  13. A prime example of why I don't read this Nu52 crap.

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    1. When's the next multiversal shake-up coming, that's what I want to know.

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  14. Hi Martin, I'm a little late for your reviews since I've been trying to keep on budget and buying my books digitally a month after they release. When Rocafort and Lobdell jumped on, I was really impressed with the artwork and the writing was bearable. So with that, I was fired up and started buying Supergirl and Superboy for this cross over.

    Now that it's all over though, it really feels very unsatisfying. I think the crossover was WAY too long. It could've been handled with half the amount of issues. Characterization of Supergirl could've been handled much, much better (I understand that they needed her to be the bad guy, but she could've been written much better).

    There were moments that the Super-Family interactions were kinda working, but really really few. I liked the first few issues when Superman's supporting cast was in the story, but that disappeared real quickly as this crossover kicked in. Anyway, I'm going to end my rant, but I'm dropping out of supergirl and superboy again and the Superman title will be on probation. My point is, for so many issues of crossover, why is it the story doesn't go anywhere? And I still find myself not caring about any of the characters.

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    1. hello Arvin, it's always good to hear from you. It's a shame you're not in Edinburgh, I'd happily pass on some comics to you. I'm sorry you were also disappointed by this crossover, let's hope for happier stories. I'm incredibly keen to see how the new Supergirl writer handles Kara, for one.

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