Review: Superman Vol 3 – Fury at World’s End / Author: Scott Lobdell / Art: Kenneth Rocafort, Aaron Kuder, Tyler Kirkham / Release Date: January 14th
The reason the Superman comic books continue to find an audience is because DC reboots the entire thing every once in a while, creating a new myth out the ashes after the old. Sometimes, the result is something that surpasses the work that has gone before, but it has become far more common that the new work is simply a pale imitation of past glories.
Fury at The World’s End falls into the latter category here. Once again, we return to the history of Krypton, and in this version of events, it turns out that Superman’s biological father, Jor-El, uncovered sinister horrors eating away at the heart of Krypton. The story then flashes back to Earth in the modern day, and introduces a new Kryptonian villain, H’el. Things then proceed to get more convoluted, with poorly thought out motivations, plot twists that make very little sense and highlights that are simply ideas from other Superman stories thrown in for good measure.
The main problem with the book is that the heart and soul of what makes Superman fun has been torn out in order to make it more action packed and gritty. It feels like someone wanted to introduce realism into a story about an alien saviour who can fly and has heat vision, but instead just made the tale less fun and a lot less engaging. Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent, is also poorly handled. This version of Superman is dating Wonder Woman rather than Lois Lane, so there is very little to give Superman a human edge. (Wonder Woman herself reads more like an idealised version of femininity in this book, rather than anyone you could possibly meet). A sub-plot about Clark’s friends is swiftly ignored and the entire mess just feels rushed and jagged.
They are plenty of better Superman stories out there, and the current New 52 version of Superman is not one of them. If you’re following other DC books and happen to want the whole set, then we’re afraid you’re stuck with this book, but everyone else is firmly advised to sit this current run out until they radically reboot the hero again, which given DC’s current practices will probably be sometime soon.
