Superman: War of the Supermen #1(of 4)

Hey there X-Maniacs, I'll be posting 4(!!!)new reviews today! I figure the best way to shake my case of the vacation doldrums is to FORCE myself to do reviews, and LOTS of them! So tonight I'll be doing a review for all four parts of the War of the Supermen mini-series that just wrapped up. Did I enjoy the War of the Supermen? Did I hate it? Do you care?!? All answers will soon be revealed...

War of the Supermen #1: Writers: James Robinson & Sterling Gates. Pencils: Jamal Igle.

Review: With Brainiac's failed invasion of New Krypton, and Lex Luthor's role as Brainiac's advisor discovered by the Kryptonians, General Zod has declared war on the planet Earth(thanks Lex!), and has sent his Kryptonian army towards Earth. On New Krypton, Superman breaks free of Zod and his lackeys and flies towards the Kryptonian army, but is intercepted by Zod, Ursa and Non. Meanwhile, the ruler of New Krypton(and Supergirl's mother), Alura, is torturing the man responsible for the death of her husband, Reactron. Supergirl walks in on the torture session and yells at her mother for her actions. While the two women are arguing, Reaction chimes in and says that when Lex Luthor visited him during the Last Stand of New Krypton x-over, he left him with a parting gift from the Earth, and Reactron begins to glow very brightly. Alura shoves Supergirl into a nearby radiation deck(every torture chamber should have one...), and Reactron explodes with enough force to shatter the core of New Krypton and completely destroy the planet and everything on it. Superman and Zod and his forces stop their fight as they watch in horror as large chunks of New Krypton go sailing past them. On Earth, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane gather Guardian, Steel, Superboy, Krypto, Flamebird and Nightwing, and tell the heroes that Lois's crazy father was preparing to launch an attack on New Krypton. Lois's evil sister, Superwoman, watches the meeting from a distance. Superman flies through the remains of New Krypton and discovers Supergirl still alive, although she is the only living being he comes across. Supergirl is obviously shaken by the events that had happened, until she thinks back to Reactron's parting words and realizes that New Krypton was destroyed by agents of the Earth. SG pushes Supes away from her and begins to make a bee-line towards the Earth in a grief-filled rage. This issue ends with Zod appearing before his Kryptonian troops and telling them that their planet was destroyed by earthlings, and that they had no choice but to annihilate every single being on Earth in retribution.

What I Thought: Now THIS is the way to open up a mini-series! We got all of the major Superman players in motion, the war between Earth and the remnants of New Krypton is about to commence, and the story itself was petty powerful. The scene with Superman and Supergirl in space as they realize what had happened to their people was a thing of beauty. Even though there is no dialogue(they are in space and all), Jamal's pencils do a fantastic job of capturing the gravity of what had happened. Plus the little touches like Supergirl's tears freezing as they fell from her face was pretty sweet. So yeah, as an opening chapter of a mini-series, this comic was nearly perfect.

Score: 9 out of 10.Goodbye New Krypton...