Audrey Mok

• [Untitled - "My palms sweat."] / John Ridley, writer; Clayton Henry, artist
~ 2 stars ~
In an epilogue to World's Finest #192-193 from 1970, Clark Kent is anxious when he has to interview a man who tortured him years earlier when he was in a powerless state as Superman. A realistic downer.

• The Measure of Hope / Brandon Easton, writer; Steve Lieber, artist
~ 2 stars ~
A dead mom? More depressing mopiness about the limits of Superman's powers.

• The Boy Who Saved Superman / Wes Craig, story & art
~ 3 stars ~
So powerlessness is definitely a theme here. When Superman is down and out, it's up to a young immigrant to get him back into the fray. The right kind of inspiring.

• Human Colors / Dan Watters, script; Dani, art
~ 2 stars ~
A silly, if well-intentioned parable about the importance of color to humanity.

• The School of Hard Knock-Knock Jokes / Marguerite Bennett, writer; Jill Thompson, artist
~ 2 stars ~
Kindergartener Clark Kent stars in a heavy-handed afterschool special about shunning and friendship.

• Own / Steven T. Seagle, writer; Duncan Rouleau, art
~ 2 stars ~
Martha Kent rips her coffee clique when they make a slight about adoption.

• Into the Ghost Zone / Chuck Brown, writer; Denys Cowan, pencils; John Stanisci, inks
~ 2 stars ~
I'm not familiar with the Earth-2 Superman, Val-Zod, and this silly action piece does little to properly introduce him.

• Patience / Dan Panosian, story & art
~ 2 stars ~
Lex Luthor futilely attacks Superman with some new red kryptonite, including a boxing match. I grew up with Muhammad Ali clobbering Supes in glorious, full-color, treasury-sized Neal Adams art, and, friend, that is not a comparison you want to invite.

• My Best Friend, Superman / Stephanie Phillips, script; Marley Zarcone, art
~ 2 stars ~
Another obvious and heavy-handed afterschool special set on a playground. Or maybe it would be more at home on the corny old Superfriends TV show.

• S Is for Cyborg / Jason Howard, art & story
~ 2 stars ~
Cyborg Superman Hank Henshaw needs to be forgotten forever by everyone. Just stop with him already, DC.

• Deadline / Jesse J. Holland, writer; Laura Braga, artist
~ 3 stars ~
It's a little awkward, but I like this story of Bruce Wayne and Diana musing whether or not a busy and constantly distracted Clark Kent will make his newspaper deadline and their dinner date.

• Kilg%re City / Michel Fiffe, writer & artist
~ 2 stars ~
Nearly unreadable nonsense, but the art is sort of fun.

• A Man Most Saved / Brandon Thomas, writer; Berat Pekmezci, art
~ 2 stars ~
I like the premise of a man who has been saved by Superman repeatedly getting the chance to pay him back, but it felt like it needed a few more pages or a slightly different angle of attack to succeed.

• Something to Hold on to / Nick Spencer, writer; Christian Ward, art
~ 2 stars ~
Superman invites the kids from a group home to his Fortress of Solitude for a field trip. Toyman crashes. I zone out.

• Little Star / James Stokoe, story & art
~ 2 stars ~
I like the concept of an asteroid on a collision course with Earth hiding a special little mystery, but the end left me cold. That's not how Supes would've handled it.

• Namrepus / Mark Waid, writer; Audrey Mok, artist
~ 3 stars ~
A classic throwback sort of tale with Superman deciding to show up in the Fifth Dimension and prank Mr. Mxyzptlk. Funny and clever.

• Prospect of Tomorrow / Francis Manapul, writer & artist
~ 2 stars ~
Superman goes to Mars to play matchmaker with exploration drones? Bizarre.

• A Little Is a Lot / Robert Venditti, writer; Alitha Martinez, artist
~ 3 stars ~
A simple story of everyday heroism being a match for Superman's extraordinary abilities.

• For the Man Who Has Nothing / Michael W. Conrad, writer; Cully Hamner, artist
~ 2 stars ~
Oh, no, another bad Bizarro story.

• #SavedBySuperman / Rich Douek, writer; Joe Quinones, art
~ 2 stars ~
A cool concept wherein social media idiots start throwing themselves off things as part of a viral challenge to have Superman save them. But it goes for a preachy ending instead of something realistic or clever.

• Fetch / Judd Winick, writer; Ibrahim Moustafa, artist
~ 2 stars ~
Krypto arrives on Earth and makes Clark Kent happy. Ho-hum.

• Deescalation / G. Willow Wilson, writer; Valentine De Landro, artist
~ 3 stars ~
A crime is committed, and Clark Kent gets to save the day for once. Nice.

• Your Favorite / Josh Williamson, writer; Chris Sprouse, pencils; Karl Story, inks
~ 2 stars ~
Jimmy Olsen is a screw-up, and a pretty boring one at that.

• Red Sun . . . Blue Dot / Mark Buckingham, story & art
~ 2 stars ~
Baby Supes flies in a rocket while his Kryptonian parents have a morose voice-over dialogue.

• [Untitled - "Matthew 3:17"] / Daniel Warren Johnson, writer & artist
~ 2 stars ~
Jonathan Kent's a good dad. Yup.

• Streaky the Supercat in: Hissy Fit / Sophie Campbell, story & art
~ 3 stars ~
Cats, amiright? Hee.

• Scoop / Matt Wagner, story & art
~ 3 stars ~
Clark Kent's a damn good reporter.

• The Special / Tom King, writer; Paolo Rivera, artist
~ 3 stars ~
Clark Kent's a good man too. Yup.

• Son of Farmers / Darcie Little Badger, writer; Steve Pugh, art
~ 2 stars ~
I was a son of a maize farmer too. Didn't find any of these lessons shaping my life.

• "Ally" / Rex Ogle, writer; Mike Norton, artist
~ 2 stars ~
Nice, but really?

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents:
• Superman Red & Blue #1 Cover / Gary Frank, illustrator
• [Untitled - "My palms sweat."] / John Ridley, writer; Clayton Henry, artist
• The Measure of Hope / Brandon Easton, writer; Steve Lieber, artist
• The Boy Who Saved Superman / Wes Craig, story & art
• Human Colors / Dan Watters, script; Dani, art
• The School of Hard Knock-Knock Jokes / Marguerite Bennett, writer; Jill Thompson, artist
• Superman Red & Blue #2 Cover / Nicola Scott, illustrator
• Own / Steven T. Seagle, writer; Duncan Rouleau, art
• Into the Ghost Zone / Chuck Brown, writer; Denys Cowan, pencils; John Stanisci, inks
• Patience / Dan Panosian, story & art
• My Best Friend, Superman / Stephanie Phillips, script; Marley Zarcone, art
• S Is for Cyborg / Jason Howard, art & story;
• Superman Red & Blue #3 Cover / Paul Pope, illustrator
• Deadline / Jesse J. Holland, writer; Laura Braga, artist
• Kilg%re City / Michel Fiffe, writer & artist
• A Man Most Saved / Brandon Thomas, writer; Berat Pekmezci, art
• Something to Hold on to / Nick Spencer, writer; Christian Ward, art
• Little Star / James Stokoe, story & art
• Superman Red & Blue #4 Cover /John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson, illustrators
• Namrepus / Mark Waid, writer; Audrey Mok, artist
• Prospect of Tomorrow / Francis Manapul, writer & artist
• A Little Is a Lot / Robert Venditti, writer; Alitha Martinez, artist
• For the Man Who Has Nothing / Michael W. Conrad, writer; Cully Hamner, artist
• #SavedBySuperman / Rich Douek, writer; Joe Quinones, art
• Superman Red & Blue #5 Cover / Amanda Conner, illustrator
• Fetch / Judd Winick, writer; Ibrahim Moustafa, artist
• Deescalation / G. Willow Wilson, writer; Valentine De Landro, artist
• Your Favorite / Josh Williamson, writer; Chris Sprouse, pencils; Karl Story, inks
• Red Sun . . . Blue Dot / Mark Buckingham, story & art
• [Untitled - "Matthew 3:17"] / Daniel Warren Johnson, writer & artist
• Superman Red & Blue #6 Cover / Evan "Doc" Shaner, illustrator
• Streaky the Supercat in: Hissy Fit / Sophie Campbell, story & art
• Scoop / Matt Wagner, story & art
• The Special / Tom King, writer; Paolo Rivera, artist
• Son of Farmers / Darcie Little Badger, writer; Steve Pugh, art
• "Ally" / Rex Ogle, writer; Mike Norton, artist
• Variant Cover Gallery / Lee Bermejo (#1), Yoshitaka Amano(#1), David Choe (#2), Brian Bolland (#2), Derrick Chew (#3), John Paul Leon (#3), Alexander Lozano (#4), Walter Simonson (#4), Arthur Adams (#5), Miguel Mercado (#5), Gabriele Dell'Otto (#6), and Kevin Eastman (#6), illustrators
• Cover Process / Gary Frank, Nicola Scott, Amanda Conner, Evan "Doc" Shaner, and John Paul Leon, illustrators… (mais)

This reminded me more of the movie than the cartoon show, which I think is a good thing. I liked the cartoon for what it was, but it's a little dated. Even the movie can be a little dated now too. I still liked both, so I decided to get this comic book and was't disappointed. I would say this book is more for teenagers than kids though. Just be warned, there are a lot of puns and pop cultural references. You don't get too much character development, some, but not enough.

NOTE: This has a preview for Jughead's comic which, to me, looks like something I'd like to read too.… (mais)

I am not a big reader or fan of the Archie universe, but I picked up this book because the storyline was written by Marguerite Bennett, who worked on the DC Comics alt-history series DC Bombshells. I love DC Bombshells series, so naturally I thought I would like this one too.

Er, no. This was a bit of a slog to get through due to the Josie character. What a vapid dumbass! According to the comics history, Melody is supposed to play up the part of a vapid dumbass, but Melody was much smarter and hilarious. Josie however is the type of character that is perpetually 12 years old brat - impulsive, careless, and easily distracted by shiny objects. Val is always having to parent Josie and teach her the value of the lesson Josie is currently learning but will forget in the next issue. It got old real quick. Josie wants fame and money, but is the least talented of the trio - the desperation is dripping off her character and kept me from rooting for her or the band. I wanted more band time - in the studio, on tour, writing songs, etc. Instead we get this sad sack of a romance between Josie and their manager - a storyline ripped from old VH1's Behind the Music. Val and Melody are better off dropping the "adds zero to this friendship" Josie and this band. There was a short comic at the back of the book featuring Jughead and introducing Sabrina the Teenage Witch - this comic was better than the main comic.

The art was typical of the Archie universe but the girls weren't oversexualized or glamour girls - they were drawn as true grass roots garage band rockers. Too bad the storyline and characterizations were bland.… (mais)