Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 2 Hardcover – 26 January 2021

Major props to Cloudtail India for getting the 2nd volume of these classic Superman stories so soon after the North America release date.Two solid hardcovers covering a major chunk of post-Crisis, 80s Superman that are essentially the tone-setters as well as stalwarts for the definitive modern Superman stories across the Man of Steel miniseries, Superman, Action Comics and the Adventures of Superman. Yup, Supes has that many books dedicated to him concurrently. Legendary, classic and eternal.

Reintroducing key members of the familiar Rogues' Gallery, Superman finds himself at loggerheads with Metallo as the arch criminal finds his radioactive power cell is the key to Superman's destruction. Author kidnaps Lana,Lang to discover the mysterious connection between Clark Kent and Superman. Then Darkseid kidnaps the Man of Steel to reinforce his power base on Apokolips.There is a real sense of movement in the art work and the artists capture the facial expressions reasonably well, though Clark can look vaguely smarmy in Lois' company.

John Byrne continues a very solid run on Superman here, Superman's story arcs, directly continuing from his acclaimed reinvention of Superman in Man of Steel issues 1-6.While by no means are these stories perfect, they all have much merit in showing who Superman is at his core, and what it means to have these powers, and the responsibility to use them morally--a continuing theme throughout this volume, and beyond. Do bear in mind, though, that this is extremely entrenched in 80's fashions and sensibilities too, so visually it can be rather silly to a modern audience.The artwork is excellent as usual with Byrne, paying homage to older versions of Superman while still being distinctly Byrne's own vision. Every character is distinct and expressive, and there's a great sense of dynamism and visual narrative flow during most scenes here.If I have any major criticism, it would be that Byrne tends towards over-writing, an unfortunate quirk of older comics, and one that was just starting to phase out in contemporary stories. Almost every scene, Superman feels the need to narrate via either unnatural speech, or constant thought balloons, obvious clear information that we can already see him demonstrating. Considering John Byrne both wrote and drew it, it's almost as though he didn't have enough faith in himself to simply draw art that conveyed what Supes was doing.

Byrne continua na criação da melhor versão do Superman já feita.Aqui explicação a questão do Superman nunca ter sido Superboy.

Uma fase memorável do John Byrne pelas histórias do Superman. A reconstrução do herói após a Crise nas Infinitas Terras. Excelente, de fácil leitura e que divertem facilmente. O que se espera de boas histórias do Superman. Falta só o volume 9 estar disponível em Ebook para completar a coleção. No aguardo!

A great Superman run by some of the Masters in the industry.