'Superman Vol. 1 The Unity Saga: Phantom Earth' Review

Superman is on a mission. He needs to find his family who have been incommunicado ever since his estranged father, Jor-El, returned and decided to take Superman’s son Jon on a galactic walkabout to ‘find himself as a man’. Lois Lane, Superman’s partner, and Jon’s mother, decided to join them. Now, they’re AWOL, and the Man of Steel has no way to contact them.

But soon, his family are going to be the last people on his mind in Superman Vol. 1 The Unity Saga: Phantom Earth. The villainous Rogol-Zaar re-appears with one sole intent—to rid the universe of the Kryptonian plague. While Superman is distracted by his missing family, how will he fight this scourge, and protect the world he loves so much?

Superman, the One Superhero Army

Kal-El. Clark Kent. Superman. All these names make up one superhero—the Man of Steel from Krypton, protector of Earth and occasional reporter for the Daily Planet. The story of Superman is beloved by all comic book fans, but with DC Comics’ Rebirth arc, the backstories of almost all the superheroes were re-written with slight updates. Under Brian Michael Bendis’ penmanship, Superman’s home planet was not destroyed by the Kryptonians’ hubris, but by something else. A corporeal being that Superman can punch—but can he defeat it?

In this volume, Superman is left to his own devices to fight evil in the Phantom Zone while the rest of the universe’s superheroes are incapacitated or missing. He has to do all the heavy lifting, which seems like a long-shot, even for this alien hero. Panels upon panels concentrate on his unwavering determination and stamina.

But what I loved about his characterisation in Superman Vol. 1 The Unity Saga: Phantom Earth is that Superman knows he can’t be everywhere at once. He turns down an offer to be a galactic leader, while later he needs the conscious members of Justice League to save Earth while he fights his enemy. All the while, it’s the memory of the people he knows and loves most that keep him going.

This tactic works for the majority of the book, though I would have liked to see Superman interact with the rest of the Justice League a little more than he does. Also, where’s Supergirl? She fought the same enemy in the previous volume, but she’s all but forgotten in this one.

Is there such a thing as a perfect superhero?

Superman holds his own against a formidable opponent in this volume. At times, it seems impossible to fathom how he’s able to keep going despite his depleting energy. But the stakes never feel that out of reach. Bendis writes Superman with a great deal of reverence—he is a god among men in Bendis’ rendition. This makes Superman super-perfect in every way, and that is to the detriment of the book.

Never does Superman have a stray bad thought, or a moment of selfishness. He is goodness and light and thereby perceives the world that way as well. It’s all a bit too twee. We get that he’s an alien, but not all Kryptonians were paragons of virtue, so what makes Superman so special?

What would have worked in this book’s favour would have been a story about emotional turmoil rather than brute force. Superman is powerful, everyone knows that, but there has to be more to keep the reader at the edge of their seats. There is hardly any human interaction at all for the Man of Steel, and this leads to several pages just being verbose with no heart.

Conclusion

I received an advanced Netgalley copy of Superman Vol. 1 The Unity Saga: Phantom Earth from DC Comics for review purposes. Even for a reader who is unfamiliar with Bendis’ previous volume The Man of Steel, this book easily catches you up with what has been happening in Superman’s life. I appreciated the touches of humour, especially early on in the volume when Superman and Martian Manhunter meet. We could have done with more of that.

However, despite the grandiloquent art by Ivan Reis, and at times uninspiring text, the denouement sets up that much-needed emotional anticipation that was missing for most of this volume. How will this play out in Action Comics Vol. 1: Invisible Mafia, we will have to wait and find out in April.

Superman Vol. 1 The Unity Saga: Phantom Earth hits bookstores everywhere Tuesday, March 5, 2019.

All images courtesy of DC Comics.