Superman #35 Review

Written by: Geoff Johns
Art by: John Romita Jr.
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 22, 2014

The Quest for Something

When it was announced that Johns and Romita Jr were jumping on Superman, I jumped for joy.  After suffering through years of sub par stories, one of my favorite superheroes was finally going to get the creative team he deserved.  This book along with Action Comics and Superman/Wonder Woman  was the beginning of a new Golden Age of Superman.  Yea, I am a bit of a drama queen.  Now that I've had a few issues of Johns and Romita Jr under my belt I am a little less enthusiastic.  Don't get me wrong, what we're getting here is way better than what came before it, it's just not as mind blowing as I'd hoped.  Johns' Men of Tomorrow story is good enough, it just is going at a snails pace and Romita Jr's art has been more inconsistent than stellar.  Unfortunately, this issue didn't change my mind on either front.



Ulysses is down in the dumps.  If you have a good memory and remember two months ago (damn September Event), Ulysses killed an innocent man under the control of the Machinist.  For all the setup, it resolves itself quickly and Superman and Ulysses are off to find the Villain himself.

We then cut to the North Atlantic where the Machinist is doing a low-rent Iron Man impersonation when Superman and Ulysses show up and "hijack" his boat.  After Superman tries to strong arm the Machinist, Ulysses uses his vision to find where the Machinist's weapons have ended up.  The answer is everywhere and a disturbed Ulysses just flies away leaving Superman and the Machinist to blow up.  Bite off one head...

Wrapped around all this is Lois lane and Jimmy Olsen chasing a scoop and Clark returning to the Daily Planet.  I guess CatClarkTropolis.com is no more.  They should have taken the money when they had the chance.  If you thought that Ulysses story was a bit too much "Quest for Peace", this issue won't change your mind.  I've been wondering what the end game would be with his story and now that I've seen it, I wish I could say I was more excited.

This issue does push the story forward, but at such a slow pace.  I keep expecting a jaw dropping, mind blowing issue, but I guess I have to keep on waiting because it's not here this month.  I already mentioned that the reveal at the end was a bit "meh", but I'll hold out hope that Johns will spice it up in the coming issues.

I haven't had a long history with John Romita Jr, but my opinion goes up and down...sometimes on the same page.  His art has been so inconsistent that in the end, I think my opinion is right down the middle.

Bits and Pieces:

Superman #35 continues the trend of being just good enough not to be mediocre.  Geoff Johns' story is moving so slow and what we get is not that exciting.  John Romita Jr's art is inconsistant and at the end of the day I can't really recommend this book to anyone but the most hardcore Superman fans.

6.0/10