Superman Vs. Red Cloud: Round Two
Written By: Brian Michael Bendis
Art By: Ryan Sook, Brad Anderson, Josh Reed
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 2, 2019
There's a lot going on with the Secret Syndicate of Metropolis beyond the idea of food themed nicknames for the lieutenants and Red Cloud going around and doing....... Well, Red Cloud things. The problem is...... the other things going on aren't that interesting. Yeah, we have a Secret Syndicate that has adapted to working in a city that's protected by Superman, but in the background of last issue and in this issue we have the idea of the Mayor possibly working with the Syndicate and trying to keep investigations about the rampant fires throughout the city quiet....... which is weird because I really thought we were done with the city element once we discovered that Superman was being setup by said Syndicate. Either way. It's round two for Superman and Red Cloud this issue, let's jump into this and see if the story starts picking up. Let's check it out.
Sadly, while I have been going back and forth in liking and disliking this series since Brian Michael Bendis took over, it seems that the disliking is starting to overpower what I like because again this issue we spend a lot of time not doing much and really, not learning all that much either. Yeah, by the end of the issue we're introduced to the lady in charge of the Secret Syndicate, which threw me off a bit because for some reason I was really convinced that Red Cloud was running things, while Robinson Goode was playing a part like she wasn't the same person, but working for Red Cloud as well. Maybe that's just me being a dummy or because of going back to a monthly schedule I've just lost track of what's been going on in this story, but either way, we get a new character and a strange connection to Superman first showing up in Metropolis, which is kind of interesting. It just took way too long to get here.
When I say it took too long to get to the point where we start seeing who's behind everything and finding out why the Secret Syndicate does what it does, I'm not just saying it took too long in issues...... I'm saying that it took too long this issue because we spend so much time having Red Cloud go up against Superman with nothing really being accomplished by the end. It's just round two and from what we get out of our Man of Steel here, he might as well be attacking a birthday cake because he wants some wishes......... That's it.
All in all, the art continues to look great each and every issue, it's just that the story has decided to completely hit the brakes and we're not really doing anything anymore from issue to issue and that's ridiculous for a monthly book that's also called Action Comics. Yeah, you'll get some kind of satisfaction by the cliffhanger, but it's not enough to continue to get me excited about this book because I've been getting bored more and more with each issue. Hopefully things pick up with this new reveal because I desperately want to like this series and Superman in general, but lately...... It's been hard.
Bits and Pieces:
Superman's taking on a big Red Cloud and....... Well, it goes on for way to long and you don't really get anything out of it by the end. Yeah, the art looks great in this issue and we have ourselves an interesting cliffhanger, but there really isn't a lot of substance to this book overall.
6/10
I was beginning to think the same thing about red cloud, that maybe she should take over anybody and was using Goode as a vessel for this particular job.
ReplyDeleteDid enjoy the finger to the lips hush before taking off in the alley, and appreciated that they at least had him looking different enough from Clark before letting the kid see him. I am interested to see if the car stays relevant. I'll have to go back and look again, but is the car just sitting in this woman's den? Maybe I missed something.