Superman ‘78: The Metal Curtain #1 – Robert Venditti, Writer; Gavin Guidry, Artist; Jordie Bellaire, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: DC had two big hits on its hands with the sequels to the movies that first put Superman and Batman on the big screen, and both are back with new installments by the same writers this month. The first Superman ‘78 miniseries saw the biggest adventure for the Man of Steel yet—pitting him against a Brainiac straight out of 1970s sci-fi serials. So how do you top this? How about Superman vs. the Cold War? This might make people very nervous, as the infamous Superman IV had shades of this, but this is a very different story—infusing elements of espionage into Superman’s world, and giving him a villain he can’t fight in a straight-forward way. After a brief prelude that shows a meteor from Krypton landing in the Soviet Union, Lois Lane is seen investigating illegal arms sales in Metropolis—and nearly finds herself captured and killed by a team of military spies before Superman steps in.
Her evidence destroyed and Perry hesitant to greenlight her story without it, Lois wants to track down the only other witness—Superman. This leads to some really fun interplay between Clark and Lois as they dance around his secret identity. Venditti does a great job of capturing this classic dynamic, and a lot of credit for this issue goes to new artist Gavin Guidry—he has the same energy as his predecessor for the vibe of the 1970s. But there’s one question hanging in the air—who’s the new villain? For that, we need to head back to the Soviet Union, where a conspiracy to humble Superman and weaken America has been brewing—and it all comes back to that green meteor that landed there in 1951. A 1970s Soviet version of Metallo? Not exactly what I was expecting, but this actually feels like a story that could have played out in the movies. Very excited for this series’ next act.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
