Adventures of Superman: Book of El #2 review

Hurled a thousand years into the future during an invasion of Earth, Superman finds people in need of help.

At the side of his distant descendant, Superman rescues the little person – a green light construct – with a massive show of power.

His priority now is to get back to his own time, defend the Earth from the alien hordes of ally-turned-enemy Kryl-Ux and stop this future from occurring. Rather than try super-speed, he hopes a ‘temporal glider’ in his old Fortress of Solitude will get him to the exact point in time he left. When they arrive at the El family fort, Ronan says there’s someone he should meet.

Meanwhile, in what was once Metropolis, the representative of Earth’s authorities addresses the people.

You can’t have failed to notice that ‘Luthor’ has a mechanical tail. He’s a puppet of the planet’s secret ruler, who shows up towards the end of this issue and whose schemes we learn something of in the post-story text pages.

Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist Scott Godlewski got off to a strong start last month and events continue to intrigue here. This time we see nothing of the 21st century, where Kryl-Ux’s army was chaining the Earth, and I’m fine with that. We know Kryl-Ux won, but we also know that if Superman gets it right he can go back and continue the fight, regain the world from its alien overlord. There’s no discussion with Ronan as to how he feels about the prospect of his reality changing if his ancestor succeeds; perhaps his world feels so entrenched, crushed underfoot for so long, he can’t allow himself to entertain the thought of a better life. And of course, there’s always the chance he would cease to exist, and who could face that thought?

Mind, note Ronan’s dialogue.

What if Ronan knows from history that Superman did get back to his Smallville after a visit to this time, and this timeline still occurred?

I love it when writers discuss Superman’s powers, as our unnamed narrator does as the Man of Steel defends the green man… points if you can guess what comes after: ‘In short, the abilities of Superman were limited not by physiology…’

Talking of the green man, when Johnson was writing Green Lantern: War Journal he had John Stewart create a sentinel light construct of his late sister, Ellie, and she’s still around… could the little fella be linked to Oa? He certainly has the forehead and hairline.

From green man to ‘Old Man’. I guessed who he was before his introduction, you likely will too, and the story is none the worse for that; his identity is a wrinkle with potential. Heck, straight away he introduces a new mystery.

The backmatter – one page of which is likely written by the Old Man – tells us that the Lex Luthor we know made a deal with Kryl-Ux.

My take is that Lex wasn’t being self-serving so much as pragmatic; he saw he couldn’t immediately beat Kryl-Ux so saved as many people as he could in the city he feels is his. Who knows, maybe he survives in the Phantom Zone or somewhere, waiting for his chance to team up with Superman, or otherwise take back the world.

Scott Godlewski’s lithe Superman is a version I enjoy, and the action moments here convince. I like the Summer Men’s design, with the hints of post-Crisis Krypton in their ornamentation. Ronan looks a bit bland, but he’s been on the downlow, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in his Nightwing duds soon. I’d be interested to know why, ten centuries from now, civilian clothing has barely changed, there’s surely an in-story justification.

Alex Guimarães and Matt Herms share the colouring credit, perhaps the former is handling the bulk of the issue and the latter, the ‘Luthor’ sequence. Whatever the case, the choice and matching of tones is spot on. And Dave Sharpe’s letters are as great as ever.

Lots of heroic determination on that cover. And the angle is skilfully executed. Also, it reminded me of a fun Marvel from when I was a kid.

All in all, Adventures of Superman: Book of El #2, is a terrific second chapter – I think we’re getting an epic, folks!