Superman Year One, Book One

Writer: Frank Miller

Artist: John Romita Jr.

Cover Art: Frank Miller

Yes I mostly read Marvel Comics, but I do keep my eyes open for those event type issues from DC Comics.  At least, some of the time, and a book created by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr about Superman’s early days would have to be considered a event.  Because of that, I picked up the over-sized number one.

This year one book focuses on Kal-El, the baby in the last days of Krypton to his childhood in Smallville, Kansas with Ma and Pa Kent.  The problem with this is that there really is no plot in the book.  There is a story arc involving a group of bullies that takes a darker path than I expected.  The book jumps from scene to scene without too much of a new thought or anything new to add.

The way the story is presented is one of the ways that felt uncomfortable for me.  The narrator explained a lot to the readers and felt as if the story was so full of exposition.  The dialogue was weak and uniformed and there were many times when I thought to myself that people did not talk that way.  I know it sounds weird, but one of the problems was the story written by Frank Miller.  Miller, who is a great writer who has written some of the greatest comic issues of all time, just never feels right with Clark Kent.  There is an awkwardness to the prose of the book.

I also like John Romita Jr and his art work in this issue, with the exception of his artistic renditions of the kids.  Why are their heads so big?  It really became distracting.

There really is nothing new here.  We all know the background of Clark Kent and his childhood in Smallville, and this issue gives us nothing that changes or adapts or adds anything to what we already knew.