A powerless Superman must join forces with Wonder Woman to save a captured Justice League from the evil of Vandal Savage! Savage who is draining the power from the heroes in the Watchtower thinks victory is his–however Superman may have found a crucial tipping point in his fight against Savage–kryptonite!
The Positives
“Immortal Combat” was written by Aaron Kuder and Greg Pak and also penciled by Aaron Kuder and Ardian Syaf. I must admit this is a pretty good read! If you’ve been following the “Savage Dawn” series you can see firsthand how lethal a villain Vandal Savage is! I have to admit I’ve always been a fan of Lex Luthor and his schemes but after reading this series I’m starting to become a fan of Vandal Savage. Every behind the scenes move he’s done so far has been calculating to its core–and I don’t think even Lex has given Superman so many problems. Not to exactly spoil how but Superman does get his powers back to a degree here without using the suit from last issue. Kuder and Syaf do a great job of detailing to look on Superman’s face as he’s able to fly again–without any assistance at all. Although it’s a minor scene to me it reminded me that the Man of Steel is back–and his enemies knew it too. From the moment of Superman’s strength returning to him we see him engage one of Savage’s “son’s” who has immense power given to him by Savage. Superman defeats the foe–but then races off when he finds out it was all a distraction by Savage to capture an even bigger prize–something that’s very valuable to Superman.
The Negatives
My only complaint with this issue is that we never see what happens to Vandal’s “son”– the one that engaged Superman from the beginning. Superman during the fight realizes the truth– that Vandal’s “son” is really just a kid that carries his biological DNA. Superman realizing that although this being is very powerful he’s still just a kid and he tells Diana aka Wonder Woman to come take care of the situation while he goes to deal with Savage once and for all. However after that we have no idea what happens. It’s a minor setback in the story sure, but I’d really like to see Wonder Woman get into a fight with this threat. In the panels shown to us by Kuder and Syaf I loved how detailed the fight scenes are–these guys never disappoint me!
The Verdict
“Immortal Combat” is a great read. We finally see Superman with some semblance of his power back and Kuder and Syaf do a great job in showing us that. With everything we’ve been shown in this series I think what really stands out is Superman’s character. This man has had his identity exposed, powers stripped, and he’s almost died numerous times since–and he’s still Superman. I think that’s a testament to not only great writing by Kuder and Pak but to the core of Superman as a character himself. The “Savage Dawn” series is definitely worth the time and the buy– pick it up!
