Review: Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #2
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writers: Jeremy Adams, Brandon Easton, Michael Conrad, Becky Cloonan, Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Colors: Jordie Bellaire, Marissa Louise
Artists: Michael Avon Oeming, Siya Oum, Gleb Melnikov, Valentine De Landro, Mikel Janin
Letters: Dave Sharpe, Travis Lanham
Reviewed by: Carl Bryan
Summary
“When will you tire of this, I wonder. How many times have I slain you, resurrected you, only to slay you again? ” -Mongul to a chained Superman.
Meet the rising champion of the gladiatorial pits of Warworld: Superman! The Man of Steel is still down in the pits duking it out with Mongul’s hordes and working his way up to the big boss himself.
But since it’s Superman, there has to be more to this than a simple determination to win the title belt, right?
Yes, because he’s also got Midnighter out there on a mission to chase down a dangerous new power source…but the man standing in his way is all too familiar.
Plus, the Black Racer smashes her way to freedom and Mister Miracle, now trapped on Warworld himself, has to find his way back to the bottle city of Metropolis—and his only mode of transportation is a busted Boom Tube!
Positives
Tom King put his take on a wonderful Superman story entitled Superman: Up In The Sky. Just when you thought you could not love the Big Blue Boy Scout any more than you could, Tom King’s story paints a Superman who would not give up on saving a little girl.
I encourage readers of this particular comic to read King’s version as it is almost a deserving prequel to the work done in Future State: Superman: Worlds of War.
As each issue provides, this is a glimpse of what could be in a few years in the DC universe. We are not given the circumstances as to why Clark has left Earth other than he is in a battle for his life hour upon hour in an arena on Warworld.
Mongul apparently is behind this torture and the depiction of Clark battling under a Red Sun atmosphere is both horrific and some of the best depictions in battle ever drawn of Superman.
Parallel to this is an overlay story of a Clark Kent story celebrating a civil rights hero and the battle that he waged in his life. With the backdrop of Clark’s battle and the narrated version of Clark’s Daily Planet displayed, this is probably one of the best Superman work’s you’ll find in recent years (Tom King’s work excluded).
Narrated by a young African American girl who is devoted to the idea that Superman will return back to Earth, it’s truly an inspirational tale of what Superman means to the world as well as what the world (and other worlds) mean to him!
Albeit, I know that these worlds, these stories are interconnected. The use of “minor mainstream characters” is a great tool that DC has been using lately in some of the DCeased story lines…and it should come as no surprise that Tom Taylor’s work is echoing here in Future State. Love this!
Negatives
Last issue I thought this was very Hulk like… very much a Planet Hulk environment that had been seen before. Not so… the slate of authors and artists are playing the long game in this issue. Nothing negative here as it is a link to other storylines.
Verdict
Again, as a reader look up Tom King’s book…. pick up the last issue of Worlds of War, and settle down with whatever you eat and drink while you read! I’m not sure if I can go back in time now that Future State has reinvented some looks, some angles, some lenses we were not used to. And that….is a good thing!
