I am sure there is something I am just not grokking about Superman, but I could not finish this book. One thing that bothered me that's less about Superman and more about the style is that I felt it jumped around quite a bit in the story. It starts "in the middle of the action" which is usually fine but this time just felt incomplete. It then seemed to embrace that strategy of starting in the middle and applied it to every scene. This was compounded by never staying on any one scene particularly long and just moving on. I never felt settled into any scene or conversation as it quickly moved on to something else. Perhaps this was intentional? Maybe this is how it feels like to a man that can move faster than a bullet. If so, I found it a difficult storytelling device. When a conflict surfaced …
I am sure there is something I am just not grokking about Superman, but I could not finish this book. One thing that bothered me that's less about Superman and more about the style is that I felt it jumped around quite a bit in the story. It starts "in the middle of the action" which is usually fine but this time just felt incomplete. It then seemed to embrace that strategy of starting in the middle and applied it to every scene. This was compounded by never staying on any one scene particularly long and just moving on. I never felt settled into any scene or conversation as it quickly moved on to something else. Perhaps this was intentional? Maybe this is how it feels like to a man that can move faster than a bullet. If so, I found it a difficult storytelling device. When a conflict surfaced - or, more likely, I was dumped into the middle of one - it resolved within "moments" not allowing me to appreciate it. Characters just jumped into an emotional state with barely any reflection on how or why they got there. It frankly boggled me that they only spent a few pages on Lois' whole day of having Superman's powers. Here is a character who can finally experience life the same way as her romantic partner! That alone is amazing but, on top of that, her partner happens to be the most powerful superhero on the planet. A unique experience all around with many layers there which could have been explored in its own story, yet it's treated as a lark. Maybe it's been done before - I am not familiar with Superman stories - but it added to the feeling that this whole volume was just a bunch of different ideas, lightly explored, and loosely tied together.
On top of how much the pacing turned me off, I found most of the characters rather juvenile. Particularly embarrassing was Samson and Atlas thirstily fawning over a scantily-clad Lois attempting to "steal" her from Superman by regaling her with "feats of strength". The only thing that topped it was when Superman "relented" to their taunting and arm wrestled them both at the same time, resulting in him breaking both of their arms. Why would he bother? Did he really fear that Lois would be impressed by them and leave him? Is he only with Lois because he likes that she finds him strong and powerful? Is that what Superman needs in a relationship? Or maybe he was too prideful to let their sophomoric dare game go unanswered? Did he break their arms just so they would leave him alone? I don't understand him. It seemed to be a teenage boy's idea of how a grown and strong man should respond to such asinine and disrespectful behavior from a couple of buffoons.
I did not understand this book or the characters within and found myself not wanting to continue with Volume 1 at all because I just didn't relate with any aspect of it.
