Superman: Red & Blue Announced

[Vordan]

https://aiptcomics.com/2021/04/16/dc...an-red-blue-2/

Preview for issue 2

[Frontier]

https://aiptcomics.com/2021/04/16/dc...an-red-blue-2/

Preview for issue 2

Feels like a spiritual successor to "For All Seasons."

[Vordan]

Issue 2 is out!

Own - Simple and straightforward story about how Ma Kent sees Clark as her boy, blood or no. Has a bunch of cool art shots of Superman doing cool feats and a nice shot of the Rogues Gallery.

Ghost Zone - Huh, as someone who didn’t connect with Taylor’s Val, I’m much more interested in this guy! Krypto as his talking dog he works alongside is cool! Chuck brings a lot of ambition here, too much for such a limited number of pages, but he does well with what he’s got.

Patience - Cool little story about Lex’s ability to prepare for everything leaving him paralyzed over how to kill Superman.

My Best Friend Superman - Reminded me of the Silver Age PSAs, especially the wink at the end

S is for Cyborg - Probably my favorite one, the Supermullet returns! Entertaining little action fight between Clark and Henshaw where Clark uses his brawn and his brains to beat Henshaw

Overall the art was better than the stories this issue, really am loving the way the colors are being used such as Patience using Red Kryptonite (now we just need a story with blue!)

[hairys]

Own - Pretty bad. I never want to see Martha written as so overly sensitive, lol. I know couples who have adopted, and this doesn't ring true to me. Maybe others have experienced differently, though.

Ghost Zone - Average

Patience - Great! I love Luthor stories, and Superman-overcoming-Luthor's-schemes stories. This story by itself can't be worth the price of the book, though.

My Best Friend - Average. As soon as you read page 1 of this story, you could predict everything that came after.

S Is For Cyborg - Probably my second favorite story, but the art was pretty bad.

--------------------

Hmmm, two disappointing issues in a row. Think I gotta drop this book. If a good issue occurs, I'll borrow from my Supes-loving friend.

[WallyWestFlash]

Own - Pretty bad. I never want to see Martha written as so overly sensitive, lol. I know couples who have adopted, and this doesn't ring true to me. Maybe others have experienced differently, though.

Ghost Zone - Average

Patience - Great! I love Luthor stories, and Superman-overcoming-Luthor's-schemes stories. This story by itself can't be worth the price of the book, though.

My Best Friend - Average. As soon as you read page 1 of this story, you could predict everything that came after.

S Is For Cyborg - Probably my second favorite story, but the art was pretty bad.

--------------------

Hmmm, two disappointing issues in a row. Think I gotta drop this book. If a good issue occurs, I'll borrow from my Supes-loving friend.

Pretty much my thoughts.

This issue was a bit better than the last one which isnt saying much.

I liked the Luthor one and the Cyborg one wasnt bad. The rest weren't good and one and a half stories is not enough for a 6 dollar comic for me.

[Quinlan58]

A better comic than the first issue, by virtue of actually having fun telling Superman stories instead of simply repeating every trope and cliche "self-consciously serious" comics have used since the 70's as if they were revolutionary statements, but still not as good as I had hoped for:

- Own: Good on DC for remembering adopted families are as valid as biological ones, but yeah, this felt off. Gets bonus points for Clark's endearingly ridiculous clothes at the end, though.
- Ghost Zone: Started out well enough, but the ending was rushed. Gotta love Earth 2 Krypto and his bone-shaped panels.
- Patience: This just needed one extra textless page full of Superman thwarting increasingly more bizarre plots (without any context to them, of course) before Luthor finally gave up. As it is, it didn't escalate enough to be truly memorable instead of just fine. I'm always up for a "Superman casually deals with Kryptonite" story, though, and extra bonus points for being the only story taking advantage of the Red/Blue gimmick.
- My Best Friend: This was the most generic execution possible of one of the most cliche plots in superhero stories. Literally nothing was outside of what one could guess from just the first page. The kind of story that reminds you why a lot of people think of Superman as bland.
- S is for Cyborg: A dude who is the janitor in the evil base of a notorious mass murdering supervillain. With a premise like that, seeing the dude being angry at the supervillain for doing supervillain things feels ridiculous and not in the good way. His story of getting an offbrand toy as a kid was charming but feels actively detrimental to the story in the context of Superman fighting Henshaw (like, what, were the kids right for mocking him for having an offbrand toy?). Story was mostly fine other than that, and Superman winning by ignoring Henshaw was great. Also, Supermullet.

Overall, it doesn't have anything as good as Ridley's story in the first issue, but nothing quite as terrible as the "Superheroes can't deal with the real issues, man!" story in there.

[Robotman]

It thought it was pretty good. It was great getting to see Val Zod again! Plus being drawn by Denys Cowan made it even better. But that version of Krypto kinda creeped me out. Did his head get removed and put on a robot body?!? Was it a robot with a head made to look like a dog?!? I would have preferred it to be Krypto as an actual dog maybe piloting a mech suit.

The other stories were just ok. I actually liked Own as I felt the only reason Martha would be so defensive is if these other ladies had a history of being catty b!tches. My Best Friend, Superman was too saccharine, but I think it worked since it was followed up by S is for Cyborg. Just showing the dichotomy of Superman stories and how you can go from a sweet throwback story to a 90s punch up. Always love seeing old Hank Henshaw! One of my favorite Superman villains.

[atomicskull]

Damn give me more Val-Zod please!

[Vordan]

Superman Red & Blue #5
stories by Judd Winick, G. Willow Wilson, Brandon Thomas,
Mark Buckingham, and Daniel Warren Johnson
art by Ibrahim Moustafa, Valentine De Landro, Berat
Pekmezci, Mark Buckingam, and Daniel Warren Johnson
cover by Amanda Conner
ON SALE: 7/20/21 $5.99 US | 40 PAGES | FC | DC
5 of 6
card stock variant cover by Art Adams US $5.99
card stock variant cover by Miguel Mercado US $5.99
prestige format

There’s no dog in the Multiverse quite like Superman’s real best friend, Krypto!
Join us this month for an epic retelling of Superman’s canine companion’s origin story, along with four additional tales about the Man of Steel, including one that proves that even in his secret identity Clark Kent is just as super. While Superman is known for his larger-than-life heroism, in this issue we tell the story of a delicate infant rocketed through the unforgiving universe! Also, meet for the first time the man rescued by Superman more often than anyone else in the Multiverse. And follow Pa Kent as he learns what it really means to be the father of a superhero.
You won’t want to miss the penultimate issue of this star-studded anthology celebrating the Man of Steel!

Krypto issue! And hell yes to Brandon Thomas writing more Superman!

[Robanker]

Krypto always gets my money, but this already had my money, so instead just more love to share for this project. Hope we don't have to wait another 83 years for a sophomore installment. This has been fun. Can't wait to tear into issue #2.

[Quinlan58]

"an epic retelling of Superman’s canine companion’s origin story" - Perfection

"one that proves that even in his secret identity Clark Kent is just as super" - A "Private Life of Clark Kent" type of deal? Sounds good if they manage to find a fresh angle to it.

"the story of a delicate infant rocketed through the unforgiving universe" - This sounds great. I hope it's mostly a silent deal, and that any narration describes it as an orphaned baby surviving and not as a future hero.

"meet for the first time the man rescued by Superman more often than anyone else in the Multiverse" - Absolute Perfection.

"follow Pa Kent as he learns what it really means to be the father of a superhero" - Ma got her story, now it's Pa's turn. Unfortunately, it does sound like every single other Pa Kent story ever.

Overall, sounds like a good batch, with 2 stories going for the weird and 3 going for the "meaningful statement". Pity none of the stories sound like they're taking advantage of the format.

[daBronzeBomma]

I bought the first two issues of RED AND BLUE.

So excited, because I've long thought an anthology series by different creative teams was exactly what Superman needed to grow as a character.

Then I read the first story.

I can't remember the last time I went into something with so much optimism and immediately lost it that fast.

What a garbage story. Superman held prisoner for eight months only to be rescued by Batman. Helpless in the face of dictators and utterly useless both with and without his powers.

Barf. Grade F.

Next story, Superman profusely apologizing for someone's addict mom dying, as if that's in any way his fault. Useless Superman strikes again. Grade F.

Next story, Useless Superman takes a nap while a boy far more heroic than Clark can ever be saves his ass. Grade: F.

Next, a black and white story with garbage art and Superman running to Batman AGAIN. Grade F.

Last story: something out of Pixar that really could have been about any decent kid. Sweet enough. Grade: B on its own, but compared to the trash before it, A.

Overall, Red And Blue #1 gets a D-.

So damn disappointing.

Think I'll wait a bit before opening Book 2.

Between this junk and the Coates news about the movie, this has been a bad day for Superman.

[Vordan]

[Robanker]

Awesome! Excited to read this one.

[Vordan]

Can’t wait for the Ward story