Superman: Red & Blue Announced

[superduperman]

OK, so I finally got it and got around to reading it. Here is my not at all professional review: Anthologies in general are hit or miss. This one is kind of down the middle.

UNTITLED: I get what they were trying to do with this one. "Superman will always be Superman no matter what happens to him". But it just comes across as "I'd rather be writing Batman". You could do this story about literally anyone and it would be the exact same story. This isn't really a Superman story. This is a story about a guy who gets tortured with Superman in it.

THE MEASURE OF HOPE: This one was just kind of depressing. Superman couldn't fix this. It was just another "Superman is a symbol of hope" story. It's a nice message but, again, he didn't actually do anything. Superman can't fix drug addiction. I get that we want something different than the typical "Superman punches giant robot" story but there was no happy ending here.

HUMAN COLORS: I normally don't like Mxy stories but this one was pretty good. And it fits the theme of the series. This was my second favorite. And fits into both the "Superman fixes a problem" and "Superman is a symbol of hope" categories.

THE BOY WHO SAVED SUPERMAN: Now, THIS is a Superman story! THIS is what a "Superman is a symbol of hope" story is supposed to look like! This kid lost an arm and still didn't give up! THAT'S what Superman is about! People being inspired by Superman and Superman being inspired by people!

THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCK KNOCK JOKES!: It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that this was my favorite story! This was very Superman's Family Album and that's why I loved it! Clark helps a classmate make friends! It's fun and light and just cute!

I like that they are trying to experiment with Superman with this series. But it would be nice if it would be with problems Superman can actually solve. I feel like too many short Superman stories are just "Superman is a symbol of hope" stories. AOS kind of fell into this trap as well. Go back and look at the Sensation Comics line with WW a few years back and you'll see they were able to do some interesting stuff with her using short stories. It would be nice to have Superman do the same. I hope the rest of the series is more "Superman actually fixes a problem" stories.

[Vordan]

Superman: Red & Blue #4

written by Mark Waid, Francis Manapul, JoshUA
Williamson, Michael W. Conrad AND Rich Douek
art by Francis Manapul, Chris Sprouse,
Cully Hamner, Joe Quinones AND Audrey Mok
cover by John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson
card stock variant cover by Walter Simonson
card stock variant cover by Alexander Lozano
ON SALE 6/15/2021
$5.99 US | 40 PAGES | 4 (OF 6) | Prestige | DC

This month our cover star Bizarro leaves the Red & Blue family by not being in a story all about his very own birthday. Which of course means we definitely have a story in here about Bizarro’s birthday, as well as four more about the Man of Steel himself, including one about a social media star who inspires a very dangerous trend in Metropolis that nearly runs Superman ragged. Also, learn the story of how Jimmy Olsen was able to take what became his very favorite picture of Superman. These fantastic tales feature some of the best writers and artists in the business, only using Superman’s special colors to make them come alive!

Well that’s one writer you guys can rely on to show Superman doing cool s*** lol. Hope this isn’t all Waid is doing.

[Gaius]

Hmm, do not care for Romita's Superman but that's a decent Bizzaro.

[Vordan]

Hmm, do not care for Romita's Superman but that's a decent Bizzaro.

Ugly and blocky suits Bizarro surprisingly well . The interior artists all look great, glad for more Manapul and Quinones Superman especially.

[SJNeal]

All of my LCS's copies of #1 were horribly curled! Like, you had to actively hold down the cover to see it, and when you let go it popped back up. I was super annoyed and skipped it. I'll check the other shops around town, but if they're all like that I'll be trade waiting.

At least that way I'll get all the variants without forking out another $6 a pop...

[superduperman]

Hmm, do not care for Romita's Superman but that's a decent Bizzaro.

That's because the only difference between his Bizarro and Superman is the hair.

[The Frog Bros]

Hmm, do not care for Romita's Superman but that's a decent Bizzaro.

Ugly and blocky suits Bizarro surprisingly well . The interior artists all look great, glad for more Manapul and Quinones Superman especially.

To wit, his Darkseid in the Infinite Frontier book was pretty cool looking. But man, I sure thought we'd seen the last of JRJR on the Superman books

Frankly, I think he's better suited to projects that are not on a regular schedule. His work in Year One was a million times better than his work on the monthly.

[Gaius]

That's because the only difference between his Bizarro and Superman is the hair.

Good call.

To wit, his Darkseid in the Infinite Frontier book was pretty cool looking. But man, I sure thought we'd seen the last of JRJR on the Superman books

Frankly, I think he's better suited to projects that are not on a regular schedule. His work in Year One was a million times better than his work on the monthly.

I mean, given his influences, is it particularly surprising he draws a good looking Darkseid.

[Vordan]

To wit, his Darkseid in the Infinite Frontier book was pretty cool looking. But man, I sure thought we'd seen the last of JRJR on the Superman books

Frankly, I think he's better suited to projects that are not on a regular schedule. His work in Year One was a million times better than his work on the monthly.

Yeah I get that Romita Jr. is a legend, but he’s just not good anymore. He’s like Liefeld: Popular in his day but not anymore. I did like his Silencer though.

[superduperman]

Liefeld wasn't good in his day either.

[Kuwagaton]

Yeah, even his most ragged aesthetics don't put Romita near Liefeld, who has still not developed the technical skills to get him past those who don't like his style. Some tweaks to the inks and colors for his finished work and you can see why he's been a top name for like 40 years. The action in Year One was excellent even if I haven't been much into his work for some time now.

OK, so I finally got it and got around to reading it. Here is my not at all professional review: Anthologies in general are hit or miss. This one is kind of down the middle.

UNTITLED: I get what they were trying to do with this one. "Superman will always be Superman no matter what happens to him". But it just comes across as "I'd rather be writing Batman". You could do this story about literally anyone and it would be the exact same story. This isn't really a Superman story. This is a story about a guy who gets tortured with Superman in it.

THE MEASURE OF HOPE: This one was just kind of depressing. Superman couldn't fix this. It was just another "Superman is a symbol of hope" story. It's a nice message but, again, he didn't actually do anything. Superman can't fix drug addiction. I get that we want something different than the typical "Superman punches giant robot" story but there was no happy ending here.

HUMAN COLORS: I normally don't like Mxy stories but this one was pretty good. And it fits the theme of the series. This was my second favorite. And fits into both the "Superman fixes a problem" and "Superman is a symbol of hope" categories.

THE BOY WHO SAVED SUPERMAN: Now, THIS is a Superman story! THIS is what a "Superman is a symbol of hope" story is supposed to look like! This kid lost an arm and still didn't give up! THAT'S what Superman is about! People being inspired by Superman and Superman being inspired by people!

THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCK KNOCK JOKES!: It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that this was my favorite story! This was very Superman's Family Album and that's why I loved it! Clark helps a classmate make friends! It's fun and light and just cute!

I like that they are trying to experiment with Superman with this series. But it would be nice if it would be with problems Superman can actually solve. I feel like too many short Superman stories are just "Superman is a symbol of hope" stories. AOS kind of fell into this trap as well. Go back and look at the Sensation Comics line with WW a few years back and you'll see they were able to do some interesting stuff with her using short stories. It would be nice to have Superman do the same. I hope the rest of the series is more "Superman actually fixes a problem" stories.

I agree with this a good deal, too, except I like Mxy and think the AoS was kind of a different beast than this one issue.

[Vordan]

I will say this: I like how Romita has the heroes get seriously f***** up after the punches start flying. Most heroes barely even get a minor scratch so it’s refreshing to see Superman nursing black eyes, bleeding cuts, and bumps after fights. Definitely helps sell the physicality of it all.

[superduperman]

I'm just saying, at least Romita knows how to draw feet.

[Kuwagaton]

I'd actually rather be stoked that Simonson's got a variant. Such a generally good creator who almost never ends up doing Superman across an extremely substantial career

[Vordan]

I'd actually rather be stoked that Simonson's got a variant. Such a generally good creator who almost never ends up doing Superman across an extremely substantial career

It looks great! Definitely reminds me of his work on Thor, would be cool to get more Superman art out of him. His wife was a huge contributor to Superman so it’s sad he never really got the same chance.