Superman #40
Writer & Artist: John Romita Jr.
Superman had a rough time in the new 52 before Geoff Johns arrived. I was very disappointed to see him depart a title that he reinvigorated but his replacement Gene Luen Yang, held me optimistic for the title’s future. The one flaw in this plan was that Johns was leaving after #39 and Yang is starting with #41, leaving issue #40 without a writer. That’s why John Romita Jr. wrote this issue. Not because he had a good idea for a Superman story or because DC believed in his writing chops. He wrote this issue for the sole purpose of catching Superman up to the other DC titles. And it truly shows. Superman #40 is a horrendous issue that is without a doubt the worst comic I have read all year.
Let’s start off with characterization. Wow. Just wow. I cannot believe that DC editors read this script and decided to publish it. I cannot believe that John Romita Jr. wrote this script and sent it off for thousands of people to read. I would just be embarrassed by it. Every single character in this comic is laughably portrayed. Batman being the biggest atrocity. Romita Jr. writes Batman as a wisecracker. That’s right, Batman cracks joke and openly displays positive emotions throughout this entire issue.
Reading this Batman honestly hurt. It feels like Romita Jr. has no respect for the character and doesn’t even care about his established personality. He took one of DC’s best characters and completely butchered everything he stands for. Batman is literally the comedic relief in this issue. That is just wrong and on its own can make a comic bad.
Though that isn’t the only abysmal quality of this comic. The tone ranks among the worst Superhero comic tones created in recent memory. Romita Jr. was obviously going for a fun, comedic “Avengers” tone with this comic and he completely failed. Avengers has a fun, lighthearted tone with a lot of jokes but it stays true to the characters. This issue doesn’t care about the characters because it’s too focused on having a fun tone to do so. The result isn’t even worthwhile, because this comic ends up feeling like a crappy episode of “How I met your Mother”. It's simply asinine. Why would anyone want to read a terribly written scene where the Justice League have a beer together as Superman nonchalantly goes, “I love you guys”? No one, that’s who.
And this comic doesn’t even have a cohesive plot. The Justice League are experimenting with Superman’s new power but they don’t do anything interesting. They just punch him and joke about it. Then, the comic turns into a sitcom, then a hungover Superman thwarts a public shooting. The latter of which is obviously the most interesting but Romita Jr. still manages to make it silly. His writing in this sequence even completely ignores consistency as Superman jumps from talking to himself to thinking to himself.
Romita’s art isn’t even on point here as he delivers his worst visual issue yet. His penchant for cinematic pages is barely on display aside from a few good-looking pages. Asides from those Romita Jr. simply draws the Justice League with similar and inconsistent faces. His art stumbles due its rushed look and simply aiding this comic on its journey to atrociousness.
Superman #40 is a comic that tries to feel like “The Avengers” and miserably fails. John Romita Jr. shows no respect for the characters he is writing and makes this issue simultaneously feel like a bad sitcom and a cringe-worthy Superman comic. When I see other reviewers give comics 3/10, I usually think that maybe they’re being a little extreme, but not with Superman #40. This comic is the worst issue I’ve read in the last year, maybe 2. That is why I implore you all not to purchase this comic.
Superman had a rough time in the new 52 before Geoff Johns arrived. I was very disappointed to see him depart a title that he reinvigorated but his replacement Gene Luen Yang, held me optimistic for the title’s future. The one flaw in this plan was that Johns was leaving after #39 and Yang is starting with #41, leaving issue #40 without a writer. That’s why John Romita Jr. wrote this issue. Not because he had a good idea for a Superman story or because DC believed in his writing chops. He wrote this issue for the sole purpose of catching Superman up to the other DC titles. And it truly shows. Superman #40 is a horrendous issue that is without a doubt the worst comic I have read all year.
Let’s start off with characterization. Wow. Just wow. I cannot believe that DC editors read this script and decided to publish it. I cannot believe that John Romita Jr. wrote this script and sent it off for thousands of people to read. I would just be embarrassed by it. Every single character in this comic is laughably portrayed. Batman being the biggest atrocity. Romita Jr. writes Batman as a wisecracker. That’s right, Batman cracks joke and openly displays positive emotions throughout this entire issue.
Reading this Batman honestly hurt. It feels like Romita Jr. has no respect for the character and doesn’t even care about his established personality. He took one of DC’s best characters and completely butchered everything he stands for. Batman is literally the comedic relief in this issue. That is just wrong and on its own can make a comic bad.
Though that isn’t the only abysmal quality of this comic. The tone ranks among the worst Superhero comic tones created in recent memory. Romita Jr. was obviously going for a fun, comedic “Avengers” tone with this comic and he completely failed. Avengers has a fun, lighthearted tone with a lot of jokes but it stays true to the characters. This issue doesn’t care about the characters because it’s too focused on having a fun tone to do so. The result isn’t even worthwhile, because this comic ends up feeling like a crappy episode of “How I met your Mother”. It's simply asinine. Why would anyone want to read a terribly written scene where the Justice League have a beer together as Superman nonchalantly goes, “I love you guys”? No one, that’s who.
And this comic doesn’t even have a cohesive plot. The Justice League are experimenting with Superman’s new power but they don’t do anything interesting. They just punch him and joke about it. Then, the comic turns into a sitcom, then a hungover Superman thwarts a public shooting. The latter of which is obviously the most interesting but Romita Jr. still manages to make it silly. His writing in this sequence even completely ignores consistency as Superman jumps from talking to himself to thinking to himself.
Romita’s art isn’t even on point here as he delivers his worst visual issue yet. His penchant for cinematic pages is barely on display aside from a few good-looking pages. Asides from those Romita Jr. simply draws the Justice League with similar and inconsistent faces. His art stumbles due its rushed look and simply aiding this comic on its journey to atrociousness.
Superman #40 is a comic that tries to feel like “The Avengers” and miserably fails. John Romita Jr. shows no respect for the characters he is writing and makes this issue simultaneously feel like a bad sitcom and a cringe-worthy Superman comic. When I see other reviewers give comics 3/10, I usually think that maybe they’re being a little extreme, but not with Superman #40. This comic is the worst issue I’ve read in the last year, maybe 2. That is why I implore you all not to purchase this comic.
A Look Inside
