John Romita Jr's Superman

I've been on and off about Superman in the New52.  And after checking out the first chapter of the new Superman run by Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr, I decided to let it stew on my mind before making a decision about what I thought.

You see, Superman is my all-time favorite super-hero.  That all started when I was just a little Ryan Fan Club, and even in the 90's when it wasn't cool to like the Man of Steel (not that it's really cool now either) I still put him at the top of my list.  Then in the early 00's I lost interest, felt like the writers were running out of quality ideas, and stopped reading those super comics on a regular basis.

Right before DC Comics launched the New52, Geoff Johns and Gary Frank did a Superman: Secret Origin story that I really enjoyed.  Sure, it was really nostalgic and made Superman look like Christopher Reeve, and that's probably what I liked so much about it.

Then the New52 came about and tried to make Superman a little cooler with the kids these days.  Boy, I sound like an old fuck just by writing that.

The New52 Superman started out really good, and I seriously dug Jesus Merino's art on the title. Ken Rocafort's art was really stylized and interesting too.  But I couldn't keep myself reading that comic on a monthly basis. No matter how good the stories were (H'El On Earth was excellent), it never really felt like I was reading Superman.  MY Superman.

When it was announced the Geoff Johns would be writing Superman again I decided I'd check it out.  And John Romita Jr was advertised as a "Superstar artist taking on the Man of Steel".  I've never been a big fan of his work, but then I also didn't read many Marvel Comics as a kid.

So what do I think of Romita's Superman?

It's interesting.  Romita's art style is pretty unique but doesn't necessarily fit the character.  The sketchy way Romita draws Superman doesn't really feel like Superman to me.  On first glance, my initial reaction is, wow, what an ugly looking guy; good thing he has all those super powers to impress the ladies with.  It's also important to note that Romita is being inked by Klaus Janson for Superman, and I'm a firm believer that artwork changes drastically depending on who is inking it.

But here's the thing: there's something about Romita's storytelling... and I mean the actual sequential artwork... that really suits Superman.  It's fast and full of movement.  Superman is a man of action, right?  Well, even on pages that are just intended as plot-building there's a sense of movement and action just in the dialogue and conversation.  I think a lot of artists out there could learn a lesson from Romita about pace and flow. 

I'm going to reserve judgement for now though.  After all, they're only one issue into their run.  To be perfectly honest though, I saw the advertisements and thought I'd hate it.  After reading the first chapter I'm kind of intrigued.

- ryan