World Without a Superman

Customer reviews:

Just what I was looking for, 2008-10-17
I bought The Death of Superman and The Return of Superman separately at Borders, but I didn't realize that there was another volume to go in between them. This was just exactly what I was looking for and it arrived a little faster than I thought it would.

A good bridge, 2008-09-07
The "Death of Superman" and "Return of Superman" story arcs are classics almost by default simply because they are so integral to the Superman mythos, whatever your feelings on the quality of those particular works aside. "World Without a Superman" (called "Funeral for a Friend" when it was originally published) bridges the gap between those two arcs, picking up right where the former left off (the first few panels are Lois still holding the dead Superman and Guardian trying to revive him) and leads us right up to the next arc, teasing us with the possibility of Superman's return.

Plotwise, WWAS covers the weeks following the Man of Steel's death, including a memorable funeral that features a procession of nearly all the DC heroes and a speech by then-President Bill Clinton. Metropolis's crime problem did not die with Superman, and everyone from kids to other heroes attempting to fill the void. A number of subplots are included, like an attempt to clone Superman from his dead body and medical drama in the Kent family.

The artwork in WWAS is very similar to the other two parts of the trilogy, and for the most part has no real weak points (with the notable exception of one of the Cadmus Project sections, which is simply horrendous, but it was originally published as a supplement to the "Funeral for a Friend" arc rather than a true chapter, so I'll forgive it). The story is also very moving in how human it is - all of us have lost a loved one and tried to fill the void, and this story simply extrapolates that to a global figure we all related to. One of the most touching points of the book is early on, as all the newscasts are reporting Superman's death, when someone asks "Jeez, did anything else happen in the world today?" to which another replies "If it did, it doesn't matter."

My only complaint is that the story drags at times, especially when read immediately in order as part of the trilogy. After the frantic pace of "Death of Superman" and the mind-boggling plot of "Return of Superman," the slow, human story of WWAS is not so much a break to catch your breath as it is a "race to the red light, slam on your breaks, watch the people on the street while you wait thirty seconds for the light to change, then floor it when the light turns green" - you appreciate what's going on, but you really want to get a move on to the next part. This is easily solved by spacing out your readings, however, and is one of the only weak points of an otherwise excellent graphic novel.