Review: Superman Vol. 2- Return to Glory
Quick Summary
Pros: The collection’s opening story is incredibly unique and presents a radically different take on Superman. Both crossovers are exciting and have some of the best moments collected here. The artwork is good throughout the collection and helps complement the story’s tone.
Cons: Big portions of the crossovers are still missing here and make this somewhat of a poor way to experience the events.
Overall: This collection starts off with a unique and entertaining opening story and then proceeds to do a decent job in collecting two crossover events. The opening story is full of action while still taking plenty of time to delve into who Superman is as both a human and as a legend. The two crossovers are a bit choppy, which presents a few negatives, but are probably the most entertaining and legible version of these crossovers outside the full events themselves.
Review Notes
Though the first story in this volume is independent, the rest of the collection is comprised of two large crossovers. The first crossover is fully collected in Superman: Savage Dawn (our review of which can be found here). The second crossover is fully collected in Superman: The Final Days of Superman (our review of which can be found here). Reading the crossovers here is possible, but the experience will be fragmented. See our Savage Dawn reading order here and our Final Days of Superman reading order here for more information about how to read this event.
Story
Superman Vol. 2: Return to Glory is a large collection that contains three separate stories which, as a whole, tend to be good. It starts with a Superman story that feels remarkably different from all other Superman stories, yet still ends up reading well. Then it proceeds to tell two solid crossover events. Though these crossovers are missing material from other volumes (see the reading orders here and here for more information) the way they are collected here still forms a cohesive story which can be read on its own. Overall, Return to Glory manages to stand on its own as a good collection of stories and a unique piece of Superman’s history.
(spoilers start here)
The first third of the book tells a story that immediately follows up on the events of Superman Vol. 1: Before Truth (Review). Superman goes underground and begins a career as a fighter while simultaneously investigating the mystery behind HORDR_Root. Combining these plotlines allows writer Gene Luen Yang to tell a story with immediate action, provided from the arena fights, and a larger threat in the background, from HORDR_Root.
This portion of the story is also impressive in how far it is able to deviate from the standard Superman story while still maintaining his character and morals. On the surface, this is a story about Superman participating in street brawls for money. However, we quickly learn that these brawls are actually staged reenactments of myths designed to honor the history and legends of various peoples. The entire premise is designed as an exploration into the status of Superman as a myth himself and how the story behind his myth will one day be told. It is an incredibly unique idea that allows for plenty of great moments.
(spoilers end here)
Once this story concludes, the crossovers begin, starting with Savage Dawn (Review). This crossover is entertaining when presented in full, but is often diluted when broken up into chunks, like the chapters seen here. However, in Return to Glory, the most exciting and relevant portions of the crossover are maintained which, when paired with nice summaries at the start of every chapter, allows for a relatively complete reading experience. It even skips some of the event’s more boring chapters, which does not completely make up for missing material but is a nice start. Overall, readers who don’t want to read the entire Savage Dawn (Review) event would find this collection to be their best alternative.
The collection ends with two chapters from The Final Days of Superman (Review), written by Peter J. Tomasi. These two chapters are the first and final chapters of the crossover, meaning everything that happens in the middle is completely skipped. While this does not make for an ideal reading experience, it actually collects the two most important pieces of the event and is a passable way to find out what happens here. I would still recommend reading the full version of The Final Days of Superman (Review) but the version presented here is at least moderately legible.
Art
For the most part, the majority of the artwork throughout Return to Glory is provided by Howard Porter. Porter is a consistently good artist who’s work here is no different. He presents pages with a great structure to them that are full of action and solid transitions. Though there are a few pages that lack in detail, the stylized look of the characters more than makes up for this. It is this style that gives the entire collection a wonderful “classic” comic book feel to it and instills the sense of heroism needed here.
The closing story is both drawn and colored by Mikel Janín, who’s work is mindblowing when it comes to detail and realism. Characters and locations look beautiful and feel as if they could jump right off the pages. This shift from stylized heroism to a more somber realism also makes sense with the story being told. The two chapters by Janín tell the story of The Final Days of Superman, so instilling realism into them helps readers better connect to Superman in a story designed to be his last.
Continuity
Superman Vol. 2: Return to Glory continues the story from Superman Vol. 1: Before Truth (Review). However, a large portion of this volume involves the Superman: Savage Dawn (Review) and the Superman: The Final Days of Superman (Review) crossover events. For more details about how these crossovers work see our reading order for Savage Dawn here and Final Days of Superman here.
The current Superman series wraps up in this volume. However, the Superman series starts back up again with Superman Vol. 1: Son of Superman (Review)
This volume also references a story from another comic book, detailed below:
- Superman’s new costume comes from his adventures at the beginning of Action Comics Vol. 8: Truth (Review).
- Superman mentions recent troubles in his relationship with Wonder Woman. Those events took place in Superman/Wonder Woman Vol. 4: Dark Truth (Review).
- John Henry Irons references a “throw-down” at his lab. This happened in Superman/Wonder Woman Vol. 4: Dark Truth (Review).
- The addition of Lex Luthor and Shazam to the Justice League happened in Justice League Vol. 6: Injustice League (Review).
- Wonder Woman references a time when Superman left her behind in order to fight Mongul. This happened in Batman/Superman Vol. 2: Game Over (Review).
- Vandal Savage mentions joining and leaving the Demon Knights. He joined them in Demon Knights Vol. 1: Seven Against The Dark and left them in Demon Knights Vol. 3: The Gathering Storm.
- The things that “Diana did” to Superman’s friends, which Superman mentions to Steve Trevor, happened in Superman/Wonder Woman Vol. 4: Dark Truth (Review).
- Metallo’s current condition is explained in Superman: Doomed (Review).
- Baka became friends with Superman back in Action Comics Vol. 6: What Lies Beneath (Review).
- The Final Days of Superman storyline begins by showing three events that have irreparably damaged Superman. One happened in this volume, the other two include:
- Superman being thrown into the pits of Apokolips back in Justice League Vol. 7: Darkseid War Part 1 (Review).
- Superman’s fight with Rao in Justice League: Power and Glory (Review).
- The Superman seen at the end of this collection originally appeared in Convergence but his background in this universe is detailed in Superman: Lois and Clark (Review).