Review: Superwoman Vol. 2- Rediscovery

Quick Summary

Pros: The beginning of the book provides some great meta commentary on the status of the DC Universe. Lana’s struggle with anxiety is well written and interesting.

Cons: The opening chapters remove some of the best aspects of the series. Inconsistencies and confusion plague the book’s second half. The book’s second half is mediocre in terms of overall quality.

Overall: Within this volume, a major change-up takes place that negatively impacts the series as a whole. Though the collection starts out strong, with a great chapter about alterations in the DC Universe, the high quality storytelling does not last. Instead, the rest of the book is crippled by the major change and reads worse because of it. This volume is great in detailing Superwoman’s involvement in the Superman: Reborn event but does not do much outside of this.

Story

Superwoman Vol. 2: Rediscovery starts out strong but ends up falling into mediocrity soon after the story begins. The book opens with a heartfelt reaction to the events taking place over in the Superman series and a bit of insightful meta-commentary about the status of the DC Universe in general. While this proves to be interesting while it is happening, the actual premise takes a lot away from the series. This leaves the rest of the volume feeling empty and turns an average story into a below average one. These negatives somewhat outweigh the collection’s positives and makes this a hard book to enjoy as a complete work.

(spoilers start here)

The volume opens with two chapters of insightful metatextual commentary on the specific events of Superman: Reborn and the general significance of Superman in the landscape of DC Comics. It shows a character aware that elements of the DC Universe are being rebooted, yet is unhappy with the change. She rages against a situation she has no control over and highlights the plight that many minor characters have faced throughout DC history. Specifically, Lana’s line “None of our lives or histories count if yours are threatened” perfectly encapsulates this theme. This portion of the book will provide little thrill to those who haven’t read Reborn but is fantastic to those who have.

While this opening is great, it unfortunately robs the series of some of its most compelling elements. Now, Lois Lane’s role in Lana’s life is non-existent and her relation to Superman is unclear. In essence, this effectively reboots the series before it ever had a chance to get started.

This then leads to inconsistencies and confusion in the following story. Lana goes from having no powers to having powers that were somehow stored in her “insect queen” suit, however, she still ends up getting her powers back by the end of the collection. On top of this, the status of her memories are still up in the air; sometimes she appears to remember her connection with the old Superman but sometimes she does not. All of this makes the book’s entire second half feel unstructured and gives it a frustrating level of confusion.

It also doesn’t help that this second half is not that entertaining in the first place. It has Lana take on a newly introduced villain who has a newly introduced connection to the main characters. The lack of history here means that the emotions feel less potent; it is just hard to establish a worthwhile connection to what is happening. That being said, the story here isn’t downright bad, it actually has a few good moments here and there, it just isn’t anything above average.

The only significant positive, from this portion of the book, is that the anxiety theme from the previous volume is allowed to develop. Lana’s struggle with anxiety receives more attention here as she begins to question her powers and her very role in the world. It is a unique aspect of the story that helps set it apart from being another generic superhero tale. Hopefully, the next volume will continue to elaborate on this element.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork throughout this volume ends up falling to a similar level of quality that the story does, meaning it isn’t bad but it also isn’t that good either. The book is mostly penciled by Stephen Segovia, who’s work remains true to the character’s initial designs. However, less detail and a few overly exaggerated facial expressions make this volume look noticeably less impressive than the previous one. Overall, this isn’t a book that does much in disappointing or impressing in the visual department.

Continuity

Superwoman Vol. 2: Rediscovery continues the story started in Superwoman Vol. 1: Who Killed Superwoman? (Review).

The story here continues in Superwoman Vol. 3: The Midnight Hour.

This volume also references the stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:

• The first few chapters of this book have very strong ties to the Superman: Reborn storyline.
• Superman states that he has learned of a threat on the horizon that will require “the entire Super-Family”. It is possible he is referring to information he learned during Superman: Multiplicity (Review).