Comic book "Superman Undefeated": one of the best stories about the hero. Let's throw off the shackles. Opinion about the comic book “Superman the undefeated Superman the undefeated comic book read

Two mastadons of the comics industry, Scott Snyder and Jim Lee, took on a comic book about one of the greatest superheroes on Earth. What could be better than a combination of these two? the most talented people? And everything seems to be perfect. Snyder writes furious scripts full of action and madness, and Lee brings to life the most complex and massive drawings. But is everything so rosy?..

For the second book in a row, we are presented with a typical young Superman, who is a bit of a simpleton, sees only white and black, and divides the whole world into good and evil. This is not bad, but something about this image repels me. The older, wiser Supes appeals to me much more. In any current situation, he weighs all the pros and cons; he is not used to acting headlong and rushing into an embrasure. Clark Kent from today's comics is his complete opposite. Save a falling skyscraper in 19 seconds while knocking out a huge robot bulldozer? Just a piece of cake. Stop a nuclear strike with something he sees for the first time in his life? Yes, too easily. And there are a million such examples. But whether it’s bad or not, let’s figure it out together.

Sometimes it seems that people already have a certain association with the word “Superman”, namely: Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, evil military men, aliens, childhood in the corn. And if, God forbid, there isn’t at least one component in the comic about Kal-El, then that’s it, the comic is a failure. Yes, you will say, without all this Superman is not Superman, but I will also tell you that Batman without the Joker is not Batman, but for some reason there are hundreds of wonderful graphic novels about Bats, where the Joker is not even heard of, or if he exists, then not as the main thing actor. It is possible, of course, that Supes' 75th birthday, which Clark Kent celebrated in 2013, was to blame. Only this can explain this approach to the construction of history - to fit inside everything that is most recognizable, the brightest and the most important that a neophyte should know. To outline the relationships between the heroes with light sketches, to throw up a couple of contradictions for the reader and Superman himself to think about, showing the hero at the stage of his superhero “growing up”, when you want to do a lot, you end up doing noticeably less and there is no time at all to think. Well, for Snyder, who acted here as a screenwriter, this is quite an opportunity to recreate the stories that he himself saw in his youth. But, as you may have noticed from my tone, everything is not so simple.

Superman, carelessly flying over the Earth and saving a hundred or two civilians, suddenly learns that he is not the only alien on our planet who feeds on the energy of the sun and lives in the USA. But this mysterious comrade does not just live, but works for the government, namely for General Lane. Why no one had ever heard of him before, why he decided to show himself to Superman right now, how he disguised his presence before that is unclear. Oh well. So, Deus arrived (as the military called the alien) long before Sups arrived and served his country faithfully. Well, since Superman is considered public enemy “number one,” this same Deus was ordered to kill him. Among other things, out of nowhere the terrorist group “Ascension” appeared, which wants to plunge all of humanity into Stone Age due to the fact that natural progress and evolution were disrupted by the appearance of the first alien. At the same time, Superman needs to disentangle this whole mess from two plates, simultaneously saving Lois and thinking about how Lex Luther is doing.

The plot, as it may seem at first glance, is not so complicated. Unlike its fellow Action Comics, here the whole story is presented extremely clearly and clearly. Even if you scroll through several pages, or even issues, without paying attention to the dough with the text, you don’t have to worry that something important will elude understanding - the characters casually remember what happened before and what they will do in the future. Moreover, you can be distracted for once or twice by concentrating on examining the drawing and small parts in numerous action scenes. At the same time, it is quite difficult to empathize with Superman, because, firstly, the subtitle of the publication contains the main spoiler, and, secondly, the story is quite linear. Those who felt inconvenienced when putting together the puzzle of history in Action Comics need not worry - you won’t get lost, and nothing will distract from the visual feast. Does the depth of the story suffer as a result? — For me personally, yes, it suffers, but this can largely be explained by the number of stories about Superman that I have read in my life. It’s like when a wave hits you during high tide and you’re already waiting for the second, third... but then the water recedes and you stand so sad with algae on your head, waiting for something unknown, and Superman is Invincible. And what did you expect? What did you want? Undefeated, well.

If, somewhere in the middle of the story, you sharply open the very end of the book and delve into reading the script and look at Snyder’s notes, then the following picture emerges very clearly: Supes is also an idealist, and is ready to die for his ideals, endangering the lives of everyone who is dear to him and those people who are not dear to him, but whose death will definitely affect them. And if we return to the comic book again, the internal content of the story will sharply change its tone. You can follow empathic urges and simply empathize with everyone thoughtless words and the actions of the main character, to be sincerely indignant at certain impulsive remarks, but still not to get one iota closer to him. Or you can look a little from afar and see that this idealism in some small things simply interferes with the main character. Following a thoughtless path, discarding reflection and critical thinking, he only sinks deeper into his superhero existence, diluted by human everyday life. While the hero followed his path, in some places I, as a reader, could not shake the feeling of the complete meaninglessness of what was happening. It was as if I were seeing snatches of a dream from Michael Bay, who watched Man of Steel before bed.

I didn’t find any touch of Snyder’s madness (you remember the Court of Owls, right?) in the book. In this aspect, Superman turned out to be as sterile as a washed and polished Petri dish, which just a couple of minutes ago was teeming with life and a riot of colors. The story began, happened and left absolutely no consequences behind, everything fell exactly into place, straight from where it started. This can be seen in the remarks and actions of the characters. For almost the entire book, Lex Luthor ominously threatens Kal-El that his hour of death is about to come. But for some reason this hour still doesn’t come. In the same way, Deus always shouts that he can kill Superman at any second, but does not prove this in any way. After which, apparently out of grief, he decides to kill Batman in his Batcave. And when it’s already the end, everyone is happy and satisfied, then no one remembers that Superman was threatened with the terrible fate of “DIE”. Everyone is saved, the world is safe, Superman's ideals have not failed him and have served him well. And the accompanying destruction and its impact on the world around Superman, as often happens, remained behind the scenes. Justice League and Batman Quiet! And he drew Clark Kent’s “Childhood in the Corn” and the afterwords no less talented artist Dustin Nguyen, whose work contrasts perfectly with Lee's light and vibrant drawings. And the plot itself, if you think about it, is not the worst: here you have government conspiracies, terrorist attacks, falling space stations with planes and skyscrapers, battles all over the Earth, Batman, Wonder Woman, mysterious artifacts, aliens and much more .

Another huge advantage of the book is the publication itself -

Description of the comic series:

The comic looks at history from a different angle - the bomb dropped on Nagasaki at the end of World War II was not actually a bomb, but a super-person.

Nowadays, Superman once again saves the world - he destroys seven artificial satellites that were supposed to collide with the Earth. However, the problem is that there were eight satellites and Superman did not have time to stop the eighth. At first, Superman suspects that these incidents are the work of Lex Luthor and after talking with Lex, he learns that research that could be used for destructive purposes was stolen from Luthor.

When Superman, as Clark Kent's journalist, writes an article about this incident, he learns from Lois that all eight satellites have been stopped. Superman is aware that one was not stopped by him and decides to find out what's going on. He goes to the sea where the eighth object was flying and discovers a handprint on the satellite, i.e. that someone pushed an object off course.

Later it turns out that this was the work of the military and that the falling satellite was heading towards a military base. A secret military base where a real superman, the same one who was the second, lives and works for America for about 75 years atomic bomb in 1945. This base is classified and all the work of the superman, who is called the “Ghost,” is a government secret.

Mods and game help

Superman believed himself to be the most powerful hero on Earth. But it turned out that, besides him, the world is also protected by another powerful alien from outer space - Deus (in the original Wraith - Ghost). True, unlike the Man of Steel, he works for the US government and does not advertise his affairs. Given the dissimilarity of characters, the confrontation between Superman and Deus becomes inevitable. And it will only be a prologue to another disaster awaiting the planet.

Superman Unchained
Screenwriter: Scott Snyder
Artist: Jim Lee
Original output: 2014
Publishing house: “ABC-Atticus”, 2015

In 2013, Superman celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday. Especially for the anniversary, DC Comics launched the mini-series “Superman Invincible” from the star team of authors - Scott Snyder and Jim Lee.

Formally, the comic takes place within the main chronology of The New 52 - it was launched shortly before the series. But in fact the story is quite self-sufficient. Snyder hardly draws on the hero's past, preferring to look to the future, and offers us a completely new enemy and a new conflict.

On the pages of “Superman the Undefeated,” the hero will encounter a kind of dark twin. Deus cannot be called a villain - he, like the Man of Steel, serves people and is no less true to his ideals. But his chosen ideals and method of service make Deus the antipode of Superman. Meeting him, the Man of Steel seems to be looking into a distorting mirror, seeing what he could have become if he had been raised as a patriot of the country, and not of humanity. Of course, it won’t be possible without an open confrontation between Deus and Superman. But Snyder shows us the conflict of not just two powerful heroes, but two life philosophies. It’s no wonder that one of Superman’s strongest trump cards are his friends.

At the same time, the plot does not boil down to the confrontation between Deus and Superman. Snyder has created a very multifaceted story in which Superman will have to deal with cyberterrorists, a secret government organization, and an alien threat. By the way, it’s not for nothing that we’re talking about Superman, and not Clark Kent. The role of the human alter ego in this story is minimal. It only appears in a couple of flashbacks about the times when little Clark did not yet realize his strength.

The story and design of the comic matches. With his work on Superman Undefeated, Jim Lee once again proves that he is rightfully considered one of the best comic book artists of our time. His performance is especially good in the fight scenes, which the comics simply abound in, and not only with the participation of Superman: Batman will also show off his fighting talents.

It is impossible not to mention the Russian, “deluxe” edition of the comic. The weighty volume, in addition to the story itself, which is quite impressive in volume, includes dozens of pages of bonuses - covers, draft versions of the script, drafts of pages, comments. Lovely to watch.

Bottom line: one of best works about Superman, released in the 21st century. This comic is perfect for readers just starting to get to know the hero.