Again, Superman: The Man of Tomorrow

I like Superman. And I like weekly comics. And I really like 99¢ weekly comics. So, as previously noted (https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2020/05/superman-man-of-tomorrow-1.html), I started reading DC's Superman: The Man of Tomorrow shortly after it premiered on April 20 2020. And I was impressed by it, and continued to read it...until May 25 2020 (#6), when all smiles stopped together. Every couple of days I checked back...nada. DC's other weekly digital comic books (Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Swamp Thing) were still coming out...but no Superman. Until June 15 2020, when issue #7 arrived. I hesitated before buying it. For one thing, a lot of my comic book buying depends on momentum. Once that momentum has been broken, I often stop and ask myself, "Do I really want to spend my money on this?" And the answer often comes back, "No."

And to be sure, Superman: The Man of Steel had been on a downward trajectory for me, anyway. After a good first issue, things had become more pedestrian...and then the issues started getting shorter. But I took a look at ComiXology's preview for #7, thought that it looked interesting...and gave it a try.

There had been some changes, for sure. There was a new writer, Dave Wielgosz, of whom I'd not previously heard. And a new team of artists, Tom Derenick and Yasmine Putri, both of whom were also new to me. And another new artist. Miguel Mendonca, who was also new to me. Not to mention that there were two stories in this issue, which was a new thing as well.

And? Well. First off, the art was pretty good. In fact, Yasmine Putri, finisher and colorist on the first story, was very good. She had a very nice, light touch...which didn't look at all like Gil Kane, but reminded me of him nonetheless. Check out the cover and see if that makes sense to you:

I think this was my favorite panel from this story, though:

Lovely use of light, perspective, and composition, ennit?

The art on the second story was more like standard comic book fare. Solid figures, heavy line work, saturated colors. Nothing wrong with that, of course. But let's put it this way: I wouldn't buy this book just for that art. I would buy it just for Yasmine Putri's art, though, even if the story was not very good. Maybe even if the story was bad.

Not that it was. The first story was okay. Kind of a standard issue Superman story, though. The second was a couple of cuts above that. In a few short pages (8), it goes from a Superman Slug Fest to a questioning of the nature of Superman, an examination of his psyche, and a redefinition of The Man of Steel. Pretty impressive, eh? Given all of that, I'd normally feel compelled to suggest that next time around the writer of the second story switch assignments and work with the writer of the first story, but this time around that wouldn't work out very well, since this Dave Wielgosz guy wrote both of them.

This is definitely worth picking up. (Hell, it's only 99¢, What were you going to do with that dollar, anyway?) Here's hoping that DC can this book out on a weekly--or at least regular--basis for awhile, and that the teams can maintain or improve on the quality of their first outing.