049 Superman: Panic In The Sky

I've been trying to catch up on my reading.  I have two full bookshelves with backstock reading material.  I finally caught up on everything new I had, so I pulled this off the shelf.  This book really brought me back to the nineties.  But I'm not sure if that's good or that's bad.  I had stopped reading the Superman books by this point in time.  They weren't really doing it for me anymore.  But reading this felt like putting on a comfortable old pair of jeans.

Basic premise of this book is Brainiac is back, he's got War World and he's coming to take over earth.  Superman gathers up as many of his friends as he can to battle Brainac and turn him away.  It looks like Matrix hasn't been around as Supergirl for very long at this point.  She's easily taken over by Brainiac, as is Maxima, or so she wants Brainiac to believe.  This story ran through all four of the monthly Superman titles.  Around that time, everything ran through all four Superman titles, effectively making Superman a weekly title.  While it's a good idea on paper, it really hampers the creative teams on each book because they're not necessarily telling their own stories.  And it kind of shows.

Superman: Panic In The Sky

Writer: Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern

Artist: Jon Bogdanove, Tom Grummett, Jackson Guice, Dan Jurgens, Bob McLeod, Brett Breeding, Doug Hazlewood, Dennis Janke, Denis Rodier, Trevor Scott

DC Comics

044 Supergirl Book 2

And here's where the problem for me begins.  I've been a lifelong fan of Supergirl.  I've been with her through thick and thin, so even a Peter David written Supergirl wasn't going to keep me away.  I'm just not a big fan of David's "look at how fucking clever I am" writing style.  It's grating.  It's annoying.  He's not a terrible plotter, but his scripting, to me, is awful.

The first volume of this series was actually kind of refreshing to me considering the writer.  Peter David was given Supergirl and like every writer who has come along since Crisis on Infinite Earths, he set up the series to try to bring Supergirl back to her pre-Crisis status quo, or at least as close to it as allowable.  He took the then current Supergirl (aka Matrix) and melded her with earth girl Linda Danvers.  Suddenly, for the first time since Crisis, we have Linda Danvers aka Supergirl.  The first volume wasn't bad.

Now we come to volume two, where Peter David really starts to drive home the religious through lines.  Linda's mother is all God-Squad.  There's a boy running around who looks like the 7th Doctor but who is God.  Linda becomes an Earth Angel.  This is where he really starts to lose me.  I don't think this angle works.  I find myself rolling my eyes more and more with each page I read.

But it's Supergirl and I love Supergirl.

Supergirl Book 2

Writer: Peter David, Darren Vincenzo, Tom Peyer, Chuck Dixon

Artist: Leonard Kirk, Greg Land, Anthony Castrillo, Cam Smith, Prentis Rollins, Chuck Drost, Doug Hazlewood, Jordi Ensign

DC Comics