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DC releases all its print comics on in digital the same day as print, but the venerable publisher is taking a slightly different tack in its digital-first releases. Unlike their print counterparts, DC’s digital-first Adventures of Superman comics are short, self-contained, and not dependent on complicated continuity. That makes them a nice treat for regulars and newcomers alike. I read the first three issues, each of which is by a different writer-artist team. The result is that each is very distinct in style and story from the others. Yet they all share a common format: 20 pages of story, done in landscape format with just one to four panels per page. Unlike Marvel’s Infinite Comics, there is nothing uniquely digital about these comics—no changes in focus, no word balloons that appear when you swipe. These are simply comics you read on a screen rather than paper, and I believe the plan for print publication is to stack two of the horizontal digital pages to make one vertical-format printed page. Adventures of Superman #1, written by Jeff Parker and illustrated by Chris Samnee, is a very classic style Superman story in which the Man of Steel faces off against a crazed street guy who has taken a drug that causes him to lose his mind but also gives him telekinetic powers. Superman thus gets to use his super-powers in a variety of dramatic situations. At the end, we see who gave him the drug, which gives us some closure but doesn’t really feel like the end of the story. This issue is labeled “Chapter One,” so I thought there would be more in the second issue, but there wasn’t. In fact, Adventures of Superman #2 couldn’t be more different: Written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire, it is a story about two boys playing Superman, set in a rural area and illustrated with Lemire’s trademark wobbly line and watercolor washes. It’s a nice little story, but it’s a complete break with the first issue and isn’t even set in the world of the comic; it’s about Superman fans, not Superman. Adventures of Superman #3, by Justin Jordan and Riley Rossmo, returns us to Metropolis for a story that is pretty bare-bones: Bizarro tries to help people and messes up; Superman fights with him and then figures out another way out of the problem. To understand this comic you have to know that when Bizarro speaks, his meaning is the exact opposite of his words. DC is making these first three issues available as a print comic, Adventures of Superman #1, which is priced at $3.99 for 40 pages of story; that seems like a good deal compared to other print comics, but it’s a buck more than the cost of the three digital comics. Which is kind of interesting—most comics publishers are pricing their digital comics the same as print when they are released on the same day. As it is, 99 cents is about right for each of these short comics, and for the Parker/Samnee one, which is by far the best so far, it’s a bargain. Digital Comics Review: Adventures of Superman #1-3 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Digital Comics Review: Adventures of Superman #1-3
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