I can see why this is rated so low. This wasn't the absolute worst Rebirth title, but it's certainly no where near the best either. It's just kinda.... mediocre. It has a lot of interesting elements to the story, but then they are bogged down by boring ones and it just kinda makes the story neither great/memorable nor bad enough to hate read it. It's kind of sad really, there was so much waisted potential. I'll read the next trade, but if it's not any better I won't continue with this series.

This was just a straight up mess.

We discussed this and more on the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-220-picture-book-month

Normally I think we get a little more exposition in a "Vol. 1" -- I felt like I was playing catch-up with some storylines, most of which were probably from the last Superman cycle, which I hadn't read.

But the art is classical and bright and clean, the plot was interesting, and the title irresistible. I really enjoyed the read, but did find the big fight scene to be a little anticlimatic. Wonder Woman fighting the Titan in the Power Couple series did a better job, I think, of conveying a truly exciting and colossal lives-on-the-line kind of fight.

I'll probably read more if it comes my way, but I won't spend much energy seeking it out.

I really wanted to like this book more. I adore Phil Jimenez' work. Both his art and his writing skills are amazing. Yet, something went off with this story.
I did like his Lana Lang, but the storyline felt a bit all over the place, too many things going on, not enough depth on the supporting cast... There was a tension inside of Lana that never really took form and it left a sense of lacking.
As for Lois, well, I'm not spoiling anyone (not after so long, anyway), but that, THAT, made me feel tricked.
On a side note, Lana's costume was also off. That design was so poor it reminded me too much of Superman Red, when it should have had its own thing going on.
There were a lot of missed oportunities, moments of joy, even some fun here and there, but the whole thing felt contained. As if on the verge of a panic attack (which was an actual thing, but you can't have a 7-issue run build only on that).
Anyway. I'll see how the next trade goes. I still admire Phil Jimenez to no end, let's see what he comes up with next.

via NYPL - Not even Phil Jimenez's wonderfully detailed artwork can save this plodding bore.

This has a lot of promising elements in it. 1) 2 female leads 2) Fantastic writer 3) diverse cast 4) 2 lesbian characters and 5) pretty good artwork. Unfortunately, something about the plot didn't quite work for me.

It starts out with Lois and Lana working together. Already, this is a welcome change from some Superman works where they just exist to fight each other over Clark. I have read summaries about what happened to New 52 Superman and I still can't tell you what happened. All I know is that this begins with Lois coming to Lana for help with her new abilities. Clark has been gone for a while and they're helping each other through it. I shipped it, not gonna lie. I loved seeing them together and the banter was wonderful. I would have gladly read a book about them working together to save the world.

Lana's abilities remind me of Carol Danvers' and I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's the typical Fantastic Four question for me: why would an explosion affect 2 people differently? It's the same explosion and the same elements. I don't understand why they'd have different abilities.

The big bad in this book is Lena Luthor. I quit Supergirl after season 2's premiere but I understand she's a popular character. It seems to me that either Rebirth went a completely different way or the CW changed her character significantly. Considering what they did to Archie, I'm betting it's the latter. Here, she's kind of an interesting foe. She has a reasonable cause for going evil and I appreciate that she's a brilliant scientist.

One note: I think the female characters in this book are fantastic! They all have purposes and lives outside of supporting male characters. Lana is a brilliant. Lois is funny and brave. Traci 13 wants to protect Metropolis and her girlfriend Natasha. Natasha is a genius engineer and creates multiple suits of armor to protect her family. I couldn't ask for better representation in this book.

The Lana/John relationship bored me, not gonna lie. Although it is refreshing to see the male character begging the female hero not to risk their lives for once.

Ultimately, this book failed for me when it tried to reveal Lena's evil plot. It actually kind of overexplained and that made for boring reading. There were way too many speech bubbles of Lana trying to berate Lex for his evil acts and I understood what happened pretty much from the first few panels. It wasted time in which we could have had kickass fighting sequences and instead we were given more of Lex in prison trying to make excuses for himself. Also, Ultrawoman's suit looked hilariously stupid.

So, with less needless explanation, this could have been an even better book. That being said, I enjoyed the cast quite a bit. I like what Phil Jimenez did here and I'm interested in reading more of his work.

Netgalley kindly provided me a copy of this volume, which I read as soon as I'd finished [b:Superman: Action Comics, Volume 2: Welcome to the Planet|31951880|Superman Action Comics, Volume 2 Welcome to the Planet|Dan Jurgens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1488393263s/31951880.jpg|52612509]. This story is closely linked to the Superman one, so it helps to read them concurrently.

There is no way to write this review without spoilers, so tread carefully.

The story starts with an introduction to our two Superwomen. Lois Lane and Lana Lang were hit by New Earth's Superman's solar energy when he was killed. Subsequently they absorbed parts of his abilities - Lois has his more traditional powers, while Lana conducts electricity. They form an unlikely partnership as Lois looks to Lana for mentorship. Turns out, on this world, Lana and Clark Kent/Superman were close friends and Lana helped him reign in his powers. Lois just wants the same help.

The two women work for competitive media houses - Lois at Daily Planet and Lana, newly joining The Daily Star for their science segment. Just when they're getting used to their new lives, a strategic power outage cripples the armour of self-declared Superman, Lex Luthor, leaving Lois and Lana to do the rescuing.

This attack opens a can of worms - why were only Luthor technologies hit? While the Superwomen attempt to rediscover the truth, Lana's health begins to take a dive. And then... Lois is killed right in front of her, by a B-Zero. Apparently, that's a thing,

Turns out, these B-Zero-S work for an unknown antagonist - Lex' little sister Lena, thought to be dead, but in actuality in a coma, resting not-so-peacefully in a hi-tech dungeon below ground. Lex tried to use Superman's harnessed power to revive her, but instead made her into a monster. She captures Lex, cripples him, then commandeers his armour to place her disembodied head in, ostensibly to wreak havoc on Metropolis.

Superwoman, along with her boyfriend Steel, Steel's niece Natasha, Natasha's girlfriend Traci 13, Natasha's ex-flame Leti, Lois Lane's ghost, a defective B-Zero, Kryptonite Man's head, purple Skeletor dude, Daily Star's news producer Nadidah (a hijabi!, I'm so stoked) and random people, must come to the rescue. Yes, it's as stupid as it sounds.

In the end, the good guys win, Lex looks like the bad guy he is, the ghost of Lois Lane haunting Lana turns out to be the living Lois Lane (I've given up trying to understand that) and everyone is happy till Lana Lang dies the same way as Lois. Or well, we think she's dying. Who knows. These are comics - trust no death.

In the history of reading comic books, never have I read one that felt verbose and overlong - till this one. It is packed with words, most of which say the same thing over and over. The interplay between the two Superwomen was the best part, but Lois is bumped off in the very second issue. Far too many pages were dedicated to drawn out action sequences, none of which showcased much creativity, in fact they were often confusing and confounding.

An epic number of pages is dedicated to purple skeletor dude yelling that he won't go back to prison because they're torturing the prisoners, but instead of Superwoman and Steel simply saying, 'stop firing at people, we won't take you back there, tell us what you know', they keep attacking him, and not listening to him, thereby prolonging the scene and the length of the book for no valid reason.

The panel placement needed work - you never knew which direction to read in, and even when you did, there appeared to be gaps in the conversations or thoughts.

Continuity-wise, these characters seem to have been plonked in for convenience. Superwoman, neither of them, was mentioned by Lois or Superman till Lana actually showed up. And given that Lois was Superwomaning for a while, how come Superman never tried to engage with her?

Throughout this volume, Lana mourns the loss of her best friend Clark Kent, who died as Superman, but it was proven in the Superman rebirth comics that Clark and Superman were two different people on this Earth. But, Lana never discusses this, nor does she go looking for Clark (who has been captured by Lena Luthor, by the way. For what reason, I don't think they even tried to clarify). I don't think the authors of this series spoke to the Superman ones.

Since this comic is written by a primarily all-male team, and their protagonist is a woman, she is given several handicaps that do not allow her to be the sole hero fighting the good fight. She's talked down to almost constantly by Steel, who never respects her wishes. While a crucial fight is going on, she's at home having nightmares.

She is the sole enemy of the big bad, which makes no sense at all - why would Lena even have a vendetta against this woman? She hates her brother, make an example of him, take over Lexcorp and be the most powerful person on the planet! Nope, the writers conjure up a convoluted, incomprehensible plot where Lena wants to take over the world (or something) by becoming a machine. All while leaving her brother alive. She maligns his name, but doesn't take advantage of the same - it's daft.

And how does Superwoman tackle her? By giving her a nonsensical, condescending, gender-based spiel that makes no sense to anyone but the writers of this.

It's important to note that we have a Superwoman, who is addicted to prescription drugs, is scared to bits all the time, doesn't listen to anyone, sides with a known sociopath (Lex Luthor, don't ask) and has no empathy for prisoners being tortured. As mentioned, she also gets talked down to by her boyfriend in a public place, several times... I just can't even with DC. Seriously.

The prison torture stuff is thrown in to show how bad Lex is and I'd be fine with Lana not caring about some discipline on convicts, but experimentation and torture is unacceptable. And, she reveals her disinterest in their pain despite Steel reminding her that he has a brother in that same prison. What?

This entire volume was torturous, and it's a real shame, given that a Superwoman is a nice deviation from the all-male comics we usually get. But if it's going to be this substandard and have such little respect for the character and for women in general, we'd be better off not having it in the first place. Let's just head back to the Birds of Prey, at least they're a fun lot with rounded characters.

I love a good epic woman duo. Its crazy to me that Lois Lane has super man's powers but she is one bad ass chick fighting to save Metropolis. The story seemed to move nicely and the characters were butt kickers. I loved the art and the layout. It was beautifully created.

Received via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

I love coming into these comics as a virgin to the storyline. It gives me a fresh perspective, and I feel like if I can't understand the plot, there's something missing. You can't write comics for only the die hard fans. A) You'll never please them, and B) You're cutting your readership by well over half.

I REALLY got into this story arc. It's intensely slow in some places, and because I'm not following the Rebirth series that closely, there is quite a bit of story I'm missing, which didn't help. But overall, I was able to follow along, and I was able to root like hell for these strong women.

Even the villain isn't so villainy as to not be a little sympathetic. And I adore a good villain.

I would really like to continue with this series. Well done, good start.

'Superwoman, Volume 1: Who Killed Superwoman' by Phil Jimenez is a story that seemed like it should be interesting, but it took me a long time to work my way through it.

In the new Rebirth universe, Superman is gone. In his place, Lex Luthor has power armor and wants to be the new Superman. There is also a Superwoman. Actually two. Lois Lane and Lana Lang have discovered they have powers. They are untrusting of Lex Luthor. Also, Lois' powers seem to be killing her. It may be up to Lana and a few surprise guests to set things right.

The art is fine by the series of artists in these 6 issues. I just really didn't care. It was exposition heavy, even during fight scenes. A lot of the pages had split points of view, which was fine, but it was just so dialogue intensive. I did manage to finish it, but I found myself reading it, then putting it down. That's never a good sign for me and graphic novels.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.