Not content with being cooped up in Gotham City, Scott Snyder moves one hero over, and tries his hand at the Man of Steel with Superman Unchained. This new series has been anticipated for a long time, with Snyder's fantastic work on Batman, which began before the New 52 reboot, making fans eager to see his take on DC's premiere hero. With Jim Lee on art duties, Snyder has crafted something that's not your usual Supes book, and one that can be summed up in one word: Fun. A whole lot of fun. The inaugural storyline on the book, The Leap, sets itself up as a mystery, one firmly rooted in real world history. The opening pages are quite a hook, piquing your interests quite nicely. We're then thrown into your typical Superman scene, with a daring rescue in Earth's orbit. It's here we are shown one of the aces up Snyder's sleeve. He puts us in the head of Superman, the character airing his thoughts, going through his options before taking action. It's the best way of humanising the character I have seen in a long time, making a man who can breach earth's atmosphere and bend gun with the ease of opening a door extremely relatable. It's a million miles away from the closed off Bruce Wayne he writes in the Batman books, and works as well here as that approach works for that character. In fact, the charactersations in this book are fantastic. They stay true to the ages old cast of usual suspects (Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen), but Snyder has lots of fun with them, and their interactions feel very natural. They may be fictional characters on a printed page, but they have history together, and as a writer, he totally gets that. Clark's scenes with Lex are especially a lot of fun, our favorite bald businessman turned villain being the super smart, pompous smart ass we all know and love. Getting back to the story, there is a lot hinted at here that has the potential to pay off beautifully as the series progresses. Modern day threats and fears rear their head in the form of mysterious cyber terrorist group Ascension, who, while they never appear, feature havily in the narrative, pointing to them playing a big part in events to come. The final page, featuring a brand new character whose design I absolutely love and can't wait to find out more of, does suggest the storyline will descend into the usual superhuman fisticuffs (which is probably not a bad thing. I like Superman best when he is beating the tar out of a charcter than can soak up the beating), there is a lot of interesting story points here that will add to quite an interesting storyline.
Lee is the best he's been in ages here. The action scenes are big and loud, something he absolutely excels at, but never feel cluttered. The detail is amazing, from a simple shot of Clark at his computer, or a gigantic space station exploding, presented as one side of a four page fold out. As breathtaking as this shot is, and it absolutely is, I had personal issues with it. Namely, when I read a book, I don't want to be presented with an origami puzzle three pages in, and have to spend time unfolding it to continue. O.K., my grumpy old man-ness aside, Lee is at the top of his game here. He also shares art duties with Dust NGuyen, who provides visuals for a two page epilogue, that adds some more mystery to the story. Unburdened by continuity, existing as it's own self contained side story, and crafted by a creative team that compliments each other perfectly, Superman Unchained is a fun little Superman book, one I feel has been lacking since the New 52 launched.