Since the started of the “Grounded” storyline, Superman has become such an odd duck of a series. I really can’t tell if I like it so far or not. It’s very charming in a lot of ways and really does have some nice scenes in it, and yet I’m having trouble getting myself entirely on board. I think I like the idea of the story more than I’m liking the execution. I wouldn’t call this a bad book, but it couldn’t definitely use some improvement.
I liked last issue largely because it took Superman away from the threats he normally faced. The problems he now had to deal with were, real street level ones that your average person might encounter going about their day. This is still true to an extent this issue, but this month there is also aliens that are encountered and a giant robot suit to be fought. I’m sure there are people out there that miss Superman having regular fights, especially since he did spend most of the last year not fighting, and this issue might appeal to them more. I, however, went into this storyline not looking for big fights, but instead to see how Superman, who is used to dealing with huge problems he can usually punch away, would handle everyday problems that he can’t use his fists to solve, so this issue appealed to me less for the robot suit fight. That being sad, it is a rather small part of the book and does end fitting into one of the more down-to-earth problems presented the issue. There’s a particularly great scene in which Superman interacts with an old man who used to work in a Detroit steel mill before it was shut down. This is easily the best part of the issue and is quite poignant at times.
What really bothered me here, however, was Superman’s voice. It seems strikingly inconsistent and can jump all over the place. One moment, he’ll be very humble and acting very friendly and as you’d expect, but other times he comes off as really arrogant and forceful, especially when dealing with some aliens living on Earth. I understand why he’d have to be more forceful with them, but he seems unusually aggressive towards them when they are really quite peaceful and it seems decidedly un-Superman-like. When Straczynski does manage to get Superman right though, it feels very right. Hopefully he can even that out more in future issues.
I’ve always been very on the fence about artist Eddy Barrows’ work; sometimes it is truly dynamic and great, but other times it is extremely muddy and his characters look lumpy. I honestly would never have picked him for street level story like this, but he actually pulls it off very well. His people look very diverse, as they should, and all of his humans look very human. That sounds silly, but a lot of artists can’t seem to draw regular people looking all that average, but Barrows does it admirably. In the scene I mentioned earlier about the steel mill worker, I’m not sure whether I should give the credit for that scene more to Straczynski or Barrows as he really sells this character and draws some stellar emotion on his face. It helps to make the scene as moving as it should be. He also draws one hell of a Superman. I’ve never seen any other artist make Superman look as kindly and innoccent as Barrows does here. There’s even one scene that is just Superman smiling and it is drawn so well I couldn’t help but smile myself. Eddy Barrows is truly bringing his A-game here.
I really do love the idea of this story. I’ve always been a supporter of the idea of Clark Kent being the real person and not just how Superman hides and that’s the idea that “Grounded” should be pressing. There’s so much potential and I know the creative team could do it justice, I’m just still waiting for that to happen. We’re only two issues in, so I’m really hoping to see the next ten issues to live up to what it could be.
Overall: 7.7/10
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