Thirty Days of Graphic Novels, Day 21: "The Return of Superman"

Part of the reason I'm so far behind is that I've simply gotten busy; the other reason is that The Return of Superman is a huge book!  Weighing in at almost 500 pages, it's taken me a while to get through it in 5 to 10 minute chunks.  I enjoyed it though, as it's a good collection of solid superhero story-telling that very much encapsulates the art-form as it commonly existed in the early 1990s--thus, it's very comforting, like watching re-runs of a TV series you followed as a kid.  The lengthy story collected in this volume follows the introduction of four would-be Supemen who appear in Metropolis after Big Blue bit it.  Each of these characters are individually well-written, and a couple ( Superboy and Steel) continued to appear in DC Comics for years.  The story also had some major ramifications in other comics, with Coast City getting effectively nuked.  There's too much happening here to sum it up effectively, so I'll mention just a few points:

*  The writers do an excellent job with Supes' large supporting cast; even though he's absent from the vast majority of the book, you don't get bored with seeing Lois Lane or Lex Luthor running around.

*  Mongul and Cybor-Superman make for some good villains, though I could have done without Green Lantern's johnny-come-lately intervention at the end.

*  The return of Superman himself is a little underwhelming--black tights and massive rifles?  Meh.