Sometimes, I think writers try a little too hard to come up with good story ideas. While that might make some sense on a monthly book, where deadline pressures are a constant worry, it makes less sense on a graphic one-shot, where only the finest stories should be showcased.

The story in Superman: Where is Thy Sting? doesn't really hook its readers. The premise: an incarnation of Death is annoyed that one person has survived the destruction of Krypton, so Death hopes to shuffle Superman off the mortal coil to join his Kryptonian peers. Instead of some grandiose scheme involving kryptonite, a big thorny guy with muscles or, hey, even a supernaturally inspired heart attack, Death seems bent on guilting Superman into dying. Or maybe Death's trying to bore him to death; it's hard to tell. Fortunately, Death appears to have a conscience, and Superman is very persuasive. Or so writer J.M. DeMatteis would have us believe.

The art by Liam McCormack-Sharp is OK, if unremarkable, although his conception of Lois Lane seems to be more akin to a petite-bodied, big-breasted, collagen-lipped blow-up doll than anything actually human.

If you're really desperate for something to read, this will do in a pinch. Otherwise, I'd recommend looking elsewhere on the DC shelf for better books than this.

[ by Tom Knapp ]
Rambles: 3 November 2001