Superman: The Black Ring Vol. 1

DC Comics
Superman: The Black Ring Vol. 1
By Dan Horn
April 1, 2011 - 09:22

DC Comics
Writer(s): Paul Cornell
Penciller(s): Pete Woods, CAFU & BIT, Pere Perez, Sean Chen & Wayne Faucher
Inker(s): Pete Woods, CAFU & BIT, Pere Perez, Sean Chen & Wayne Faucher
Colourist(s): Brad Anderson
Letterer(s): Rob Leigh
Cover Artist(s): David Finch
$19.99 US

The title Superman: The Black Ring is a bit of a misnomer. Supes barely even makes an appearance, save for a flashback and a David Finch cover that doesn't really relate much to the story in the corresponding chapter. But I suppose the name is for filing purposes. Nonetheless, this collection, taken from Action Comics #890-895, is absorbing.

Hugo Award-nominated scribe Paul Cornell takes Superman's archenemy, Lex Luthor, and casts him in the starring role of this series. Lex is on a quest to find the power of the vanished Black Rings, whose energy he experienced first hand during Blackest Night when he was an Orange Lantern of Avarice. Yet, the quest is much more than that. It's a journey of self-discovery, of intellect battling desire.

Paul Cornell's Luthor is fascinating, at times charmingly arrogant and at others uproariously droll. The dialogue throughout the book is some of the best written out there. Character interactions are extremely organic, and there's a real three-dimensionality to some of these personages that they've never had before. Cornell also makes fantastic use of a vast array of supporting characters and rogues, and even gets Neil Gaiman's Death in there. If I had one complaint, it would be that Cornell has his dialogue cut off in one panel only to restart in another panel or even another page much too often. It's a bit of an annoyance.

Pete Woods is an artist with a modernly tuned sensibility and is at the top of his game. His work rivals artists like McNiven in every way. His depictions of body language and of facial expressions convey every dialogue and action beautifully and perfectly.

So, is this book worth the $19.99 price tag? Yes and no. Yes, because it's an engaging and fantastic comic book story, an instant classic. No, because, though $19.99 immediately seems like a bargain for a hardcover collection, you'll breeze through this book in thirty minutes. With the exclusion of Nick Spencer's Jimmy Olsen features that were included in these six issues originally, you're really not getting six comics here. This could have easily been remedied with the inclusion of Action Comics Annual #13 or even half of that annual, but, alas, that is nowhere to be found. There aren't even any bonus features, like a foreword, or artwork either, besides a few obligatory variant covers. It's great to have the first six chapters of this story collected, but it may be worth the wait to just pick this up as a trade paperback. I wish I could say this volume was a must-have, but it's really pretty insufficient. Still, I can't stress enough how incredible the story is, so pick this up if you really can't wait to read it.

Rating: 7/10