[.ca] Superman: The Man of Steel VOL 02 (ISBN 1401200052)

I bought this book for Byrne's art, not Ordway's...:
I'd heard a lot about this new interpretation of Superman from John Byrne. As a Byrne fan, it seemed a logical choice to add to my little mini-collection of trade paperbacks, many of which feature his art. I'd read through Volume 1 of Superman: Man of Steel and found it to be a refreshing take on the old Superman character. Byrne's art in Volume 1, however, was not what I was used to from his previous work. That appears to have changed in Volume 2, as Byrne cleans up Superman nicely. The stories are simple, reflective of Superman's early days. I love what Byrne does with Lex Luthor, making him an untouchable evil industrialist with an aura similar to that of Frank Miller's Kingpin. An interesting spin. The thing that wasn't great about Volume 2, though, was that Byrne stops doing the art for a few issues here and there during the story of Darkseid and the New Gods. The idea of Byrne penciling a Darkseid story was very compelling, but Jerry Ordway does most of the art on this story. Ordway is no John Byrne, and the difference is huge. As Byrne was a major reason that I purchased this volume in the first place, I was disappointed and am now uncertain about whether or not to buy Volume 3 (when it comes out). If you're a fan of John Byrne's work, be warned.

Great Start For The Post-Crisis Superman Titles!:
What you need to know before reading this book: 1) Superman stories published from 1938 to 1986 (commonly called "Pre-Crisis Superman") were wiped out of continuity and is no longer part of the Superman Canon. 2) An event called "Crisis on Infinite Earths" cleaned up DC Comics continuity and recreated the DC Universe in 1985/6. All comics from that point to the present are referred to as the "Post-Crisis" stories. 3) The "Post-Crisis" Superman began with 1986's "The Man of Steel" miniseries by John Byrne (collected as Volume One) 4) This volume (Vol. 2) collects the first three issues of the normal Superman comics immediately following "The Man of Steel" miniseries - therefore giving us a good representation of the "New" Superman and how it all began (again). The majority of the stories collected in this volume are written and drawn by John Byrne, who was also responsible for the revamp in the first place. The rest of the stories are written by Marv Wolfman (who also provided the "Intro" to this volume) and beautifully drawn by Jerry Ordway. The stories read like a continuation of "The Man of Steel". While the previous volume gave us the new Krypton, the new Pa/Ma Kent, Brainiac, Luthor, etc., this volume gives us Cat Grant, the new Metallo, Prof. Emil Hamilton and further fleshes out the malicious character of Lex Luthor. In addition to that, we have three issues of Superman in Apokolips (actually part of the "Legends" crossover but it can very well stand alone by itself) with a superb rendition of Darkseid, Orion, Lightray and the rest of the classic Kirby creations by John Byrne. This volume is highly recommended to all Superman historians (like me!) and all fans of John Byrne (the man was at his very best here).