It was so good some pages were printed twice!.

The issue that I originally bought had a few pages printed twice and a few missing! Thankfully, the store also had "good" copies and I was able to enjoy the whole story.

I have the feeling of being dropped in a middle of a story arc (Identity Crisis and it's spin-offs) so while the characterization/dialog is very good, the overall story feels "incomplete".  Nonetheless, the JBs' art on this book will keep me coming back.

The last page was nicely done!

Bob Simko wrote: That background detail is mindblowing...

What backgrounds?  Does Byrne do those?

;o)

Well after reading JB's second issue (of the new run) on Action and looking through the pencil scans of issue 827 I came up with a word to describe what Nelson is doing to JB's pencils....he is making JB's art "fuzzy", a word I never would've used to describe JB pencils before.

Absolutely fantastic all around and I will stay on board despite the inking.

"I have this wacky idea that lines I draw should actually be seen on the printed page. "

Agreed.  Look at the bad example below.

Great issue.  I have really enjoyed Gail's writing and JB's pencils.  Too bad the inks are so mushy.  I'm reaaaalllllllllly hoping that there is a Superman vs. Black Adam battle brewing.  That would be fun to read.

John Byrne wrote: Let's just say it's not at my link. I have this wacky idea that lines I draw should actually be seen on the printed page.

First of all, a beautiful issue, even with those flagrant redraws to the face of Repulsa, JB's maniac women are the most fear inspiring villains in comicdoom (Anyone remembers Magpie?)... (Yes that's a hint of a deep desire of mine, Gail!)

I used to be a colorist here in Mexico, and many times the penciller where sitting by my side suggesting and sometimes giving order of how they wanted the book to look like printed. But no sooner they where gone, then the editors ALWAYS asked to see the job, and then... To change everything. They favorite function of computer coloring? Change color to line art! Followed by blurring the same line art.

Edited to add: Gail Simone, great spanish spoken lines!!! First time I read a very good spanish in a comic, thanks!

WHAT THE HELL??!!! 

THAT'S SOOOOOOOO WROOOOOOOONG!!!!

 LOVE THE PENCILS SCANS HERE btw. Great stuff.

Just read this on Thursday. Contrary to some of the other folks here, I don't find the inks "mushy" at all. As I wrote last issue, it reminds me of George Perez, Byrne/Austin, and Brian Bolland -- all inkers I certainly tend to favor. Aside from the rather egregious two panels from #827 Ed Aycock posted above -- which "felt" wrong when I first read them -- the inking of the figurework appears to be reasonably faithful, with most of the "noodling" confined to the more minor details and backgrounds. And to Nelson's credit, there are any number of panels and facial expressions in the first issue -- compare the before and after title pages of #827, for instance -- in which I feel Nelson definitely improved upon the pencils of the original. In my opinion, the Repulse of the Nelson's finished version of the title page looks far more maniacal than the full pencils of the same page posted by JB. I certainly prefer Nelson to Ordway's inking on the FF -- which I liked, by the way, but which had a tendency to flatten perspective too much at times. Still, there are also some signs of creative tension as well.  Nelson seems to be pulling the visuals away from the Bigfoot cartooning toward a more Littlefoot photorealistic style. But for the most part I admire the end result. Superman is more "on model" this issue -- more square-jawed and muscular -- and the art team seems a better fit this time around. As they learn to trust each other as collaborators, I'm confident the end result will only improve from here on. The final splash was gorgeous, though the glare-on-the-camera-lens effect the colorist added was... well, a mite strange.

No one else has mentioned the two pages with the George Perez storytelling (Inserts? Insets? Inline graphics? Don't know what term to use) -- the page where Repulse "armors up" and Superman's moment of truth with Black Adam.  I don't mind more panels per page, but the experiment seemed a trifle timid, being confined only to two pages out of 22. The paneling was rather un-Byrne-like compared to JB's recent work, and took me back in time to JB's work on the very early '80s X-Men. Not saying it was unwelcome, either -- not at all, actually. Simply unexpected. Whose idea was this paneling exactly? Will we be seeing more of it in the future?

Happy as I was with the artwork, I wish I could be as happy with the script. As another poster mentioned above, it felt "unfinished" to me too. Some great characterization from Lois and Jimmy (it's good to see Jimmy's loyal, courageous side for a change). It will be interesting to learn more about Willis (a brand new addition to the cast, right?) and see how he and Jimmy interact with Lois, Clark, and Perry. The pacing felt rushed in places, and I was disappointed that the "big reveal" turned out to be mommy issues instead of some other twist. The on-again, off-again blindness was unfortunate too, especially the use of heat vision with the four cables. A definite plot hole there, though I realize Superman has super-hearing blah blah blah. Last, the loose end of Aura and her helicopter left me feeling unsatisfied as well. It seemed used solely for shock value, like Gladiator punching Ben Grimm through 13 occupied cars in a row in the middle of rush hour in FF #249. It was disappointing not to have Aura's fate followed up on, or the visuals explained. The MPD premise worked awkwardly on a visual level, as Superman was staring at Repulse most of the time. These elements cheapened the concluding chapter somewhat as a result.

One serious quibble: the two-page splashes tend to lose their impact when used so often, and in the case of this issue, I would have much prefered another page of action or psychiatric struggle to the image on pages 2-3. IMO, three such splashes a month in three separate titles per month seems too much. The cover was just fine, if a little unmemorable. The colors were still a mite garish for my taste, though again I liked the palette choices in general. Nonetheless, an enjoyable, if somewhat uneven, issue, due no doubt to Gail and JB's lack of lead time on this new assignment. All my bitching aside, for the first time in ages I'm reading a Superman title and enjoying myself. I'll definitely be back next month.

A request: Could we see Lana Lang return during this run? I like her too.

Somewhere, the shade of Will Eisner is astonished to learn he was swiping George Perez.