A God Somewhere, Halcyon

A God Somewhere 

John Arcudi and Peter Snejbjerg tell their version of “Superman gone awry.”  There are a number of problems with this story: At the end of the day, it boils down to the basic “power corrupts and kills indiscriminately, even family” trope.  Sam, the best friend, is kind of a tool, constantly lusting away for his friend’s wife.  And it feels like the ending (Superman dies by suicide) only happens because Arcudi had written himself into a corner and couldn’t come up with any other way to wrap things up.  

It’s Snejbjerg’s brutal art that boosts this story up a notch.  It’s unflinching in its violence, and really fits the gloomy, depressing nature of the story.  

Not quite as good as I remember, but still a well done book.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Halcyon 1-5

This is one of those comics that’s always better than I remember whenever I read it, and I remember it really fondly.  

What if Lex Luthor pacified the world, including himself, just to strip the purpose away from the heroes?  What if Batman/Rorschach had a problem with it?  What if Superman played Dr. Manhattan and decided he needed to keep the peace at all costs?

This is definitely a mishmash of familiar tropes, but the execution in writing by Marc Guggenheim and Tara Butters, and top notch art by Ryan Bodenheim, push it dangerously close to Pure Joy territory.  And that ending is just a wonderful gut punch right when I think I have it figured out.  

This is Samaritan's dream come true.

It's the color contrast between this page...

..and this that really makes it effective.

What keeps it at Really Good?  The fact that this never comes up in my mental list of favorite/best comics.  The fact that I never do remember just how good it is.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good