Comic Review
Superman Forever
Artist: Various
Writer: Various

Summary: This is the long awaited wrap up to the "Electro Superman" storyline, started in early 1997. This issue is supposed to bring an end to the energy powers and different costume and restore Superman back to his classic self. To recap, due to the extinguishing of the sun in "Final Night" Superman had lost his powers. After gaining them back, he found himself and his powers changing, and becoming more energy based. Soon, he gained a special suit that would harness his energy and give him a form. This was the white and blue costume that he wore for more than a year. Soon, he found himself split into two electro Supermen, each red and blue. This was a rehash of the old "Superman Red and Superman Blue" imaginary stories in the old series.

As this issue starts, Superman is plummeting out of the sky as the result of the last issue, a mega story involving the "Millenium Giants"- huge ancient beings of incredible power that threatened to destroy earth. As luck would have it, Superman lands in front of the Ma and Pa Kent, and they take him home. It's soon revealed that his powers have been restored after the clash with the Giants. Apparently, it was his sacrifice against the giants that gave him a "reward" - the return to his old appearance and powers. That's pretty much all the explanation that's given.

Superman then returns to Metropolis, just in time to save Lois in a falling space plane, when another crisis brews...Luthor's baby is kidnapped. This leads the entire police force and Superman to search the city for her whereabouts.

It's soon revealed that Bizarro has kidnapped the child, and in a final battle, Superman barely saves the child from destruction. Luthor arrives on the scene, and begs Superman to give him his daughter back to him. What Luthor suspects is that this is the workings of his estranged wife, the evil Contessa. As the book ends, it segues into the next major storyline, the manipulation of time and Superman by the villain Dominus.

Review
Despite fulfilling it's mission of returning Superman to his true powers and costume, this book was lacking in a lot of ways. The two major storylines; the return of his powers and the kidnapping of Luthor's baby, just never gave that much of a payoff, and in some cases, it was just sloppy plotting work. I also had problems with the art, but let's take these one at a time.

The Return of Supermans powers: There was no explanation given other than that he was "rewarded" for sacrificing himself and given his powers back. What a crock. This reminds me of the Lois and Clark wedding on TV where Mike the "angel" takes them to a special place for their wedding. All logic and reason go out the door.

The Hunt for Luthor's baby: They actually did a pretty good job of showing how Luthor uses his influence to get his daughter back. He's the number one badass in Metropolis, and from high officials to organized crime, no one escapes Luthor's wrath. However, the plot really gets dropped toward the end of the book, when Luthor begs Superman to give him his daughter back. That is completely out of character for Luthor. He should demand and threaten, but never, ever beg for anything from Superman. Not even his own daughter.

The Art: Having different artists is sometimes interesting, when you break them up into different storylines, clearly divided. In this case, it was a mismatch of styles, that did not mesh well at all. Also, there were some problems within the styles themselves. For example, in Dan Jurgen's section, Pa Kent is shown clearly bald(?) on page four, and then on page 6, has an almost full head of hair. Inconsistency between different artists is one thing, but by the same artist- that's just carelessness. (Incidentally, as a side rant: Dan used to be one of the best artists in the business, but for the past two years has been cutting corners and getting sloppy artistically- check out "The Doomsday Wars" to see how bad it's gotten.) Other gripes: Superman's face in page 32 when he's using his x-ray vision- he looks constipated. Lois's face on page 38- John Byrne and Klaus Janson just don't mix. Although I have to say, Scot Eaton and Stuart Immomen's sections looked great.

All in all, a so-so issue that really didn't live up to the hype. I really expected a lot more, but got bogged down by the sloppy artwork and storyline.