Absolute Superman: The Neverending Begins (Comics) | Review

Expect a restless hero buried under devastating global emergencies in Absolute Superman: The Neverending Begins. Issues #15-21 follow the wholly re-imagined Man of Steel from DC Comics. Readers searching for a self-contained blockbuster will find something messier: stories left half-built, wrapped around a few brutal showdowns.

Anyone arriving cold should learn the rough road behind this one. This new installment picks up directly from Last Dust of Krypton and Son of the Demon. Newcomers can promptly absorb the main beats yet will miss the deeper emotional weight passed along from the Siege of Smallville.

Jason Aaron (Original Sin, Thanos Rising) scripts all seven chapters. He stacks Lazarus schemes, Brainiac turning renegade and Lex Luthor in mourning into a sprawling mix. His dialogue favors blunt speeches about courage over subtle restraint, giving the lead a mission as the cast swells.

Rafa Sandoval (Action Comics: Rise of Metallo, Catwoman: Death of the Family) takes over and handles the grandest set pieces. His sharp pencils carry the mighty awakening of King Shazam, a planet-wide brawl and the clash on the moon. Count on sweeping panels, sleek poses and bold action that overshadow atmosphere with thrills.

Within weeks of the fight against Lazarus, Clark Kent buys the Kent Farm and suits up in blue to match the costume sewn by Martha Kent. Then a raging fire at a toy factory claims 73 lives. He confronts CEO Winslow Schott in a gleaming glass penthouse and delivers a stern final warning.

Grief trails him to the Nevada desert where Brainiac worked in a Lazarus laboratory. Ransacked ruins remain so Superman scorches them and admits he cannot continue. Ra's al Ghul rots in a Pakistani cell. He tenderly recites prayers from a journal written by children Lazarus orphaned.

Lois Lane and Lana Lang invite him in but he dashes off after another cry for help. Near breaking point, he screams up at the stratosphere. Hawkman, a hardline al Ghul clan operative, lectures him and pitches a truce. Superman flatly rejects it because he will not bargain with parties tied to Lazarus Corp or any of its hostile accomplices.

Tension boils over when Talia al Ghul orders a Peacemaker to shoot a secured crate. Out bursts Project: Parasite, a tentacled aberration that swallows whoever it touches. Soon the whole city hangs inside a shrieking mass of flesh and teeth. Panicked crowds vanish beneath its slick bulk.

Lois frees herself from its clutches once she meets the monstrosity without fear. The clue hands Superman his plan. Rather than throwing haymakers, he reaches its linked minds to assure the captives their rescue has arrived. Meanwhile, Hawkman is trapped in a hallucinatory nightmare.

Elsewhere in Missouri, a disguised Brainiac discreetly approaches a contented Lex Luthor with a lucrative proposal. Lex calmly declines since his family outweighs ambition. The visitor responds with a brutal massacre at a birthday celebration. He tells a heartbroken father he must become interesting. It is the cruelest beat of the volume.

Superman carries off a small remnant of the Parasite and promises to eventually return it home from a Fortress he is quietly building in the barn. He relays a message to Lazarus via Hawkman: he is not for sale. Talia al Ghul strikes back by unleashing a much deadlier weapon against him.

Revenge drives Lois into the abandoned Lazarus headquarters with a pistol and a purpose. Talia brandishes the Father Box. A visored welder with a sledgehammer, John Henry Irons, shows up hunting blood as well. The Box smashes open an ancient sarcophagus and rouses King Shazam.

Formerly the slave Teth-Adam, King Shazam wakes up thousands of years later in a modern era he cannot recognize. A Brainiac Collective ship provided his tremendous powers. His first punch sends Superman soaring eleven hundred miles across the sky. The furious fight circles the entire globe until a red storm hauls them to the moon.

Steel joins the melee while Hawkman follows. The four land on a beach. King Shazam takes the winged stranger for another pawn of Brainiac and answers with sheer force. Hawkman deflects it with his mace. Soon Shazam pins the heroes with his sandcloak after viciously battering them.

Hawkman mocks the prophecy and exposes the collective of Brainiacs who fueled Shazam with a Father Box. Superman shakes loose but gets pierced in the shoulder by a lightning spear. King Shazam destroys the Parasite then leaves his foes. Superman rises and sets out to stop the king.

The linework and the faces from Juan Ferreyra fall short throughout issues #15-17. The Parasite horror suffers too. Rafa Sandoval is a major step up. His crisper figures and tighter layouts lend the Shazam clash bigger scale. The contrast between both halves is hard to miss as stiffer initial pages yield to bolder panels with kinetic energy.

Aaron keeps Superman morally resolute. He refuses to kill Ra's al Ghul, the Parasite or even the murderous king. This choice clicks. The pacing does not. A threat monstrous enough to swallow Metropolis is settled almost immediately in a fleeting skirmish, severely undercutting its terror.

Hawkman and Steel round out the cast with a Brainiac twist, plus a hammer for the battle. King Shazam is the weakest link here, a defiant conqueror who proves curiously underwhelming. His entrance is hollow and his exit scene comes abruptly, so the headliner fails to earn the weight.

Various sub-plots also tangle fast. Nearly every single character leads back to Lazarus: Brainiac, Hawkman, the Peacemakers, Ra's and Talia al Ghul. The web grows repetitive. Lex Luthor simply stays unresolved. Shazam arrives with a colossal buildup but his sudden departure feels rushed, since the epilogue hastens across dangling ends.

Overall this volume stands as mediocre. Strong ideas rest within a structure that sprints past its best moments. The Parasite crisis demanded greater room to develop. The Shazam showdown needed a sturdier payoff than it was given, which fosters a persistent sense of disappointment.

Jumping in cold means no tedious homework beforehand. Series regulars will spot a few playful callbacks to old events from the Absolute run. Still, nothing in it justifies a purchase at full price. This middle installment is skippable, better borrowed than bought by careful shoppers guarding a slim bookshelf and a strained monthly budget.

The closing pages leave Shazam stranded on a distant planet with a bitter vow to return as the doom of Superman. Brainiac quietly schemes on his own. Talia al Ghul is far from finished with her plans. These threads point toward a much larger confrontation the next story must deliver.

Absolute Superman: The Neverending Begins arc is collected in Absolute Superman Vol. 3: The Neverending Begins, featuring Absolute Superman #15-21. The storyline is available in physical hardcover and paperback edition. For digital readers, the book is also available on ComiXology. Individual issues are out on DC Universe Infinite.