Review by Frank Plowright

Superman has been losing power. This isn’t to the extent that anyone would notice during the course of his day, but is enough to concern him and his Justice League colleagues. Batman thinks it’s due to wounds sustained during events detailed in The One Who Fell, where Jon Kent revealed from his time in the future that the present day has reached the point where Superman’s legend moves out of public record.

The more immediate threat, though, is Warworld, a planet hosting the murderous scum of the galaxy, all in thrall to Mongul. Spacecraft originating there chase another craft to Earth, and it may host Kryptonians.

There’s an awful lot to like about Warworld Rising. Phillip Kennedy Johnson works the Superman family dynamics well, and contrasts their well-meaning ways with a skin-crawlingly malign Mongul, a despot thriving on fear. A mythology based on chains is well conceived, and Superman also has to operate more realistically in a global society than we’re used to. When a fragment of the possibly Kryptonian ship lands in Atlantis, they see value in keeping it for themselves, never mind the tensions that induces. It’s all a prelude to what follows in The Arena, but one that holds the interest throughout.

A lot of that is down to the effort of primary artist Daniel Sampere who effortlessly achieves the necessary balance for Superman. He has to look clean and virtuous no matter his surroundings, and yet those surroundings sometimes have to be appalling. The Fortress of Solitude sparkles, the character designs are thoughtful and the action scenes are faultless. Christian Duce steps in as artist for a chapter toward the end, maintains the general style and is also excellent.

The problem of Warworld eventually stretches over three volumes, later compiled as The Warworld Saga or the first Superman Omnibus by Phillip Kennedy Johnson. From this point a new version of the Authority are involved, but their gathering by Superman isn’t reprinted in any of the Warworld collections, so you may want to check out Superman and the Authority.