Review by Karl Verhoven
Although marketed as a Superman graphic novel, writer and artist Stuart Immonen’s greater interest is in Lex Luthor, and more specifically what might turn him away from his usual malevolence. What he settles on is Luthor’s infant daughter Lena, first seen being rescued from a burning building by Superman. The fire isn’t an isolated incident, and a pattern emerges of Luthor’s Metropolis premises being targeted. Further complicating Luthor’s life is the return of his estranged wife, a formidable woman with resources who wants to raise her daughter herself.
Immonen contrasts what’s happening in 1999 with a journey through the 1800s leading to 1899, so giving the story its title. We appear to see someone else developing super powers, but lacking a moral compass for guidance, and their story may tie in with the ancestry of Luthor’s wife.
An excellent artist from day he began working for DC, Immonen’s pages for End of the Century are lush and elegant, and separated into two distinct and equally attractive styles. The material set in 1999 is traditional comics, although benefiting greatly from Immonen’s eye for panel composition, his storytelling instincts and the colours applied by Lee Loughridge. For the 19th century Immonen paints illustrations, largely in sepia and without panel borders, providing a distinguishing delicacy, true to period sensibilities.
Around halfway connections are drawn together. By then the modern day cast are on the same island where a century earlier a woman believed she’d buried the mistakes of her past. Readers become aware of what Luthor’s about to unleash to feed his ego, and are led to wonder whether even Superman can fend off the threat.
While the events intrigue, and Immonen isn’t short of ideas, he’s not adept at developing them, being a far stronger artist than writer. Turning page after page of lush art disguises End of the Century plodding considerably in places, desperately requiring an injection of pace. The past events suffer also, with the focus on deeds being told rather than seen. At one point we’re informed “in every act of destruction there lay an act of creation. A conservation of ideology of a sort”, which is an interesting philosophical concept around which a stronger story could have been built, yet it’s a throwaway line. On the positive side Immonen presents a loving relationship between Superman and Lois Lane, succeeds in softening Luthor a little, and the finale is appealingly undersold.
End of the Century still holds strength as a visual showcase for a mystifyingly under-rated artist, which alone raises it above average, but it could have been better.
