Review by Ian Keogh

There’s an alternate universe where the heroes have familiar names, but very different identities. The Superman, for instance, is an incredibly evolved human who in the name of peace exerts absolute control over a planet. As seen in Volume One, some DC heroes we’re more acquainted with have arrived on that planet. The opening chapter of this finale, though, sees the Superman on their Earth, appalled at the crime and destitution. By now involving the Clark Kent Superman, Dan Jurgens compares two contrasting ideologies.

What’s immediately noticeable is a considerable deterioration in the art. Neither Wes Craig on the main feature nor Andie Tong on the back-up remotely approach the quality of their predecessors. Backgrounds are minimal and figurework is poor. After two chapters Carlos Magno takes over the main feature (sample art), and is a big improvement on Craig, capable of supplying some spectacular viewpoints, but not able to pack the panels without them looking too crowded. Tong continues on all shorts and doesn’t improve.

Jurgens provides some good twists, not least the one person possibly able to deal with the Superman, but he lets the plot run away with him. The set-up is good enough, but he keeps adding characters and rather than having an effect they transmit as occupying space for the sake of it. It leads to a clever solution, but the ultimate message is one of absolute power corrupting absolutely. Jurgens isn’t an unimaginative writer, but he could have done so much better with what he set up by sticking to the ideological and emotional conflicts. It means Marz’s back-up strips looking at the Tangent characters individually are better written, but the art drags them down.

While Superman’s Reign improves overall on the original Tangent material, this remains a case of what might have been.