Superman (2016-2018) Vol. 5: Hopes and Fears

Tomasi's Superman series has often bounced between longer story arcs and shorter "vignette" style chapters. Volume 5 Hopes and Fears is such a vignette style read and it is worth noting that like some of the other short, self contained chapter stories this book doesn't connect too much with the larger DC Rebirth events or arcs. For example, the book makes pretty much zero mention of the events of the Oz Effect arc, nor does it pay much mind to the whole Deathstroke "Defiance" story arc from the character's solo series (where Deathstroke temporarily tries to go legit and form his own Teen Titans-style super team), and it makes only a brief mention of the events of the Green Lantern Corps series when Sinestro appears (despite having seemingly died in that series way back in Volume 1). The first vignette is the one that fans might either love or hate in which Superman, Lois, and Jon go on a tour of Washington DC and the surrounding area to see the various war monuments. Lois and Clark take the time to teach Jon more about United States history and to pay respects to the fallen and includes a lot of "good ol' boy Clark" moments. If you dislike the return of the Big Boy Blue Scout angle to the character you'll likely hate this story arc as it wears its emotions on its sleeves. Personally, I didn't mind this story arc even though it hits you over the head with the message so hard as I love Dad Superman. The second vignette sees Superman investigating a series of child kidnappings only to learn the culprit is Fear Entity Parallax. Supes gets drawn into a battle of wills between the bug and Sinestro who returns from his near death experience to once again enthrall Parallax. The final vignette sees Lois track down Slade Wilson for an interview only for Deathstroke to target Lois as a means of forcing Superman to potentially cross the final line and kill in order to save his wife (all at the behest of a third party it turns out). The two main story arcs are both pretty strong in my opinion, but I admit that Sinestro and Deathstroke are two of my favorite villains so it is fun to see them play off a different hero than we're used to. All in all it isn't the strongest chapter of Tomasi's run on the series, but it still keeps the best aspects of his family oriented Superman going and though I'm excited to see Bendis take over the character I will miss Tomasi's take.

OK, in this volume was down right bad. An ode to American servicemen and women, its heart was in the right place, but was largely framed as a series of long-winded quotes. The authors told rather than showed, and the whole thing felt, wooden and unrealistic. I like the idea of Superman as a demonstrator of virtue. It's part of what has been his brand from the start. But this was poorly, clumsily done. It took me a while to get over my annoyance.The rest of the book was.. much, much better...In story two, what seemed like a semi-interesting boss fight, became an altogether more complicated thing... allowing us to explore a classic comic book character as he engages with his own demons, while giving us the opportunity to better understand some of the biggest baddies in the DC universe.The third story also included a name of the DC universe though wasn't quite as strong as the second story and the shifting narration was off-putting.but was in a lot of ways Lois' story as much as Superman's...Which is one of the things that makes the new Superman series so wonderful.... Superman is a family guy and the series has embraced that. Career, ambition, taking care of home... these things weigh on both Lois and Superman.Superman's been having a great run in Rebirth. Despite the weakness of the first story, this volume continues that.

Oddly curated set of tales. From very patriotic American to extreme moral quandaries that maybe may not have been necessary while promising some sinister agenda set up. Takes you to vastly different places... Question is, did you want to go?

This is why I stopped buying single issues. The first two issues of this book are literal history lessons taking place on a family road trip on the 4th of July. I love history and America... But man was this boring. These issues would have cost $3.99 each if they weren't in a collection. That would have been $8.00 for comics that belong in happy meals as a give away. Fortunately, the remaining issues are excellent. I'd rather not spoil anything, so I'll just say they made it worthwhile.

great comic. It was a nice history lesson. I would recommend to anyone to check it out. Try it out

This is the best written book from D.C. Harkens back to the grand days of comics. A must read book

Enjoyable read. The first portion of the book follows the Kent's as they visit American landmarks and it's honestly refreshing and enjoyable.

not perfect not bad but a good one, one of my favorite runs of superman

Historia recomendable aunque definitivamente un poco más enfocada al pueblo de Estados Unidos ya que los primeros números nos muestran el viaje de la familia kent por el país visitando diferentes edificios y mo umentos de su país y contándonos un poco de su historia y lo bueno y correcto (según ellos) de pertenecer a su nación. Por desgracia sufre del problema que veo en casi cualquier tpb pasta suave en inglés que he comprado por este medio. Su primera y última página se despega del resto del cómic dando la impresión de que se va a deshojar. Tengo la impresión de que esto ocurre ya que por el tipo de portada esta se llega a abrir un poco más debido a la rigidez de la misma y no se curva como el resto de las hojas de interiores, la primera y última hoja al estar pegadas a la pasta llegan a ser arrastradas con esta haciendo que se abra de más pero al mismo tiempo evitando que se deshoje, he visto que esto se puede evitar con un empastado como los del título Descender de Jeff Lemire que está publicando editorial océano en mi país haciendo que la pasta se doble un poco más arriba del lomo evitando que se abra de más, claro habría que ver la manera de que así no se pierds el contenido que se ubica en la parte central del cómic sobre todo en las viñetas que abarcan 2 páginas y que las portadas no se dañen por ese tipo de doblez.

This trade contains three filler stories, each in two parts. It starts with a family vacation that is basically an overview of America's military history and heroism displayed by soldiers. It's a bit cheesy but those issues were for July 2017 so they can't really be blamed. The other two story-lines involve Parallax and Deathstroke but they're written by guest writers. Both stories are a little lacking in punch; they feel more like filler while there's a lag in the actual over-arcing story.The stories in this trade are supposed to explore Superman's heroism, fears, and limits but exploring 3 integral components over 6 issues isn't enough. In trying to explore the 3 aspects, it feels like none of them were explored sufficiently. It's readable but I'd recommend putting this on the back-burner if you're looking at other Rebirth titles.

Shipping was fairly slow. Item came in Library binding which was not specified in the description. Also meant it was covered in stickers and had sheets stuck to certain pages in the back and front.

The massive dip in the art quality makes this a real chore to read. Doug Mahnke only provides one issue of A rate stuff, then the rest is back to the garbage that they used to pump out when they couldn't understand why Superman never used to sellThe Deathstroke story is just dumb, with a load of stupid events in place just to perpetuate the storyYou can quite easily skip this one and you will have missed nothing