Superman: Camelot Falls v.2: Camelot Falls Vol 2 [Paperback]

this review is of the second volume of "camelot falls." amazon can't seem to differentiate between the volumes, but there is really no comparing the two. the first volume was a strong start with some relatively self-contained chapters, fantastic art by carlos pacheco, and a pretty strong build-up to what seemed like a very interesting conflict for superman. the basic premise is that a time-traveler named arion warns superman that his ongoing "interference" with the history of mankind will eventually lead to humanity's extinction. it's an interesting concept, nicely executed by busiek and pacheco. it's rare when a writer comes up with a credible challenge for a character as powerful and timeless as superman, and this one really grabbed my interest. i read the first volume months ago and eagerly awaited the conclusion.

i feel like i should have skipped it. it's no secret that the monthly issues in this collection were severely delayed (apparently on the art side of the creative team), but there is no good reason that such delays should have affected the story so severely in this format. events that occurred in other books have altered superman's status quo in-between volumes, and it's at least a little bit jarring. during the break since the first volume of "camelot falls" superman and lois lane have adopted a child (this is quickly explained in a recap at the start of the story), and he shows up in a few pages to do nothing except confuse readers. when issues are delayed in a book with characters that appear elsewhere, either (A) the story goes on as planned, unaffected by changes in other books, or (B) the story is altered to reflect the changes. each of these choices presents a problem. in the first case a reader is asked to recognize that the story takes place in the past, and in the second case the story will be disjointed and confusing when read in one sitting. in some situations i could understand the decision to go with the second option, because it helps readers feel like, despite delays, the current story is happening in the present and matters. but in the case of a superman story, nobody expects anything major to happen to any of the main characters, so it effectively doesn't matter when the story takes place. any superman story could take place at any time because readers know at the end of the day superman's got to get back to the status quo. also the first option favors the collected edition, which will be in print forever, and the second favors the monthly comics, which are on the shelves for a month. so for the life of me i don't understand why the decision was made to muddle this story up with unnecessary and off-putting baggage from other books.

but the bigger problem here is the art. by far the biggest factor for me in picking up these books was carlos pacheco. he's one of my favorite artists, and i'll generally pick up anything he does. but this is not calrlos pacheco. reasonably perceptive readers will notice that where the first volume says "pencils by carlos pacheco, inks by jesus merino," the second one says "art by carlos pacheco and jesus merino," and it shows. it's hard to tell how much of this book is sloppy pacheco pencils, pacheco's layouts with finishes by merino, or just all merino's work, but the entire package pales in comparison to the first volume. overall this just doesn't look very good. certainly not what readers have come to expect from carlos pacheco. but then, i suspect this book has considerably more contribution from merino than pacheco. apparently, despite this, dc is still giving him work, so hopefully this new method of merino contributing to his pencils is an isolated incident, but i'm certainly going to check it out his work in the future before getting excited about picking it up.

and as for the story, it just degrades into another fight. maybe that's what we should expect by now, but i guess i just expected a little more. the question of if superman's actions are really hurting humanity remains and might never be addressed again, let alone resolved. i probably won't be sticking around anyways, but this experience has left me leery of an artist who's been a favorite of mine for ten years. check out the covers for some full pacheco pencils and compare them to what's inside. if you can't tell the difference (and i suspect there's a large portion of readership that can't), you might well enjoy this art quite a lot. but more visually astute readers will be in for some serious disappointment.

This is how Superman should be: heroic yet human. I don't have much else to say except, if you like Superman, you should probably get this story. Although, wait for the second volume to come out as this one is only the first half.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by Busiek in this one. He's hands down my favorite comic writer, especially when it comes to portraying Superman. He manages to strike a tone of reverence and nobility in the character, of unassuming humility, that captures the essence of what he is. At the same time, he knows how to balance the inner turmoil that Clark faces, the dilemma of being an outsider, of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders while simultaneously delivering fantastic and jaw-dropping action with a team of good artists - and the art certainly doesn't disappoint in Camelot Falls. What does is the plot, which all-in-all I wouldn't mind if there was a strong central theme - one which finds a new way to capture just how hard it is to be the Man of Steel, but it's just not there until late in the game, and by then there's not much time to develop it into something that we haven't really read or thought of before. Busiek has always surprised me when he pens Superman stories by getting me to think of him as I never had before, some new facet of his personality, or his struggle. Again, this was absent from this story.

In a nut-shell, a crazy Atlantean wizard dude named Arion comes with a prophecy from the future: Superman, and all Earth's heroes for that matter, are going to be the cause of the end of humanity by holding back a tide of darkness for too long, allowing it to build to an intensity and level that will not just set civilization back, but wipe it out altogether. What to do, what to do? Relax and let the darkness consume the Earth so it can start again, or keep fighting the good fight and hope for the best? There's something hopelessly Ra's al-Ghul and League of Assassins in this idea. History runs in cycles, humanity gets too corrupt and is wiped out, then we start all over again, past sins forgiven, new and fresh and all that good stuff. The idea is unoriginal and the villain is kind of uncompelling. The moral dilemma for Clark isn't that deep either. It forces him into some poignant scenes of soul searching, but ones that Lois kind of hits right on the head from the beginning. The question essentially involves a choice between giving up or continuing. The choice is obvious and there's no real development in the character that has to be done to achieve this leap of logic.

Three stars for volume two for a couple of reasons. One, with the whole prophecy issue, there are some interesting fate vs. free will themes that pop up. I may be a sucker for these types of motifs, but I thought it well-played given the nature of the plot, but not developed as well as it could have been. Two, Busiek can certainly write dialogue. He's about the only person that doesn't manage to make Clark sound hopelessly 1930s cheesy when he says stuff like, "You opened a portal in time and now I'm going to send you back to the 17th century where you came from!" Ok, a little over the top, but there are some really, really great monologues and dialogues. Particularly poignant are the scenes between Clark and newly appointed CEO of Lexcorp Lana Lang, recently divorced and far from her child, but still in love with Clark, who she's shared so much with, but can never have. These scenes are pretty heartbreakingly terrific and I give Busiek the credit he deserves for them. Nothing seems to escape Clark's notice - he hears and senses everything, and it weighs heavy on his soul, which is why he's such an endearing and appealing character. He wants to fix everything and make everyone happy, and he's awesome for trying. Busiek sums it up well. Clark: "I hear the ache in Lana's voice, and I wish I could help, wish I could fix everything. I can save the world. But there are some things even I can't do. And there's more going on, always more...And Lois...I smile at the very sound of her heartbeat and I'm about to bank over to join them, but...There's a lot to think about. The dangers that might be coming, and how best to be on guard against them. Whether I'm stopping the threat or helping cause it. How to even tell the difference. There's a lot to think about. In the meantime, though..." (and here you can tell it really sinks in and that he has to live with the fact that he can't do everything, trying to rationalize and tell himself it's not your fault, even though you can tell from the lonely art in the panel that he does blame himself) "Yes, there's a lot I can't do. A lot I'll never know. But I'll do what I can, and hope to help mankind find a way to solve their other problems, whatever comes. Whether I'm one of them or not." The words sound hopeful, and they're what we expect from Superman, but the panel subtly betrays just how heavy a burden it is to carry and how disappointed he is in himself for not being able to be not just Super, but Perfect. And that is why, thin plot and all, Busiek is awesome.