SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #2

Jim Lee is, obviously, one of the big dogs in comics. The one smart thing that Dan Didio and the crew at DC did when they started was to get him the hell out of the corporate office and back at the drawing table. Jim Lee penciled the first eight or so issues of Justice League, which looked pretty but were mediocre. Now they've put Lee on a new monthly Superman title with one of DC's biggest writers, Scott Snyder. Instant gold, right? Hardly. First off: they should have called this book Man of Steel. Superman Unchained is a lousy title (I'm guessing they watched Django Unchained right before this brilliant title idea). Second: the book is pretty bad. Perhaps if I hadn't read Snyder and Capullo's Batman #22 right after this I wouldn't have thought this. That book, amidst a year long origin tale, is fantastic. looks good but not great. Lee gets a little lazy in spots. The plot is very dull, too. General Lane has created a more powerful, Superman-like creature for no apparent reason. & Luthor is in some high-tech suit ready to do something...evil. Snyder perhaps hasn't found his "voice" yet with Superman. That, or he's just better off with the dark elements of comics like Batman, serial killers, and vampires. This new book isn't awful but it just is average at best. ** (out of ****)