REVIEW: Superman Unlimited #17
Superman Unlimited #17, “Kingdom of Zod: Part 7” resolves some major situations from the first half of the crossover while continuing to develop a major problem going forward. It also acts as a finale to the El Cadero saga that began in issue #1. There’s still two more chapters in “Kingdom of Zod” so the sense of finality is a bit premature and should be viewed more as tidying up loose ends before the true climax gets underway.
The standard cover is the third installment of Lucas Meyer and Giuliano Peratelli’s connecting work for this second half of “Kingdom of Zod”. Depicting Zod and Superman in combat feels more like a recap image considering the state of the story, but it’s always cool to see these two come to blows. It also acts as a nice answer to ‘Supergirl’ #17’s cover as the two center pieces of the overall art.
Mark Spears is still at it with his trading card themed variants. This issue’s spotlight is on Tomorrow Man. Spears really highlights Jon’s chest emblem with this piece making it more obvious that it’s influenced by both crests of Superman and Nightwing. The bright yellow also makes the darker hues of Jon’s costume seem brighter for a look that’s more man-of-mystery than vigilante-of-the-night.
The variant by Vincenzo Riccardi can be seen as a sneak peak of what’s in store for this chapter of the crossover. Seen here in his new “Golden Form”, Superman is crushing Kyrptonite with a sense of purpose. The colorful swirls adds a fun element and the whole piece could be seen as an updated homage to the classic Neil Adams ‘Superman’ #233 cover.
Rounding out the variants is art by V Ken Marion & Veronica Gandini. Focusing more on the devastating effects of the Kyrptonite Plague we get a gruesome rendition of Supergirl an Prime being consumed as the rest of Team El watches in horror. The plague has been one of the more dangerous threats our heroes have faced during this crossover and it’s nice to see it get some cover attention.
Montos handles the interior art alongside Ivan Plascensia on colors. There’s some great visuals in this issue as Superman pushes his speed to some crazy limits trying to maximize his time in gold form. This leads to one of the more notable moments as his outfit changes to his style from the ‘DC One Million’ storyline. We also get some nice background flashbacks/memories between Lana and Clark acknowledging their long history together. The color usage is all over the place in the best ways possible making this a very fun book to view.
Dan Slott remains lettered by Dave Sharpe to not only give us a few resolutions to the crossover event but also bring a somewhat end to his initial El Cadero saga. At first read this feels like a finale to “Kingdom of Zod” of sorts since a lot gets addressed. Under that point of view things could feel a bit anti climatic, but there’s still two more chapters to go and way more situations brewing on the horizon. We get a few hints of those situations in the prologue of ‘Superman Unlimited’ #17 with Kara and young Clark, but the rest of the story focuses more on present day Earth. That being said, there is a sense of finality concerning the Emerald Kingdom and it will be interesting to see how the fallout of this issue effects the greater DCU. Quoting Lois’s last line from this issue, “This isn’t over.”
(7/10) I’m a bit disappointed that some cosmetic changes were so quickly rectified and Superman’s solution to the plague felt a bit “too easy” for my tastes. However, that’s not to say this wasn’t a fun read and it was really cool to see Superman push his speed to his maximum limits.
