'Absolute Superman' First Impressions: A decent introduction with some fun world building

I've been somewhat paying attention to DC's new 'Absolute' series that has been slowly coming to release over the past few weeks. The first was Absolute Batman which had a decent art style in its first volume and a pretty unique character design that mixed things up. The Absolute series aims to revisit these established characters and remove the familiarity that we have with them. For example, Absolute Batman removes the idea that Batman is an elite with near unlimited funds and a butler, turning him more into a bit of a young adult brute that is more than happy to cause some physical harm to the criminal underworld. I tried to get into the Absolute Wonder Woman release, but that's a character I have zero interest in and its art style just could not connect with me. This brings me to the next release: Absolute Superman. Another character I would say I don't have a whole lot of interest in, but my curiosity remains. From a glance one of my issues with the first volume was yet again the art style which didn't quite land with me from the first panel. I found that a lot of the art style resembled something more artificially generated and messy. While I'm sure that this isn't the case, it certainly did put me off from an early point, noticing the odd and messy look of certain objects and parts of the character designs.

One thing that I did enjoy though was the colours that were used. I found the use of reds and blues to be quite interesting as they dominated much of the panels, mixed with a very high technology set of designs. It certainly felt a bit different to the usual portrayal of Superman and his background, instead focusing more on these more cyberpunk elements. The backgrounds looked much more industrial and otherworldly, full of large structures and machines. I find that the background side of things tends to be far more immersive in comics when it's really done right. Superman as a character tends to be a bit more on the uninteresting side of things for me most of the time, so to see the more immersive worlds and environments the characters were in definitely helped. Primarily the whole idea of its industrial mines. With industrialism in Krypton comes the idea of class, which brings the comic's more political side of things evident: a planet in which there is a class hierarchy mixed with the displaying of class through symbolism a thing of importance. Within this story, much like the original stories, Krypton is suffering, likely from a result of over mining to the point where the planet is unstable. These Absolute series seem to be following in some areas of their respective characters structures while also trying to find something new to do with them.

An interesting addition to the story and world of this comic is how it tackles class and corporate greed. Showcasing the ways in which the industrialism had impacted the environment as well as the natural environments and towns of everyday people. With this, it shows the exploitation of the poor and the people as they're working in dangerous mines and surrounded by dangerous chemicals. The comic details how the corporation responsible managed to net in hundreds of millions in dollars for the mining efforts, while those working in them were given a mere $300 extra for working in such conditions. This is all told to us from the perspective of a worker in those mines, showing the reasoning as to why they're there. The problems of the economics that led to people accepting such terrible conditions. The classism of the society leads to a more cult-like perspective on the world and how people are treated, going as far as worshipping the Lazarus Corporation and being willing to give their lives for it. Definitely speaking of a rather dystopian society. It's clear that this corporation goes beyond simple corporate greed and exploitation of the lower classes, to which it dishes out force and fear through acts of terror to maintain its control. I quite liked the way it introduced this story, it was immersive and handled quite well and goes beyond the simplicity of Superman being a hero. For much of this introduction, it isn't even really about his character at all.

The weirdness of Absolute Superman's art style slowly grew into something better as I continued reading though. I found it more engaging as things picked up, almost as if the quality had completely shifted and like another artist had taken over. More unique character design appeared, more interesting backgrounds and details were present. It made reading through it much more fun, more immersive and having me want more. For a first volume it wasn't bad at all. I mentioned before that I actually quite liked that it didn't even really focus on its main character, rather giving context to its world instead. But by the time that Superman did make an appearance, I wasn't all that excited for him. More wanting to see more of the depth to the world. But it definitely had me curious as to where this story would head with him in it.

This is definitely another part of the Absolute series that I think I'll be keeping up with. It seems different in that the universe it takes place in is fresher, and the idea of Superman seems more technological and reliant on his suit rather than powers directly. I'm curious as to where that goes later on. In general it felt more cyberpunk themed than anything else, and I enjoyed it for that.