It has been a while since the first volume of Absolute Superman had been released, in fact, a while since any of the Absolute lineup had seen a new volume come out to the point where I actually forgot about it for a while. Much of my time within the realm of comics as of late has been focused more on the releases of Dark Horse and Image Comics, the world of independent and smaller stories rather than the big two companies of DC or Marvel. The Absolute series so far has been a bit of a hit-or-miss with me though, it's something that has seen some really strong introductions while others have been a bit more lack-luster and unappealing to me. I simply could not get into the Absolute Wonderwoman story, and the art style in it was just ugly to me. Absolute Batman has been the strongest release so far, with two hits and a really fun story that works with the art. I was skeptical of the Absolute Superman release, and when the first volume came out I found the story interesting with a mild interest in the art style. It wasn't something that massively spoke to me, but it had its strengths here and there. But the main thing really was that world-building that had me hooked in. Futuristic, dystopian, and very different.
That world-building saw us on a planet being mined to its death. A dystopian world in which the threat of the mining industry had led to a population being manipulated as a massive corporation happily raked in the profits as a result of their hardships. Going as far as having the comic directly tell us how much money it would make compared to how much the individual worker would earn while heavily sacrificing their own health down in the mines for that minuscule pay. It wasn't something that felt too preachy and trying to relate to today's messed up political sphere, it felt like it was trying to give more context into the world, to show a life that was industrial and downright horrible. And this was where our Superman was living, participating in fact. The primary threat to this land, which occupied it both in a military sense and a commercial sense was the Lazarus Corporation, the one responsible for the mining process as well as slow destruction of the planet due to those actions. It showed a different look into Superman though, one that didn't result in him directly having powers, but instead having a reactive suit. It had this ability to interact with Superman through speech, as well as perform various acts based upon command. An interesting take on the character, but also a little too unimaginative in some ways. But fortunately this volume gives a little more to the character that doesn't have him entirely relying on the suit, and having some powers of his own.
As this story progresses it almost has this feeling of a bit of a coming of age story. That is to say that it seems like Superman is rather young, rather unaware of his full power and abilities, and the suit that serves as some sort of artificial intelligence that guides and protects him through life. Primarily due to his young age and lack of true awareness over his abilities, the suit seems like something that was given to him after being sent through space to the planet he now inhabits. With his rejection of the corporation that dictates itself upon the mining population, this volume focuses on Superman's escape, but also meeting of the Lazarus Corporation worker Lois Lane. The 'Absolute' series spins things up in this way where the characters we already know are still somewhat utilised, but given very different purposes compared to what we're used to. I quite like it done this way, and in this instance is seems like Lois is a cog in the machine for the corporation, carrying a firearm and reporting back to them while trying to keep order. Superman's suit aims to protect him without his direction necessarily required, and with this came the dilemma of being chained up to Lois with an attempt at his arrest.
The corporation is interested in his suit, and the arrest aims to bring him back to the corporation, but of course he's not having that. This volume was a little empty in the narrative side of things, but it felt like its purpose was to give us more context over the suit rather than anything else. Showing why Superman has it, what it is capable of, and how its main directive appears to just be to keep Superman alive and protected. It leads us through a series of action sequences as the suit takes the reigns, creating bulletproof and fireproof fabric that also serves as his cape. He flies off with Lois as he aims to not kill her, while this leads to her discovery of his character and realising he's not really a threat to anyone. That's pretty much the story in this volume, it's not something that's deeply immersive, but it is riddled with some cool action sequences and snippets of world building that show the true nature of the corporation. And their primary focus is to instil fear through violence.
I think for me the highlight was the continuation of some pretty solid art. The backgrounds have a more typical comic book look to them, a lot of dark shows and heavy use of blacks, but the characters tend to look really clean with very few lines across them. It gives a lot of depth into the panels which helps the characters stand out from the background, while also giving the backgrounds more of that darker, gritty look of a planet that has been heavily mined and riddled with poverty and pollution. Dirty and on the brink of collapse. At first I didn't think I liked it all that much, but the more I see of the comics, the more it starts to grow on me a bit more. So this was a decent second volume, but I do hope to see a bit more of a story progress with the following ones.