Superman #52 (DC)

I haven't been following the complete "Final Days of Superman," the Peter J. Tomasi epic that rounds out, as much as any other story, the New 52 era.  The conclusion speaks for itself, however, so I'm not too worried.

In it, Superman is confronted by a doppelganger it takes everything he has to defeat.  Quite literally.  This issue counts as the official second death of Superman.

This is as clear a metaphor of the New 52 era as there could possibly be.  Grant Morrison helped launch it with the second Action Comics #1, presenting a new vision of Superman.  A series of writers within the pages of Superman itself attempted to keep up, and none of them, and indeed including Morrison himself, proved to produce that definitive New 52 Superman in quite the manner fans found with Scott Snyder's Batman. 

So it's only fitting that, out of Convergence emerged a third Superman to contend with in this issue.  Technically, he's been running around the pages of Lois & Clark, but for all intents and purposes (because, I believe, he'll be the star of Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's Rebirth-era Superman), this is his debut, in this epic clash of Supermen.

The solar flare power Geoff Johns introduced, and which has been driving Superman comics ever since, becomes a crucial element in how Tomasi concludes his epic.  The would-be Superman, Denny Swan (a name that combines Denny O'Neil and Curt Swan, two iconic DC creators), has now superseded Ulysses, another would-be Superman Johns introduced and previously featured in "Final Days of Superman," can only be defeated by this new power.  Which, because of circumstances, will prove deadly, should Superman use it again.

Of course he does.  And the Convergence Superman chooses this opportunity to finally reveal himself to the world.  It's kind of perfect.

Helping pull all this off is Mikel Janin, whose work was fascinating within the pages of Grayson, and so it's great to see him given such an opportunity to truly let his work shine.  He absolutely nails it.  This is some of the best Superman art in ages.  He'll next be seen in the pages of Tom King's Batman.  Couldn't be happier for him.

With that, in a way, Tomasi closes the book on the New 52.