Because of a sequence of events in some event book that are not explained here there is an alternate universe Lois Lane who has Superman's powers running around the main DC universe, she's gal pals with Lana Lang (also maybe from an alternate earth, but who needs context in a Superman spinoff) who the powers of Superman Red (remember that?) but their powers are slowly killing them. Also Lex Luthor has hovering doom station with a bizzaro superwoman and they are wrecking up the place, they fight and they all die.

Verdict: Skip it. There's not enough to really sink your teeth into to really enjoy the going's on.

I loved the story. It was action packed and exactly what I was expecting! Athough I loved the story I didn't like the drawing as much and I felt like there was too much text in some pages.

Late in Phil Jimenez's Rebirth Superwoman Vol. 1: Who Killed Superwoman?, the titular hero recounts the motley crew gathered to help her save Metropolis: "A narcissist, a clone, an atomic villain, and a ghost." It is indicative of the charming also-ran aesthetic of Jimenez's Superwoman; back in the Triangle Titles era, Superman's supporting cast was almost well-realized enough to support their own title, and that's about what we have here -- a title that teams some of Superman's best-loved allies, friends, and villains, almost everyone except the Man of Steel himself. It is of course no impediment in the Rebirth era that some of these characters haven't been seen for a while, as Jimenez (and fellow Super-team members Peter Tomasi and Dan Jurgens) grafts them almost just as they were on to the modern era. The result is interesting and endearing, and with deference to the long history of the "Superwoman" name.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me.
While the artwork was fantastic, the story failed to ever truly take off and hold my interest.

'Superwoman, Volume 1: Who Killed Superwoman' by Phil Jimenez is a story that seemed like it should be interesting, but it took me a long time to work my way through it.

In the new Rebirth universe, Superman is gone. In his place, Lex Luthor has power armor and wants to be the new Superman. There is also a Superwoman. Actually two. Lois Lane and Lana Lang have discovered they have powers. They are untrusting of Lex Luthor. Also, Lois' powers seem to be killing her. It may be up to Lana and a few surprise guests to set things right.

The art is fine by the series of artists in these 6 issues. I just really didn't care. It was exposition heavy, even during fight scenes. A lot of the pages had split points of view, which was fine, but it was just so dialogue intensive. I did manage to finish it, but I found myself reading it, then putting it down. That's never a good sign for me and graphic novels.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

So Lois Lane got super powers at Superman's death. But so did Lana Lang. Now, the two have teamed up after their fashion. But at the unveiling of Lexcorp's newest creation, things went bizarre. Lex Luthor's suit froze on him, so both Superwoman are needed to save the city. But then a bizarre clone creature kills Lois Lane and Lex Luthor disappears while Ultrawoman works on taking over Metropolis. Lana Lang, Steel, and a host of other have to fight back and stop her, even if it costs their lives. A very strange super tale!

ARC from Netgalley.
During the death of New 52 Superman, a wave of power launched out of him and into the bodies of Lois Lane (new 52 version) and Lana Lang. From this fall out, both ladies began to manifest powers and both took up the mantle of "Superwoman". When a "Bizarro Superwoman" (kind of, but made from the DNA of Earth-3's Crime Syndicate Superwoman) shows up, Super-Lois dies in battle and Lana is left alone... but not quite. Joining Lana in the fight is her boyfriend, John Henry Irons (Steel), his daughter Natasha (a superhero in a steel suit too, but without a proper name),Traci 13 (magic user and Natasha's girlfriend), Maggie Sawyer (ex-girlfriend of Batwoman and police detective), and a ghost (maybe?) of Lois.
The story revolves around the rise of Lena Luthor, as she captures Super-Lex, directs her army of "Bizarro"-women, and gets rid of most of her body, putting it in a robot and proclaiming herself "Ultrawoman". The fight doesn't finish completely, and will continue in Vol. 2.
I'm not 100% sold on this comic. The story feels very drawn out and overly wordy, but the action is good and I like that a different cast of characters is given the spotlight to shine. I'll hang through Vol 2 and evaluate again.
Recommend, with reservation.

An absolute slog to get through. You'd think someone who started off as an artist first would tell a story visually but you can barely even see the art with the amount of exposition on the page. Jimenez puts Chris Claremont to shame. The book is filled with all this techno babbley, psuedoscience nonsense. But the art is very good.

Both Lois Lane and Lana Lang have become Superwoman even though their costumes and powers are different. Lois almost immediately gets killed until she comes back as a ghost. Lex Luthor plays the damsel in distress for most of this book while his sister maniacally explains the plot for a couple of issues. I honestly think the DC editorial staff has just given up at this point to let this BS out the door.

Issue #1 of Superwoman was mostly awesome. The idea of Lana Lang and Lois Lane starring in an action-buddy-comedy working together to figure out Superwoman's powers in the wake of Superman's death got me very excited. Things took a turn, though, when half of the duo expired (and showed up later as a ghost). The rest of the book was a fine representation of the superhero genre, starring plenty of Superman's B- and C-level cast, but it didn't live up to the premise I thought it was establishing in the first few pages. Because of things happening in the pages of Superman, it's understandable that one of the presumed leads had to make a quick exit. I'm just kind of sad because I was so pumped for what this book could have been.

The overall plotline was different than it being about Superman teaming up with a new partner. I liked that there were two female leads. There was a lot of action, but there was just something about the story that didn't grab my attention. My mind kept wondering and I couldn't really focus on the story at all.

I finished this ARC this morning, just one day before the file expires. Oops.

So the protagonist of this novel is Lana Lang - probably a lesser-known character from the DC Universe. She, along with the infamous Lois Lane, doubles as a Superwoman - protecting the city now that Superman is gone. Of course, they still have Lex Luthor playing Superman, but he seems to be bringing more trouble than good.

I won't ruin it for any potential readers, but I will tell you this: Lex's past is really coming back to haunt him now. After all these years, there appears to be a new Luthor on the block...

My favourite part of this was Lana's battle with anxiety. Yeah, I know, I always point out stuff like that. But this was really good - I found it so relatable at times. It was so refreshing to see a big superhero character have human issues like anxiety.

And I actually found myself feeling kinda sorry for Lex. He was only trying to help (though I suppose we all know the road to Hell is paved with good intentions).

I really liked this volume. The art was great, the plot interesting, and the characters relatable. 4 out of 5 stars. A series I'll be reading more of.

Another book I enjoyed but could have been better. Wish they had let the team up of Lana and Lois develop more.

Superwoman, Volume 1: Who Killed Superwoman is unfortunately another example of what I have come to see as DC's rebirth not really having a vision for its female characters. Considering they are at the dawn of the release of a Wonder Woman movie that looks to be awesome, this is really too bad.

Lois Lane has the powers of Superman and pledges to protect Metropolis, only it seems her powers are killing her. So does Lois use her powers, knowing that each time she does they are slowly killing her or does she do nothing and live.

Though the question should be, with Superman and egocentric Lex Luthor around, why does Metropolis need another superhero?

Not sure if I am going to like this one at all but hopefully the future issues are much better than this first volume.

This was full of so much stuff. For one thing, did I miss Lana Lang and John Henry Irons getting together in New 52? Cool, but also I don't remember that happening.

Also, Natasha Irons is back and being her awesome (and sometimes annoying) self. John Henry is still her uncle, and now Lana is some sort of mentor to her.

Oh, and both Lois Lane and Lana apparently have powers. but, will they both be able to survive the book (after all the title is a little ominus).

I've watched Lois on Lois and Clark The New Adventures of Superman, and on Smallville with powers, and I like those versions. I also think that like those versions they got how both Lois and Lana would probably use their powers very right in this book.

Oh, and Maggie Sawyer is back in Metropolis. I guess Kate Kane/Maggie Sawyer is low on the chance scale now. Bummer.

Not to mention, oy to Rebirth Cliffhangers. Seriously DC, I know that it's weird to be a TPB collection reading person in this day and age, but, still, you're killin' me here.

I got this ARC through Netgalley on behalf of DC Entertainment.

Honestly, this one isn't that great. It's confusing at times, the writing is kind of cheesy at points, and I care very little for the characters. I know it's an established universe, but that doesn't mean that I don't want a little world-building and character development.

Superwomen Vol. 1 is a book full a great twists and turns, set in the awesome (so far), DC rebirth universe. I really can't say much because it's better to read it with knowing as little as possible, in a good way! The characters are well written and mostly true to their past. I had just a couple issues with it, however, I think you should read this good book and judge it yourself! Pick it up!

I’ve come across A LOT of dire, depressingly shitty books as I’ve made my way through DC’s Rebirth line and after finishing each one I’ve naively thought to myself “Well, that’s the worst of the bunch, that’s the bottom of the barrel - nothing’s gonna be worse than (Blank)!” The first was Aquaman. And then along came Nightwing. And then Titans. And then it snowballs as you realise in horror that most of the line is utter garbage. Deathstroke. Hellblazer. Cyborg. Blue bloody Beetle.

Seeing as I’m now (thankfully) nearing the end of the Rebirth range, I think I can confidently assert this: Superwoman Rebirth is THE ABSOLUTE WORST! You won’t find a more wretched comic than this anywhere else. And I mean anywhere, even outside of Rebirth. Phil Jimenez proves himself to be yet another artist who cannot write, only this dude is exceptionally incompetent and shockingly bad at writing than most others.

The Superman line is a fucking nightmare to follow these days. I think there’s at least two Supermen flying around at the moment plus a Clark Kent who’s totally separate from them AND Lex is pretending to be Superman AND there’s John Henry Irons/Steel; so five Supermen? Then there are the ladies: Lana Lang is Superwoman. But so is Lois Lane - of which there are two, I think? There’s also a Bizarro version of the Superwoman from Earth-3. Fuuuuuuuuck. WHAT A MESS!!!!

This is Jimenez’s badly written/conceived story: Lana has to restore electricity to Metropolis after Lex’s giant battleship somehow knocks out power to the city. Wow, electrical maintenance - just what I’m looking for when I’m picking up a superhero comic! Also there’s suddenly an evil female Lex Luthor called Lena who has generic villain motivations - take over the city, make everyone pay, yadda yadda yadda. A female Superman and a female Lex battling each other. So unimaginative and contrived. Honestly, it took me two weeks to wade through this drivel because it was so unbelievably boring.

And what’s worse is that Jimenez has no clue how to tell a story well. So each page is filled with too many panels full of writing and none of it is worth reading - it barely progresses the crappy story. I’m not even convinced Jimenez even knew what story he was trying to tell it’s so unimpressive, sloppily executed and confused. After reading dozens of these cluttered, dreary pages, imagine the misery turning each page was for me and seeing yet another worthless cascade of instantly forgettable dialogue and captions! And this death-march goes on and on until the end. It’s about as fun as toothache.

Lex is written out of character as this weak cuck of a man, Lana is Bland Tough Lady, Lena Luthor is an unmemorable baddie… there is nothing good about this one. Not a single, remote thing. I’d give a more detailed, systematic breakdown of this garbage but it doesn’t deserve it - it’s not even good at being entertainingly bad, it’s simply plain awful. Also that would mean re-reading the book and it’s just not worth it. I don’t have the energy and it would exceed my threshold for pain. I’ll literally die before re-reading this book again. And, believe me, I’m staying well the hell away from any comic written by this guy in the future!

The title of the book asks Who Killed Superwoman? The answer’s right there on the cover: Phil Jimenez.

Netgalley kindly provided me a copy of this volume, which I read as soon as I'd finished Superman: Action Comics, Volume 2: Welcome to the Planet. This story is closely linked to the Superman one, so it helps to read them concurrently.

There is no way to write this review without spoilers, so tread carefully.

The story starts with an introduction to our two Superwomen. Lois Lane and Lana Lang were hit by New Earth's Superman's solar energy when he was killed. Subsequently they absorbed parts of his abilities - Lois has his more traditional powers, while Lana conducts electricity. They form an unlikely partnership as Lois looks to Lana for mentorship. Turns out, on this world, Lana and Clark Kent/Superman were close friends and Lana helped him reign in his powers. Lois just wants the same help.

The two women work for competitive media houses - Lois at Daily Planet and Lana, newly joining The Daily Star for their science segment. Just when they're getting used to their new lives, a strategic power outage cripples the armour of self-declared Superman, Lex Luthor, leaving Lois and Lana to do the rescuing.

This attack opens a can of worms - why were only Luthor technologies hit? While the Superwomen attempt to rediscover the truth, Lana's health begins to take a dive. And then... Lois is killed right in front of her, by a B-Zero. Apparently, that's a thing,

Turns out, these B-Zero-S work for an unknown antagonist - Lex' little sister Lena, thought to be dead, but in actuality in a coma, resting not-so-peacefully in a hi-tech dungeon below ground. Lex tried to use Superman's harnessed power to revive her, but instead made her into a monster. She captures Lex, cripples him, then commandeers his armour to place her disembodied head in, ostensibly to wreak havoc on Metropolis.

Superwoman, along with her boyfriend Steel, Steel's niece Natasha, Natasha's girlfriend Traci 13, Natasha's ex-flame Leti, Lois Lane's ghost, a defective B-Zero, Kryptonite Man's head, purple Skeletor dude, Daily Star's news producer Nadidah (a hijabi!, I'm so stoked) and random people, must come to the rescue. Yes, it's as stupid as it sounds.

In the end, the good guys win, Lex looks like the bad guy he is, the ghost of Lois Lane haunting Lana turns out to be the living Lois Lane (I've given up trying to understand that) and everyone is happy till Lana Lang dies the same way as Lois. Or well, we think she's dying. Who knows. These are comics - trust no death.

In the history of reading comic books, never have I read one that felt verbose and overlong - till this one. It is packed with words, most of which say the same thing over and over. The interplay between the two Superwomen was the best part, but Lois is bumped off in the very second issue. Far too many pages were dedicated to drawn out action sequences, none of which showcased much creativity, in fact they were often confusing and confounding.

An epic number of pages is dedicated to purple skeletor dude yelling that he won't go back to prison because they're torturing the prisoners, but instead of Superwoman and Steel simply saying, 'stop firing at people, we won't take you back there, tell us what you know', they keep attacking him, and not listening to him, thereby prolonging the scene and the length of the book for no valid reason.

The panel placement needed work - you never knew which direction to read in, and even when you did, there appeared to be gaps in the conversations or thoughts.

Continuity-wise, these characters seem to have been plonked in for convenience. Superwoman, neither of them, was mentioned by Lois or Superman till Lana actually showed up. And given that Lois was Superwomaning for a while, how come Superman never tried to engage with her?

Throughout this volume, Lana mourns the loss of her best friend Clark Kent, who died as Superman, but it was proven in the Superman rebirth comics that Clark and Superman were two different people on this Earth. But, Lana never discusses this, nor does she go looking for Clark (who has been captured by Lena Luthor, by the way. For what reason, I don't think they even tried to clarify). I don't think the authors of this series spoke to the Superman ones.

Since this comic is written by a primarily all-male team, and their protagonist is a woman, she is given several handicaps that do not allow her to be the sole hero fighting the good fight. She's talked down to almost constantly by Steel, who never respects her wishes. While a crucial fight is going on, she's at home having nightmares.

She is the sole enemy of the big bad, which makes no sense at all - why would Lena even have a vendetta against this woman? She hates her brother, make an example of him, take over Lexcorp and be the most powerful person on the planet! Nope, the writers conjure up a convoluted, incomprehensible plot where Lena wants to take over the world (or something) by becoming a machine. All while leaving her brother alive. She maligns his name, but doesn't take advantage of the same - it's daft.

And how does Superwoman tackle her? By giving her a nonsensical, condescending, gender-based spiel that makes no sense to anyone but the writers of this.

It's important to note that we have a Superwoman, who is addicted to prescription drugs, is scared to bits all the time, doesn't listen to anyone, sides with a known sociopath (Lex Luthor, don't ask) and has no empathy for prisoners being tortured. As mentioned, she also gets talked down to by her boyfriend in a public place, several times... I just can't even with DC. Seriously.

The prison torture stuff is thrown in to show how bad Lex is and I'd be fine with Lana not caring about some discipline on convicts, but experimentation and torture is unacceptable. And, she reveals her disinterest in their pain despite Steel reminding her that he has a brother in that same prison. What?

This entire volume was torturous, and it's a real shame, given that a Superwoman is a nice deviation from the all-male comics we usually get. But if it's going to be this substandard and have such little respect for the character and for women in general, we'd be better off not having it in the first place. Let's just head back to the Birds of Prey, at least they're a fun lot with rounded characters.

Who killed Superwoman? With this in hand, who gives a flying one? Unreadably bad. As if all the Rebirth dross hasn't done enough to Supes, this is one more nail in his coffin. And in DC's. The narrative is awful, some of the pages are just plain impossible to read, and with this number of Super characters to flap around and/or get killed off, interest soon vanishes so fast that Supes himself couldn't keep track.