Review: The Man of Steel: Superman vs. the Doomsday Army by Laurie S. Sutton

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Thousands of aliens have targeted Earth. The MAN OF STEEL battles them in back into orbit, and opens the armor of one of the soldiers. Inside is DOOMSDAY! Superman breaks open more armor. All the soldiers are DOOMSDAY clones — thousands and thousands of clones! One Doomsday is bad enough, but now there are infinite Doomsdays!
From DC SUPER HEROES: THE MAN OF STEEL chapter book series. For ages 8-12.
*Over 600,000 copies sold in the DC SUPER HEROES series
About the Author:
Laurie Sutton has read comics since she was a kid. She grew up to become an editor for Marvel, DC Comics, Starblaze, and Tekno Comics. She has written Adam Strange for DC, Star Trek: Voyager for Marvel, plus Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Witch Hunter for Malibu Comics. There are long boxes of comics in her closet where there should be clothing and shoes. Laurie has lived all over the world, and currently resides in Florida.

MY TAKE:
It's hard to find good books for young boys, but a book featuring a comic book hero sounds like a recipe for success.

In The Man of Steel: Superman vs. the Doomsday Army, an alien race tries to invade Earth but Superman will not let them. Superman gets a nasty surprise, though, when he finds out what the alien race's soldiers actually are and how they came to be.

Pretty much the whole time I was reading this, I got the feeling like I was watching an action movie. I'd say it was comic book-like, but I usually only got that vibe when I saw the illustrations. The prose felt like it was moving at a faster clip than when you're reading a comic book.

The good thing about the book is that kids don't need to have read the comic books to understand the story. The book gives the necessary details they need to understand who is who and their relationship with each other. I'd say this is a pretty good introductory book for kids who are curious about Superman or who prefer chapter books to comic books.

Thanks to NetGalley and Stone Arch Books for the e-ARC. Publication date of The Man of Steel: Superman vs. the Doomsday Army is on August 1, 2013.

THE GOOD:

1. You don't need to have read the comic books to understand the story.
2. The story has a good message.
3. It's a fast-paced book.

THE BAD:

1. The lead up to the action-packed part may be boring to some.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

The creature had the same powers as Superman.

READ IT IF:

1. Your kid likes Superman.
2. You want your comic-book-addicted kid to read more chapter books.
3. Your kid likes action-packed stories.

RATING: