Depending on how successful a comic is depends on how well the artist uses his or her lines. The most basic lines in this particular strip are the outlines, also known as contour lines depending on your definition of them. The lines are the skeleton for the figures and well as the buildings, landscape, and flying debris. So where do I begin..
How about at the first frame. Here we see a beautiful depiction of an explosion. We see the main piece in this frame is the corner of something that would appear round if we had the entire picture, and we see this as a planet. The way the lines were placed so they projected off of the sphere with the "smoke" around it makes it look like it is actually in mid explosion. It wouldn't have been exciting to see the planet either before or after the explosion because it would have just been a planet with no movement. There are many more examples of movement in the comic strip, such as the impact of whatever is hitting the building in the center of the comic, or even the movement of the light rays below that.
The way the movement has on the placement of the other is also pretty cool. As Superman tears of his dress shirt underneath his suit coat, showing all his majesty, he makes subtle wrinkles in his shirt. This small detail is not directly focus on, but yet makes the audience know exactly what is going on. This gives it texture, and well as the wrinkles in his pants. There is also texture in the plangent at the bottom in the center. It makes it as though it is a rough landscape, instead of a polished sphere. A large factor in the roundness of that planet is the rounded shadow. This shadow goes with the contour of the planet, giving it depth. This leads me to the dimensions of the mans checkered hat in the following frame. If the lines were place as completely straight lines instead of the curving contour lines that are shown, it would make it a flatter picture.
The last thing to be discussed is the mood. Now, it is Superman, so he needs to save every single person that is distressed. But how do I make someone look distressed? The answer, give them some angry eyebrows. The little tiny people shown in the top center frame are show in action poses, giving some suggestion a havoc. Mood is also given by the man I believe is Captain Universe in the bottom left frame. He is drawn with lines that show raised eyebrows and an open mouth as he were yelling. He seems to be yelling at the girl behind him, because she is crying... There is only rubble raining over top of her, so stop crying.
So to finish of the line critique of Superman, Id say that the artist was very successful in this strip, as well as the rest of them. If only he was real...
