A bit of Supergirl-specific news came out this week, delaying things a bit. So I am catching up.
Super Sons #4 came out last week, the end of the first arc and potentially the end of the team. More than any prior chapter, this issue shows how difficult it would be for these two boys to be friends and to work together. It isn't easy for the more down-to-Earth Jon to deal with the narcissistic worldly assassin Damien. And this battle showcases that.
The villain of the piece, Kid Amazo, has the potential to be a legitimate threat. But in this story, he is relatively easily dispatched. Maybe too easily. And really, in the end, he isn't even defeated by Superboy and Robin. Really, I think Amazo was really just a catalyst to showcase the differences of the Sons.
As much fun as it is to see the sons bristle with each other, I am finding the interaction with the larger DCU even more engaging. So seeing Luthor, Lois, and Alfred in here was also a great.
Lastly, Jorge Jimenez's art is the perfect style for this book. Stylized, somewhat exaggerated, and in places cartoonish, it jibes wonderfully with the tone of the book.
On to the book!
Last issue, Kid Amazo overcame the boys. We open with them chained and hung upside down in Amazo's lair. Neither boy is thrilled with the other. Damien mocks Jon for not using his super-powers more effectively. Jon is upset that Damien's antics brought them to this point.
Jon comes right out and says it. He hates Damien.
Neither of them is happy with the other.
Kid Amazo arrives and gloats over having absorbed Jon's powers. He couldn't absorb anything from Damien. Robin only 'flips around a lot'. It is something of a comeuppance for Robin, reminding him just how helpless he is.
One of my complaints about the first issue was that Kid Amazo violently killed his family. Remember how that seemed to occur on a television set.
It turns out that the real family has been kept alive and depowered, forced to watch this farce of a family as Reggie eliminated their android doppelgangers. At least he isn't a cold blooded murderer. It's hard to come back from murdering your family.
That said, it looks like maybe Amazo has turned the corner. Maybe it is time to eliminate his family all together.
And even better, when the Justice League arrives to rescue Jon and Damien, Amazo will gain all their powers. With an unstoppable army of super-powered androids, Amazo will go on to rule the world.
I think this shows just how unhinged Reggie has become. Seeing him standing on the pile of League corpses is pretty brutal. And his expressions this whole issue just shows this unbridled hate and rage.
What I love is Robin's complete arrogance. Even in the face of the megalomaniacal genius of Luthor, Damien thinks he's in charge. He tells Luthor what to do, declaring that Robin is Batman's better half.
I will admit that I don't read any Batman books outside of Detective. Does Damien act like this in front of Bruce, declaring how superior he is?
I haven't been a big Damien fan. This sort of braggadocio bugs me.
The boys drag Reggie's family outside of the complex, putting their lives over everything else. But they have a plan.
Remember, Sara, Amazo's sister, has powers over metal. She is brought back where she uses her powers to rip the Amazo armor of her brother's body.
In the end, it is Sara who defeats Kid Amazo. Not the super sons.
Reggie falls unconscious after the armor is ripped off.
At last we learn that his power, to split himself into infinite copies, fractured his mind as well.
I like that explanation. It makes more sense than Reggie being completely evil as an early teen.
On the way back to the Kent farm, the two exchange barbs. Jon complains about Damien's methods. He says Damien isn't scary. He downplays Damien's presence. And he still can't get over that the almost died when they could have simply asked their father's for help. He is about to tell Damien to buzz off and that they will never team up again when they run into trouble. Alfred and Lois are there ... and they ain't happy.
This is my one complaint with the art. Lois looks like a 20 year old model, maybe Jon's babysitter. She doesn't look old enough to be Jon's mother. It's a brilliant page, Lois expression and body language adding a ton of emotional information to the dialogue. Lois just looks like a teenager.
Still, this was a fun issue. It shows how tough it is for a Super and a Bat to be best buds. And the art is stunning. Too bad the Amazo is so easily defeated.
Overall grade: B/B+
Hmm... Yes, I'm afraid this issue lost me for a bit. Kid Amazo turns out to be a brat with over-inflated delusions of grandeur, and he isn't defeated by the Super-sons but by his sister. Damien is being a greater jerkass than usual. And so far Superboy and Robin's partnership isn't improving but getting worse. We haven't been given many reasons to believe they may become an effective crime-fighting unit.
ReplyDeleteI know we can't expect them to be as mature as Kara and Babs or as professional as Clark and Bruce or as tight-knit as Karen and Helena, but I'd like to see some progress.
The last panel, though is golden. They're dead, right? They're dead.
I also think Lois looks too young.
Ignoring the "looks too young" complaint about the last panel... all I can say is "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! BUSTED!!!"
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing as always, Anj.
Regards