Review: Absolute Superman #22

In what feels like a fast turnaround, Absolute Superman #22 came out this week, a mere 2 weeks after the last issue came out. It also starts a new arc for the book with Superman trying to track down Brainiac and, it seems, running into new villains on the way. 

The last arc with Superman fighting Black Adam alongside Hawkman and Steel was a beautiful brawl spanning the world and the moon. This issue, writer Jason Aaron continues to keep the action at a high level with Superman fighting Metallo, the mutated and tortured Christopher Smith Peacemaker. Indeed, the bulk of the issue are these two going at it, blood-soaked and brutal.

But much like the Black Adam story, throughout the brawl, Superman is hoping to make a connection, the de-escalate, and to help Metallo. I think that this is Absolute Superman's biggest strength. In this dark world where Metallo is a mentally addled young man tortured by Brainiac into being a weapon ... a sort of poster boy for the Absolute universe ... here is Superman trying to lift up, not punch down. 

Juan Ferreyra is back on art and brings it. Yes, the violence is gloriously rendered. But the character design is great too. And there is a page layout in the middle of the book that really reminded me of the power of comics, where words and images can mesh. Ferreyra is the perfect partner for a 1-2 punch art combo with Rafa Sandoval for this book. Sandolval does a great job on the cover with the looming Brainiac staring over the impending battle.

This almost felt like a rest issue rather than an opening chapter and was a bit of an exhale after the intensity of the Adam story. On to the book.

 

Superman is trying to find Brainiac and gets a lead. Jimmy Olsen's Omega Men has found chemical shipments heading to Argentina that suggest that Brainiac is there.

When Superman goes to investigate the place, Metallo flies out.

I really love this design, a sort of mechanized weapon suit with a pair of spider-like legs. Blades pop out of the back. The whole things glows green. Great design. I wonder if this was all Ferreyra.

As I said, there is a battle that happens throughout the book with Metallo more than a match for Superman.

But it also is a look at the troubled persona of Christopher Smith. 

Here we see that he has been tortured by the sadistic Brainiac, the Smith persona buried under pain until he becomes Metallo. 

I don't necessarily love the fact that every villain these days has a background that is there to make us feel sympathy. But Smith's story is troubling. 

We see him as a Peacemaker being told that they are going in to quell the bad guys ... but it is hard to know who are the bad guys. In essence, this wetworks team is there to kill a lot of people, including the bad guys.

It is a way to inure someone to violence, become amoral, become evil.

And I love that the colors are red here. The red is from the lights in the transport but also invoke blood, anger, violence.

Again, this is a fight all around.

I love this panel. Multi-images to invoke speed is one of the bits I love in comic art. Here, Superman says he lands hundreds of punches in a matter of seconds. 

Very very cool by Ferrayra.

Later we hear more of Smith's life as a Peacemaker.

He has visions of his father's face on people he is shooting. We hear his father probably shot up a synagogue. We see Smith wanted out. But this is an AI world where the 'therapist' puts him back in the field.

Smith wanted help and was denied it, leading him to this villainous life.

During the battle, as Smith remembers who he is and tries to over-write the Brainiac programming, he collapses in cardiac arrest.

Check out Superman doing the right 30:2 ratio during single provider CPR. Nice training!

But once revived, Smith begins his fight against Superman again. 

And then this great two page spread in which we see the outlines of Superman and Metallo fighting and then, within those outlines, we see panels of the fight. 

Throughout the fight, Superman has been imploring Smith to remember who he is, bringing up Smith's family, his mother, anything to jog the memory. And it seems like Smith's mother was the only one who cared for him. It is the memory of his mother that makes him stop.

He finally says that he is Christopher Smith ... not Metallo.

Seriously, these pages are so slick, where art and words and panel/page construction just lead to a great experience. Gorgeous.

With Smith off the table as a weapon, Brainiac emerges and flies off. (Superman is just too battered to pursue.)

That means Superman is there to hold up Smith, promising to help him. 

Nice ending page showing this metaphorical and literal support. 

It's interesting. This is a very good issue. But the memory of the last is so fresh in my mind, and that issue was so fantastic and intense, this one felt like a bit of a letdown. I wonder if I would love it more if there was more space between issues. 

Overall grade: A-