Review: Superman #24

Superman #24 came out last week, the 'finale' of the Psi War storyline that Scott Lobdell has been weaving through both super-titles recently. Lobdell has backed off this story the last couple of months, maybe so he could write all of the upcoming 'Krypton Returns' books. Our old friend from Supergirl, Mike Johnson, once again steps in as writer on this chapter. I do wonder if Lobdell plotted this finale. Johnson does a fine job here, wrapping things up and tidying up some of the hanging questions I have about the plot.

Eddy Barrows is on art here and does a great job. I'm not surprised. Barrows stuff is always sharp and slick. It just seems he can never stay on time with a monthly title. With the wild psionic action and crazy physical brawls in this finale, Barrows really is able to shine here.

I put 'finale' in quotes above because while the acute problem of the various psionic factions vying for control of Metropolis was stopped, all the villains escape, slinking away to plot more. Also it is a brutal issue with some horrific imagery when the Psycho Pirate cuts loose on the citizens of town. It seems a bit much for a Superman comic. Lastly, there is one key panel which shows the new 52 attitude towards the man of steel, something mirrored in the recent movie.

I still think this was one of the better arcs in the 2 years of Superman stories in the New 52 (Morrison's run is exempt from inclusion in my mind). These villains with mental powers just pose a bigger threat in my mind than Mongul for instance. And Lois has a decent sized role here, albeit with powers. I want to see Lois the reporter more than Lois the novice psionic.

The book opens up right where the last book ended. Lois, infected and energized by psionic power, battles the Psycho Pirate who simply shut down Superman last issue.

There are some leaps here. The Psycho Pirate is powerful enough to have defeated Hector Hammond and Queen Bee. He is strong enough to be battling Superboy in a High School somewhere (still idiotic given what he is doing here. What would he gain from antagonizing teenagers). And he is replete with power having sucked Superman dry. So how Lois, who just inherited her powers, is able to parry effectively for a bit.

This opening splash is a great representation of Barrows' work here. The snakes from the Medusa mask, the cityscape. The odd angle, putting Lois and the Pirate upright when really they are at wild angles (Superman being the 'ground' X axis) all works.

And this page works as well, the panels formed by the splayed out psionic snakes. That is nice. There is even a sort of 'emotional spectrum' here, with the panels colored vividly with one major tone.

The Pirate is impressed enough with Lois to leave her alive. He tells her she must decide quickly ... join him or be killed by him. It is a bit of hubris on his part. Perhaps that is his flaw. But off he goes to strip the citizens of Metropolis of their civility and let their emotions run wild.

Lois uses her new powers to jump start Superman's mind. He is shocked by her appearance and her willingness to fight the Pirate. Before they can dwell too much, the other villains show up.

First Hector Hammond arises.

And then we see the Queen Bee in her real form. I have to say I was very happy to see this. All of the Twenty, those touched by psionics, have slowly mutated into monstrous forms with bulbous brain-heads. I wondered how the Queen Bee could be so super-model perfect. Turns out that was just her glamour. She actually looks more like the Aliens Queen. So thanks to Johnson for removing that slight problem I had.

With the Pirate being the biggest threat amongst them, Superman and Lois decide to team up with the Queen and Hammond.

Sure I have read Superman stories where he has briefly teamed up with villains to fight villains but it is usually with a wry smile. It usually ends with Superman imprisoning all the villains, even his temporary allies. We don't see that here.

And I suppose the Pirate is a bigger threat. Hammond and the Queen simply want to enslave the city. Heck, the Queen wants them to be fodder for Brainiac. These 'allies' aren't saints.

But the Pirate is the more pressing issue. He has removed all civility and reason from people. And it is here that we see some terrible imagery. People fighting and shooting and looting and lighting fires. Okay ...

But children becoming cannibals? Gnawing on the recent dead like the Vendol from The Thirteenth Warrior? It seems excessive. It reminded me of the horror we saw in the last arc of Alan Moore's Miracleman. This seemed gratuitous.

And now my biggest problem with the book ... once again we see Superman willing to kill if the threat is big enough. Or at least willing to consider a killing move before exhausting all other options.

Lois deduces the mask is what is making the Pirate so powerful. Superman has to remove it.

Look at his face as he acknowledges that removing the mask might kill the Pirate. She even says it might effect the crowd. So what does Superman do? While the Queen and Hammond distract the Psycho Pirate, Superman flies and rips off his mask.

It might kill the Pirate. It might make things worse for those he controls. But that is the first thing he does.

Not fly him away from the crowd. Not fly him up to the thin air to see if he can knock him unconscious. Not fly around him like a cyclone to shock the air out of his lungs. Not use his superbreath to make him hypothermic. Nope ... head straight for the jugular, human life be damned.

It is a subtle change in Superman isn't it. Now it is implied that if the threat is big enough he could kill.

And it feels wrong.

Of course, it doesn't kill the Psycho Pirate. But that isn't the point. The point is Superman was willing to do it knowing it might kill him. Especially when other options hadn't been explored.

Then a very nice wrinkle.

The mask seems to have a will of its own and tries to seduce Superman into putting it on. That would be a decent wrinkle alone.

But then psionic Lois uses her power and influence to have Superman take it off. And she ends her plea by calling him Clark! Shaken free by her voice, he removes the mask and incinerates it with his heat vision.

But Lois knows Superman is Clark! Was it her psionics? Did she 'know' deep in her heart and her psionics revealed the truth to herself? Who knows? But that is a great twist.

Of course, with the adrenaline rush over, Lois lapses back into her human form and her coma.

So we get this scene at the end where Superman proclaims that Lois is his best friend. So tell me, is this a case of him protesting too much? Trying to convince himself not to be in love with her because she is with someone else? Or is this DC shoving the Clark/Diana thing down our throats more, pushing Lois away more?

I suppose best friend is better than enemy or absent.

Lois ends up back in the hospital, brought there as Clark who happened to 'stumble upon her'. As for the villains ... they all get away. All of them. Sure, they are hurting and weakened. But Superman let them all escape to wreak havoc later.

So it is sort of a non-end. The Pirate and Lois know now that Clark is Superman. And Superman is willing to use a kill option to end a threat.

The action scenes were engaging and the art was vibrant. So overall this ends up being a decent issue. The ups are high. The lows are low.

Overall grade: B/C+

Review: Superboy #24

Superboy #24 came out this week, the last issue in the Justin Jordan 'era' of this book. This book has the be the most unstable book in the Superman family of books as it has gone through several creators, several overall thematic changes, and several origins for the title character.

I know longer know who this Superboy is. I don't know if I have ever known who this Superboy is. And now I am starting not to care about who he is either. Is he the 'living weapon' of NOWHERE? Is he grown to kill Superman? Is he the angry bank robber, living a party life? Is he a wisecrack going to high school? Is he the clone of Superman? Superman and Lex? Superman and Lois? Superman and Lois and Superman/Lois? When I don't know who I will be reading month to month, it is hard to get invested. And with Jordan gone and Marv Wolfman coming in, who knows who we will be reading next.

But this is the end of Jordan's run, a run which started with some optimism as a repentant Superboy was going to return the money he stole only to meet Dr. Psycho. Their relationship was fun and funny with snappy banter. But the last issue seemed to back off from a fun-loving Conner. And so we have this issue which wraps up some of the Psi-War elements in this book (although the actual ending to this arc is in another book).

The art, done by fill-in professional Robson Rocha. I will say, his art is improving with each issue I see. In particular, his Psycho Pirate is great, infusing him with flairs of insanity.

Anyways, I am going to try to remain fair in this review. But the change in tone in this book is so jarring. And the Psycho Pirate angle here is odd for a couple of reasons which detracted from the story.

So first off, the last we saw The Psycho Pirate he was crushing Superman psionically, draining the Man of Steel of his power, and gearing up for a face-off with Brainiac. So why exactly with someone with that goal be interested in high school shenanigans? Why boost the fear waves that 'Shift', the nerd in his arms is doing?

So at first I thought this story must take place before the Action Comics one. That would make sense. The Pirate could be testing his powers before facing off.

Instead, Jordan says that the Pirate is concurrently fighting Superman! He isn't even physically in the building! Makes that earlier panel of him holding the 'Shift' student a little difficult to comprehend. I wonder if that wrinkle in the story was a late throw-in.

But it also makes no sense. Why would the Pirate strain himself like this? Why not concentrate on draining one then the other?

Luckily Dr. Psycho regains consciousness and is able to join the fight. But Psycho Pirate says what we have all suspected all along. Dr. Psycho might not be helping Superboy as much as leeching off him. Psycho is draining Superboy's power in hopes of bringing down HIVE himself.

I will say this trick to psionically duplicate himself is a neat trick and adds to the Pirate character. I like my Psycho Pirate to be completely insane and this 'multiple personality', especially with the wild grin on the one closest to us, adds to that.

And the Psycho Pirate is able to fill in some of the blanks of Psycho's history. Psycho was a kid named 'Edgar' who was a natural psionic. HIVE ends up recruiting him by erasing the memory of Edgar from everyone who knew him. Alone, he was brought to a HIVE headquarters where he met others like him. He didn't have much to offer though and so was honeycombed like others, drained by the Queen.

I thought this was a good origin, explaining the scars, the isolation, and the youthful appearance.

Interestingly enough, he had enough psionic power to manipulate a young girl named Sarah to use her powers to take down the HIVE site, releasing him.

I was really hoping that this girl was going to be Lena! And maybe she will be. But she is named Sarah. Any Sarah character I might be forgetting who would fit this telepathic bill?

And Psycho Pirate actually knows all of Superboy's 'real' origin. He isn't a weapon, he's a 'living organ bank'.

Arrgghhh ... so is everything we have learned, unlearned, and learned again about Con's origins a lie? Is there yet another origin around the corner??

I might give up if that is true.

And it turns out that the Psycho Pirate isn't exactly magnanimous here. He isn't telling Superboy all this to keep Con free. He is telling Con this because he wants Superboy's powers.

At least the Pirate is being written consistently. He really wants to get juiced up to fight Brainiac.

But I have to say it still doesn't make sense for the Psycho Pirate to 'not' be here. Why fight this battle now? And why did he boost 'Shifts' powers? It seems like DC editorial didn't realize that the Pirate was going to be in several books and as a result things had to jiggered to kind of make sense.

With all the cards on the table, Superboy gets extremely angry and lashes out at Psycho. There is a large battle with Psycho, the Pirate, and Superboy all swinging and bashing things. One thing I did find interesting is that Superboy's psionics (or emotions) are so strong that they actually effect the Psycho Pirate who up until now seemed invulnerable.

When the dust settles, the Dr. Psycho is gone.
And Superboy is powerless, at the mercy of the Pirate.

Okay, that's a decent cliffhanger. But the last chapter is in Teen Titans, a book I don't collect. So who knows how this will end.

But this whole issue felt forced, as if Jordan needed to finish things enough so that the next creative team isn't starting mid-stream. The Pirate story, being in two places at once, seems inane and  I wonder if it was forced on Jordan. And frankly, the idea of another origin, or someone else holding Superboy's true origin over his head (Psycho Pirate drained the info from Dr. Psycho's head), is annoying.

Nice thick-lined art by Robson Rocha does make this a nice book to look at.

But who is Superboy? Will we ever know?

Overall grade: B-

Review: Action Comics #24

I didn't realize just how disjointed the insertion of Villains' Month would be on my comic reading until I picked up Action Comics #24 this week. I needed to go back and review the last issue to remind myself what exactly was going on.

This chapter of the Psi-War arc concentrates on the new player on the board The Psycho Pirate. Surprisingly, for the second month in a row, Scott Lobdell isn't writing (despite being listed on the cover). Old Supergirl scribe Mike Johnson is listed as writer here, although I have to assume that Lobdell is plotting what is happening here.

Art is done by Tyler Kirkham and is nicely rendered, with mixes of psionic powers, flashbacks, and a surprising cliffhanger page. I will say, I was never one to believe in a 'house style' for comics, but Kirkham's art just feels like a DC comics, reminding me of Cinar, Daniel, and others. I'm not against a house style necessarily, but I enjoy varying styles of art, especially when the art complements the story.

I will say that one of the plot points that I find unsettling is the psionic villains showing Superman is being emotionally vulnerable or even super-sensitive. You might recall that Hector Hammond made Jimmy morose and Perry bombastic ... feeling Superman said mirrored his own! I don't think Superman is either! In this issue, the Psycho pirate attacks Superman's insecurities and almost wins. I'd like to think that Superman is pretty happy with who he is such that he doesn't harbor such feelings.

Anyways, on to the story.

Remember, the last non-Villains issue ended with the Psycho Pirate showing up at HIVE headquarters. He had psionically crushed Hector Hammond and the Queen Bee and was gloating over Superman.

I thought this was a good splash page to start the story. It isn't often that Superman is put in the defensive position on the page. Kirkham does a great job amplifying what a threat the Pirate is by having him floating over Superman, giving a sense of leverage and dominance.

And the words play into this as well. The Psycho Pirate casually talks about Clark Kent, the most important secret, the one Superman dreads being released. With that knowledge, the Pirate has an advantage and the art rams that fact at us.

And then we get a sense of just how powerful the Medusa Mask has made this Psycho Pirate. Remember, the past few months we have seen Hector Hammond and the Queen Bee taking over the city, enslaving people, possessing Superman, and battling the Man of Steel to a standstill. These two aren't slouches.

The Pirate shows how he simply eliminated them. Hammond lies broken and unconscious on the ground. And the Queen Bee? Apparently exploded into psionic honey. We have seen that the Pirate is strong. Now we hear it. We are shown evidence of it.

The mirror image composition of these panels worked well, especially the coloring showing Hammond in shadows and the Queen Bee glowing.

I am glad Hammond is back to being big-headed. I am pretty sure that Kirkham had him drained and normocephalic last issue.

One thing I like that Johnson does here is show how the Pirate might be misguided, with good intention but evil ends to those means.

It turns out that Psycho Pirate was one of the Twenty, one of the psionics mutated by Brainiac. While many went in hiding, the Queen Bee embraced her role as vanguard for Brainiac and actually wanted to set the stage for his return. She captured as many of the Twenty as she could to drain them of their power and pave the way for Brainiac. The Pirate was one of those captured but escaped The Matrix.

Okay, nice visuals of a honeycomb. And the plot of The Twenty is interesting. But, like many Lobdell stories, it all doesn't add up. We have seen in the Lois-centric annual that the Twenty mutate into Brainiac-headed monsters. We also know they eventually die. And yet, the Queen and the Pirate have normal heads as do all her prisoners. And how/why do they die? Will all that background information (remember Lois 'dying' was a major plot point of the Annual) be forgotten? Swept under the carpet.

As I said, the Pirate sounds unhinged but he has some good intentions. He wants to free the Twenty from their prison. He wants to save them and stop the Queen's plans. That is noble. But he splattered the Queen. And here he wants to drain Superman of his super-brain power (listed as psionic which seems wrong). He'll suck Superman dry of his brain energy. So the ends don't justify these means.

But I thought Orion gave Superman psionic defenses?

I hate when details are forgotten ... or not explained?

The Pirate says he needs to suck all the energy out of Superman he needs to break through Superman's defenses. And he'll do that by having him doubt key moments in time, making him relive his insecurities, and so we get some nightmarish flashbacks.

First we see a replay of the t-shirt era Superman, attacked by the police and army (as he was in the first 2 issues). This barrage makes Superman feel homesick and question his decision to move to the big city. And just like that, the first layer of defense is broken.

Now I will say again, I'd love for Superman to see these things for what they are, to have the mental toughness to realize that these memories aren't real, to know he would never question himself the way he does. But instead he simply rolls over and gives in. It makes him seem mentally soft, insecure.

Then we get a particularly rough visit to Smallville. We see a smitten Clark belittled by Lana. We see him bullied by Kenny Braverman. And then we hear the Kents say they wish he died in the rocket.

Now of all the memories, surely Clark would see through this for the farce it is. So much of who he is and who he became is because of the Kents' love. This was the seen that struck me as 'wrong' the most. That Clark was feeling significant shame in his youth seems wrong.

I understand Superman doesn't usually fight on this battlefield. But he never even questions this.

And Kenny Braverman! Is there going to be a Conduit in the New 52?

With Smallville now a horror show, the Psycho Pirate proceeds to the last line of defense, a feeling that Superman wonders if he should have died on Krypton.

Maybe I am being too hard here. But I would think that Superman is just so completely comfortable with who he is and what he does that he wouldn't harbor such negative emotions and certainly wouldn't weigh him down this much internally.

But Superman gives in ... and give up.

And just as it looks like Superman is going to be killed ...

A psionically super-charged Lois shows up. (We had seen her hospital bed empty earlier in the issue.)

She is there to defend Superman! Okay nice change of pace here - Lois saving Superman.

And crackling blue electric kind of energy? It reminds me of ...

The Strange Visitor!

So I am of two minds with this issue.

I liked the opening scene, the exposition and reveals by the Psycho Pirate and the art work in the H.I.V.E. HQ. And I liked this ending with Lois being powered, nice cliffhanger. And Tyler Kirkham's art is very nice.

And I didn't mind necessarily the attacks in the past as a concept but I very much disliked the idea that Superman has the feeling so deeply ingrained and that he would succumb to them so quickly. Heck, he kind of shrugged off the Black Mercy all those years ago. Surely he would question why Ma and Pa hate him.

Overall grade: B-