Review: Adventures Of Superman Book Of El #11

With the number of books and ancillary stuff coming out, I am quite delinquent in some reviews. I suppose better late than never.

Adventures of Superman Book Of El #11 came out recently, the penultimate chapter of this epic tale and, unfortunately, the penultimate Superman book for Phillip Kennedy Johnson. It was way back in 2021 when PKJ was announced as the new writer on Action Comics. At the time I said 'who?' But he showed me quite quickly that he understood Superman and the Super-Family. He will be missed on these books.

This title has had the usual wide-spread world-building that PKJ is known for. But we are approaching the end. The Els are united ... truly united as you'll see ... and are ready to fight Kryl-Ux and his made quest for power. The aspects of Olgrun are finally all near each other. And the battle is about to come to an end.

But, being true to his understanding of Superman, even when things look most dire, when it looks like the only answer is violence, Johnson has our hero offer peace and help. 

The art is a conglomeration of Scotty Godlewski, Cian Tormey, and Vasco Georgiev. It flows smoothly with, I believe, Godlewski doing most of the pages, They make Kryl-Ux appropriately horrific and give the right degree of emotion to the scenes that require it.

The mythology of the book has been a bit hard to follow at times but this issue felt like one of the strongest, finally bringing all the pieces together on the chessboard. On to the book.

Review: Knight Terrors Action Comics #2

Knight Terrors Action Comics #2 came out last week, a split issue telling us two stories. One story is the extended Super-family fighting the Cyborg Superman in a horrific tale of despair and blood. The other is Power Girl fighting her Symbio-ship and herself to escape a sterile environment. 

I'll start off by saying the Super-family story by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Mico Suayan, and Fico Ossio is incredible. Knight Terrors isn't exactly a must-read event. I don't know if this story will ripple into the main Superman books. But it is a great character piece for Otho and Osul. There is a brutal ending to the Cyborg Superman, showing us his greatest nightmare. It ends with a Wizard of Oz homage. And the art by both artists is just incredible. This is a horror story first and foremost, something I can't say about all the Knight Terrors books. This is terrifying. Fantastic. And the art is the right mix for this story. I'll be gushing throughout.

I'll also add that Johnson reminds us of a couple of things which came out of the Warworld saga which have been pushed a bit to the back regarding the twins. So I just ate this up with a spoon. 

The Power Girl story, by contrast, seems to fall flat. I honestly don't know what writer Leah Williams is doing with 'Paige' anymore. We went through a back-up story in the main Action Comics book where Power Girl seemed to come to terms with who she is. She even changed her name to Paige. She was a troubled, lost soul not the confident Peeg I am used to. But I thought at the end of that story we were in a better place. Instead, this issue plays up Power Girl's self-loathing. A self-loathing Power Girl?? I have never seen that .. ever ... in all her history. Vasco Georgiev's art is subtle and slick. But this seems way wrong.

The Superman Knight Terrors books have been, for the most part, successes in my mind as they have probed into the characters' minds in a way that builds on the main books. The Johnson/Suayan/Ossio story is so spectacular, it elevates this whole issue.

On to the details. 

Review: Knight Terrors: Action Comics #1

Knight Terrors: Action Comics #1 came out last week and was an interesting mix of horror stories.  Superman and Supergirl are carrying the horror in the Superman Knight Terrors book. Action has been an anthology book recently. So we get two stories here.

The first is a Power Girl story by Leah Williams and artist Vasco Georgiev. I wasn't a hundred percent keen on Karen becoming Paige, the psychic counselor. It feels like perhaps the psychic side of things may be waning in Williams approach to the character, even if Lilith remains a key supporting cast member. But what I like about this story is that Williams really seems to be leaning into Power Girl history. Her nightmare is a warped view of her origin from the 70's Showcase arc by Paul Levitz and Joe Staton. Now old timers like me know this story but Williams is playing a bit coy, not filling in the backstory here. It feels a little padded, as if a few pages could have been shaved off. But overall it was a good read. I don't know Georgiev but the art is breezy and strange as it should be.

The second story by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist Mico Suayan give us truly horrific story, driven by Osul's fear of the Cyborg Superman. This one truly reads like a horror comic with jump scares, terrifying shadows, and a story of robotics taking over a body (cue memories of the scary robot lady in Superman III). It is interesting that the Supers seem capable of sharing nightmares, perhaps showing how close they are. And Suayan's are is the stuff of nightmares.

I don't know if Knight Terrors is going to amount to anything. And I don't think I needed these stories. But both were brisk, entertaining read.

On to the details.