Review: Super Sons #10

Super Sons #10 came out last week and this book continues to be a hoot. Jon and Damian are clearly learning to be heroes, clearly come from different backgrounds, and are clearly being influenced by each other. Better yet, I can't help but think that their friendship is strengthening the Clark and Bruce one. This makes me happy.

This was something of a rest issue, setting up some new plotlines and new places for the boys and the book. Much like I feel that Supergirl underwent a new focus recently, I think this book is also heading off into a bold new-ish direction. We have established the boys friendship and their partnering. Now was the time to take this to the next level. No more ad hoc adventures. Let's make this a standing relationship.

Writer Peter Tomasi does his usual job of showcasing Jon and Damian's different outlooks on life. It is that friction that brings the juice to the proceedings. However, it is the times we see a little of the other in a character that shows growth. When Damian sounds a little like Jon it makes me happy.

The art on this issue is done by recent pinch hitter extraordinaire Jose Luis. And as this is mostly a non-adventure book, Luis does a great job of keeping my engaged with the story. Much of that has to do with the characters' body language.

On to the book.

Review: Superman #35

Superman #35 came out this week, the third part of the Imperius Lex story arc, as it continues to move our super-family across the desolate wastelands of Apokolips. Last issue focused on Lois. This issue we focus on Jon. But throughout, we keep seeing Superman and Lex both dealing with being labeled the messiah of Apokolips. As I have said for some time, I am having a hard time reading this Lex. His actions have always seemed heroic but his words have occasionally been concerning or troublesome. Is he faking us out with this desire to be the new Superman, a hero?

For me, the Jon portion of the issue was the most enjoyable. Writers Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason bring the youthful energy to Jon, making him act the way I think a tween with super-powers would act. He is growing in confidence. He is trying to emulate his dad. But he is impulsive.

I will also admit to having something of a hard time wrapping my head around the actual status of Apokolips these days. It looks like it is plunged into chaos. And I have to think that Tom King and Mitch Gerads Mister Miracle as well as the Allred's Bug are out of continuity. But it doesn't feel streamlined.

The art on the book is a mix of Travis Moore, Stephen Segovia, and Art Thibert. It is hard for me at least to pick out where one begins and the others end. But overall the book looked crisp and clean.

On to the books.

Supergirl 306: Midvale

Supergirl episode 306, 'Midvale', aired earlier this week and looked at the first time the Danvers sisters teamed up to solve a crime. It was a very interesting look back at the childhood of these characters as we see where they have come from and how everything wasn't always rosy between them. We knew from earlier flashbacks that Kara has always been something of a fish out of water and that Alex was often teased about her weird sister. Here we see just how the volatile cauldron of high school kicked that up a notch.

And while it was fun to see this look back, especially given the very Smallville-y feeling to the proceedings, for me the bigger thing was how this thematically fit into the current series. This season Kara has been all about forsaking her humanity and embracing her alien heritage. She doesn't want to get hurt, she can't be broken. She has to be alien. In this episode we see how that was flipped earlier in her life. In that time period all she wanted to be was alien and instead ends up clinging to humanity.

All this has to be put into a growing timeline. Now we know why Kara hid her powers for years. Now we know how Alex felt in the immediate aftermath of Jeremiah being drafted into the DEO. Now we know when the sisters really realized the bond they have.

None of this would be possible without excellent acting. And the two actors playing the younger Danvers did an absolutely incredible job channeling Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh. Izabela Vidovic physically looks like Benoist but also brings the emotional punch of her performances. And Olivia Nikkanen basically is a young Alex as portrayed by Leigh.

On to the episode!

Review: New Super-Man #17

New Super-Man #17 came out last week and continues to push the All-Yang battle to a near conclusion. This feels like it should be the penultimate issue of the series. I have wondered if the axe was nearing for this book which continues to sell less than 20K. But we haven't got a Final Issue solicit yet so I am happy.

Writer Gene Luen Yang continues to weave a nice new continuity of DC heroes over in China. I love the infusion of all the mythology both of China and the DC Universe.  I love the humor which is slyly inserted into the book. And I love the steady maturation of Kenan Kong as he leaves his bully/bratty persona behind as he embraces the mantle of Super-Man. Plus, this issue has the JLC meet the JLA and it is a great introduction.

The art is by Joe Lalich, someone who I have never seen before. The turnstile of artists, sometimes newcomers, also has made me wonder if this book was nearing the end. The art is something of house style, with few stylish flourishes. But it kicks it up a bit when it needs to.

On to the book.

Review: Superwoman #16

Superwoman #16 came out last week, the first issue released since the announcement of the title's cancellation. We are in the midst of the Midnight story arc. Some weird technological being is sucking the population into tiny black holes. Superwoman has teamed up with Natasha, Traci 13, and Maxima to figure things out. But it hasn't been easy.

Lana has also been dealing with the renewed problem of stress and anxiety, a problem she has been dealing with since the beginning of this title. And we even get another nod to the earlier part of the book here as well.

It will be interesting to see how much of this will carry forward past January. When this title ends, will Lana continue to have powers? Continue to have anxiety? Continue to be part of the active Superman supporting cast? I hope the answer to all three questions is yes.

And I hope that K. Perkins finds another title to land on at DC.

The art for the book is by Stephen Segovia and Art Thibert and continues to be slick.

But this title is ending. Will there be a finale feel? Can Perkins wrap it all up?

Review: Action Comics #991

Action Comics #991 came out last week, the finale of the long-awaited The Oz Effect storyline. We have seen Oz manipulating events since the Geoff Johns/JRJR issues. We recently learned he was Jor-El, plucked from Krypton by Dr. Manhattan (we assume). We know that Jor-El knows something terrible is coming to Earth and he wants his family safe, humanity be damned. It all has been steamrolling to a cataclysmic ending.

Unfortunately, it ends with more of a whimper than a bang.

Writer Dan Jurgens ratchets up the contrast between Oz and Superman in this issue, again hammering home the difference in these two men's thoughts. Kal thinks mankind is inherently good. He has hope. Jor thinks humanity is evil and beyond help. There is little place to go from such a difference than a throwdown. And there can be no easy resolution to that either. So we get something of a quick and somewhat unsatisfying ending to this whole thing. Maybe I am being too harsh.

Artist Viktor Bogdanovic is on art here and I have loved his issues on the Superman books. He really captures emotions and action very well. The ending of the book is very dramatic and the images totally sell it. I can only hope we see him again soon.

On to the issue.

Review: Supergirl #15

Supergirl #15 came out this week and was a very entertaining issue defining the new landscape of this book. Over the first year of this book we have seen this Supergirl rise to be the inspirational hero of National City. Now we have seen everything turn; now she is Public Enemy #1. And with the 'regular life' of a teenage girl pulling her in different directions, Kara is probably at her most vulnerable.

Writers Steve Orlando and Jody Houser ramp up the multiple threats that are circling Kara in both her identities. From the DEO to new school rival Belinda to her own uncertainty of what to do, Kara is stressed and rightfully so. And yet, unlike more recent incarnations, instead of lashing out against Earth, this Kara continues to try to rise above, continues to try to help. That thrills me. I have had enough of Dark Supergirl.

You may recall that I complained a bit about this cover when it was shown in the solicits. I complained about 'Dark Supergirl' there. Now I realize the genius of this cover. This is the propaganda poster the DEO is probably circulating, the graphic used on the local news. This isn't Supergirl; this is people vilifying her.

The art on the issue is by the current team of Robson Rocha. As this is a sort of 'day in the life' of Kara Danvers issue, there are a lot of quiet scenes. But the team flourishes with solid expressive work and by turning up the volume for the action scenes.

On to the book.