Another Superman title without the titular Superman, eh? The road has not been smooth in the Superman titles without the infamous alien in them – quality has varied greatly from issue to issue, despite powerhouse creative teams, and it seems as though the most consistent work has been going into Superman: World of New Krypton, the only title with Superman himself in them. That said, the most recent issue of Superman kept to a relatively high standard throughout as Robinson goes to great lengths to set up future stories without sacrificing the excitement of this one.
Opening with a page spectacularly illustrated by Renato Guedes, Robinson brings the action. Life without Superman is tough – Mon-El is good, but the Science Police have had to step up, and they’re in some pretty dangerous situations, as we see from the wounds suffered in a brief skirmish with C-list villain Shrapnel. Black Lightning, Steel, and Zachary Zatara all make appearances as Metropolis-based characters with a stake in making the sure town stays safe. Much like with Robinson’s famed masterpiece Starman, Robinson is throwing a lot of balls up in the air, and we’ll see how many of them he can hold onto as the series progresses – but while Starman made every event seem like it existed to further the plot of Robinson’s book, which largely existed in its own, private corner of the DC Universe, this book is far more at the whim of editorial mandate and crossover potential.
While I can make no predictions on the future quality of Robinson’s run on this book, I can say that this particular issue was quite enjoyable. Guedes’ art was as superb as always, well inked and colored by Jose Wilson Magalhaes and David Curiel, and it offered both a little bit of action and a great deal of promise. While it was far from perfect, the issue remained enjoyable throughout.
Grade: B+
read/RANT! 