Superboy #5 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), R.B. Silva (penciller), Rob Lean (inker), Richard & Tanya Horie (colorists)

The Story: What is it about redheads that gets the best of every male superhero?

The Review: One of my long-running complaints about this series has been its inability to take major steps forward in the story.  A lot of what we’ve seen in the past few issues has been the same type of confrontation or information recycled into different scenes, resulting in very little progress for Superboy’s character development other than a lot of repetitive and vaguely pretentious inner dialogue.  In short, it’s been a rather bland read.

It’s also been a bit frustrating to see Superboy demonstrating few, if any, heroic qualities whatsoever.  Last issue he came somewhere close by defeating “Sweety Bum” and “Honey Bunny,” preventing them from further practicing human immolation, but his choice to confront them felt rather arbitrary, motivated more from boredom than virtue.  It really gave no sign as to whether Superboy was actually starting to grow a conscience or not.

Here, it feels like Lobdell tackles both problems at once.  That earlier taste of heroism seems to have rubbed off well on Superboy, as he goes out of his way to rescue Caitlin Fairchild from her uncertain but surely grim fate with “the Colony,” whoever they are.  It’s especially significant he describes her actions as “sav[ing] me from myself,” indicating he can distinguish between what’s right or wrong (with himself, no less) to some degree.  After all, you can’t be saved unless you’re in danger, and since Superboy’s proven that physically, little can endanger him, that leaves only moral danger for Caitlin to save him from.

It’s also important to note Superboy himself decides to move forward with this plan.  Up till now, he’s been acting, or at least reacting, on the allowance of others.  This really marks the first time he’s conceived an affirmative plan of action and carried through with it, which bodes well for what might happen after his upcoming encounter with the Teen Titans.  But let’s not oversell things; Superboy did get help from an outside force, someone who worked with Caitlin and who’s neither Rose nor Dr. David Umber, who’s tried befriending Superboy in Caitlin’s place.

Superboy #4 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), R.B. Silva (penciller), Rob Lean (inker), Richard & Tanya Horie (colorists)

The Story: Superboy demonstrates a very effective way of dealing with Christmas carolers.

The Review: I talk a lot about the importance of “advancing the story” in these reviews, and I think I should elaborate on what I mean.  Now, I have nothing against a writer who wants to let his story stew a bit before serving.  But the advent of the decompressed storytelling has taken things to a problematic level, where often several issues can pass without anything of real substance happening.

That’s pretty much the situation happening in this title.  Since issue one, nothing much has changed in the status quo of the plot except Superboy discovering he is not fully human (which we all knew from the beginning) and that “Red” is actually Caitlin Fairchild, formerly of Wildstorm’s Gen¹³, which is a surprising development to be sure, but not one that has much of an impact other than removing yet another of Superboy’s sparse supporting cast.

Caitlin’s confrontation with Superboy also has some logical faults to it.  Having been protective and even a bit meek around the clone since he was still floating in a silo, it’s not entirely convincing that she would hulk out and even threaten to finish him off simply because he broke into her room and interrogated her.  The whole scene feels mostly forced, and it adds absolutely nothing to the plot whatsoever.

Superboy #3 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), R.B. Silva (penciller), Rob Lean (inker), Richard & Tanya Horie (colorists)

The Story: She’s melting—melting!

The Review: From the start, this series has emphasized Superboy’s disconnect from the “outside.”  His virtual existence has prevented him from taking a position on the big moral compass one way or the other, and so far, we’ve mostly gotten hints that he leans toward the dark side.  Now, you don’t get to have “Super” in your name unless you have some tendencies toward the heroic, but whether the real world will bring that out of his is a different matter entirely.

That’s the question we run into in this issue, when he manages to escape the depths of the Earth, only to realize the surface has its own set of hellish experiences.  His first real introduction to humanity is through young swingers Tony and Allison.  Tony reacts to Superboy naturally—and violently—but the surprisingly well-spoken Allison offers a more mixed experience.  She starts out flirty and wise (“We’re just regular people around these parts.  Fragile, even.”), then turns flinty (“—you freak!”) once she suffers the side-effects of Superboy’s powers.

Before he gets the chance to figure out this tricky situation, Superboy gets confronted by another Pen 51 resident, a buxom, fiery, redheaded alien (not Starfire, unfortunately) who tracks him down to…well, she doesn’t give a very good reason, actually.  She accuses him of following her, while the facts are clearly the other way around, and their brief confrontation does little more than establish Superboy’s Kryptonian heritage, which we all, old and new readers, knew anyway.