Superboy #2 – Review

By: Rob Lobdell (writer), R.B. Silva (penciller), Rob Lean (inker), The Hories (colorists)

The Story: Get a dime every time someone mentions “telekinesis” and you’ll be rich in no time.

The Review: Crafting well-rounded characters takes a great deal of balance in a lot of respects, but probably the most difficult balancing act of all is giving consistency to the character without making them predictable.  At the end of the day, you do want them to be memorable, and staying true to their core personality will do that.  On the other hand, you don’t want them to grow stale, their actions becoming so obvious that readers know the punchline before the setup is done.

Lobdell hasn’t quite managed to figure out how to strike this balance, but he’s getting closer.  The debut issue had Superboy vacillating between the curious innocent and the clinical clone, always a jarring adjustment for you to make when he makes the switch, and making it a little hard to get a handle on the essence of his character.  Most of that innocence has been shed, leaving behind a mostly analytical kid whose inexperience makes him a tad arrogant.

Now we get into the issue of where Superboy’s likability will come from.  We all know the drill about his genetics: half the greatest mensch in the world tossed with the biggest jerk in the world.  At the moment, the Boy of Steel has little resemblance to his namesake, bearing more of Lex Luthor’s aggressive, big-wordiness (in response to Rose’s taunts, he says, “Why don’t we resolve this right now.”).  It’d be nice to see more of the hero lurking inside at some point.

Sadly, it may be another month or so before we see it, as the series seems to be going at a pretty slow pace.  We don’t get much further than we did last issue.  In fact, Lobdell even backtracks for a while to show us more of Superboy’s unrestrained power when he was initially released.  This issue serves mostly as a reemphasis on that point; the impromptu mission to quell a prison riot doesn’t really advance the plot so much as highlight the potential of Superboy’s powers.

Superboy #2 – Review

by Jeff Lemire (writer), Pier Gallo (art), Jamie Grant (colors), and Sal Cipriano (letters)

The Story: Superboy teams up with Poison Ivy in order to figure out what is causing Smallville’s plant life to run amok.

What’s Good: This Superboy comic is delightfully weird.  There’s this wackiness that gives real life to the book throughout the story, from body-snatcher type aliens, to Parasite frogs, to people being physically attached to machines.  There’s a delightful kind of “weird science” to Jeff Lemire’s story, sort of like a slightly darker Back to the Future.  The tech looks home-made and zany and it adds a unique, almost Doom Patrol-like, taste to the comic, while also making the rural setting into something of a more surreal, rustic sandbox for Lemire to play in.

Lemire also continues to highlight Simon Valentine’s role in the comic.  On the one hand, Simon plays to the old literary tradition of being the guy who follows a great person, recording all of his mighty deeds.  This is, of course, complicated by Simon’s dissatisfaction of this state of affairs, and his strong desire to be a teammate as well.  Indeed, when Simon and Connor finally do team-up, it’s great fun and the two share a strong, and warm, dynamic.  How Simon comes to the rescue is also guaranteed to make you smile, as the kid in you will no doubt find it all kinds of awesome.

Poison Ivy is written very well.  Lemire does a very subtle job writing her; as you read the comic, you’ll constantly be distrusting her, even though you’ve no clear evidence for doing so.  Lemire also does a great job on her voice.  She’s arrogant, clearly feels superior, and many of her lines carry a distinct sexuality to their tone.  Yet, despite all of this, Lemire’s Ivy never chews the scenery or comes across as over the top, which makes her all the better of a read.

Pier Gallo’s art remains strong as well.  He delivers a comic that feels truly family friendly and, hence, likable.  Despite this, he also does a great job illustrating the machines, whether they’re made by Simon or the aliens.  I also felt that his framing was particularly strong.

Speaking of those aliens, I loved them in the couple of pages we saw them in.  From Gallo’s design to Lemire’s concept, they are simply brilliant.  The make the rural setting all the more weird, while functioning as a sort of call-back to old, black and white monster movies.  It’s body-snatching awesomeness and it makes me absolutely starved for Superboy #3.

What’s Not So Good: Not a lot.  I guess you don’t get as much reflection and thoughtfulness as last month and the insanity overrides the more contemplative stuff, but it’s still very fun, partially because of that.

Gallo also draws a couple of iffy faces, and his characters do look a little stiff at points.  Compared to how great the rest of his work is, it’s a little off-putting at some points.

Conclusion: Yup, no sophomore slump here.  Jeff Lemire is quickly establishing himself as a fresh new voice in superhero comics.

Grade: B+

-Alex Evans

A Second Opionion

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: American Vampire #9 – This is becoming the Scott Snyder award after his win (for me) with Detective #871 last week, but it is impossible to ignore the artistic and story excellence of AV.  Endings to story arcs are very difficult to pull off and this was an outstanding one.

Most Anticipated: Lady Mechanika #1 – With art and story by Joe Benitez the #0 issue was very promising and featured a steampunky, attractive cyborg-ish lady who is trying to figure out her role in the world.  Definitely interested in seeing where this goes and enjoying more of Benitez’s art!

Other picks: 27 #1, Starborne #1, Batgirl #16, Red Robin #18, Chaos War Ares #1

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Sweet Tooth #16 – This was an issue that proved that Jeff Lemire can right the loud issues just as well as the quiet ones.  The action flows and so does the excitement, leading to an issue that was downright thrilling.  Really cool layouts are the icing on the cake, making this an easy pick of the week.

Most Anticipated: Fables #100 – Yeah, this is another great week for comics, with the second issues of THUNDER Agents and Superboy coming out, not to mention a new installment of Matt Fraction’s Thor.  But I simply cannot deny Fables #100, an absolute behemoth of a floppy and a landmark achievement for not only a Vertigo comic, but a creator-owned comic, period.  I can’t wait to see what Willingham and co. have in store.

Other Picks: Superboy #2, THUNDER Agents #2, Thor #618, New Avengers #7, The Flash #7

DS’ Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Adventure Comics #521 – I had totally expected Brightest Day #15 to take this week’s crown, but the intense suction happening there caused me to dump even WCBR’s spoiler-free policy to trash it, leaving Adventure Comics #521, a pretty classically-styled Legion story to take the lead.

Most Anticipated: Batgirl#15 –  While I am always eager to see the Man with the Plan (Red Robin) and the Detective Comics Annual is tempting, I have to say, the cliffhanger ending of Batgirl #15, leaving her framed for a crime she didn’t commit, has the out-of-the-gates tension that will drive Batgirl #16 to the top of my pull list. Bryan Q. Miller delivers consistently satisfying stories and I’m waiting to see how my next exposure to Nguyen and Fridolfs works for me on Batgirl.

Other Picks: Red Robin #18, R.E.B.E.L.S. #23, Detective Comics Annual #12, Queen Sonja #12