Superboy #9 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Pier Gallo (artist), Jaime Grant & Dom Regan (colorists)

The Story: It’s like looking in a mirror, isn’t it?  Make that several hundred mirrors.  In 3D.

The Review: It’s sometimes difficult to take teen superheroes seriously partly due to their smaller scale adventures.  Their villains tend to be sub-par versions of more famous counterparts (not unlike the heroes they face off with), and even when they manage some degree of originality, they rarely pose the kind of serious threat Justice Leaguers face on a daily basis.

Superboy sure has come a long way from sparring with King Shark off the Hawaiian coast.  Ever since he saved the universe during Infinite Crisis, his caliber of villain has definitely gone up a notch.  Limiting his flying grounds to Smallville seemed on the surface to hold him back, but this issue proves there’s plenty of dastardly stuff happening in the Midwestern farm town, and let out of control, the world will no doubt suffer.

Of course, the fact Phantom Stranger is involved should be proof enough that Superboy faces nothing short of an epic challenge, especially considering the fedora-wearing man’s unusually urgent behavior of late.  This recent take-charge attitude turns out to be a ruse for a pretty significant plot twist, one with half a chance of surprising you.  Although Lemire does a fairly good job using Stranger’s cryptic clauses to cover up the big reveal at the end, let’s face it: old P.S. has been acting rather out of character (read: grim and patronizing) lately.

Actually, we get quite a lot of major developments this issue, as Psionic Lad’s (Psion, I should say, as he and Simon agree the “Lad” part sounds more like something his great-uncle would’ve really dug) loyalties finally get put to the test.  While it’s comforting to see his moral compass remains squarely in goodhearted territory, it all becomes a moot point when the mission in Smallville’s underground Hollowville takes a turn for the worse.