Justice League #33 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), Doug Mahnke (pencils), Keith Champagne (inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors)

The Story: Luthor and Caulder see who can out-mad scientist the other.

The Review: Thank heavens one title at least is spared the Futures End treatment this month. It’s aggravating having to read issue after issue of comics without any certainty that it even matters. It reminds me of when I used to create marketing presentations for products still in the R&D stage, always aware that at any moment the design could be dropped and all my work wasted, always torn between necessity and pointlessness.

Anyway, my point is Justice League offers a very much appreciated break from Futures End in addition to all the new tidbits of troubling information about Caulder. While he insists that his work with the Patrol and their ilk is noble, Luthor exposes past experiments, not only on the unfortunate Karma and Scorch, but on Celsius and Tempest (who went into hiding), a former “war veteran,”* the “Negative Twins” (indicating Larry’s only the latest product of Caulder’s Negative work), and even Caulder’s own ex-wife. Even more disturbing is the accusation that a virus Caulder once cured was one he introduced himself.

Action Comics: Futures End #1 – Review

By: Sholly Fisch (story), Pascal Alixe & Vicente Cifuentes (art), Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: If Superman’s not going to use his powers, mind if I use it?

The Review: I wasn’t exactly thrilled to discover, shortly after giving up the glacial Futures End, that the entire DCU would be signing onto that nonsense in September. Not only does this expose all the titles to the same flash-forward confusion as its progenitor, it also doesn’t have the same value as previous September gimmicks like Villains Month or #0 issues. If anything, jumping these series five years into an uncertain future discourages new readers rather than attract them.

Imagine having only a minimal familiarity with the DCU, opening this issue, and seeing Superman out-of-costume, sporting a lumberjack’s beard, and planting crops in a barren piece of land in the African desert. There’s a possibility you’d intrigued enough to see what happens, but I suspect that most people would put the issue down, shaking their heads, and wondering what the hell is going on or when the next Marvel movie will come out.

Superman #34 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Laura Martin (colors)

The Story: Superman and Ulysses’ first official team-up may be their last.

The Review: I don’t often speculate as to how a story will go—partly because of my natural cautiousness and partly because I’m frequently wrong—but I’m about 99.99% sure that a big showdown between Neil (a.k.a. Ulysses) and Clark will ensue sooner or later. I base this on one theory only: you don’t create a direct Superman analogue without intending to match him up with the real thing. That’s just how things roll in superhero comics; it’s almost a waste otherwise.

So every issue, I’m looking for signs of where Neil and Clark’s relationship will go sour. It’s a difficult task because the two of them are as similar as they can get without actually being the same character from parallel universes. Both are gentle giants who believe deeply in peace and hope (and who don’t stand for threats to any of those things). Neil’s forgiveness of his parents for rocketing him away (and his dad for giving up on the search for him) is gratefully given and free from bitterness. Even Clark couldn’t have done better in that situation.

The Multiversity #1 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (story), Ivan Reis (pencils), Joe Prado (inks), Nei Ruffino (colors)

The Story: It’s the Superman-Captain Carrot team-up you’ve all been waiting for.

The Review: At least, it arrives, a project long-touted and already somewhat overhyped. It’s not just the Morrison name, although there’s certainly that; it’s also the fact that he’s working on a project so aligned to his talents and interests, one that sprawls not only over the DCU proper but the entire Multiverse as well. Any good DC fan is sure to be interested in how the Multiverse’s current structure looks now and how it may be used in the future.

Personally, I’m bummed that arbitrary limitation of 52 worlds remains in place, although Thunderer (Earth-7), one of the many featured heroes, refers to them as “fifty-two known worlds,” suggesting unknown ones may pop up later. But even with the cap in place, Morrison has a massive playground to run wild in, using each Earth to site different themes of heroes, almost all of them with a sly wink. Earth-23 is home to an all-black Justice League; Earth-36, where Red Racer and Power Torch (Flash and Green Lantern doppelgangers) are lovers; Earth-11, in which all our favorite characters’ genders are reversed.

Superman/Wonder Woman #11 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Thony Silas (art), Tomev Morey & Ulises Arreola (colors)

The Story: Who says couples can’t save the world together?

The Review: When Bruce succeeded in removing the Kryptonite from Earth’s atmosphere, allowing Clark to repress the Doomsday inside once more, I breathed a sigh of relief that perhaps we were finally over and done with that horribly one-dimensional monster. I admit it: I was naïve and not a little bit stupid. After all, repressed or not, Doomsday was still inside Clark; it had to make one last appearance sometime, and unfortunately, that time is now.

And just when things were getting pretty good in Doomed. As Bruce observes during a particularly low moment for our heroes, the forces of good have been reduced to seven individuals, who must face against all of Brainiac’s collective forces. That’s an exciting scenario for them to be in—or it would be if the solution wasn’t still lurking within the recesses of Clark’s mind/body/soul. I can’t tell you how depressed I was to see SuperDoom unleashed again, bigger, spikier, craggier than ever. You can already feel the storyline becoming monotonously mindless once more.

Action Comics #34 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder & Scott Kolins (art), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: Brainstorms aren’t always good things and this one seems to prove it.

The Review: Recently, I’ve thought that if we could just move past the Doomsday stuff, Doomed might be a pretty decent storyline. I’m glad I stuck to my guns in saying there’s nothing further to develop with Doomsday, not even in the body of Superman, because that’s largely turned out to be the case. Obviously, it’s not terrific that it took an excruciating number of issues to make that clear, but the important thing is we’ve finally gotten past that.

The way I see it, the story of Doomed only truly started once Brainiac started flatlining everybody on the planet, sparing neither superhero or supervillain, yet keeping them all alive for purposes we can only speculate to. Doesn’t that sound a lot more interesting than “Superman infected by Doomsday virus”? Now we’re talking about a legitimate global disaster that requires a proportionate response, which is going to be hard to come by when the threat is actually bigger than the planet itself.

Action Comics Annual #3 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Oh, now we’re going to clean up the atmosphere?

The Review: I expressed some annoyance with how Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1 shifted the details of a major plot point—Batman’s dispersal of the kryptonite in the atmosphere—to a different annual altogether. I’m no less irritated going into the annual in question, which is not a great attitude to come from. I just don’t like the idea of forcing readers to buy all kinds of extraneous issues to keep apace with a story.

Anyway, once you set those feelings aside, this annual is about as decent as its sibling, and in the grand scheme of things, far more necessary. S/WWA #1 was really about Diana stalling Clark long enough for Bruce to do his work (and Steel’s potential crush on Lana); you can live without seeing that. Anyway, Pak does the courtesy of repeating the essentials for you: the arrival of Brainaic’s first wave of attack, the other heroes’ difficulty in dealing with it, and Brainiac’s big momma-ship pulling beside Earth at the end. You get all this and the most important happenings in the arc as well.

Earth Two #26 – Review

By: Tom Taylor (story), Nicola Scott (pencils), Trevor Scott (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors)

A good twist is hard to come by in superhero comics. We’ve seen so many of the same kinds over and over—the long-dead character suddenly revealed alive, a major superhero ends up dead or kills someone, someone we trusted turns traitor—that even when you’re surprised, you’re not particularly affected.* The other kind of twist we frequently encounter is the kind that drops out of a clear blue sky. There’s not much craft to it; it’s purely WTF-worthy (which is not a compliment, DC).

It’s rare to get a twist that’s simultaneously surprising and enjoyable, where you realize the clues have been there all along. Taylor pulls off exactly that in this issue, which would make it rec-worthy even if he had accomplished nothing else. Over the past few months, he managed to convince us that Clark had finally been broken into a murder machine, that any hope of him being an imposter was merely wishful thinking. [Spoiler alert!] The revelation that he is actually a Bizarro (“Me am…Superman.”) is not only a great twist, it’s one we could’ve seen coming had we put the hints together: the chains hooked to his crest, the cracks around his eyes.

Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Superman returns.

The Review: About a month ago, I decided to stick to Doomed despite many misgivings about the storyline. It was a close call, however. Part of what kept me onboard was the resignation that the event was nearly over anyway. A few more issues, I could handle. Had I known the Doomed showrunners planned to add two annuals to the mix, I probably would have reconsidered my commitment. Annuals are costly things, and the thought of putting that much more money into Doomed was hard to take.

On the plus side, the annuals confirm that what we thought was a Doomsday story is actually a Brainiac one, which is an improvement, sort of. It seems somewhat repetitive to make the villain yet again the center of a major Superman story (the last time being one of Superman’s earliest big adventures); can’t they come up with someone else to challenge our hero? Must we always turn to the usual suspects? Shouldn’t there be at least a three year moratorium on a supervillain after he’s been featured in a major story arc?

Batman and Robin #33 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Patrick Gleason (pencils), Mick Gray (inks), John Kalisz (colors)

The Story: Friends don’t let friends fight evil gods alone.

The Review: I’m not a hardcore Bat-fan, but I can definitely see his massive appeal.* Despite his mortal frame, the man goes toe-to-toe alongside and against some of the most powerful forces in the universe and doesn’t even bat an eye—yes, pun intended. That kind of courage, guts, pluck, whatever you’d like to call it, always puts him on the verge of open conflict with somebody bigger than him, and it really doesn’t get bigger than the Justice League and Apokolips.

Bruce going rogue with the League goes about as well as you’d expect. He may be Batman, but getting past all his teammates by himself is beyond even him, as it should be. You couldn’t retain much respect for them otherwise. It’s also important that Bruce isn’t entirely in the right here. Vic and Arthur point out the folly of making an incursion into Apokolips and tackling something they’re not ready for, and they’re correct. The League may be party-poopers in this scenario, but they’re rightfully so.

Superman #33 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Laura Martin (colors)

The Story: Eat your heart out Woodward and Bernstein. It’s all about Kent and White now.

The Review: The special twist of Superman’s character has always been about his reputation for being the most human of superheroes despite his alien origins—which is a far cry from being the most relatable, apparently. At times, his moral perfection made him more foreign and unsettling than the fact that he comes from another planet. The new DCU has attempted to reconfigure his personality a bit, but making him more temperamental has done little to solve his self-righteousness problem.

Bringing back the Daily Planet in full force may be the answer. If you want to bring Superman down to Earth, he probably needs to interact with its denizens more. That won’t work, however, if the good folk at the Planet are thin, one-dimensional foils who exist solely to feed Clark free information. Which is to say I approve of this issue’s opening, in which the entire gang, sans Clark, sit for a team debriefing. Johns purposely stalls the plot—no one knows anything about the Ulysses situation, much to Perry’s chagrin—so as to give us a purer flavor of the Planet vibe.

Superman/Wonder Woman #10 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Pascal Alixe (art), Paulo Siqueira (pencils), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: Lois always did want to conquer the world.

The Review: A shared universe can be a headache in more ways than one. Every single time a major crisis happens in a single title, there’s this mental effort you have to make to keep from wondering why no other hero in the universe notices. This is especially the case when the hero or heroes in question don’t seem to be handling the situation particularly well. What? Everyone else is so busy handling their own problems that they can’t be bothered?

That’s what’s so puzzling about this whole Doomed storyline. Superman’s been turned into a killing machine, an entire metropolis has fallen unconscious, so why is the League and every other A-list hero not on deck, especially since Superman isn’t there? Why does it suddenly seem like the world has no other resource except Wonder Woman, Steel, and Lana Lang? This is a difficult logistical problem to ignore, but Soule clearly would prefer that you don’t think about it at all.

Earth Two #25 – Review

By: Tom Taylor (story), Nicola Scott (pencils), Trevor Scott (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: If you’re going to break your father’s heart, you might as well kill him.

The Review: As I read through this issue, it suddenly occurred to me that for a big, gushy superhero series that’s been around for over two years, we’ve had surprisingly few displays of superheroic power. A couple come to mind—Alan’s duel with Solomon Grundy, Marella’s airborne whirlpool—but for the most part, it’s the enemy that’s done most of the showboating. No wonder morale has been so low; it’s hard to hold out hope when all the major moves come from the other side.

And no wonder that as our heroes get bolder, more aggressive with their powers, the more you think Earth Two may stand a fighting chance after all. I’m not just talking about the war against Apokolips; I’m talking about the chances of these characters rising to the same level as their peers on Prime Earth. It’s easy to think of Earth-2’s Wonders as cheap riffs and knock-offs of more famous characters, and thus inferior product. The only way to break out of that perception is to stand tall and proud on their own laurels, and they weren’t going to do it by constantly fleeing Darkseid’s forces.

Action Comics #33 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder (art), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: As if Doomsday isn’t enough of a problem, now there’s mass narcolepsy going on.

The Review:
Last time we visited this storyline, I said that I was on the verge of giving it up, a proposition I was only half-joking about. I just couldn’t bear the idea of buying three comics a month for however long this arc lasted, knowing I wouldn’t really enjoy them. At least with Transformers, I only kind of knew I wouldn’t like it. But after dropping Batman/Superman, economic considerations aren’t as pressing anymore, and admittedly, Pak’s starting to take the story in an interesting direction.

Don’t get me wrong; the Doomsday Superman stuff is incurably dull. There’s little psychological gold to mine from Clark’s mental war with his Doomsday conscience; it’s your typical angel-devil set-up, but with superheroes. You also doubt that Clark will ever fully succumb to his destructive urges because once he does that, even involuntarily or by accident, it’s over for Superman—either that, or everyone, including Clark, will need to have a short memory. You might as well flip the page every time you see a craggy-faced Clark.

Batman/Superman #12 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Ken Lashley (art), Tom Raney (pencils), Jamie Mendoza (inks), Jason Wright (colors)

The Story: The trip to Earth-2, Part 2.

The Review: I’m starting to realize that this title might not know what it’s talking about. The series has meandered so much that it’s been hard to make sense of where it was going. Since the first arc, we’ve had one tangential disappointment after another: a forgettable storyline with Mongul, a forgettable crossover with Worlds’ Finest, a forgettable filler issue with guest writer Jeff Lemire, a forgettable tie-in to a most unwelcome Event…you get the picture.

This issue’s return to Earth-2 seems like a desperate attempt to pick up from the only successful plotline the title has ever had, but even here, there’s not much excitement to be had. Bruce and Clark, deprived of any ability to actually interact with the parallel world, have little to do except watch helplessly as things go further and further south for their counterparts. It’s a depressing experience, certainly, but not exactly a learning one.

Superman Unchained #7 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (story), Jim Lee (pencils), Scott Williams (inks), Alex Sinclair (colors)

The Story: Can a one-man army take down an actual army?

The Review: Happy Independence Day, everyone—yes, even you folks who have nothing to do with the good ol’ U.S. of A. So I think it’s appropriate that my first review of the day celebrating America goes to the comic starring that most quintessential all-American hero, the Man of Steel himself. It’s also important that here, we’re dealing with a Superman in his purest, most heroic form, as opposed to one struggling not to unleash certain death on all living things—we’ll deal with that hot mess later.

That said, Clark’s big heroic moment in this series has come and gone; what’s left is purely personal, with little opportunity for growth. He seems on the verge of it here, reflecting on Wraith’s challenges from #5: “The choices I make about when I fight, how I fight, how I live my life inside and outside of this…those choices mean that Superman, as I’ve created him, he can’t last forever.” But he never synthesizes these musings into a concrete conclusion as to what he should do. Instead, he dithers, pleading with Lois for understanding, which is preaching to the choir if you’ve ever seen it.

Futures End #8 – Review

By: Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens (story), Scot Eaton (pencils), Drew Geraci (inks), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: Superman demonstrates how not to listen to other people’s problems.

The Review: Last week, I gave this series an ultimatum: give me something, anything, that can be considered even remotely compelling—by which I mean it seizes your interest instead of weakly grasping for it—or else I drop it for good. I don’t think that’s too harsh a demand, considering the money I’m putting in. At about twelve bucks a month, I figure it’s worth exchanging a merely decent title for three or four better ones, or an extra meal or two at In ‘n’ Out—whichever.

Let’s cut to the chase. This issue doesn’t do it. Like its predecessors, it has some merit, but it mostly fails to convince you that there’s must-read material in here. Must-skim-for-anything-noteworthy is more like it. This is no doubt in part due to the series’ uncertain continuity. How much of this is going to end up as canon? I’m not sure the answer matters. If none of it has any permanent impact on the DCU, then you obviously have no reason to care. But if any of it gets integrated into the DCU, we have a much grimmer world to look forward to, and that’s not terrific either.

Superman #32 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Laura Martin (colors)

The Story: The last son of Krypton meets the last son of Earth.

The Review: Do you want to know the easiest way to tell if a writer/artist is in the top tier of comic book creators? Don’t answer; of course you do! All you have to do is see they have when attached to an already ongoing series. If they’re lower on the popularity scale, hardly anyone will take notice. If they’re big-time, it’s like the title just came out with a new #1 issue, like their creative energies have the power to transform the old into the young again.

As I never once picked up an issue of Superman until now, I can’t make any comparisons to what came before, but I can say that Johns makes me feel like I’m reading a brand-new series. You have to say this for the man: he knows how to write a good hook. Like a rapper sampling a famous guitar riff for his latest single, Johns takes a story we’ve heard so often before—a baby boy rocketed from a doomed setting by his loving parents—and tweaks it ever so slightly to make it fit his purposes yet also remind us why we love that story so much in the first place.

Alternate Histories: An Interview with Greg Pak

Greg Pak (pronounced Pock) is an accomplished film director and comic writer with acclaimed runs on The Incredible Hulk, Hercules, and Action Comics, among others. In his ten years as a published comic writer, Pak has written tragedy, comedy, and high drama, he’s shaped the births of some of Marvel’s most dangerous villains, written DC’s flagship title, and even shown the world a gay, gubernatorial Wolverine!

In short, he’s a pretty impressive guy and it’s no surprise that he’s in high demand at the moment. Pak currently writes Superman in DC’s Action Comics and Batman/Superman, a revived Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Dynamite, and is set to launch the first ever Storm series from Marvel next month.

I managed to talk to Mr. Pak at Special Edition: NYC. As you might guess, he was very busy but he absolutely insisted on giving thoughtful and intelligent answers to every one of my questions. I really appreciate him taking the time to talk to us and, if you do too, maybe you should pre-order Storm #1 at your local comic shop as the window to do is rapidly closing.

Superman/Wonder Woman #9 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Tony Daniel (pencils), Matt Banning & Sandu Florea (inks), Tomev Morey (colors)

The Story: Never ask an Amazon to do a god’s work.

The Review: I feel safe with you guys, so I’m just gonna let it all out: I don’t know how much more of this I can stand. It’s true that my general distaste for Doomsday made me predisposed to dislike Doomed, but I don’t think I’m out of line for saying that the storyline has been an overlong bit of mindless drivel so far. When you have four ongoing titles involved in a crossover, and the story still feels like it’s going nowhere, that’s unacceptable.

Anyway, don’t take my word for it. The repetitiousness of Doomed is obvious in this issue alone, in which once again Clark has a tiresome dialogue with himself—his Doomsday self, that is—and various well-meaning individuals attempt to put him down, only to irritate him further. It’s enough to make you wonder where everyone’s brains went. It’s one thing for Guy Gardner to throw himself into battle without thinking, but you’d think women as intelligent as Hessia or Supergirl would be better than that.

Action Comics #32 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Scott Kolins (art), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: Superman finds it hard to save others when he can’t save himself.

The Review: Now that Doomed has entered its second phase (“Enemy of the State”), I think it’s say that the arc is living up to all my worst fears about a Doomsday storyline, i.e., there really isn’t that much story to tell. Doomsday is a mindless killer, and it isn’t any less so in the form of Superman. In that kind of scenario, there’s really only one way for the plot to go: unbridled panic from the world at large, not unlike the chaos unleashed from a Godzilla attack or alien invasion.

As if a hybrid Superman-Doomsday isn’t perilous enough, this issue confirms that his very presence is murderous, setting trees ablaze and killing off “millions of living things…insects, protozoa, microbes,” turning Superman into a walking plague on top of everything else. Thus the story cycles through the same three beats over and over: Superman’s horror of himself, everyone else’s horror at what he’s becoming, and the competing loyalty from his most diehard supporters. The reactions are quite natural, but terribly monotonous; as in any disaster story, they serve only to kill time until the disaster inevitably escalates once more.

Batman/Superman #11 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Karl Kerschl & Daniel Sampere (art), Tom Derenick (pencils), Vicente Cifuentes, Marc Deering, Wayne Faucher (inks), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: When you’ve got even the ghosts in a panic, things aren’t going well.

The Review: Unenthused as I am by Doomed, it was with some dismay when I saw that Batman/Superman would be also be participating in the crossover. It shouldn’t have surprised me, what with Pak being an architect of this storyline and all. And on the plus side, at least I’ll be mostly up to speed on everything going on Doomed, which, as my recent frustrations with the Batman/Superman–Worlds’ Finest crossover show, isn’t something that happens very often.

Interestingly enough, even though Doomed is a Superman-centric storyline, he features hardly at all in this issue. I approve. At this point, there’s really nothing left to do with Superman except to see him decline further, and there’ll be plenty of that later on. If Superman has a presence at all, it’s in spirit; his friends spend a lot of the issue considering what he’d do in their shoes: Batman putting his faith in others; Wonder Woman repressing her warriors’ instincts; Ghost Soldier exchanging loyalties to stand up for what’s right; Steel risking everything to save everyone. It’s a sweet testament to Superman’s impact on the world, and a reminder of what’s at stake if he’s lost.

Supergirl #31 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer); Emanuela Lupacchino with Ray McCarthy and Guillermo Ortego, Yildiray Cinar, and Cory Smith (art); Hi-Fi and Yildiray Cinar (colors)

The Story: As “Red Daughter of Krypton” barrels on, Kara and the Reds find themselves searching for a new and dangerous Lantern.

The Review: Supergirl’s world is starting to get pretty hectic. As if it weren’t enough to subdue a newly selected Red and protect the planet’s civilians, Atrocitus is there too, looking to add to his collection. The former leader of the Red Lanterns has struggled to find a strength and relevance equal to his original concept ever since he finally found revenge for the wrongs that birthed him and this issue doesn’t solve that. Still, Supergirl and Red Lanterns have both done a good job of building him up as a legitimate threat for Guy’s Reds.

Tony Bedard continues that trend. Dex-Starr’s presence imbues Atrocitus’ scenes with humor and intrigue and even helps the brutal Lantern feel relatively likable. Just because he’s angry doesn’t mean he can’t have a strong boss-worker relationship with his favorite cat. In fact, Bedard proves an expert in providing the same kind of authority and gravitas that draws us to Darth Vader, not only to Atrocitus but to the newly revealed Worldkiller-1.

Meanwhile there’s also movement on Earth. As the Diasporans come looking for a rematch, the intrigue between Siobhan and her treacherous roommate deepens. It’s not clear if playing Ouija was actively part of her plans for the Silver Banshee, but it’s definitely a bad idea, if Blaze’s appearance is anything to go by. I’m thrilled to see Siobhan popping up, even in the middle of Kara’s Red Lantern adventures. I made no secret that Bedard wholly sold me on the character concept back in issue #29 and it’s great that he’s still turning the heat up on that subplot.

Justice League #30 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), Ivan Reis & Doug Mahnke (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Rod Reis (colors)

The Story: The bar for League membership gets a lot lower.

The Review: The history of superhero comics is so long and involved that I seriously doubt any kind of plot that appears in the genre is truly original anymore. All I can say is Johns may be onto something we haven’t seen in a while with his latest vision of the Justice League. Secret traitors and double agents have been done before, but I don’t remember the last time known villains have joined a team of such repute as the League, especially one as notorious as Lex Luthor or as smalltime as Captain Cold.

Of course, your first thought at the very idea of Luthor joining the League is he’s got to be planning something. Make no mistake, he’s playing the game amazingly. “If there’s anything I want people to take away from the tragedy that befell our world,” he says in his first statement post-Forever Evil, “it’s that even with aliens, Amazons, and Atlanteans among us—a single human being can still make a difference. Police, firefighters and soldiers risk their lives every day to help others without the benefit of super-speed or a magic ring. I’m humbled to stand alongside those brave men and women.”

Superman/Wonder Woman #8 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Tony Daniel (pencils), Matt Banning & Sandu Florea (inks), Tomev Morey (colors)

The Story: If even the best man on Earth can be a bad boyfriend, what hope is there for the rest of us?

The Review: The tendency with writing Superman is to portray him as a goody-goody, such a paragon of model behavior that he comes frequently across as bland and unrelatable. That’s how he inspires both worshipful respect and defensive hatred from people, both fictional and otherwise. In real life, it takes real effort to maintain that degree of goodness, and in the new DCU, with a younger, brasher Clark, the suggestion is that it takes real effort for him, too.

But if Clark’s public virtues are the product of strict self-control, of suppressing an inclination to “punch down” (as Greg Pak always puts it), then we now have opportunities for him to relinquish that control. Such is the effect of the Doomsday infection, unleashing all those mean-spirited, primal thoughts that you’ve always wondered if Clark ever felt, much less repressed. It’s an interesting direction for Soule to take, exploring the psychological, rather than purely physical, dimensions of a Clark gone wild.