The strength of resolve.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kenny Porter
Art: Scott Kolins
Colors: Luis Guerrero
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
Superman is having nightmares, dreams of pain and destruction and he can’t understand why. That is until Darkseid comes to Metropolis and plans to use the Anti-Life equation to subjugate the universe, starting with Superman and his city! It’ll take every ounce of power Clark possesses in order to stop the mad despot from Apokolips!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It’s been almost two months since the last installment of this series but getting a new one is welcome. Some standalone Superman time without any weighty continuity issues takes me back to my childhood reading material and Kenny Porter captures it pretty well. This installment is narration heavy with what’s going on in Superman’s mind and it showcases his resolve well. Which is displayed wonderfully through Scott Kolins artwork. I’ve liked his work on a number of projects over the last few years and there’s a good sense of strength that he provides for superman here but also some of the lighter and more boyish moments that a lot of artists forget to capture.
The premise here brings us a Superman that feels at unease as he’s not sleeping well for several nights and something just seems off. That has him taking the morning off from work as Clark to reconnect with the folks in the street through one of the neighborhoods and it’s fun as we see him enjoying the small moments that make us all human even amid the hustle and bustle of Metropolis. It may be a little blunt but it’s getting across the point that it wants until the unease turns full reality as a boom tube opens over the area, bringing Darkseid into his life once again. Again, blunt but the kind of work you do in a standalone story with just one chapter available. Realizing that it was Darkseid that was invading his dreams and making him feel uneasy about everything, it strengthens his intention to protect all the people around him and the world at large.
The bulk of the story revolves around the fight that ensues as Darkseid is intent on making it clear that he’s the superior here and that everything in the universe is his, as usual. So it’s not really got any stakes to it and just a chance for him to try and understand Superman a bit more – and in a weird way to get Superman to understand more ways to defeat him. Kolins provides for some solid artwork in this as Porter comes up with some creative things that Superman has to do along the way to protect the people that are caught up in all of this. It’s familiar material overall and the tricks employed at definitely fun since it sets off Darkseid, but it also sticks to one of his familiar patterns in largely standing there being ominous while hitting people hard.
In Summary:
Superman continues to be one of my favorite characters and I like the range of stories that are told about him. This one keeps things somewhat basic in that it’s a face-off with Darkseid and it handles it well with what it needs to do within the confines of a 16-page story. Porter works well within the constraints and Kolins has a lot of fun in just letting Superman both give and take against Darkseid while slipping in some creative speed usage as well that visually is really nice done.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology and Kindle
Release Date: September 30th, 2020
MSRP: $0.99
