“Let’s Do The Time Warp Again”
Creative Staff:
Story: Peter J. Tomasi
Art: Evan Stanley
Colors: Luis Guerrero
Letterer: Rob Leigh
What They Say:
It’s a knock-down-drag-out brawl for the ages! Felix Faust and Vandal Savage are hell-bent on dissecting the time-traveling Super Sons to unlock the secrets of the future the boys possess – but not if the young sorceress Rora has anything to say about it! Superboy and Robin team up with their new mega-magical ally in battle for not just their own lives – but time itself! Great Scott!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It’s back to the past with this installment of the series and that’s pretty welcome as Challenge of the Super Sons had some real fun with the cast here earlier. Peter J. Tomasi continues to handle narration well, which is almost becoming a lost skill with some writers, and he delivers a good look at the machinations of the villains at hand in a pretty good way. While Jorge Corona handled the flashback artwork before, this one has Evan Stanley on board and he provides a pretty good bridge between the two styles. There’s definitely a slightly more, for lack of a better word, cartoony aspects to some of this – notably in the eyes – but it captures a lot of what Corona brought to the page as well with the physical nature and stature of them all. And it still has that slightly fairytale book element to it as well that delivers just right.
With the tenth and eleventh issues being released out of order, we’re a bit out of order ourselves here now. This installment is a lot of fun, however, as we get to follow Damian and Jon as they real with Rora, someone that Damian clearly doesn’t trust. Jon’s far too trusting as we already knew but he’s willing to hear Rora’s story even though there are enough red flags that should worry – especially when she says she wants to join them in their time to help atone for the things she’s caused. Damian’s at least aware of messing with the time stream too much and sees her as someone that may be angling to leap to the future for her own dark machinations. Damian’s wariness is at least warranted after all that’s happened but it’s also why he and Jon have such a good balance with each other.
We get a lot of time between the trio here as Rora explains some of her situation while taking the boys to her secret hideout in the woods where no magic is allowed. There are a few creatures to navigate there, which is hilarious in seeing Robin attack one while Jon is just waiting to follow the conversation Rora is having with it, and Damian’s tension is off the charts in a comical way. Rora’s plan is simple in that she can help them get back to the future but they need to stay out of Fausts’ view for the moment, which isn’t easy with his powers. There’s a lot going on here but it’s really just focusing on the uneasy feelings Damian has toward Rora while Jon is far more trusting. Too trusting, in fact. But when your foes on Savage and Faust, well, the more allies the better.
In Summary:
This series continues to be a lot of fun and this installment is no exception. There’s a good bit going on here but it’s focused more on the dialogue than the action. But we do get some fun with Damian attacking the troll, which doesn’t work out for him at all, and some cute bits where we regularly get Rora calling Jon Superman which in turn infuriates Damian. There’s a good bit of fun ahead with this property still, both in the past and in the future, that I’m still excited to see what’s next.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: April 5th, 2021
MSRP: $0.99