“Takedown”
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Clayton Henry
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Wes Abbot
What They Say:
The Super Sons are reunited and up against an entire world of Injustice…but in this penultimate issue, will Jon Kent have a hope of returning to his Earth? It’s a battle for the soul of Superman and the safe return of the Super Son as the Injustice saga cranks up the heat!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
That this series became a version of the Injustice books amuses me to no end as we go through a variation of it with Jon being the unknown element of it. I haven’t read much of mainstream DC books for quite a while, preferring to hang around the disconnected continuity books and standalone stuff, so this is a fun blending for me. This installment brings on Clayton Henry on the artwork and it’s like we’re back in the Injustice days and I really can’t complain at all about it. And cap that off with the talented Jordie Bellaire on the color design? Bellaire definitely caught my attention many years ago and is someone that when I see their name in the credits I know it’ll be done right.
With Jon having found Jay in this world and gotten a better handle on things, his meeting with Bruce and the others in the resistance against Superman and the Justice League has led to an interesting place. He’s come around on that this isn’t the way the world should be, even one not his own, but he’s not viewing it as a physical fight that should happen, which is part of Jon’s changing approach from the “old way” of doing things. Taylor manages him well in this regard and it makes his stories interesting to watch unfold. That doesn’t mean Jon’s not just forgiving everything that happened as we get a good moment of him lashing out at Harley for her involvement in the death of Lois but even here, like in the Injustice series, Harley’s reasoning makes sense in that the world had a kind of playful element to it that allowed for the usual back and forth. That things got serious caught a lot of people off-guard and has led to this.
The flip side of this is that we see how Damian has brought Jay in – roughed up a bit – to Ultraman in order to show that he shouldn’t be trusting Jon. Ultraman at least can see that Damian is feeling threatened by a version of his son being here and that he might be displaced but that’s something he tries to clear up, to his credits. Of course, Damian also shows that Jon has been meeting with Bruce because he put the tracker on him and that sets into motion the action sequence of this issue with the League coming in to take them down after Jon leaves for the day. It’s putting a lot into motion with Ultraman going harder and firmer but it plays out as Jon discovers more of what Ultraman has done here while at the Fortress of Solitude. It’s familiar enough for long-time Injustice readers but it works well to get Jon to understand – and to have some others reason with him in the way that he’s viewing things as opposed to how Bruce is.
In Summary:
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this series but that it became an Injustice project just makes me laugh and laugh. I love those books and playing in this world, even a different version of it, makes me smile because of the things it can do. Jon’s doing well in handling all of this and trying to find the right way to help things but only after he listens and works to understand what’s happened here. It’s not just fights and misunderstandings but rather an exploration to figure out the why of it and how to help change the course. Taylor’s script works some fun little bits here and there and the nods to the original are wonderful to have. Henry’s always been a great artist and projects like this with sprawling casts definitely work in their favor, so it’s a fun and dynamic book as we get some executions set up for the next installment. We’ll be there for that.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics
Release Date: July 4th, 2023
MSRP: $3.99
