Tony Black reviews Superman #4…
“SON OF SUPERMAN” part four! The battle for Jon hits Metropolis as the Eradicator targets Superman’s son! Can the Man of Steel protect the city and his son against the Kryptonian executioner—or will he have to make a sacrifice?
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Superman #4
The opening ‘Son of Superman’ arc for the Rebirth of Superman builds to a quite epic conclusion under Peter J. Tomasi, who truly delivers a test for the Man of Steel in terms of where his loyalties lie, and quite what he’s prepared to do for his family, as The Eradicator reveals precisely what secret he’s been keeping – and it’s one with enormous implications for Krypton, after we previously saw once again the last vestiges of Kal-El’s sundered world. Superman here finds there could even be a chance of restoration, of not being the Last Son of Krypton, but it comes at a terrible cost – the life of his son Jon, seen as an abomination given his half-human lineage, not being pure Kryptonian. Tomasi manages to keep narrative soaring while digging into these family issues.
Crucially, there’s never a moment of Superman being conflicted over this during the issue, and nor should there be – he would of course choose to protect Jon, and Lois naturally, over any kind of bigger picture, but through the automatous, robotic practically of The Eradicator and what his twisted Clark form is here to do, Tomasi is allowed to explore just what Jon means to his father, and just how Jon continues to be torn apart by his burgeoning powers. In working with his father, adorning the cape and becoming a ‘superboy’ here, their combined force unleashes a power they find very hard to put back in the bottle, a power reminiscent almost of the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark (no bad thing).
Tomasi provides a human face in the Metropolis bartender collecting a Kryptonian moon rock, and though it’s a slight plot convenience to edge the narrative onto the next stage, it does allow for Superman to have more of an emotional, personal battle with the legacy of Krypton; there’s a really lovely moment where he speaks to the late Jonathan Kent which further cements his role as not just a father, but the hero he’s meant to be. Again, a solid blend of character work alongside epic action.
Patrick Gleason here gets to draw more vivid and colourful panels in this issue, making the most of an explosive contrast with ice at the Fortress of Solitude, and quite how he depicts the central ‘souls’ at the heart of the story is excellent, but his work sits alongside Tomasi’s writing as he forwards this very personal story for Superman into its next mini-arc. It’s refreshingly not about a world-ending conflict, this challenge for the Man of Steel, and indeed excitingly by the end of this issue, it appears Superman & his super family may be heading beyond the atmosphere as the connections to his home planet deepen.
Rating: 7/10
Tony Black
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Originally published August 11, 2016. Updated November 14, 2019.
