Adventures of the Super-Sons #1 – Peter J. Tomasi, Writer; Carlo Barbieri, Penciller; Art Thibert, Inker; Protobunker, Colorist
Ray – 6/10
Ray: As readers of the key Superman titles know, Jon Kent is currently lost in space with his mother (although she’s making her way back sooner than expected) and it’s not clear when he’ll be showing up again – or how. That spelled the end for his frenemy-team-up book with Robin, Super-Sons. However, DC has heard the fanbase asking for more, and answered with this twelve-part maxiseries set after the end of Super-Sons but before the events of Man of Steel. Adventures of the Super-Sons #1 is a throwback in every way, sold as a lighter, funnier alternative to the darker events going on for both characters. However, I’m not sure it lives up to that promise. It has a lot of the same problems that the previous Super-Sons series had, and they all start with one name – Damian Wayne. The previous run had significant ongoing problems with Damian coming off as far more obnoxious than in other books, especially in his behavior towards the younger Jon. This continues in spades here, as in the opening segment where the two of them fight a remote-controlled golden Superman statue – and then Damian gets control of the remote and uses it to punch Jon a few times for laughs.
The two boys are looking forward to their summer vacation, with Jon counting down the moments, and Damian berating his teacher to ensure that he gets the sufficient amount of extra credit. Tomasi’s having fun with the idea that Damian is essentially an adult-level intelligence stuck in middle school, but that raises the question – if Damian is too smart for school and has no interest in friends his own age, why is Bruce wasting both their time with this? With Batman and Superman off on a mission and Damian and Jon free to fight crime on their own, Jon dubs it the “Summer of Super”, much to Damian’s annoyance. Their plans to fight some low-level threats are foiled, however, when a powerful team of pint-sized supervillains – kid versions of Lex Luthor, Deadshot, Captain Cold, Brainiac, Shaggy Man, and Joker. They have a carefully planned attack to neutralize both of them, and are armed with Gold Kryptonite to steal Jon’s powers. Why? It’s not very clear, but they present themselves as superfans and seem to be doing it solely for fun. There could be an interesting story here, but as long as this series seems like like two kids having fun and more like a bully and his younger tagalong, it’s lacking the charm it seems to be going for.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
