Adventures of the Super-Sons #9 – Peter J. Tomasi, Writer; Scott Godlewski, Artist; Protobunker, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 8/10
Ray: Adventures of the Super-Sons almost feels like an anthology at times. While there is an ongoing story involving the kid supervillains hunting them, it spends most of its time ping-ponging its tween heroes between one bizarre adventure and another. A lot of them have been duds, like the recent escape from Takron-Galtos, but once in a while, they hit exactly the right notes – like Adventures of the Super-Sons #9‘s strange space-western adventures.
How do you team the Super-Sons up with Jonah Hex? It helps when this Jonah Hex is a synthetic space robot cowboy patterned after the famous western bounty hunter. As “Hex” is about to be taken into custody by a group of bounty hunters, the boys crash-land on the planet and help him escape. It turns out this Hex is a remnant of a space war, and his old commanding officer wants him back in the fight whether he wants to or not.
After giving him a hand (literally, finding his robot hand), the boys get Hex to agree to help them get off the planet and back home. What ensues is equal parts road trip comedy and philosophical debate. Hex’s programming means he has to stay on this one planet until he’s needed, and while he has the free will to want something else he’s not able to act on it. The boys try to get him to budge, but he’s as stubborn as his namesake.
It falls on the alien Green Lantern the boys are traveling with to make a move – and what seems like a betrayal turns out to be anything but. Jonah Hex has been absent from the DCU for a while, so it’s good to see the character again even in an unconventional way. But the ongoing villain plot drags this down, as Rex Luthor seems to be here to do little more than monologue and order around a band of evil little cosplayers. I just wish the whole series could have the energy of this issue’s A-plot.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
