Superman: Son of Kal-El #8 – Tom Taylor, Writer; Cian Tormey, Penciller; Raul Fernandez, Inker; Federico Blee, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Still one of the best Superman books in a generation, Tom Taylor proves with this issue that he can tell the big, epic-scale Superman stories with Jon Kent just as well as anyone could with his father. When we last left off, Henry Bendix had engineered an attack on Metropolis with a massive sea arthropod and a team of remote-controlled Gamorran post-humans to oppose it. When Bendix engineered the death of one of his own team members to set off the conflict, it creates a chain of events that leads to Metropolis being targeted by a massive tidal wave as the Gamorrans try to kill the ancient beast causing it. This is easily the biggest challenge Jon has faced yet, as his desperation to save as many lives as possible leads him to stretch himself thin beyond the impossible. Even with Jackson Hyde on hand to help, it’s impressive to watch just how many life-saving tasks Jon juggles in one comic.
Bendix may be one of the most evil villains we’ve seen in a comic in a long time, and this is probably the best use of a former Wildstorm character we’ve seen outside of Midnighter and Apollo. His alliance with Luthor is building something genuinely dangerous not just to Jon, but to the entire DCU. That makes it all the more impressive as Jon, Jackson, and Jay turn back his forces this issue and manage to save Metropolis—at great emotional cost to Jon. We’ve seen a lot of replacement hero storyarcs over the years, but we very rarely see one that looks at the mental toll it takes on a young person to take over a mantle as storied as Superman. The cast is a little pared down compared to past issues, but that just means a stronger focus on Jon and Jay as Jon makes a big decision for his civilian life. Next up, a crossover with Nightwing as the newly exclusive Taylor continues to take over the DCU.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
