Superman: Son of Kal-El #12 – Tom Taylor, Writer; Cian Tormey/Scott Hanna, Ruairi Coleman, Raul Fernandez, Artists; Federico Blee, Matt Herms, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Tom Taylor wraps up Jon Kent’s first year as Superman with a bang, as he continues to battle to keep his friends and family safe from the powerful supervillain world leader he’s angered. It’s pretty impressive that Henry Bendix—a fairly obscure supervillain from a defunct 1990s comic universe—not only a legitimate threat but one with among the biggest reaches in the DCU. As the issue opens, he launches yet another assault on the Kents’ safehouse, one that is derailed before Jon can get there by the arrival of Krypto. Krypto’s now had key stories with all of Superman and just about every one of his teen sidekicks—that’s a really good boy. But now that it’s clear Bendix is escalating, Jon decides to call in his own support—in the form of humanitarian billionaire Dick Grayson, who is more than happy to put on a naive mask for a meeting with Lex Luthor where he bugs the office and finds out a little more about his master plan.
Soon it becomes clear that the plan goes even deeper as soon as Luthor utters two words—“The Senator.” Bendix may have agents inside the U.S. government, and that sends Jon and Jay to Washington to confront a corrupt politician in a scene that will no doubt have many people cheering. I know there are a lot of politicians we could shove a mike in front of as we expose their secrets, but of course this is a comic book—and this politician’s secret is a lot more grotesque than I was expecting. The visuals here are great, but I should say that this issue has several art teams that overall mesh well. However, the shift is pretty obvious at points. It looks good if not flawless, but the story is top-notch as always. Both this run and the Kal-El story being currently penned by Phillip Kennedy Johnson are driving home the defining element of Superman’s character no matter who’s wearing the “S”—no one gets left behind.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
