Superman #8 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Gleb Melnikov, Norm Rapmund, David Baldeon, Jamal Campbell, Artists; Alejandro Sanchez, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Coming off one of the best issues of Superman in recent memory, which saw one stunning reveal after another, this issue had a lot to live up to—and it did. The reveal of the Chained, aka Sammy Stryker, challenged Superman and his family like few other foes—especially once it was revealed that the deranged chained man had the same tactile telekinesis as Superboy. At the same time, Luthor’s attempts to help were challenged by the return of two family members—his estranged mother Lucretia, and his long-forgotten daughter Lena, still bearing the scars of her father’s deal with Brainiac back in 2000. This has given Luthor something unusual, in that he now has people he’s fighting for, and the sadistic Chained wastes no time exploiting that. It’s rare to see Luthor this off-balance, and the presence of his daughter makes me wonder if he’s actually going to be able to see through his redemption arc. She certainly doesn’t seem to think so.
Where this issue is most fascinating is in its exploration of Metropolis’ forgotten history. The era Luthor is calling back to is from long before Superman came to the city, and both he and Perry White have knowledge of how Stryker got his powers and how he fell from grace. He has such great control of his powers that he’s able to quickly manhandle the Super-family—which leads Luthor and Superman to take on a desperate last-ditch weapon created by Luthor years ago. There’s only one problem—it’s powered by Kryptonite, and with every minute Superman wears it, it’s killing him. It feels a little too on-the-nose for Luthor to have designed this with supposedly no ill intentions, but it sets up an interesting dynamic where a recovering Superman might wind up even more enmeshed with Luthor’s interests going forward. Williamson has done a lot of great DC book over the years, but this might be the best yet.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
