Superman #17 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Jamal Campbell, Artist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Absolute Power has sent the heroes of the DCU into a spiral, seemingly none more than Superman. Stripped of his powers and forced to fight his own son who has been turned into a living weapon, this is the lowest we’ve seen Superman in a very long time. And complicating things, he’s on a magical quest now – and he’s vulnerable to magic, something he found out in a flashback to his Superman days when a punk villain named Kid Warlock brought sorcery to Smallville. Accompanied by Zatanna, the two heroes escape Waller’s goons and descend into the underworld in search of a mystical artifact that can get them to one of the only safe places left in the world – the Oblivion Bar. There’s just one problem – the magicians left there aren’t the heroic type, and they would rather kick out the troublemakers and keep drinking their way through to the end of the world.
Superman and Zatanna’s story dominates the issue, but there is a great subplot involving the ragtag heroes of Metropolis. Lois Lane, wearing a new battlesuit from Lexcorp that might play a role in her upcoming superpowers, manages to save the day and get Jimmy, Siobahn, and an amnesiac Lex to safety. There’s some hilarious bits involving Lex – who is now essentially a normal and rather good-natured man who is confusing everyone around him. But back in the Oblivion Bar, this is no laughing matter as Superman goes up against a magic-powered villain and proves he still has some fight in him – before delivering an ultimatum to the residents of the bar that is answered by one of the last faces I every expected to see in the cliffhanger. Williamson is one of those writers who is very clearly writing a love letter to iconic DC comics of the 90s, and this issue has another great twist in that vein.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
