Absolute Superman #19 – Jason Aaron, Writer; Rafa Sandoval, Artist; Ulises Arreola, Colorist
Ray – 10/10
Ray: The lore in this title builds fast, and maybe more than any other book in the Absolute line, you never know when a new concept will upend everything. Superman had barely gotten through his first encounter with the ruthless Hawkman when he was pulled into a new engagement with the possibly-reformed Ra’s Al Ghul. That led to the opening of a mysterious sarcophagus that turned out to contain King Shazam – Teth-Adam, a vengeful slave turned the Earth’s first superhero. The Egyptian warrior was on the verge of changing the entire structure of the world in the Middle Kingdom when he was sealed away by his original patrons for abusing his power. He’s had three thousand years to build up his rage, and when he sees Superman confronting him, he immediately assumes he’s a replacement – and wastes no time proving to the younger hero who’s the stronger among them.
There’s another major player here as well – Steel, who was introduced last issue as a hammer-wielding warrior with a much darker view of the world than the John Henry Irons we know. Like all characters in this world, he’s the hero we know – just a little bent. Thus John Henry had an invention and a dream, and got what he thought was his big break from Lazarus Corp – only to be screwed over and now he’s making minimum wage at a meat processing plant. He’s had enough, and he’s built a weapon that could change everything – but he’s walked into a much bigger battle, one where not everyone will walk out alive. This is the largest-scale battle of the series yet, with King Shazam displaying a level of power we haven’t even seen out of Superman so far. It never slows down for even a second, and this issue has some of the first hints towards a larger shared universe we’ve seen. As this universe hasn’t shown even the slightest blip in quality yet, I am 100% down.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
