Superman 13: They Will Join You in the Sun |
| Original Solicit |
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| Published Cover |
Taking its title from a Grant Morrison line that appears in the upcoming
Man of Steel film (via All-Star Superman), the second issue of Lobdell and Rocafort's Superman places the action back on earth. The cover asks: "Who is the fallen angel of Krypton?"
The book's revelation spotlights the character H'el,
originally the New 52's Bizarro, floating above an arguing Kara Zor-El and Kal El, who are unaware of his presence. It's certainly a neat trick to hide in plain sight from these two.
The issue reads as two separate stories. The first half of the issue is placed mostly on Metropolis, perhaps to humanize the book after the Kryptonian adventures in issue 0, and the second half is a Kal vs Kryptonian Dragon story.
Kenneth Rocafort again outpaces much of his peers and is one of the rare breed of gifted illustrators who are able to seamlessly integrate stellar cartooning into their illustrative work. After the polygonal all out action in the 0 issue, Rocafort focuses almost all of the panels where sci-fi/fantasy/superpowers aren't involved into conventional rectangular layouts.
Much was made about Clark quitting The Daily Planet but it doesn't ring out as a gimmick in the story. Lobdell talks about this in interview:
"Rather than Clark be this clownish suit that Superman puts on, we're going to really see Clark come into his own in the next few years as far as being a guy who takes to the Internet and to the airwaves and starts speaking an unvarnished truth." - Scott Lobdell
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Rocafort's outstanding cartooning ...
Cat Grant is utterly moved after Clark lays into his boss Morgan Edge, while the rest of the crew wants to keep their job |
The Clark Kent/Cat Grant duo may seem odd at first glance, as Lois is the obvious choice, but Scott Lobdell's made a career out of odd pairings; his latter-day X-Men run focused on Marrow and Cecilia Reyes (among others), and his Age of Apocalypse work centered around Blink, Morph, Sabretooth and Wild Child, Sunfire and Rogue.
Lobdell does spice up Clark's personality a bit as Clark uses his powers to see what Lois is texting about, shows Clark having a funny moment with Cat after they're both no longer employed by the Planet, and makes Kal overjoyed when Kal's found out he's able to sweat; these are all interesting character moments, and there's some genuine (if one-sided) humor during the Clark/Cat scene.
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"If we don't mean something, then we're meaningless."
New 52 Thinker Cat Grant |
In the sense that Lobdell wants to give us both character moments and action in the same book, I'm all for a second half of action, especially after a great first half of character scenes.
The dragon part of the story is ten of the twenty allotted pages for the book and, unfortunately, is where the issue falls apart story-wise. A Kryptonian dragon is in Metropolis and smacks Kal El to Ireland, proceeds to follow him to Ireland almost instantly but, luckily, the dragon has "decaying" DNA, so it's ok for Kal El to kill it with, luckily, an underground oil lake, even though not moments earlier it survived a huge punch from Kal (to say nothing of its ability to cross-continent travel just seconds before) and Kara Zor El, follows them to the area where this all happens. Lobdell hangs his hat on a lot of luck and, only two issues into the run, it's pretty disappointing turn after a brilliant first issue and a good first half. I'm not sure what the point of fighting the dragon was, outside of Kara coming to the conclusion that Krypton didn't die.
When people complain about Scott Lobdell comics, the second half of this issue is the sort of haphazard storytelling that they seem frustrated about. I'm all for hyper-compressed stories, dizzying action, but it's constructed as a vehicle to set Kara apart from Kal, and ten pages to make that point, along with the way it's made, is simply a chore.
After a spectacular issue 0, filled with intrigue, adventure, and an interesting first half, the issue is derailed once the dragon shows up. Hopefully the H'el on Earth story offers more than mindless punching, killing, and plotting. However, the Clark Kent portions are outstanding.
Concepts:- Kryptonian Dragon with decaying DNA
- H'el can hide in plain sight from Kal and Kara
- Kara Zor-El and Kal El are not the last Kryptonians
- Kara believes Krypton is still alive
- Truly testing Kal's strength would require a pan-dimensional wormhole, which the Graviton Matrix is capable of in its "second gear"
- Clark's super-hearing works as sonar to form images in his head
- Clark Kent and Cat Grant no longer at the Daily Planet
- Clark Kent isn't above snooping on people he cares about
- Kal El never experienced sweat, is excited that he can sweat like a normal person
- Jimmy Olsen: Worst Roommate on earth
- Lois/Clark: Best Friends with no benefits
- Dr. Veritas is a new character, a sort of Emil Hamilton figure it seems, and she's tasked with assessing Kal El's physiology/powers
Yea:- Kenneth Rocafort adds his entry into the "Superman punching through a wall" gallery
- Clark Kent/Cat Grant as a team
- Kenneth Rocafort cartooning/illustration
- Superman mentions that half the planet thinks he's an advance scout for an alien race; or, the Justice League cartoon's Hawkgirl
- Jimmy Olsen: Worst Roommate on Earth
- Clark spying on Lois' text
- "The head is out cold, but its paws are trying to kill me!"
- Clark wearing red underpants, a nod to the missing ones in the New 52
Nay:
- The pointless Dragon fight, drags the entire issue down
- I like the effort to have another bizarre creature like the Herald in issue 0, but the Dragon held little purpose other than convincing Kara Krypton isn't dead.
- Pace crawls once Krypton Dragon shows up
- The solicited cover is colored differently than the published cover. Not a Nay by itself, but it's certainly odd considering that the solicited cover was provided to major media outlets and the issue on stands looks different. I'm not sure if this is just a simple matter, or maybe indicative of last minute changes.
- Unless the Dragon is the Fallen Angel of Krypton, we don't get an answer
First Half: 88/100
Second Half: 40/100
66/100
Eryk Donovan
Matthew Roberts
Wilfredo Torres
Michel Fiffe
Charles Forsman
Orion by Ron Salas HeroesCon 2016
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