Review Shooter: Superboy 1
Superboy is an interesting character in the DC Universe, originally a younger version of Superman, his origin and tale has evolved over time. With the DC relaunch underway, it seems like DC has once more gone back to the drawing board to present a semi-updated Superboy.
Much like the most recent incarnation of Conner Kent, this Superboy is built in a lab. According to him, at the start of the story, he is use a mere 3 months, sixteen days, 4 hours and 53 seconds. A flash in the pan for most normal people, but Superboy isn’t normal. After a brief introduction to his surroundings, being raised in a tube in a secret lab! Superboy breaks free when his project is set to be terminated, killing everyone in the room except for a Dr. Red who observes this all from outside. The two form a special bond, and he allows her to perform some more tests on him. These tests are performed under a Virtual reality program, as Dr. Red and her associates try to discover Superboy’s human donor as he is part-Superman, part-human. The story wraps up with a man coming to take possession of Superboy to deal with what seems like the modern Teen Titans?
That’s the story in a nutshell. Personally, it did very little for me. Not to say it was a bad story, but it was a bland story. We all know that Conner is the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor, there’s even a splash page with a bald Superboy looking like a younger Lex. Drawing out the suspense and mystery really doesn’t help the audience any.
The Virtual Reality segment is pretty cool, but again it seems like a fill-in for Superman’s life as Clark Kent, which will be an interesting story to tell at some point since the Kents are no longer around to raise Superboy. During these reality segments, we also get the most natural character growth for Superboy. During his time in the chamber, and during this experiments, we get really stilted sounded dialogue. Which makes sense, he is only like 3 months old and learning by observing scientists, but when he gets to interact with other people, we see a more human side to him. And we also realize, he does have his share of flaws and doesn’t have the helping attitude that Superman possess as he allows an elderly woman to burn to death in her home.
Near the end of the book, another subplot is introduced dealing with Lois Lane, and I assume this is how Superboy and the project is bought to light and more importantly to the attention of Superman. How he reacts shall be most interesting!
The art in the book is passable. It served its purpose with nothing really sticking out to me, which is fine either way. Just due to the change of scenery though, I would say that the virtual reality segment art was the nicer part of the book since they were outdoors and able to use more natural environments.
Survival Rating: Life Support– So far nothing in this book has really grabbed me, and if Superboy does join the Teen Titans really less of a reason to keep this book around if it bombs.
Recommendation: Avoid It– Not the worst comic I’ve ever read. It is kind of enjoyable, but really there are better books this week, there are better books during the relaunch. Your money is better spent elsewhere.
