Reporters Lois Lane and Clark Kent are surprised at the Daily Planet by an old friend with a new problem. Someone has claimed on a website that bar owner Bibbo Bibowski is the Man of Steel.
Lois reckons Bibbo’s problem isn’t worth a story, but later, things escalate, with several dozen more people identified as being Superman.
Who’s the troublemaker and what do they want? That’s what Clark and Lois must find out in this week’s DC Digital First Superman book. Josh Trujillo writes an entertaining done-in-one that gets me on side immediately by using Bibbo, stalwart of the Superman line in the Nineties. As drawn by artist Stephen Byrne, he’s apparently come via the New 52, having lost a lot of weight, but hey, he’ll live longer. He’s also younger and a tad hipsterish. Byrne did a terrific job on DC’s recent Wonder Twins series and it’s great to see him still with the company, drawing more bemused, shaven headed chaps. He sneaks the villain into plain sight on an early page, and draws a splendid Cat Grant; as he’s colouring as well as illustrating, Byrne gets full credit for her fabulous outfit.
He also gives us one great Superman. Look, up in the sky…
… or not. Everyone is gazing at their phone, unlikely to look up unless Twitcher tells them Superman is above them with a bomb. Very 2020.
If I had to guess, I’d say Byrne is deliberately using a muted colour palette so that when Superman appears, he really pops. The lettering of Clayton Cowles is as good as I’ve come to expect from him.
As Superman stories go, this is very much towards the gentle end of the spectrum, making an impression with thoughtfulness rather than flying fists. Trujillo and Byrne make a good team and hopefully they’ll be back soon. Along with Bibbo.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Between Byrne’s always fun art and the breezy yet well characterized story, this was a nice Superman story and we need that out there. The only sour note was the forced message at the end but it didn’t come close to dampening my enjoyment of this story!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, I could do without the moral!
LikeLike