Superman Unlimited #7 review

The best thing about this cover is the lettering, that ‘terror’ looks great. As for the illo by regular series artist Rafael Albuquerque, it’s not brilliant. My best guess is that the central figure is meant to be Pa Kent, who doesn’t pick up a gun this issue, but it’s hard to tell – he looks like a melting tin man. Lana, Steel and young Jon look fine.

Inside we have a fill-in art job by Lucas Meyer, and it’s a breath of fresh air. Albuquerque is terrific on some characters, but his current style is just wrong for Superman, people often look plain creepy. Meyer, though, gives us characters who are perfectly on model. From Jon to ‘Gramma and Grampa’ Jonathan and Martha, Lana Lang and John Henry Irons, everyone just looks right.

And that also goes for Clark Kent and Lois Lane, who barely appear this month as Jon takes the spotlight in a Smallville that’s changing.

He’s there to help John Henry – Steel – test anti-green Kryptonite tech in the wake of Earth’s stock having recently increased massively. Along the way he catches the eye of one of the workers.

Later, a farmer puts a mystery in front of him.

Shortly, a trip to the local diner is curtailed when his Mom contacts him via a Gorilla City gizmo.

Lois and Clark reckon their boy needs to find a life outside of being a superhero.

And perhaps they have a point. But shouldn’t he be allowed to decide for himself when and how? Mr and Mrs Superman named Jonathan Samuel Kent after two of his grandfathers. They let him go into the hero game, first as a tween Superboy and now, confusingly, as a spare Superman. And here they’re suggesting he follows them both into journalism.

Maybe plotter Dan Slott or guest dialogue man Jeremy Adams have a plan to have Jon realise reporting isn’t for him – heck, it’s not as if he has any training. And didn’t he recently register for Metropolis University?

Lois’s insistence Jon becomes even more of a mini-Clark than previously by wearing glasses – something he did as a Super Son – does lead to some nice humorous moments.

Anyway, accepting his Mom’s challenge to find a story worthy of the Daily Planet without using his powers, he solves the mystery of the missing cow by working out the clues. And that’s when he’s justified in donning the super-suit and tracking down the confused beast, showing his trademark empathy.

And them Jon is attacked by a mole. A mechanical mole.

And where there’s a mechanical mole, you can bet there are moloids… sorry, Mole Men. It turns out their home was disturbed by a farmer’s well-drilling, or maybe a Steelworks tool – it’s ambiguous – so Jon apologises to them, overlooking the fact they kidnapped Smallville residents, human and bovine, and hid them underground. Heck, Jon could not be more delighted by his new pals, while showing no curiosity as to their background… he’s definitely not professional reporter material.

And so Jon writes his debut Daily Planet piece, pleasing his parents, though the way he writes about himself in a front page news item is pretty amateurish.

When I realised this was going to be a Jon solo tale I was a tad dismayed. I mean, Slott has the ongoing green Kryptonite story to finish, and I really would like it to be over. But as it happens, this is the most entertaining issue so far. The mystery of the cow is fun, the interaction between Jon and friends delightful, and the little guys, straight out of 1951’s Superman and the Mole Men film, are actually rather cute.

Learning Jon’s romance with the almost-always annoying Jay Nakamura is over pleased me no end, even if it does take an unlikely pink-haired Steelworks technician to bring out the news.

A new subplot involving Lois and her pet Gorilla City tech will hopefully see the end of it – I’m not too keen on Metropolis getting too ahead of the real world, we’ve been there previously and it hurts the stories.

On a similar note, while I smiled at Slott borrowing the old Blue Devil phrase ‘weirdness magnet’ to describe Smallville, I don’t want the notion to become an official story engine. That and Steel giving the townsfolk science wonders takes away from the charm of Smallville – it should be the epitome of the quiet hamlet, if anything a little old fashioned. Yeah, supervillains and aliens occasionally pass through, but it should be without much comment.

Ma Kent claims she can’t work the remote, playing to the dimwit image in this summer’s film, let’s not have too much of that please; she does, though, give Jon some great advice.

It’s not mentioned, but I hope Jon takes a lesson from this – had he gone looking for the cow, Tallulah, as soon as he was told she was missing he’d have sorted things out rather more quickly. Mind, from the way his Dad talks you’d think the Smallville soil was made of lead.

That is weak.

What’s not weak is the art of Meyer. As well as the already-mentioned character work the action scenes are first class, and I include not just the Mole Men’s monster truck but Jon, Lana and Steel flying into action. Meyer is back next issue, and I look forward to seeing what he does there.

If we can also keep talented colourist Marcelo Maiolo that would be excellent, touches such as Jon’s Flash-like speed trail really add to proceedings. He also colours Albuquerque’s cover image.

And Dave Sharpe’s lettering is tiptop, with my favourite instance being a bit of translated dialogue I won’t spoil.

So, a few niggles, but this is the first issue of Superman Unlimited that’s excited me. And next issue is, as noted, a Lois showcase. Dan Slott could do a lot worse than wrap up the green Kryptonite business and switch this book over to being a Superman Family showcase, bringing us Superman-lite tales of Metropolis and beyond. Anyone agree?