‘Hope’ has been the watchword for Superman for a long time now, and while the Man of Steel doesn’t appear as an active participant in this issue, hope is everywhere.
While Superman is away at the DC KO festivities, Superwoman Lois, Superboy Prime and a very human Superman robot are fighting their way past Darkseid’s Legion of Super-Heroes to reach the Time Trapper. They want to pass on to the evolved Doomsday a message that could turn things around for the forces of Good allied against Darkseid.
The evil Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy aren’t holding back.
While Prime and the robot face two of the original Legionnaires, third founder Saturn Girl is trying to taunt Lois with what she’s seen via her telepathic connection with Darkseid.
Saturn Girl gets physical, but Lois tempts her into her mind, where thoughts of her loving life with Clark trigger something in the psychic.
The moment brings on an emotional crisis for the Legion leader, she stops hearing the dark god of Apokolips in her head, and soon she’s giving her colleagues a surprising order.
Hope.
The cessation of hostilities gives the Superman robot a chance to project its message to Doomsday, via an AI hologram of Superman’s birth mother.
She hopes… and Doomsday, who previously had counselled fleeing into the past to avoid the predicted arrival of Darkseid, leaves to punch his fears in the face.
In an epilogue, Lois finds Ma and Pa Kent on one of the space arks helping preserve the planetary population as Earth transforms into an Apokolips-style firepit.
It’s Jonathan Kent spreading hope.
To use a technical term, Superman #35 is great stuff. Josh Williamson’s plotting is precise, and his dialogue delightful, everyone has their own voice. Lois is beyond brave, the Superman robot is as noble as his fleshy counterpart and Prime is as smart as he is fierce in his dealings with the Dark Legion.
Lara is an interactive Kryptonian hologram, one of my pet hates, but we have these things in real life now so I’d better not say too much… the iPad may be spying on me. As for the new Time Trapper, it’s good to see him get a bit of his mojo back. The line of the issue goes to Saturn Girl after she belts Super-Lois.
As for the art, Eddy Barrows and Eber Ferreira are back, and they’ve brought Julio Ferreira with them, The visuals are intense and inviting, with such great moments as Prime’s defiance on the opening double-page splash and Saturn Girl’s gold medal-worthy leap to avoid Lois’s heat vision. The spot-on storytelling makes every page a pleasure. The one problem is that the rictus grin that tells us Saturn Girl is somewhere to the left of sane appears randomly on other characters, as if they’ve all been eating Joker Fish. That scene with Ma and Pa Kent, for example – reassured is one thing, but these people look like they’ve won the lottery.
The colouring by Alejandro Sánchez adds richness and depth, while Ariana Maher’s lettering is elegant and extravagant by turns. Dan Mora’s cover nicely evokes despair, though there are enough great action moments inside for an image more representative of the actual comic’s contents.
Superman #35 looks to be a pivotal issue in the DC KO event, I had a ball reading it. How about you?
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 