Just imagine you suddenly found yourself a superhero in the DC Universe, what would you do? Knuckle down in the day-to-day while waiting for the inevitable supervillain to show up? Or tour the weird and wonderful sites the comic book world has to offer.
The latter, obviously, which is exactly how Superboy Prime prefers to spend his time now he’s officially filling in for the temporarily absent Superman. Having tried Themyscira, home of the Amazons – they weren’t keen – he pops to Crime Alley, where he’s quickly spotted.
Also this issue, Prime is settling into his new day job at a comics store in Metropolis. And someone wants to make friends.
Not everything is rosy at the store this #NCBD, as his boss commends his work, but not his timekeeping.
Will he deserve the honour? Will he be of any use to Damian Wayne? Prime explains it all to Ma and Pa Kent, who join him for a framing sequence which, frankly, sees them unnerved as he neglects to filter out information from his beloved comic books back on our very own Earth.
Awkward.
What’s also a little unnerving is that Prime and the Kents are being watched. Find out by whom when you read this comic, because you really have to read it. Prime’s genuine desire to be accepted as not only worthy of holding the fort for Superman, but to be seen as a good employee at Asteroid Comics, is heartwarming.
Writer Joshua Williamson and artist Dan Mora also do a heck of a good job showing Prime – oh go on, let’s call him CK – finding common ground with Damian. The dialogue works, the body language and face ‘acting’ is spot on, the storytelling is first rate all round. Mirrored poses between characters speak to our hero’s feeling everyone is (unsurprisingly) judging him. Shots of characters towering about CK’s point of view, wondering if he’s going to fail, tell the tale.
The backgrounds are tiptop too, CK’s comic shop and the street where his unnamed admirer lives are the business. Mora’s Martha and Jonathan look significantly more fragile than usual, like actual elderly people, which is a bit of a shock, but they’re recognisably Ma and Pa.
The vibrant colours of Alejandro Sánchez are a big part of the issue’s pleasure package, from the snapshot battles on page one to the revelation of… someone… on the final page. And Ariana Maher shows her creativity with excellently considered dialogue treatments.
As for the man supplying the words, Williamson provides little moments of delight throughout, with this being my favourite.
Who’s Damian agreeing with? What’s been said? Again, find out, you may thank me for not telling you.
Williamson closed his story last issue with the appearance of bad boy Manchester Black. We don’t see him this time but his presence is certainly felt… I’m so looking forward to him being the focus of an issue or two.
The one thing I don’t like is the cover. There had to be one that’s less than genius eventually. Mora’s composition isn’t the strongest, with the body parts around CK being, as we say in Scotland, a bit of a guddle, confusing. And whose idea was that line of what barely counts as dialogue? I really don’t see self-declared Pre-Crisis kid Superboy Prime using Millennial slang (I looked it up).
Still, I loved this issue. If DC isn’t preparing at least a mini-series for CK, they need to get it on the docket, stat.
Do people still say ‘stat’?
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 