Review: Superman #9 - Mobile Edition

DC Comics
Review: Superman #9
By Philip Schweier
March 13, 2019 - 05:16

DC Comics
Writer(s): Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller(s): Ivan Reis, Brandon Peterson
Inker(s): Joe Prado, Oclair Albert
Colourist(s): Alex Sinclair
Letterer(s): Josh Reed
Cover Artist(s): Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Alex Sinclair; Rob Liefeld

We are offered chapter 3 of the adventures of young Jon Kent, aka Superboy, in his odyssey that began with a summer away with Grandpa Jor-El (who is curiously MIA), but has ended with a considerably older Jon Kent returning home to Lois and Clark.

Did I mention this is THIRD installment? Methinks this could have been a miniseries unto itself, but DC Editorial chose to pass on such an idea. “Just fold it in to the regular Superman series.” So we get this extremely abbreviated version. When I was a kid, I remember watching hour-long program edited down to a half-hour, and feeling cheated. Same here.

Granted, I’m the kind of comic book reader that would probably complain that an ongoing series had detoured into a miniseries, crying foul as a ploy to sell more books. But in this case, there just seem to be a lot of superfluous breaks, jumping back to Superman and Lois for no obvious reason. Here’s hoping it will all be explained at the end.

The art team continues to struggle, often with multiple pencilers and inkers. I don’t mind it here, because the work is divvied up between present and flashback. It works.

But as Chapter 3 ends, I find myself ready for this particular story arc to conclude, and for an older teenage Superboy to take his place alongside his father. Or, better yet, find some friends in the far flung future to hang out with. LLtL!

Rating: 6/10