Superman #5

by Ian B on August 17, 2016

Written by: Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason

Art by: Doug Mahnke

Coloured by: Wil Quintana

Lettered by: Rob Leigh

 

 

In the last issue, Superman and Jon managed to deal massive damage to the Eradicator, destroying his head and releasing all of the souls of the Kryptonians that he had stored inside his body when Krypton had been destroyed. The explosion resulting from the release of the Kryptonian souls brought them to a city where the fighting continued, the souls of the Kryptonians temporarily delaying the Eradicator and letting Superman get his family to safety. Putting Lois and Jon into an air tight submarine, Superman then flies off to the moon to take the fight away from the city and allow himself to fight the Eradicator with everything he has.

 

 

This issue begins with Superman having just arrived on the Moon with Lois and Jon, taking them to a special Batcave that Batman had made there for his experiments that he was worried could hurt the people of Gotham had they gone wrong. Shortly after arriving there, however, the Eradicator arrives, absorbing Superman into himself and becoming even more powerful by using his living energy. Lois tells Jon to run, but is easily tossed aside. The Eradicator catches up with Jon and prepares to destroy his human side, when suddenly Lois returns, donning a Bat Warsuit, stalling the Eradicator until Superman can convince all of the souls within it to lend him their power, erupting from the Eradicator's mouth and leaving him weak. While a little odd, with the trip to the moon in the submarine and everything, I did actually enjoy this issue quite a bit. Lois is showcased more than usual, and does a good job of protecting her son while Superman is out of the picture, and it feels like the story is really progressing to its finale in the next issue.

 

 

The artwork is okay, but I do have one complaint. The eyes. Quite often the eyes look weird on Jon in particular, but even Lois and Superman are not fully exempt. I think it's an issue of the characters looking shocked simply not coming out right and, combined with their mouth, looking either bored or psychotic. Beyond that, the backgrounds are simple, the action is fluid and when expressing other emotions the characters are fairly expressive. The Batsuit looks awesome, although I could do with less spikes, and the Eradicator, as always, looks powerful and menacing.

 

 

Ultimately I enjoyed this issue mostly for the brief absence of Superman. Lois and Jon needing to fend for themselves for a brief time from a Superman level threat is exciting and harrowing, even if bringing them to the moon in the first place doesn't really seem to make the most sense. With this arc likely ending in the next issue, I can say that I've really been enjoying the family dynamic of the book and I hope that they have a couple of slower, monster of the day type issues between this and the next arc to dig into the family aspect a little deeper.

Our Score:

8/10

A Look Inside