Superman #6 - Comic Review

 

Superman returns after a couple of months break thanks to Knight Terrors taking place, but luckily has a perfect point to pick back up from, with the break not really feeling like it's disrupted the story too much (which is better than some of the other titles can say).

At the end of the previous issue Superman's hearing had been damaged after new villains Dr. Pharm and Mr. Graft sent Silver Banshee to attack Superman against her will. Whilst this doesn't seem to be too much of a problem, and Superman enjoyed having some quiet time for a short while, the villains timed an attack against Lex Luthor for this time, resulting in Lex being stabbed multiple times in prison. This issue picks up a short time later, after Lex was rushed to hospital. Whilst the doctors were able to stabalise him, he's been in a coma since.

Due to being unable to prevent the attack, Superman has been blaming himself for the assault on Lex, and has been flying around the city trying to do what he can to help people in order to keep himself busy. He also has the mysterious message about 'Project Chained' to try and solve. Luckily, he has Supercorp at his disposal, and with the help of Mercy Graves and the LL-01 hologram, he's able to learn that years ago Lex created a secret cell deep beneath Strykers Island, one designed to contain incredibly powerful people in complete isolation and sensory deprivation.

Learning that Lex put someone in this cell years ago, Superman and a Supercorp team set out to find the cell and free whoever is inside. However, what they find inside is a person more powerful than they could have expected, and now it looks like Lex Luthor might be the only person who can help Superman, and save Metropolis.

With the two month gap between issues, and the change in artist on the book, it really does feel like things have changed for Superman. Whilst the previous story arc hasn't really stopped (a lot of stuff from there is largely unresolved) things feel like they're going in another direction here. The previous five issues all felt like they had a connection back to Pharm and Graft, with the villains Superman was dealing with being traced back to them in some way. But The Chained feels very separate, to the point where this is all kind of Superman's fault.

And that might be one of my biggest issues with this issue, Superman feels a bit like he's charging in without thinking. I get it, he just found out that Luthor has had someone locked up in hell for years, but going straight there and ripping the prison open without doing more research into who or what might be in there feels like a really unwise move. Luthor can't answer questions at the moment, but did you even try to get any answers Clark? Could you not try and have someone read his mind for the info whilst he's in his coma or something?

As it is, Superman seems to be the architect of his own downfall this issue, as The Chained very quickly puts a stop to Superman. It's kind of interesting to see what this guy can do too, and to try to figure out who or what he might be. He has flight, can move the chains he's tied up in like they're limbs, can stop Superman's heat vision in midair and redirect it, and can form objects around him into other things. Most of these powers could come from some kind of mental abilities, like telekinesis, and his comment about 'Did Lex give you powers too?' indicated that this is something that Luthor did to him. Was Lex trying to perfect the human body to the point that it unlocked some kind of psychic ability?

Other than the plot shifting focus the book also feels quite different thanks to the art. Jamal Campbell did an amazing job on the first five issues, and the art felt like a big part of the comics success. Each page was a beautiful work of art, and some of the creative decisions for how to visualise things and panel layout made the book really stand out. Whilst new artist Gleb Melnikov isn't bad by any means it does feel like a distinctly different art style that really stands out when compared to Campbell's work. Melnikov's work, at times, made me think of Greg Capullo's work, particularly in some of the faces.

The Chained has been touted as a 'Doomsday level threat' for Superman to have to face. So far, the character seems interesting, and powerful, but nothing about the design or the things he does in this issue scream Doomsday level threat. The fact that solicitations have revealed that his story will be done by issue 8 (giving us only two more) kind of makes me wonder just how bad he can be if things will be done by then. Perhaps the hype that Williamson made can be lived up to; but I can't help but feel that it was perhaps oversold at this point.

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