The Unchained is loose in Metropolis, and he's beating the Super Family aside like they mean nothing to him. With everyone in the city at risk from his mission to gt revenge for being locked away for decades Superman is going to have to work with Lex Luthor if he's to stand a chance at stopping this dangerous new foe.
Williamson is doing some very interesting things with this new Superman run, chiefly looking back at the hidden past of both Lex and Metropolis. We keep getting glimpses to time before Superman came to the city, when Lex was trying to be it's protector and saviour. It's an interesting concept, and bringing in characters from this period who have this history that we're unaware of is a cool way of introducing a ton of new characters and making them feel relevant.
We learn in the opening pages of this issue who the Unchain really is, Sammy Stryker, son of the man who created Stryker's Island prison. Sammy has tactile telekinesis, the same powers that Conner will eventually have, and we see him showing these abilities off in a Lex controlled facility. This is where Cadmus gets their information on TT too, and how it eventually ends up inside Conner. We also learn that Lex didn't lock him away for the sheer fun of it, as Sammy eventually killed his own father; once again pushing the idea that Lex may have been trying to do good at one time.
In order to be able to fight Sammy, Superman has to work with Lex. Luckily, Lex put a weakness into the Unchained, a rare mineral he once discovered in Smallville that seemed to have no real effect. Yep, Kryptonite. Superman dons a special suit with Kryptonite covered fists, and engages Sammy in combat, allowing the others the opportunity to capture him and neutralise his powers once again. Unfortunately, by the time the dust settles Superman has severe Kryptonite poisoning, and looks close to death.
I still don't know where Lex is falling in this run. I don't know if him trying to be good and trying to help Superman is genuine or a complete act. Until fairly recently he was being a hero, he was on the Justice League, and Superman let him wear his crest. But, because Scott Snyder wanted to do what he wanted to do for all his Metal stuff Lex had to be bad, and so slipped back into his villainous ways for very little real reason. Villains like Lex rarely stay good for long if they make the switch, but his turn back to evil felt forced; so I can see him being good once again because him being bad felt out of nowhere in a way.
Lex's family don't seem to think he can be a hero though, and his relationship with his daughter Lena is explored a little more in this issue. It's been a long time since Lena appeared in a book before this run, with this story being her first appearance in 20 years. With it having been so long, with multiple Crisis events between, the book could have easily wiped the slate clean with her and started afresh, but she has the Brainiac scars from when she was taken over by the villain. It's great that Williamson isn't just adding his own new stuff to the series, but is drawing on older stories and characters too, and giving them a fresh invigoration.
Gleb Melnikov, Norm Rapmund, David Baldeón, and Jamal Campbell all provide art duties on the book, with Alejandro Sánchez and Jamal Campbell on colouring. Normally, when a regular issue has so many artists on it I get a little worried, as I like consistency in an issue and switching artists a lot can throw a book off. But, it's not really much of a problem here. If I hadn't have seen the credits page I wouldn't have known there were four people working on the art. There's a very good consistency here, and I don't know how the art duties are split, but however it's done it's done very well.
With Lex's history and the hidden past of Metropolis continuing to expand the series remains an entertaining and engaging read. Whilst the Unchained might not have lived up to the hype of being a 'Doomsday level threat' this arc has been good, and it looks set to move onto an interesting new development for Superman next issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment