Monday, September 27, 2021

Superman: Son of Kal-El #3 Review




Truth, Justice, And The Right To Remain Silent


Written By: Tom Taylor
Art By: John Timms, Gabe Eltaeb, Dave Sharpe
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 28, 2021


It's time to get back to the world of Jon Kent and his pursuit to figure out what kind of Superman he's going to be. In the previous issue, we saw our young hero save a boat full of refugees from Gamorra and demand that they were treated with respect by the American authorities, which may have been a bit of a misstep for Jon not only because he's taking more of a social stance against authority but because the President of Gamorra isn't one to be made to look bad and giving his people asylum did just that. Also, it looks like Jon made a friend in a podcaster/YouTuber who is all about exposing the truth..... I only hope it isn't just what he considers the truth though. Let's jump into this issue and see what Jon is up to this issue.


There's some trouble brewing in the world of the Son of Kal-El and this issue we're introduced to a girl with density powers named Faultline, who can't control herself and while that's another new instance of someone in this book not being able to control their powers, which is fine because it will make sense as the story goes, the weird part about this to me is that Jon calls them Post-Humans and not Meta-Humans. It's not a huge thing by any means but it felt strange when I read it. As for the continued quest to figure out what kind of Superman Jon will be, we see our young Teen of Steel stand up to the police once again here, and while I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing Superman in handcuffs when Jon places himself with protesters who are being hauled off to jail it really felt like we have ourselves a new kind of Superman who is more boots on the street instead of just being a symbol of hope that you may see fly across the sky and this aspect is cool because it feels like it's playing along with the type of Batman Jace Fox wants to be in the I Am Batman book.


For our emotional bits of this book, which work really well, we're saying goodbye to Superman as he's going off to Warworld but beyond feeling like deja vu since we also had that in Action Comics this week, it felt forced to where the Kents couldn't even finish or actually have dinner before the news is out there and the pacing of this reveal felt too fast even if the moments between our Superman Family were sweet. I just hope that sweet feelings continue next issue because it looks like the President of Gamorra, Henry Bendix plans on getting even with Jon Kent for getting in his business and it looks like he's going to make it personal.


All in all, I loved the art in this book and love seeing Jon be a different kind of Superman than his father. Where you normally think of Superman doing cosmic level stuff, Jon's main focus seems to be social injustice and while there's always room for bigger world-ending threats, it's just good to see Superman get down to ground level with people beyond a one-shot issue that just wanted to focus on something topical for that month and I'm digging the direction overall for Jon's evolution of filling his father's shoes. Beyond that though, the upcoming threat feels big and something I can't wait to see more of, I just wish that Superman's farewell came off feeling like it was paced better because it just shows up out of nowhere after a comic relief moment from Jon's new friend Jay.... not to mention it felt weird doing the same thing only in different ways in Action Comics and this book this week. 


Bits and Pieces:


While I wish the pacing to Superman's farewell felt better, I dig the direction that this book is going and am really into Jon's interaction with not only the people, but his new friend as well and can't wait until he comes face to face with his new villain that seems to have upped the ante out of nowhere this issue. The art is great, the heart is there, but you will be saying goodbye to Superman in both this issue and Action Comics this week and that's kind of strange.


7.5/10

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