Art by: David Baldeón
Colors by: Rex Lokus
Letters by: Ariana Maher
Cover art by: Jamal Campbell
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: February 20, 2024
Superman #11 brings Superman's conflict against Pharm and Graft to a head when the Lex Luthor Revenge Squad unleashes its master gambit to destroy Lex and everything he holds dear.
Is Superman #11 Good?
Superman #11 is okay. At worst, consistency takes a hit with the weird turn taken by Leticia Luthor and the excessive volume of exposition required to connect all the dots. At best, you get plenty of twists, turns, and more than a couple of cool moments. In short, it's a mixed bag.
When last we left the Man of Steel, his unscheduled trip to the past with Marilyn Moonlight ended with a brief fight against Terra-Man and a bizarrely missed opportunity to tell Marilyn's origin story. As soon as Superman arrived back to the present, he was assaulted by a cloud of kryptonite gas and the newly-formed Lex Luthor Revenge Squad (LLRS) consisting of Pharm, Graft, Chained, and somebody wearing Luthor's iconic purple and green power armor.
Now, we get a flashback conversation between Lena Luthor and LL-01 to presumably give readers a shortcut into Lena's personal history. The mysterious villain wearing Lex's power armor is none other than Lex's mother, Leticia. The LLRS's final gambit is revealed as a plan to poison all of Metropolis with synthetic kryptonite gas engineered to harm humans just as quickly as Kryptonians. What's the big twist? The plan to poison Metropolis was concocted years ago by Lex when he was Pharm and Graft's ally.
Put all that together, and you see why it's a mixed bag. The individual plot points are cool or interesting, but so much of the plot feels thrown together or quickly explained via exposition. Williamson stops just short of rushing through, but you'll feel like you're being hurried along to get through the details that matter.
What's great about Superman #11? You get plenty of plot development, interesting revelations, and a few cool moments. Plus, the reveal of the LLRS's master plan is a high-stakes gambit that could prove to be a game change for more than one character.
What's not so great about Superman #11? You feel like you're reading a checklist where Williamson is frantically thinking "I have to explain this, explain that, and reveal this, and reveal that." Twists and turns are cool to a point, but not when it reads like a perfunctory formula.
How's the art? Baldeón and Lukas do a fine job of giving readers vibrant energetic action, even when characters are standing still. The visuals are excellent.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces:
Superman #11 sets up the penultimate end to Pharm and Graft's master plan to destroy Lex Luthor with great art, several cool moments, and interesting revelations. That said, Williamson's script rushes through a laundry list of twists, turns, and reveals to get to an end that may have caught up with Williamson sooner than he planned.
Bits and Pieces:
Superman #11 sets up the penultimate end to Pharm and Graft's master plan to destroy Lex Luthor with great art, several cool moments, and interesting revelations. That said, Williamson's script rushes through a laundry list of twists, turns, and reveals to get to an end that may have caught up with Williamson sooner than he planned.
7.5/10
It also doesn't help that the reader is constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop with Luthor cause i don't think DC could commit to so radical a change as Luthor actually becoming a good guy for real. That would be a new development and comics are mostly allergic to that nowadays so when I read this series I can't help the feeling that all this time we are spending on this Luthor arc is going to be for nothing. If it isn't and I'm wrong then I would say this series has potential but if not, I wish they wouldn't have done this.
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ReplyDeleteI loved the first few issues of this run, but it has fallen into the regular Superman tropes and status quo story points...
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