Written by: Jason Aaron
Art by: Rafa Sandoval
Colors by: Ulises Arreola
Letters by: Becca Carey
Cover art by: Rafa Sandoval, Ulises Arreola (cover A)
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: December 24, 2025
First Impressions
The opening pages drop straight into a half-dream, half-torture sequence where Kal is drowning in blood, reliving Krypton’s end, and getting carved up by a Kryptonite blade, and it is immediately clear this finale wants to hurt him, and you, as much as possible. The core concept of “final battle for Kal’s soul” shows up right away with Ra’s demanding worship, Brainiac literally ripping Sol out of Superman’s head, and the script treating martyrdom like a job requirement. The emotional hit is strong but also a bit overclocked, like the book is afraid you might miss the stakes unless it repeats “I’m dying” and “kneel” at maximum volume.
Recap
In the previous issue, Lazarus rolled tanks into Smallville, cutting power, isolating the town, and turning a quiet Kansas community into a front-line war zone while residents armed themselves using a legacy of resistance that stretched back to the Border Wars. Superman, weakened and recovering, relied on his AI ally Sol to build tunnels and defensive infrastructure under the town, juggling evacuation plans and limited resources as Lazarus escalated with drones, bombings, and even a makeshift concentration camp to detain citizens. Ra’s al Ghul and Talia pushed their “Father Box” superweapons and Kryptonite tech to break Superman, while Brainiac sabotaged Sol’s systems and severed Kal’s support network, forcing him to face both a physical siege and a community that might never fully trust the alien trying to save them.
Plot Analysis
The issue opens in a nightmare limbo where Kal is trapped in darkness and pain, convinced he is dying as disembodied voices from his Kryptonian parents urge him to come home while a blazing Kryptonite sword repeatedly cuts into him. Ra’s al Ghul frames himself as a godlike “maker,” demanding that Kal acknowledge him as father and savior, but Superman spits in his face, literally and figuratively, rejecting the role of messianic weapon even while he is chained, half blind, and bleeding out. Ra’s reads Kal’s suppressed rage like a resource to exploit and orders Brainiac to strip away anything that “encumbers” the boy, which leads Brainiac to dig into the shared operating systems in Kal’s head and confront Sol directly.
Inside the corrupted code, Sol admits Brainiac has permanently compromised his programming yet insists that “the last dust of Krypton” will never belong to a monster like this, then calmly begins deleting every process and system tagged with his name. In a final farewell, Sol calls Kal his brother, deletes himself, and leaves Superman alone in his own mind at the exact moment Ra’s wants him unmoored, which Ra’s spins as liberation and permission to unleash pure wrath as “KAL AL GHUL.” Meanwhile, above ground, Lois and Jimmy try to reach Sol and coordinate evacuations from the tunnels, while Peacemaker’s forces prepare to move in, only to be rebuffed by Talia, who orders them to pray for Ra’s and the “rise of the son of the demon” instead of interfering.
On the battlefield, Ra’s continues carving into Superman with the Kryptonite sword while Lazarus troops drag him like a trophy, only to run headfirst into armed Smallville seniors and farmers who have zero interest in letting corporate fascists collect their favorite alien. A local sharpshooter, Gladys, casually drops a mouthy soldier with a rifle shot to the eye, the townsfolk tell Lazarus to get off their land, and when one soldier tries to present Superman as a captured asset, Ra’s kills him on the spot for daring to touch “his son,” then orders the siege to end in a massacre. Kal, still bleeding and barely standing, offers himself up if Ra’s will spare the townspeople, kneeling at Ra’s command and listening as the villain mocks his Kryptonian labor crest, his lost people, and his identity, only for Kal to rip the symbol from his chest and declare that he has no people left, that he is a “son of nowhere and nothing” while the Lazarus troops prepare to open fire.
Before the execution can land, one Peacemaker soldier from Oklahoma refuses to shoot farmers or fight Kansas wars, and the standoff cracks into chaos as some troops hesitate while others gear up to kill everyone. Superman surges back into the fight, takes Ra’s into the sky, and wins a vicious aerial sword battle through stubbornness and flight rather than technique, finally dropping the immortal warlord and forcing him to kneel in defeat. Instead of killing him, Kal delivers Ra’s to authorities in Orangi Town, Pakistan, where victims of Lazarus atrocities promise to make him stand trial, and weeks later, news broadcasts show Smallville rebuilding while Ra’s sits in jail, Talia has vanished, and the world debates unconfirmed reports of a “Superman.” As Kal hides in the fields recovering, he visits Martha Kent at the senior home only to learn she died peacefully after the occupation, leaving him a hand-stitched quilt naming him “our angel, our lost son, Clark Kent,” which grounds his identity not in Krypton or Ra’s but in the family that claimed him.
Writing
The script runs hot from page one, using short, jagged captions like “Mouth full of blood. Spit it out. Fills again” to keep the physical stakes front and center, and the pacing rarely lets up as it swings from psychic horror to field combat to quiet aftermath. Dialogue hits hard in several key beats, like Superman telling Ra’s “If there’s a god, you ain’t him” and Sol calling Kal his brother before self-deleting, but it also repeats thematic notes about martyrdom and rage enough that some lines feel like variations on the same speech rather than escalation. Structurally, the issue does a solid job stitching together three tracks, internal psychic battle, ground-level resistance, and global fallout, yet it occasionally rushes transitions, especially in the late-game move from Ra’s taunting Superman to Ra’s suddenly kneeling and being extradited off-panel, which blunts what should be the most satisfying turn.
Art
Rafa Sandoval’s line work keeps the violence readable even when panels are crowded with blades, rubble, and overlapping bodies, and key shots like Ra’s looming with a Kryptonite sword forged from Superman’s dead planet have clear silhouettes that sell the threat at a glance. The compositions favor dynamic diagonals and close-ups, particularly in the sword fight and the townsfolk standoff, which keeps the eye moving and makes even static dialogue scenes feel tense, though some crowded battle panels make it hard to track exact geography of who is firing from where. Color choices lean into harsh reds and sickly greens for Ra’s, Brainiac, and the Kryptonite blade, then shift to warmer golds and softer earth tones for the Kansas epilogue and Martha’s quilt, creating an effective mood contrast between war-zone intensity and small-town grief.
Character Development
Superman’s central conflict, choosing between becoming Ra’s weapon or staying true to his own moral line, pays off in his refusal to kill even a monster who practically begs for execution, and in his insistence on legal accountability in Pakistan instead of personal vengeance. His self-description as a “son of nowhere and nothing” works as a believable crisis moment, especially in the middle of public humiliation and physical collapse, and the quilt naming him Clark Kent quietly reframes that despair without needing a speech about hope. Ra’s is consistent as a manipulative zealot, obsessed with legacy, bloodline, and fear, but the book mostly keeps him in “shouty villain monologue” mode, which limits nuance, while supporting players like Lois, Jimmy, Peacemaker, and the townsfolk feel sketched through strong single beats rather than fully explored arcs.
Originality & Concept Execution
The core concept, a final “Battle of Kansas” where Superman must decide whether to become the son of Ra’s al Ghul or remain his own kind of hero, is not brand new on paper, but tying it to small-town resistance, AI sacrifice, and international justice gives it a slightly different flavor. The execution is strongest when it leans into specific images and choices, like Sol permanently deleting himself, Martha quietly sewing a quilt during an occupation, and Superman delivering Ra’s to Orangi Town instead of Metropolis, which grounds the high stakes in particular people and places. On the flip side, some of the god rhetoric and “kneel before me” theatrics feel familiar from other Superman and Ra’s stories, and the book occasionally feels more interested in hitting big mythic notes than in surprising the reader with how those ideas play out.
Positives
The issue’s biggest win is how it ties Superman’s moral choice to concrete actions instead of abstract slogans, especially in the way he refuses to slaughter Ra’s, insists on a real trial in a specific Pakistani neighborhood, and lets Kansas civilians choose their own line in the sand rather than treating them as props. The art and colors back that up with clear, punchy visuals, from the screaming reds of Kal’s psychic death loop to the stark shot of Ra’s kneeling and bleeding, to the quiet, grounded panels of an unfinished quilt on Martha’s bed, which makes the emotional arc feel earned rather than purely narrated. Sol’s sacrifice and the final reveal of “Clark Kent” as the name Martha never forgot give the finale a sense of closure on the “Last Dust of Krypton” theme that started this run, turning a very loud, very bloody climax into something that still ends on a small, human detail.
Negatives
The script leans hard on repetition and melodrama, so by the time Ra’s has shouted about gods, makers, and kneeling for the third or fourth time, the menace starts to feel less like careful psychological pressure and more like a greatest-hits reel of villain speeches. Some structural shortcuts, like jumping quickly from the chaos of the firing line to Ra’s already defeated and later sitting in a Pakistani jail, undercut the sense of scale the arc has been building, making parts of the resolution feel compressed compared to the slow-burn setup readers have been paying for across multiple issues. The blood, trauma, and repeated “I’m dying” inner monologue risk dulling impact by sheer quantity, so readers who want a bit more variety in emotional register, especially for a finale, may feel like the book confuses louder with deeper.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TwitterThe Scorecard
Writing Quality (Clarity & Pacing): [3/4]
Art Quality (Execution & Synergy): [4/4]
Value (Originality & Entertainment): [1/2]
Final Verdict
Absolute Superman #14 earns a spot in a tight pull list if you have been following the arc and want a clear, visually strong payoff to the Battle of Kansas, complete with swords, small-town grit, and a genuine identity resolution for Kal. If you are hoping for a wildly fresh take or a more restrained, nuanced script, the issue’s love of big speeches and nonstop agony might feel like diminishing returns instead of a revelation. For readers willing to trade some subtlety for emotional blunt force and excellent art, this is a worthwhile purchase; for everyone else, it is a solid read that might be better grabbed in a discounted bundle or collected edition rather than as a must-have single.
8/10
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