The Good
There's so much that I enjoy out of this from the beginning. Having this story take place a year ago and even seeing something like Suicide Slum make an appearance immediately feels like this is a Superman story. We also get quite a bit of Lois and Jimmy in action, trying to cover the story which just feels like old times.
Superman is faced with a giant threat that is gaining strength. Lives are at risk and it's starting to look like Superman may have met his match. Just as it looks he might have things figured out and also accepts a little help, he has another threat to deal with. It's a fight you'll want to see and one that's been long overdue.
Tony Daniel's art shines here. His action sequences are great to see. It's not your typical Superman fight in terms of the location. You also have to take notice of his depiction of the other characters. In other words, he draws a great Lois Lane. Okay, Jimmy looks good as well.
The back up story is written by Frank Hannah and features art by Philip Tan. We get to see Lara Lor-Van, Superman's mom, kick some butt. It's a great looking tale from Krypton, long before its destruction.
The Bad
The main story feels it's been cut short. We know there was some unforeseen circumstances and it's unfortunate because you could feel the potential in the story. Will Superman win the day? You can take a guess. Tony Daniel does a remarkable job pulling double duty with the art and scripting but the story is just over too abruptly.
It's still unclear how Dr. Veritas is able to do everything she does. At one point during Superman's battle, she comments on how she was able to track him by his signature. Does this mean she could locate him at any moment? How is she able to 'see' him? Are there cameras everywhere? There's also the question of her having unexplained teleportation technology that isn't used by anyone else.
The back up story is fun in fleshing out Lara a little more and showing some of the things she's capable of. It does feel a little unclear what the point of the backups are, whether they're all connected and if there's an overall direction or just showing us more about Superman's parents.
There is also basically a two-page advertisement for the other Super-titles and next month's issue. It feels these pages could have been used for telling more story in the main or backup (which was only six pages).
The Verdict
This unfortunately marks the end of Tony Daniel's run on the series. Handling the art and scripting from Andy Diggle's plot, it feels as if the story got cut short and it would've been nice to see the story fleshed out a little more. There are some great sequences and Daniel's art really captured the essence of Superman/Clark, Lois and even Jimmy. The backup story focusing on Lara on Krypton is interesting but it's not fully clear what we'll get from this or other installments. There are some nice touches to the story and it's just unfortunate it had to come to an end so quickly. Fingers crossed the next issue will keep up the momentum this arc started.
