Superman #685

Overall- Here's a quick review of Supes #685. Action Comics #674 ended with Superman releasing Mon-El from the Phantom Zone, which was inexplicably falling apart. The problem with releasing Mon is the fact that he has a fatal case of lead poisoning, and letting him out of the Phantom Zone has accelerated his condition. Supes rushes around the Fortress of Solitude in an attempt to find something to save Mon. As luck would have it, Supes comes across a bottle with the Legion of Super-Heroes logo that states "Mon-El, Drink Me". With nothing to lose, Supes gives the potion to Mon and he winds up cured of his lead poisoning.

From there, this issue really proceeds to set up the new Superman comic book, "Superman: World of New Krypton". Clark speaks to both Ma Kent and Lois and tells them that he has a responsibility to the people living on New Krypton and that he is going to take the New Kryptonian's up on their offer to live there. Supes reasons that General Zod is bound to try something devious and that he should be present for whatever plan Zod has up his sleeve. Both Lois and Ma say goodbye and Supes leaves the Earth to live on New Krypton(well for 12 issues anyway).

We close shop here with Mon-El visiting Ma Kent asking for her help/advice about assimilating himself into 21st century life. Ma give Mon the cover story that he's Clark Kent's cousin from London, to explain his accent, and she gives him the name of Jonathan Kent. With an alter-ego set up, Mon can now concentrate on protecting Metropolis in Superman's absence.

Much like Action Comics #875, there were a few things about this comic that left me slightly confused, mainly due to my unfamiliarity with certain characters. I mean, Lois is fine with her husband leaving Earth for an undetermined amount of time to basically spy on Zod? Really? Plus, the fact that Ma gave Mon the name of her dead husband was kind of weird as well... How did that conversation go? Did Ma say something like, "Oh, I know, guy I don't really know except for what Clark has told me, you can use the name of my recently deceased husband!" That just seemed bizarre to me.

Besides those few hiccups though, this was a fairly good comic book, and I'll definitely be picking up the next issue of this series to see how Mon-El tries to fill in for Supes. Plus, it's written by James "Starman" Robinson, which pretty much makes it an automatic buy! For a score, I'll give this comic a 7 1/2 out of 10. I'm sure as I continue to read the Superman family of comics, I'll continue to understand and enjoy them more with each passing month.