Superboy #4:
What Happened: Before Red can pulp Superboy for breaking into her room, a bunch of NOWHERE goons led by a guy named Centerhall come in, knock Red out and take her away. Centerhall tells SB that Red was a terrorist who was undermining NOWHERE from the inside, before telling SB that he wanted to work with him. To that end he tells SB everything he knows about his creation(not a whole lot), gives him a card that would allow SB to contact him, and allows SB to leave the NOWHERE facility to live on his own. SB wanders around acting all pissed off at people and setting the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree alight, before noticing two teenage criminals tossing some guy out of a window. SB saves the guy which angers the two criminals, who attack SB. SB manages to defeat them with little trouble, and feels good afterwards. Liking this new feeling, and realizing that NOWHERE was correct in saying that teenagers with powers needed to be controlled, SB gets in touch with Centerhall and tells him that he'd go after Wonder Girl and the Teen Titans like NOWHERE wanted.
The Good: Superboy, while still mainly unlikable, gave off a bit of an early X-Man-ish sort of vibe in this issue, which is something I really responded to. I liked that NOWHERE decided to offer Superboy the carrot(Centerhall) as opposed to the stick(Templar), because it was obvious he was never going to blindly follow Templar, so the change in strategy was a smart move. Red mentioning that she had thirteen allies is an obvious nod to Gen13, which I'll be looking forward to seeing pop up down the road.
The Bad: While I liked SB a bit more in this issue, he was still by and large unlikable. Yeah, he saved people, but he also set the Rockefeller Center tree on fire. I don't think the teenage villains were ever mentioned by name here, which was kind of weird... The fight scene went by too quickly, although that's a really mild complaint.
The Verdict: Huh, who'd have believed that THIS comic would be the one to finally pull me out of the comic book doldrums?! Seriously, there was way more that Lobdell did right than he did wrong here, so I honestly have no major complaints. Believe me, I'm as shocked as anyone!
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Truth be told, I'd have done the same thing. Damn carolers...
Dude SB took fairchild down himself,and with ease,by DC standards his TK is top notch,he even has a sensory power from it.
ReplyDeleteUpon further review, you are indeed correct, Tony. I def missed the part where SB dumped Red's apartment on her, I thought the explosion/Red getting KOed came from the NOWHERE guys. I wouldn't say he took her down with ease though. He hit her from behind with a wall after she had pinned him down and revealed that she was immune to his TK. But you're def right that it was SB who beat Red, not NOWHERE, my bad on that.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that you are the only person i know that sticks with series' even after terrible issues. I will give you major credit for that! Im glad that this series is showing some promise for you finally. I would be dropping batman and robin, and grifter without a doubt. If the issue sucks and the story is tiring.. let it go! haha i say it with ease but it is much easier said than done.
ReplyDelete-I kind of enjoyed magneto not a hero this week. It wasn't a great issue or anything but it think it was written well enough to not drive me insane. Joseph makes for a good villain in a five issue mini i think. Though his angle is alot like prof. zoom's, i still enjoyed it. I look forward to your review on it.
She is a Punk Rocker!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/images/preview/d5ea113i10832/prv10832_pg3.jpg
lol or that was the first thing that come to my mind wen I saw the image. Maybe is Hard-Rock or Hardcore lol Heavy?
Some series, Cap... Some series. :P There have been a few to fall under the guillotine blade(Detective, Action, Superman, Dark Knight, Demon Knights, etc), but some characters I've been a fan of(Superboy, Grifter) I'm willing to give a little more leeway to. A few years back once I started picking up a series, I wouldn't drop it... No matter what! So I've definitely improved a bit, but I could still do better.
ReplyDeleteHA!!! So this is what's happened to Wonder Woman?! Hmmm.... I'm glad I dropped this one!
I actually enjoyed Not A Hero a lot. It was probably my most pleseant surprise this entire week.
Can you tell me how weak Marvel has made nate over on new mutants?
ReplyDeleteIm really enjoying the superboy series myself,just wish he would kick more ass.this version already imo is better than the watered down version during the lemire run.i i think his powers,for DC is unique.
Oh yeah, Marvel REALLY dropped Nate's power levels. No telepathy, super weak TK. But I guess they needed him weaker so he wouldn't make his teammates unnecessary. As long as Nate's actually around and written well though, I'm fine.
ReplyDeleteEh, this Superboy seems really one dimensional to me. He's not really the type of guy who I want to root for. So far he's been written as a jerk. But I'd think joining the Titans might alter his personality some. Lemire's run was def hit or miss story-wise, but at least SB was likable. I'm slowly coming around to this SB though.
Like you, I was encouraged by this issue, even if I still miss the DCU Conner. I have to admit to being totally incapable of remembering issue-to-issue of this series, so I hadn't totally focused on the fact that NOWHERE went bait-and-switch on Superboy, switching his handlers. I just vaguely felt like it was a real departure from how he had been treated, but couldn't remember why. Thanks for point out why! Also, you're totally right, they didn't name the couple. Weird. But, like "Teen Titans" #4, I'm just thrilled I didn't hate this issue!
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