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Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

Superman/Batman #10

Scheduled to arrive in stores: April 21, 2004

Cover date: June 2004

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Penciller: Michael Turner
Inker: Peter Steigerwald

"The Supergirl From Krypton" - Part Three: "Warrior"

Michael (George) O'Connor Reviewed by: Michael O'Connor

Kara is sparring with Artemis on the island of Themyscira when Superman barges in and plays overprotective big cousin. Truth be told, the Man of Steel hasn't been too crazy about this whole idea in the first place... he doesn't believe that Kara needs to be trained by the Amazons to help forge her into the perfect warrior.

As it turns out, the ambush executed in the previous issue was arranged by Batman, who was curious to see how Kara would react to an attack... and was equally curious to see what Superman would do. The Dark Knight chides Supes over getting so attached to Kara when the jury's still out as to her true origins.

While all this talking has been going on, Kara and her new friend, Lyla, have flown off to prepare for dinner. But Lyla, an Amazon warrior herself, has a special ability to see the future, and as she peers into her magic orb, she sees her own death!

Meanwhile, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman are interrupted from their discussion when Doomsday comes barging out of a boom tube... followed by countless other Doomsdays. Batman quickly determines that this monster army is not comprised of perfectly matched clones of the original Doomsday, but rather imperfectly constructed "animates", which are non-living constructs of the original host.

The beasts are really more bark than bite, it turns out, and the three heroes, along with the Amazon army, make short work of them.

Which leads Batman to wonder: "Why attack if there's no hope of winning?" The answer is made clear soon enough. Darkseid has sent the clone army as a distraction while he ported in with a second boom tube to kidnap Kara Zor-El, leaving a dead Lyla in his wake. The overprotective big cousin is ticked, to say the least, and books an immediate departure for Apokolips!

Story - 3: A fun read, but a quick one as well. I loved the idea of the Doomsday army attacking Themyscira, but they were way too easy to bowl over. Not that they should have been as powerful as the original Doomsday, but it sure would have been cool to see them put up a better fight. Nothing really new in terms of revealing who Kara is... there weren't any hints from this issue, as far as I can tell. We're still in the dark, and by the end of the issue, we're left with more questions than answers (but then, this is typical of Loeb). I guess we're just along for the ride at this point. At least it's a fun one!

Art - 3: Not really a huge fan of Turner's stuff, which I'm sure puts me in the minority here. I've followed his career peripherally but have never really understood how he became such a popular artist. His women are certainly beautiful but not at all realistic looking, and I don't really like how he depicts his men. Supes really looks like a country yokel... which actually kind of works for this storyline, truth be told, and his Batman... well, I don't know. I guess he just looks all angles to me. There's nothing really very elegant or smooth in Turner's style. It leaves something to be desired.

Cover Art (Jim Lee) - 5: There's two covers for this issue, and I'm giving a nice, fat 5 to the Jim Lee version, which is just about the coolest, most exciting, fanboy-tastic image I think I've seen on a cover in some time. How great is this: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman up to their arms in attacking Doomsdays? The best covers are those that tell their own story before you open the book, and this one says a lot... I can't even do it justice by writing about it! Just look at it and drool.

Cover Art (Michael Turner) - 4: Very nice cover by Turner. I know I said that I wasn't a huge fan of him above, but as I also said, his women are pretty striking, and this depiction of Wonder Woman is no exception. Solid effort here, especially considering his competition.