Mild Mannered Reviews - "Superman: Man of Tomorrow" Digital-First Comic Books

Superman: Man of Tomorrow #9 KindleDownload iBook

Superman: Man of Tomorrow #9

Scheduled to arrive in stores: June 29, 2020

Cover date: June 2020

"What Lives Inside"

Writer: Jeff Parker
Penciller: Sam Lotfi
Inker: Sam Lotfi

Reviewed by: Craig Boehmer
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Superman and Lois visit a garnet mine in response to a call Lois received from an old contact. They enter the mine and are attacked by creatures strongly made of rock. They retreat from the mine and discover the creatures are the miners covered by a fungal parasite. The miners cry out in thirst and Superman sprays them with water, dissolving the fungus. He pours the water tower on all of the miners, rescuing them. Lois then shows him an alien canister she discovered on the mine, but before they can analyze it, it disintegrates. We flash to Brainiac who processes the results of the fungus and plots his next move against the Last Son of Krypton.

4Story - 4: Superman and Lois going to the mine harkens back to Golden Age Superman stories, I thought it was a nice nod. The parasitic fungus was an interesting antagonistic. However, the simplistic way it was defeated left a little to be desired.

4Art - 4: Again, the art is strong. Nothing really stands out in a bad way, or necessarily in a great way.

"Invasive Species"

Writer: Jeff Parker
Penciller: Mike McKone
Inker: Mike McKone

Brainiac arrives on earth to release another experiment. Superman confronts him and Brainiac reveals the creature is a Kaigora. He tells Superman that the jet fuel smells like the Kaigora's primary prey. The smell leads the Kaigora to the Phoenix airport where Superman attempts to detain it. The Kaigora proves difficult for Superman to detain. Brainiac makes Superman more desperate when he reveals that the Kaigora will soon replicate into thousands of new Kaigora. Faced with this time crunch, Superman deduces the creature a reptile and therefore will become dormant in cold temperatures. With this information Superman flies the Kaigora to the Arctic.

4Story - 4: I have begun to love Brainiac as a character. Aside from Convergence, I have really enjoyed his portrayals in the last ten plus years. His role in this story is limited, but fun as the impetus for the conflict. Releasing creatures for experiments on the world is a key story point that I hope is built on in later issues. Superman's response is also great. Determining that the creature is a reptile and devising a solution really allowed us to see the thinking Superman. His unwillingness to kill this random monster really reminded me of Greg Pak's run and his introduction of Baka. I loved it.

4Art - 4: The Kaigora is a fantastic design, both fearsome, and animalistic. The art was solid, with no real complaints. The battle with the Kaigora looked good.

Mild Mannered Reviews

2020

Note: Except for digital first releases, the month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2020 February 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 July 2020 August 2020 September 2020 October 2020 November 2020 December 2020

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