Superman Homepage

Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials Comic Books

DC: Mech #4

Scheduled to arrive in stores: October 25, 2021
Cover date: December 2022

"DC: Mech"

Writer: Kenny Porter
Artist: Balbemar Rivas
Cover: Balbemar Rivas
Variant Covers: Dan Mora, Ricardo López Ortiz

Reviewed by: JP Rocha

Click to enlarge

The story picks up a few months after the end of last issue. Kal-El has been grounded from battle and communication with the rest of Earth's heroes. He has been living with the Kents as they try to repair his mech. Meanwhile, the rest of Earth's heroes have been fighting off attacks by the Apokoliptian forces, and buying time for Shiera and Alfred to finish new Nth metal frames for the heroes' mechs.

Martha is able to save the day and make the temporary repairs needed to get Kal-El's mech back up and running. Batman then arrives to take Kal back to the satellite base to finish the needed repairs and get Kal back in the war. While Batman is now on the same page as Kal, the rest of the heroes are now angered by Kal's impulsivity from last issue that did more harm than good.

Almost ready for his invasion Darkseid broadcasts his message of domination to Earth's people. Still trying to buy time for the completion of the Nth metal armor, Earth's heroes are planning on holding back. Except for the Green Lantern's John and Hal who are looking to make their own impulsive attack. Lex Luthor is also ready to go on the offensive, with his new mech design, which he believes will defeat the Apokoliptian forces.

Story - 3: Distancing itself from the success of issues 1 and 2, issue 4 does little to move the plot forward in favor of backstory fill in. This issue gives us the origin of Batman, as well as the story of what happened to Barry Allen and how Wally picked up the Flash legacy.

There are a few major plot holes in this issue.

One, Porter goes out of his way to bring Martha and Jonathan into the story, pushing us forward months. The question is with all the technology the team of Earth's heroes have, they could not track the crash site of Kal?

Two, after months of Kal and Jon trying to fix the Superman mech, Martha refurbishes an old farm mech engine and 3D prints the parts needed to retrofit the Earth engine into the Kryptonian mech.

Three, after three issues of fighting Batman and Kal are now best friends and see eye to eye. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder.

Art - 3: The art takes a step back in this issue. There are multiple panels where the characters look flat, side profile shots that come off two dimensional. While I love Wonder Woman German suplexing a Parademon, Rivas' design of the mech engine leaves little to be desired.

Cover Art - 3: Not an interesting cover, but I gave it a 3 largely because it is the main cover.

Variant Cover - 4: This variant is the fourth in a series of cover designs that showcases the mech's schematics. This month's variant showcases Flash and his mech. Something cool about the cover is that in the text about different features of the mech you get some of the backstory of the Flash legacy in this universe.

1:25 Variant Cover - 4: I do not know why but I like this cover.

1:50 Variant Cover - 3: Like the Wonder Woman variant from last month, this variant also by Dan Mora showcases Flash and his mech. Again this cover is just two stat images of what Mora drew for his mech schematic cover.

Mild Mannered Reviews

2022

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 2022

February 2022

March 2022

April 2022

May 2022

June 2022

July 2022

August 2022

September 2022

October 2022

November 2022

December 2022

Back to the Mild Mannered Reviews contents page.

Check out the Comic Index Lists for the complete list of Superman-related comics published in 2022.

Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials Comic Books

DC: Mech #4

Mild Mannered Reviews

2022

Superman Leather Jackets

Superman Vinyl Records

Superman Bracelets