Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent #4
Scheduled to arrive in stores: June 6, 2023
Cover date: August 2023
“Countdown to Injustice: Chapter 4 – Heightened Doubt”
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Darick Robertson
Cover: Clayton Henry and Marcelo Maiolo
Variant Covers: Zu Orzu, Al Barrionuevo and Annette Kwok, Tyler Kirkham and Alejandro Sanchez, Stephen Byrne
Reviewed by: Craig Boehmer
Regime Superman leads the big hitters to a disturbance he found close to Jupiter. While they are gone Jon follows Lex who to Batman’s resistance. Lex reveals he is going to use the Ultraman corpse to stop Regime Superman. Jon gets into a fight with the resistance and uses his new blue form to defeat them. He tells them that he wants to help them because of Batgirl and Alfred, but he will need to investigate more. He then tracks down Damian, which does not go well. Feeling lost, and directionless, Jon finds Jay to talk. Speaking with Jay seems to put Jon at ease about what he needs to do. Unbeknownst to Jon, Damian tracked him to Jay’s apartment and begins to interrogate him about his conversation with Jon. And that’s where the issue ends.
Story – 4: I can’t stand Harley Quinn, please stop putting her in things! Aside from that I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this story. I have not been a fan on Taylor’s work with Jon Kent, finding it to be very bland at best. This issue wasn’t terrible though. I liked the interactions between Damian and Jon, I also liked how Jon calls Batman out. There is also a great characterization of Lex in this issue, except for the awkward dialogue about how bad things look. And even though I can’t stand Jay in the regular world, it made sense that Jon went to find him here. Overall, the story was pretty good, there is still a lot of cringey dialogue, but there’s enough fun to offset it.
Art – 3: Another hit or miss issue for Jon Kent in the art department. It is a slight improvement over previous issue though. I think the colors are what bother me the most. The art just looks too simplistic and cartoony.
Cover Art – 3: There is a lot I like about this cover. Damian looks awesome, his hair looks great. Jon’s hair style here makes him look like an idiot. I think part of it is that his forehead is disproportionately big, it takes up more than half of his face which makes it a focal point in a bad way.
Variant Cover – 3: decent image showing Jon fighting Batman. The faces look too angular though and it throws me off.
Variant Cover – 1: This cover has that washed out faux realism look, and it is still my least favourite artistic style for covers.
Variant Cover – 4: Having regime Superman looking at an unarmed individual makes for a cool cover.
Pride Variant Cover – 5: This cover is one of the best Pride Month Variants. And, I am assuming it’s Jon, Jon Kent has rarely looked better.
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