Mild Mannered Reviews – Superman #35

Superman #35

Scheduled to arrive in stores: February 25, 2026
Cover date: April 2026

“Life Secrets”

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferriera and Julio Ferriera
Cover: Dan Mora
Variant Covers: Guillem March, Rod Reis, Davide Paratore, Chris Stevens
Valentine’s Day Variant Cover: Chrissie Zillow-Uminga

Reviewed by: Adam Dechanel

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Time Trapper foretold that Superman defeating Darkseid was the key to saving the timeline but with Superman in the middle of the DC K.O. event is he mistaken and Prime is the Superman that is really the key? That is what he ponders as he watches Lois, the Superman Robot and Prime battle the Dark Legion.

As Imra and Lois confront one another, the dark Saturn Girl reveals she is connected to Darkseid psychically and that Superman is dead. Is it a trick? Lois goads Imra to connect to her and explore her memories is bolstered by gaining the upper hand Imra does so and explores Lois’ connection to Clark. As this happens the deep connection has a side effect, Lois is able to explore Imra’s mind and the parallels of their bonds break Imra’s bond to Darkseid.

Imra begs Prime not to kill Lightning Lad and seeing her despair, he relents allowing the two to leave in a Boom Tube.

A crestfallen Time Trapper has given up, having heard and believed Imra’s words. Lois is not easily deterred and instructs the Superman robot to reveal Lara Lor-Van’s archive on Doomsday. And having completed his mission and damaged beyond repair the Superman robot breaks down in Prime’s arms.

Time Trapper is stunned and empowered at the same time. Lara’s revelation may have just saved the timeline and DC K.O.!

With Time Trapper gone, Lois and Prime rendezvous with the starships carrying Earth’s population. Once there, Lois locates Jonathan and Martha Kent and introduces them to Superboy-Prime.

To Be Continued…

Story – 3: I didn’t enjoy this issue at all. It was all a series of convenient story beats. Time Trappers definitive prediction might, possibly, now be wrong. Imra’s ‘mind meld’ suddenly gave Lois the ability to read her mind and broke Darkseid’s hold over the Legion. Doomsday ‘discovered’ that his origin was actually the key all along… I felt like we as the readers have been cheated. All the build up, the hints the escalation of threats and it was all quashed in this issue. It felt like the penultimate episode of a series where the network instructs the writers to tie up all loose ends. I feel like we were promised more from this story.


Art – 4: The art is this issue’s saving grace but like my critique last issue there is so much squeezed into the book. The artwork doesn’t have the opportunity to really explore some of the story beats. It just feels like a missed opportunity.


Cover Art – 1: White space rarely works and it definitely doesn’t here. It is overwhelmingly bright and the poses they have Clark and Time Trapper in are serviceable but unimpressive. Really disappointed by this cover.


Variant Cover (Guillem March) – 4: I really like this illustration. It’s nicely illustrated and boldly coloured but the framing makes it slightly frustrating!


Variant Cover (Rod Reis) – 5: Supercharged Superman? Yes please! The backlighting really helps boost Superman’s silhouette and epic feel. I love all the style choices in the cover.


Variant Cover (Davide Paratore) – 4: A younger, balletic Superman and a brilliantly acrylic style painted cover. It’s a nice reminder that Superman can be graceful in flight, it doesn’t always have to be with a purpose.


Variant Cover (Chris Stevens) – 5: A great eye catching piece of art, the hot and cold elements splitting the foreground and background into two distinct levels really works here. One of my favourite variants this issue.


Valentine’s Day Variant Cover (Chrissie Zillow-Uminga) – 4: A really cute cover. I really like the fun designs here.


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