Superboy #20

(w) Justin Jordan     (a) RB Silva, Rob Lean, Kenneth Rocafort, and ChrisCross

There exists, in the comic book industry today, a debate over systematic ageism. Jerry Ordway’s now infamous rant detailing his experience of being a comic book writer after his prime has become a sort-of galvanizing point to those who believe middle-aged and older writers are being pushed to the side to make way for younger talent. Ordway waxed poetic about ideas he’s yet to see happen, that he still has a lot to offer story-wise, and that he isn’t ready to be pigeonholed as a commission artist at conventions. On the intimate level Ordway is trying to reach his fans upon, his talking points sound fair and legitimate. Why take a risk on inexperienced, young writers when there’s a gamut of veterans waiting for a call from the Big Two?

What Ordway seems to forget is that it was his generation of ‘Young Turks’ who blew onto the scene in the mid-80s and ‘stole’ work opportunities from creators who carried DC and Marvel through the Silver Age of comic books. The reasoning behind this was simple: comic books were changing, readers were changing, and the industry was changing. Established writers from the 60s and 70s were having a hard time keeping up with the demands of the then-current pop culture zeitgeist, which prompted companies to find writers that understood how to connect to current readers.

It's no different today, yet DC has fallen behind in this way while Marvel has been stacking their talent pool with a diverse group of younger writers whose voices have raised up the company's marketshare and earned critical accolades. DC still has Bob Harras, who likes to hire his friends who all happen to be middle-aged, worked at Marvel in the mid-90s under Harras, and who now produce only echoes of their most popular work.


** SPOILERS AHEAD **


Scott Lobdell spent 20 issues of Superboy trying to make the character's concept new and exciting, and only succeeding in driving the Boy of Steel into the ground. Nothing was the same, and that was a problem. This new Superboy shares no similarities to the pre-relaunch one other than his Kryptonian DNA harvested from Superman, and the title of 'Superboy'. Quite frankly, it was maddening, and if you look back at old entries I've written on issues of Superboy, you'll find a consisten pattern of frustration and anger.

Justin Jordan takes over with Superboy #20, and even though he's inherited yet another ridiculously convoluted Scott Lobdell excuse-for-a-plot, this is the best issue of the series to date, hands down. And it's because Jordan moves away from what made Lobdell's runs o frustrating: valuing action and lore over character and organic plot flow. Even though he's appeared in two issues prior to this, I really had no concept of who Dr. Psycho was until this month. Perhaps it was designed that way, but history shows that Lobdell tended to forget what he started or tried to mask the fact that he didn't have an ending by awkwardly segueing into some new story.

Superboy #20 is great because it feels natural. I wasn't a fan of Jordan's work on Team 7, but that was less about his style and more about the series' base premise being somewhat underwhelming. Here, Jordan finds a voice for Kon-El that makes him come across as a real person and not just a prop in an ongoing narrative that feigns a greater purpose, yet never delivers. A line like "Now I'm pissed. I don't have enough clothes to waste them like this." is so much better than a character thinking this sentiment within the ever-constraining thought balloon.

Scott Lobdell often fails at writing good comic books because he's trying to hard to make everything accessible/easy to read/pick-upable. It attempting to cater to everyone, he caters to no one because how he writers is condescending to readers. Justin Jordan's style is a breath of fresh air and a welcome change for Superboy, who still has one of the foggiest and least-memorable origins of any 'New 52' character. Now, I actually want to read Superboy.

GRADE

8.5/10

SUPERBOY #0

STORY: Tom DeFalco
ART: R.B. Silva and Rob Lean

I don't know what to think anymore. I know that's a pretty bold statement to make, but seriously, I'm all but out of reasons to continue reading Superboy. Since the beginning, the Boy of Steel's story has been one muddled, under-developed narrative after another with no discernable connecting factors. Superboy himself is a two-dimensional character whose only character development has come from sloppy inner monologue penned by a writer who doesn't know how to write as a teenager. Add to that plot lines riddled with obtuse, vague advancement, and a reliance on shock value to sell a complex story. Of course, there's always an exception to the rule, and Superboy #10, back in June, was a refreshing change of pace from the constant threat of N.O.W.H.E.R.E., the secretive criminal organization who manufactured Superboy, and acted as the 'big bad' for the first nine months of the title. Unfortunately, after that one month, Superboy descended back into mediocrity.

In Superboy #0, writer Tom DeFalco brings back N.O.W.H.E.R.E., for reasons that seem obvious at first, but slowly become incessantly annoying and unimportant. Harvest makes his unwanted return to the 'New 52' as he tells a story about the clone uprising on Krypton eons ago. Yes you read that right: this issue prominently features a villain telling a story.

It. is. so. boring.

Without any sort of backstory or identity, Harvest is already a boring villain because his motivations don't have meaning. Readers don't know why he's doing any of this, so it's not interesting. It's the same reason children's cartoons often feature mad villains who simply want to "take over the world." - they tend to not have a concrete reason for their actions, allowing for a range of stories. But they're intended for children. I expect a bit more from DeFalco and DC in general when it comes to one of their semi-flagship characters.

Harvest's tale is about Kon, the first clone on Krypton to rise up against his creators. Eventually, he starts a violent revolution against the Kryptonians, resulting in a defeat and the extermination of all clones planet-wide. It's an interesting enough story, but it's presentation is just so lazy it's hard to get past the fact that we're literally being read an alien fable. I can think of at least five different ways issue could have gone that would have effectively conveyed the ideas without stooping to the most basic and frustrating of storytelling styles.

In the end, not much is revealed in the way the origins of Superboy. Sure, the tale of Kon and his bloody rampage against his makers could foreshadow future events, but as a stand-alone issue, this one falls so short of good it's hard to put into words. As I flipped through the issue upon initial purchase, I pondered for a moment if perhaps Harvest was a Kryptonian clone looking to restart his revolution. It got me excited to read the issue, thinking DeFalco would actually make some connections and give me something to hold onto going forward. The opposite happened: I was so let down by this issue that I don't even know if I want to continue reading Superboy.

Good luck going forward, DeFalco.

GRADE

F

SUPERBOY #11

STORY: Scott Lobdell (Plot) and Tom DeFalco (Scripts)
ART: R.B. Silva and Rob Lean

I don't know why Scott Lobdell and Tom DeFalco are so intent on making Superboy such a difficult character to write. Not only did they take Kon-El's original clone backstory and make it so convoluted that it's mostly just a blur of 'super secret organization' gobbledygook, they're moving forward with a characterization that makes Superboy sound (and act) like a HUGE dick. That being said, Superboy #11 continues an upward trend of overall quality that started last month, which is interesting seeing as Lobdell penned last issue all by himself, while DeFalco is back to scripting duties this month.

Apparently, some time has passed since the Titans were transported to New York City by Danny the Alley, and Superboy has his own penthouse now, complete with weird, random antiques and art pieces that make him look like some rich, foppish trust fund baby with too much time on his hands. This seems like a missed opportunity for DeFalco - glossing over an major part of Superboy's very young life like meeting a regular person person for the first time. Kon-El takes some time to tell his visiting guest, Bunker, all about his new landlord and how he robbed (ahem, borrowed from) a bank for personal funds. It's scenes like these that make me want to ask Lobdell and DeFalco how they plan to compensate for the errors in their narrative. If Superboy is supposed to have collective knowledge that was pumped into his head since he was created, how was it never explained that robbing banks is wrong? If Superboy knows that messenger bags are fashionable, he's got to know that bank robberies are faux pas.

It seems like DeFalco often uses Kon-El's origins as a clone to explain his misunderstanding of the real world. Unfortunately, scenes from early issues will prove that, even though their endgame was to make Superboy a weapon, N.O.W.H.E.R.E. attempted to give their clone a bit of real-world experience through psychological manipulation.  In so facto, basic ideals of right and wrong must have been ingrained, otherwise he could never have known that hurting people was wrong. "Money's a thing - you can't hurt it," says Superboy like it's no big thing. What's supposed to sound naive just sounds pretentious and snooty.

Superboy #11 also brings about the dreaded 'S' tattoo that whining fans got their panties in a bunch over when the 'New 52' started last year. At the time, Kon-El was wearing a black tank top with a pencilled Superman logo duct-taped to his back, which may have made the tattoo seem all the more ridiculous. Now, it doesn't feel so forced. In actuality, Bunker and Superboy's visit to the tattoo parlor is one of the more grounded parts of the issue. Bunker explains that Kon needs to feel a connection with his symbol, the only thing that is part of him now. It sounds sappy when I write it (and it very well might be a lot sappier than I'm interpreting), but the friendship between Bunker and Superboy feels more natural and organic than almost any interactions in the first nine issues of Superboy.


Superboy's relative age becomes more and more apparent when new villain Detritus starts attacking the city. Kon feels like he's being taken advantage of - as the team's powerhouse player - whenever a "big bad" attacks. All he wants is a more normal life, something Bunker explains is "boring!" While this sentiment of normality might work for Peter Parker or Jaime Reyes, nothing up to this point has given readers the impression that Superboy wants to live a normal life. Why would he? He's a super-powerful telekinetic clone of Superman. Why be normal?

GRADE

B-

(COMIC) SUPERBOY #9

STORY: Scott Lobdell and Tom DeFalco
ART: R.B. Silva, Rob Lean, and Iban Coello

It came as no surprise to me when I found Superboy #9 to be one of the best issues of the series. While Scott Lobdell still finds ways to make really silly mistakes, those instances are minimal this issue. This month, Superboy, Teen Titans, and Legion: Lost are all part of "The Culling", a crossover event that pits the Titans and Legionnaires against Harvest and his team of Ravagers. Superboy #9 stands as Part 2 of the four-part epic, giving it a 'will-they-wont-they' approach to the fates of these kids against a psychopathic paranoid monster.

The Titans and Legionnaires - along with other, unaffiliated metahuman kids like Beast Boy and Terra - find it difficult to work together, let alone trust one another, a sentiment that can be easily felt by readers who pick up Teen Titans every month, but not Legion: Lost, or vice-versa; if you don't readily recognize these characters, you find yourself agreeing when Red Robin doesn't want to include the Legionnaires in his strategy, for example. The actual 'Culling' is basically your "Battle Royale" scenario - most famously grafted onto a post-apocalyptic world for this year's infamous The Hunger Games - where the children are forced to fight each other to the death in order to see who has what it takes to join the ranks of Harvest's Ravagers.

"The Culling" storyline began last week in Teen Titans Annual #1 and served mostly to introduce (and in some cases kill off) characters like Terra, Beast Boy, Artemis, Thunder, Lightning, and others - all of whom had some connection to the Titans before the Flashpoint event. Superboy #9 takes the next logical step and features the main battle between the teamed-up Titans and Legionnaires squaring off against Rose Wilson and the other Ravagers.

My opinions concerning origin stories and Lobdell's handling of the Titans and Superboy thus far set aside, if you're going to pump your titles full of fights, you better make them awesome and in the case of Superboy #9, they are. Basically, it boils down to Superboy vs. Warblade and Red Robin vs. Rose Wilson with a few other heroes helping out here and there. By the end of the issue, all the other Ravagers have been taken out, and Harvest descends to take on all the teenaged superheroes by himself. It's a pretty awesome moment to end on and leads directly into Legion: Lost #9.

GRADE:

B+

PS - Seeing as Legion: Lost #9 is the third act of "The Culling", followed by part four in Teen Titans next week, I figured I could give you a little information about LL#9  if you don't regularly read it, just in case you want to know what's happening when you pick up TT#9 next week.

Basically, Legion: Lost #9 is an issue-long battle between the combined forces of the Teen Titans, the Legionnaires, and the other Culling participants against the awesome power of Harvest, who seems to be deflecting and countering any and all attacks made against him. Also, the issue is littered with instances of Harvest referencing the 31st century, knowledge of the Legion, and Bart Allen's true history. In fact, Harvest explains that the Legionnaires were never lost - he had called for them. In many respects, LL#9 makes it seem like "The Culling" is more or less the endgame to the origin story for the Titans, Superboy, and the lost Legionnaires, providing a platform with which to reveal secret information, make or break alliances, and finish up all this ongoing-epic stuff that has lasted a whole 9 issues for all three of these series.

(COMIC) SUPERBOY #7

Written by Scott Lobdell and Tom DeFalco
Artwork by R.B. Silva, Rob Lean, and Iban Coello

A few months ago, a friend recommended I read The Hunger Games. If you haven't heard of this franchise by now, let's just say it's getting pretty big. So, I downloaded the ebook, loaded it onto my Kindle Touch and sat down to check it out. I had already been to the Wikipedia page, so I had a general idea of what I was getting myself into. After three sentences, I turned my Kindle off and I haven't attempted to read it again, nor will I. The Hunger Games is written in a terrible point of view; first-person present, making all the pronouns and verbs present-tense. First-person present is like the frat boy douche of narrative modes; they think they sound sooo good, while in reality they sound cocky, pretentious, and narcissistic. Unfortunately, Superboy falls into this category.

On a personal level, I despise first-person present tense because it makes me feel that the author thinks his audience is dumb, unable to make connections and infer ideas on their own, like they absolutely need a guiding hand to make sure the terribly super-complicated superhero story plot can be conveyed appropriately. It's insulting and belittling. Of course, the narrative point of view is only one of the bad parts about Scott Lobdell's Superboy.


Tactile telekinesis is the worst. It's such a vague, overly-used power that it's lost any real definition and simply become an amorphous idea that gives writers an easy out for a variety of situations. Stuck in a cell?; telekinesis. Not strong enough?; telekinesis. Have all the powers of Superman and still a whiny little brat?; in Lobdell's case, Superboy and his telekinesis. It's hard watching a character who used to have conviction and a strong base be turned into the 'New 52's version of Connor Oberst with superpowers.

"Whew! Centerhall's energy barrage hurt a lot more than I let on!" thinks Superboy in the least-convincing though ever. EVER. No one talks like that let alone has thoughts like that in their heads! It's preposterous that Lobdell hopes to keep readers engaged while treating them like infants. All in all, Superboy continues to leave me wanting more, whether it's actual character development, something close to an advancing narrative, or even a good reason for things to happen would be nice.

Even the cover looks unbecoming!

GRADE:

D