Superman #34 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Laura Martin (colors)

The Story: Superman and Ulysses’ first official team-up may be their last.

The Review: I don’t often speculate as to how a story will go—partly because of my natural cautiousness and partly because I’m frequently wrong—but I’m about 99.99% sure that a big showdown between Neil (a.k.a. Ulysses) and Clark will ensue sooner or later. I base this on one theory only: you don’t create a direct Superman analogue without intending to match him up with the real thing. That’s just how things roll in superhero comics; it’s almost a waste otherwise.

So every issue, I’m looking for signs of where Neil and Clark’s relationship will go sour. It’s a difficult task because the two of them are as similar as they can get without actually being the same character from parallel universes. Both are gentle giants who believe deeply in peace and hope (and who don’t stand for threats to any of those things). Neil’s forgiveness of his parents for rocketing him away (and his dad for giving up on the search for him) is gratefully given and free from bitterness. Even Clark couldn’t have done better in that situation.

Perhaps the biggest differences between Clark and Neil come from their parentage. Neil’s mom leans toward self-loathing (she chides Clark, “You say that as if discarding hate is as easy as changing bed sheets.”) and his dad admits, “I may be smart, but I’ve never been a particularly hopeful man.” His adoptive parents also differed from the Kents in significant ways. His adoptive mother, although a seemingly gentle woman, lacks Martha’s compassionate tact; she unwisely expresses her horror at Neil’s inability to sleep, calling it a curse to his face. His adoptive father, being a doctor, took a scientific approach to helping Neil come to terms with his powers, in sharp contrast to Jonathan’s morals-driven interaction with Clark. These are surprisingly subtle distinctions for Johns, and from them a few notes of disquiet manage to escape.

Less subtle, yet also easy to overlook, is Neil’s almost offhanded remark that Klerik’s brother “was killed” during a rare battle in the Fourth Dimension, as if it happened by accident or by some third party when it was really Neil who blasted a hole in him using heat-vision. [Spoiler alert.] So it’s not quite a shock when he does it again to the Machinist—or what appears to be the Machinist—leaving him and Clark standing at loose ends over the corpse of an innocent man. This is where the Superman-Ulysses conflict truly begins, people. Clark wants Neil to stay on the D.L., but he can’t hide this; Neil just reunited with his parents and likely won’t like the prospect of being separated from them again by a jail sentence; and most importantly, this was a deliberate (though mistaken) move on Neil’s part, and Clark will have to reevaluate his friendship with a man so willing to kill.

This Machinist, by the way, is a flat sort of villain, though clever. His plan to test his mechanical creations on Clark so as to better gauge their strength for sale is actually good business sense, but then he reveals his sadistic side: “I see what [my machines] do. Who they kill and how. I have the greatest library in the world. Right in here. [He taps his head.] Death like you wouldn’t believe.” That’s almost as cliché as all this talk about Clark representing hope.

Romita has a pleasant style that is largely without fault and has the bonus of being straightforward and clear without the cheap, scraggly look of DC’s house art. I only have a hard time talking about his work because it has no particular feature that stands out, unless you count the squared off appearance of the characters. His work is Buckish, I’d even say. Both action and drama are convincing and distinctive, but they don’t impress in any particular way.

Conclusion: Relatively sophisticated and understated for Johns, at least in parts.

Grade: B+

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – I think, Clark, the correct question is not “What are you doing here?” but “How long have you been there?’

– Neil may have the fancy energy manipulation powers, but he can’t see in the dark. That’s one for Clark!