DC Comics reviews 8/29/23 – Batman/Catwoman The Gotham War: Battle Lines #1, Knight Terrors Knight’s End

Superboy: Man of Tomorrow #5

Man of Tomorrow started off promising before seemingly losing its way. It’s likely due to the feeling that writer Kenny Porter isn’t quite sure of his take on Conner Kent. The series has always kinda felt weird as he’s portrayed and frequently acts like he just hopped out of the Cadmus Labs onto an unsuspecting world.

Porter struggles with the tone. Is he writing Connor as a fun-loving, somewhat selfish character who is only focused on himself or a melancholy young adult frustrated he can’t find a place anymore? It’s too heavy a theme for Superboy and the battle with his former ally, Travv, suffers from Connor’s inner monologue making the conflict too serious.

The tone of the story hasn’t benefitted artist/colorist Jahnoy Lindsay, who has a much lighter, animated approach to the happenings. This creates a weird style clash where Connor is talking about no longer being a kid, but a man while winking like he’s an anime character. Lindsay is a talented artist with a nice flair for enthusiastic, exciting visuals, but this melancholy story wasn’t a great showcase for his skills.

Next issue wraps this mini-series up although it’s feeling like this is more of a side quest that won’t mean much when Connor returns to Earth.

Rating: 6 out of 10