DC Comics reviews 11/28/23 – Titans: Beast World #1, Green Arrow #6

Action Comics #1059

The main story with the Super Family battling Blue Earth is solid. Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson is essentially a made man on Superman titles at this point. He keeps making juggling this massive cast look easy while giving Superman plenty of time in the spotlight. After a tangle with Blue Earth, Superman finally realizes the identity of their leader, Norah Stone. But he doesn’t know why she’s taken such an interest in his adopted daughter Otho-Ra. The saddest aspect is the likelihood of so much of this being discarded the moment Johnson is off the title.

For now, at least we can appreciate Johnson’s excellent take on Superman and his supporting cast and the always strong artwork from Eddy Barrows & Eber Ferreira with colorist Matt Herms.

This issue also features two backup stories. The first is a continuation of the tale explaining why Super-Man joined up with The Supers. Writer Gene Luen Yang and artist Viktor Bogdanovic really make me miss that title and the enjoyable unique take on characters like Superman, Batman and The Flash. With so many mini-series popping out from DC these days, it’d be great to see that title return.

Less enjoyable is the story from writer Dan Parent and artist Marguerite Sauvage. This is basically just another attempt to get readers invested in Jon’s relationship with Jay Nakamura. There’s even some riveting scenes with Jay in the bathtub while talking to Jon on the phone. Jon hasn’t had many major hero moments since being aged up by Brian Michael Bendis and the Jay relationship hasn’t led to an outpouring of demand for more attention. That would probably make for a better subplot with room to develop in Jon’s solo standalone title…ah, right.

Two out of three stories isn’t bad especially given their quality. It’d be nicer for the main story to get more pages and cut the backup, supporting stories to just one.

Rating: 8 out of 10