Superman #26 Review

Written by: Scott Lobdell
Art by: Ken Lashley
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: December 31, 2013

Do I Hate Lois Lane? ABSOLUTELY

Clark and Diana have a dinner date and he tries to pass rhubarb soup as something anyone would actually like.  Lois' body is still in a coma, but her mind is flying high.  The Parasite is back in town and this time he isn't targeting Superman and Lois and Clarke have to decide if being reporters comes before being friends...or decent human beings.

Superman #26 is a weird issue.  Superman has just barely survived that whole Krypton Returns thing...watched an alternate version of his Father murdered, walked around his home planet only to have to make sure it's destroyed again and allowed Superboy to die saving all their asses.  So what does a superhero do after all that?  Make rhubarb soup.  And force Wonder Woman to eat it.  I just hope he picked the rhubarb on alley property.  Scott Lobdell could have at least mentioned the hell (or is it h'el) that Superman had just gone through.  I did like the acknowledgement of Clark and Diana dating as it makes the book fit more into the New 52 as a whole.

The issue itself is not half bad, though.  I'm not a huge Parasite fan, but it makes sense why he would be drawn to Metropolis and Lois in particular.  However, how Lois reacts to knowing Clark's big secret is not handled well.  I don't know what Lobdell was thinking, but in one panel he made me go from caring about Lois to hating her and hoping she dies.  Seriously, she suddenly became a backstabbing bitch out of left field. I know it sets up future drama and tension, but at what cost? There is a nice bit where Clark finds out some secret information himself, but isn't sure he should put it on his blog seeing he found it out using his super powers that I really liked.  With it, Lobdell shows the conflict between being Superman and Clark Kent better than I've seen him do before.

The art of Ken Lashley is pretty good.  Everything looks fine and the action scenes are done really well.  His Parasite has a bit of an issue of changing proportions and being a little too busy, but it's a minor complaint.

Bits and Pieces:

Superman #26 is an average issue with some good moments and one that made me want to punch myself in the face.  It would have been nice for Lobdell to acknowledge the events Superman had just gone through, but at least the inclusion of Wonder Woman brings a bit of the ongoing DC Universe into the mix.

4.5/10