Adventures of the Super Sons #9 Review

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Art team: Scott Godlewski, Protobunker, and Rob Leigh
Covers: Dan Mora
Release Date: 4/3/19
Cover Price: $3.99
Reviewed by: Jon Wayne

I have been down on this book lately, and I don’t say that with any joy: I love Jon and Damian, will buy any book that features them together, and I genuinely want to love this series… I just don’t. Mainly because we’re 8 issues in and not much has happened. The boys got kidnapped by the Gang, escaped to a planet with weird brothers and a “wonder machine,” were arrested and taken to a prison planet, and have now escaped with a Green Lantern recruit… Yeah, that’s really all that has happened to date. With only 4 issues left can my man Peter Tomasi give us something? Let’s find out.


We open the issue on Leone-5 where a robot version of Jonah Hex is being held up at gunpoint by three bandits, who evidently work for Tommy Tomorrow (the random guy who arrested our heroes a few issues back). The boys make a timely entrance via the “vroom tube” and knock out the bad guys. After quickly catching Robo-Hex up, he offers to help them get off the planet.

As we cut to several days later, the blurb at the top says “Several days (and four untold adventures) later…” I’m kind of left wondering if Tomasi changed the plot on us. Originally it was supposed to be our boys traveling through the multiverse going to different genre-themed planets. Jon and Al-X seem to be making fun of Damian making out with a princess bandit, so maybe they were supposed to go to a Romance world here? I’m not sure, but I think that is a hint to us that something changed in the writing process.

What follows is really just exposition telling us where Hex is taking the boys, how hard it’s gonna be to pull off, and how Hex has a big ego and is a retired, bad ass, killing machine for Tommy Tomorrow. There is some good feels moments where the boys try to convince Hex to join them when they get off the planet, but he doesn’t seem interested. Meanwhile, Rex and his Injustice Army gather and prepare for their invasion of Earth.

While Jon and Damian kick some robot butt, Hex and Al-X talk about how good they are at what they do. Then Al-X sneakily knocks out Hex and reprograms him to want to leave with them. A few more fight scenes, and boom, everyone gets aboard the Space Train – with Hex included.

The dynamic between our dynamic duo continues to be the heartbeat of this book – but the plot is paper thin. For the entire series now it seems they’re just escaping from one threat to get caught up by another. The art is phenomenal here as it has been for this whole series, but man does this story leave a lot to be desired. Al-X feels like a filler character, Robo-Hex is a cool idea but not fleshed out enough here, and I’m curious as to why Joker Jr. was barely mentioned in this issue – and not at all by Jon or Damian – after his capture in the last one.

Bits and Pieces

While next issue’s “showdown at the Injustice Gateway” sounds like fun, we’ve been running in place for so long now I can’t get myself excited for it.

6/10