Adventures of the Super Sons #12 Review

Dump It Up

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Art team: Carlo Barberi, Matt Santorelli, Protobunker, and Rob Leigh
Release Date: July 3, 2019
Cover Price: $3.99
Reviewed by: Jon Wayne

We have finally reached the end of our time with the Super Sons (at least in this iteration, with Jon as a 10-year-old) and its been a roller coaster. I’m being serious when I say that because this series - which only exists because passionate fans demanded it is brought back after Brian Michael Bendis’ takeover of the Super-books - had super high highs and sadly low lows. Peter J. Tomasi played around with some very fun ideas, created some really fun new characters, but the plot meandered to the point that lost my care for the book, especially in the middle. Though as of late it seems like Tomasi has rediscovered some of the magic at least, can he see it through to the end? Let’s find out.


Our issue opens in the aftermath of #11’s cliffhanger, with the boys trapped inside of the Hypercube as Rex plots universal domination. The boys banter for a moment before deciding to break out of their prison - literally, they broke out almost as if they were ripping through the pages we are reading - and meet the personification of the Hypercube. While this does ring quite a lot like Marvel’s cosmic cubes, there is enough here that I can go with it.

Cube then gives us an info dump revealing that he basically created the whole Gang of Rex and co because he was bored and wanted to be engaged. He created a whole world for them, but Rex quickly became smarter than he was intended to be and broke free from Cube’s influence. Classic Frankenstein’s monster bit, which I’m ok with, but does feel like retreaded ground.

When our boys get back to reality, along with the Puppeteer (the villain the Gang killed in the 1st issue), they have a big yet silly showdown with Rex. They win this battle by imagining all of the funny characters they’ve encountered during their time together and effectively give Cube a bunch of friends to power up the Hypercube. Yup, that’s pretty much that. The boys finally get back to Earth, ending up at the Fortress of Solitude before heading back to Wayne Manor - just in time for their first day of school!

Art was superb throughout this entire series, but Barberi and co really brought their A-games for this finale. Would like to see Barberi work with a different colorist in the future, as I think Protobunker’s palate is a bit muted for my tastes, but it worked in this series so I can’t really complain.

My big criticism of this series, on the whole, is that Tomasi did hint at getting into some meta concepts like what does it mean to be a hero, and how the boys effectively inspired other characters in this series to come to life out of thin air. I wish he would’ve played with that more because I really enjoyed those moments. Regrettably, they were too few and too far between, and we have a rather meh story.

Bits and Pieces:

Peter Tomasi is one of my favorite writers in comics, but this finale fell flat as did this entire series for the most part. Some very funny moments and fun stuff happened, but not enough to keep me invested all the way through, and that’s a shame and a waste considering he had 12 issues to basically just have fun.

6.5/10