Superman: Man of Tomorrow #2 Review

Written by: Robert Venditti
Pencils: Paul Pelletier
Ink: Drew Hennessy
Colors: Adriano Lucas
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: April 27, 2020

Growing up I was just okay with Superman. I collected and read his comics in the late 80's and early 90's, but I didn't come to adore the character until I became a parent. He's become my favorite superhero to read, and sadly the last two years have been difficult. I even dropped both Action Comics and Superman from my pull list last summer after giving their current writer a whole year.

These 99¢ "digital firsts" are giving us fans the opportunity to read comics at a pretty great deal without leaving our house during a deadly global pandemic, and it features writers and artists who aren't working on the main books for those characters. So I was very excited about Superman: Man of Tomorrow, and I haven't been disappointed.

There's a vote in Metropolis about to happen to allow casinos into the city, and since Lois is banned from asking the council members questions, she uses Clark and Jimmy to ask the questions she needs for her story... until Clark has to leave for an emergency. There's a robbery at a jewelry store, but the robbers aren't the kind that you would expect to do something like that. They're regular family people who have found themselves in debt.

So Clark proposes to Perry, who is comically trying to get the snack machine to work, that he investigates the story of those two robbers. But he's denied, of course. That's not a story! Then more crimes by ordinary people keep occurring, such as arson by a woman who freaks out when she discovers that there was a squatter in the abandoned building that she lit on fire. In classic goose-bump raising Superman style, he saves the girl through the collapsing building and then gently sits down next to the woman and asks her what happened.

The villain is The Gambler, who is taking bets on where Superman will go next and setting up an incident (using people who are in debt) so Supes goes wherever he needs to be so the house wins. And the goal is to raise enough money to pay off council members and build a casino in Metropolis so he can get clean and run a legal gambling operation. Clark doesn't take it well at first that he's the focus of a violent betting ring, but he takes care of business in the end in your typical bad-ass Superman fashion. And Clark get his story, which turned out to be the big story after all.

Bits and Pieces

Venditti is doing a fantastic job in this series writing fun comics to read and entertain us without stretching it out, and the art is amazing! It's just so good to read a Superman story that is just what you expect from Superman instead of whatever the heck we've been getting from that other guy. First of all, the story actually makes sense. But also all of the characters feel right. From Superman, to when he's Clark, to Lois, to Jimmy. Most importantly, the dynamic between Clark and Lois is where it should be. Man, I like having Superman back, and there are scenes in this comic that just scream "CLASSIC SUPES". And $#!+, it was 99 cents? *starts playing Thrift Shop*

8.5/10