Art by: David Baldeón, Norm Rapmund
Colors by: Rex Lokus
Letters by: Arian Maher
Cover art by: Jamal Campbell
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: March 19, 2024
Superman #12 concludes Pharm and Graft's plans to get revenge on Lex Luthor by murdering all of Metropolis with modified Kryptonite gas.
Is Superman #12 Good?
Superman #12 answers all the questions presented by Joshua Williamson when he first took over the title, and it's all presented to you in a neat, tidy, convenient package. When last we left the Man of Steel, the newly-formed Lex Luthor Revenge Squad (LLRS) executed their plan to unleash a modified form of Kryptonite gas on Metropolis, a gas that would kill humans just as it would Kryptonians. In a shocking reveal, we learned the plan to make the gas was originally developed by ... *gasp*... Lex Luthor. Now, Lex suits up in a power suit and flies off to confront his mother, Leticia, wearing another power suit as she unleashes the gas from the sky. Meanwhile, Superman gathers the intellectual best at SuperCorp to come up with an antidote to the problem. Between the battle on two fronts, Superman urges Lex to spill the beans on his past with Pharm and Graft, which created this lethal grudge. We learn Pharm and Graft are mad because Luthor stole their research years ago. We learn Leticia is mad because Luthor stole her mother's company years ago. And we learn Superman is not as dumb as Luthor thinks when he uses his years of Kryptonite research to develop a cure. Quicker than you can say, "One, two, how do you do!?", LL-01 stops Leticia by remotely powering down her suit, Lex stops the gas with Superman's research, and the LLRS is in police custody. What's great about Superman #12? To Williamson's credit and contrary to his reputation for not sticking the landing, he brings the Pharm & Graft arc in for a safe (if not) satisfying landing. Most of the questions are answered, and all is right with the world. What's not so great about Superman #12? Faster than a speeding bullet is how quickly the major plot points get wrapped up. This issue reads more like a resolution checklist than a climactic finale, so you get the impression Williamson was told to get it done quickly in time for other things. Further, nothing comes from the Marilyn Moonlight introduction. The reveal about the origin of Pharm and Graft's grudge is, in a word, lame. And the Chained, who was originally presented as an Omega-level threat, doesn't play a factor in the final battle. In short, Williamson introduces big ideas early that don't pay off. Maybe he didn't stick the landing after all. How's the art? Very good. David Baldeón and Norm Rapmund deliver strong, clean lines, powerful action, and one or two wow moments in an otherwise lackluster script, so that's a feat in and of itself.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces:
This issue is just barely fine, and in the middle. Between all the squad, the only one with potential and a good build up was Chained(or whatever his name was) but he gets barely any moment and instead all is given to the horrible Pharm and Graft and Lex's mom. All three of them are underdeveloped, look ridiculous and don't work. Also one of the compelling points of Lex's story is that he gained his status, power and money by himself from nothing but likes to use those to show his superiority over others (at least before now) and that's one of the reasons he can't see a being like superman who is naturally that powerful and doesn't leverage that for more power over others actually existing, here though we can't have that. Obviously there was this mother character all along, she was the one who owned the company you know, Lex just stole it from her. I don't understand this need to constantly retcon the backstory of the characters needlessly to introduce copycat characters like the mother and that doctor character in Batman instead of pushing the story forward in a new interesting direction and fleshing that out. In any case, this was a mediocre issue but it's getting boring without a good enough hook.
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