“A change has come.”

A statement that seems to be the norm in comic books these days. After all we have Robo-Bat Bunny Jim Gordon, a near powerless Man of Steel, and a Wonder Woman with pants! (gasp) Yes DC Comics has hit the reset button in a lot of ways, but still can’t miss the mixing popular (Soon to be movie) franchises allure. Here we get Superman and Wonder Woman in Smallville, squaring off against.. the Suicide Squad.

Most definitely an unusual sight for Amanda Waller’s cohorts, but it’s explained away pretty quick with the storyline bounty being placed on the last Son of Krypton’s now easily targeted head. Once you move past the cringe invoking dialogue of the first pages (“You could call us a Suicide Squad!”. Jeez Harl, the Joker would slap you with an oversized tuna for that one!) this one moves along rather quickly.

It’s your classic smash-em up brawl, cemetery showdown. You know how those go, smashed headstones, messed up grass, etc. The plot folks is paper-thin. (the good folks at Dunder Mifflin, couldn’t sell this) In a nutshell Waller wants Superman’s limits tested, Suicide Squad attacks Superman, Wonder Woman with Superman kicks SS ass. That is it. We find out that Superman is very vulnerable but we don’t know to what length, so it’s hard to gauge. We still have no explanation for it, which makes it all the more maddening. All in due time I suppose.

After a fairly quick fight, Superman and Wonder Woman make a hasty retreat to an underground hide out on Kent farmland to nurse Superman’s many wounds.

(Apparently his body is still somewhat bulletproof, although that’s a hell of a lot of bruising going on)

Wonder Woman takes this quiet time to say out loud what we all are thinking. What if this isn’t even the baseline and his powers sink even further? (Good thinking Diana, I just want an explanation) She explains to him while removing the shells one by one, that its humbling sight to see him like this. Clark agrees but he will not stop, it’s who he is. He also makes Diana promise that she won’t worry about him in the field and take precaution going forward. He tells her he loves her but he has something to do. Alone.

Overall: I wanted to like this issue much more. I really like the creative team, and I’m usually a big fan of Mahnke’s art. His Clark looks great in action and the dialogue scenes, but his Diana is very angular this issue and it just didn’t work. Hoping it’s a one time thing and this improves next issue. As a whole I’m enjoying the “Truth” crossover in the Superman titles, this was just a bad bump in the road. Still I’m optimistic going forward. It just wasn’t a good showing this month. Let the bullet wounds heal and back at it next time.

Story: Peter J. Tomasi Art: Doug Mahnke  
Story: 7 Art: 8 Overall: 7 Recommendation: Pass