Minor Spoilers Below

Superman is one of my favorite comic books out right now. It is consistent, it is action packed, and along with Action Comics, it gives us such a great return to the stories that make Superman, Superboy, and Lois such awesome characters. Sure, there is the Kryptonian history, and heat vision blasting giant monsters, and the mystery of past foes returning, and Mr. Oz, but there’s something else that makes these books great. It is family. Now that may sound cheesy to some of you, but I mean that. The family element of Clark, Lois, and their little boy, Jon who is slowly turning into a man and learning about his raw sense of power is touching and creates some great moments.

Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason together have brought such great world building outside of Metropolis with the life of the Kent’s and Superman’s past. Superman #22 continues the great storytelling with an issue that follows a worried wife and mother, Lois Lane. In the last issue, we saw Supes looking for Bats, and Jon and Damian fighting a giant squid. This series has been building mystery around the nice quiet farm town in Hamilton County where the Kent’s now live. There is the weird swamp and haunted house that Jon and his neighbor got lost in, and of course, the farmer who is always staring at them or wondering about Jon. We also had the odd appearance of Frankenstein, Lois’s friend Candice being an alien bounty hunter, and so much more. This family cannot catch a break, and this issue shows they may not anytime soon.

The art by Doug Mahnke has a nice cartoon style that is mixed with what you’d expect in a classic comic featuring an iconic character such as Superman. It walks the lines of over the top and realism nicely, and really gives everyone of the characters personality. The laid back nature of a country town is captured in the faces and expressions of each of the town folk, even right down to the freaky feeling that these people may be out to hurt her, and that there is a creepy mystery underneath all of them, like something out of a Stephen King novel. The inks by Jamie Mendoza and Ray McCarthy give us a book with a lot of darkness and shadows that is a very effective tool but the eeriness of this issue. Wil Quintana colors in between all of the darkness with some really bright colors that you’ve come to expect from a Superman book, right down to the iconic red and blue of his suit jumping off of the page. The art does a great job at letting us know something isn’t right in Hamilton County.

If you’ve been reading Superman, then you know what to expect in some of the issues that deal with the hometown that the Kent’s live in. We’ve been teased for a while that something is off about the town and the folks around it, and this issue only makes it weirder and more disturbing. I cannot wait to see where this series and this arc goes, and would highly recommend it to anyone.

Story: Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason Art: Doug Mahnke
Inks: Jaime Mendoza & Ray McCarthy Colors: Wil Quintana
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review