Book: Superboy volume #1: Incubation (issues #1-7) by Scott Lobdell (#1-7) with Tom DeFalco (issues #6-7)
Illustrations by R.B. Silva, ink by Rob Lean, and illustrations and ink by Iban Coello (#7 pages #10, 17-18)
Color by Richard and Tonya Horie (#1-7) and Hi-Fi (#7) and letters by Carlos M. Mangual
Cover art by Eric Canete With Guy Major
Edition: Single Print Issues
Description:
THE BOY FROM N.O.W.H.E.R.E
Superboy has been alive only three and a half months. A clone developed by the scientist as at the ultra-secret institute N.O.W.H.E.R.E., he has never left the incubation in which he was grown. Until now.
By fusing human and Kryptonian DNA, N.O.W.H.E.R.E created a living weapon. The organization and its mysterious leadership want to use Superboy and his telekinetic powers to capture other metahuman teens, like Wonder Girl and her friends. But while he spars with the likes of the Teen Titans, Supergirl and Rose Wilson, Superboy also fights his own battle within, attempting to discover what he is and who he wants to become. Supergirl and N.O.W.H.E.R.E. both think Superboy will become a killer. But can a clone develop a conscience?
Rating: 4 stars
Review:
For something written by Scott Lobdell this first volume was a somewhat interesting attempt at trying to reintroduce Superboy for the New 52. Similar to the pre-New 52, Superboy is a human/kryptonian clone created in a lab. However unlike the previous version this new Superboy lacks a personality but I will get to that later.
This first volume (which also coincides with the Teen Titans series) finds Superboy in a containment unit being monitored by scientists from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and one in particular nicknamed "Red" by Superboy has an interest in him. Thinking he is a poor construct since they couldn't get any real reading on him they were preparing to terminate him when his defenses kicked in causing him to accidentally kill the scientists. That is all except Red who had left the room not wanting to see his demise.
From there the story jumps to Superboy in a seemingly small farm town in Kansas going to school and living with a family. It seems a little strange that's where he would be but it turns out it's all a virtual reality program by "Red" a.k.a. Dr. Caitlin Fairchild to study his responses. For instance why does he continue to avoid helping people while in the program? But I have to ask why was she so concerned? If he was designed to be used as a weapon why is she interested in seeing if he has empathy or expressing any desire to help?
To ensure that Superboy doesn't kill again at the facility, Rose Wilson a.k.a. Ravager was hired on to keep an eye on him and to stop him if necessary. Behind the scenes in a plot that never seemed to take off, follows one of the scientist trying to expose what was going on at N.O.W.H.E.R.E. by secretly sending information to Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane. I don't understand why this wasn't explored more, Lois is one of the best investigative reporters and having her on N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s trail would have been interesting.
Anyway back to the book, despite the constant tests, Dr. Fairchild does not feel Superboy is ready to take on any untested field experiments which is exactly what Zaniel Templar, a higher up in N.O.W.H.E.R.E. was intending for Superboy. His first order of action was to get Superboy to stop a prison breakout at one of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s facilities. Along for the journey was Rose, who was there to help but mainly to keep an eye on Superboy and make sure he followed orders. While he was trying to stop the prisoners, Superboy became unstable causing the facility to be destroyed while he was still in it. He later found himself at the center of the Earth trying to figure out how to get a better handle of his powers while trying to get out of molten lava. Finding his way back to the surface brought more problems as he wound up in a fight with a lava woman. She not only tried to kill him but told him some interesting information about his DNA. He had no idea he wasn't human, well that's mainly due to N.O.W.H.E.R.E. continuing to be less than truthful with him. But in going back to N.O.W.H.E.R.E. to get some answers he discovered something unexpected about Caitlin. She's not the person she pretends to be, not only does she have unbelievable strength she's also trying to kill him.
Why does it seem like someone is always trying to kill him? He managed to subdue her and she was taken into custody by N.O.W.H.E.R.E. but the interesting thing is he was finally given freedom. As a way of establishing trust, his new handler Centerhall gave Superboy the chance to live life away from the organization. But out in the world Superboy had a hard time dealing with his new reality. He has the power but he's still trying to come to terms with them which unfortunately includes doing something mean and reckless such as setting fire to the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. He does feel remorse and starts to understand that just because he has the power doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants with them. Being out in the world made it possible for him to stop two murderous metahumans but it also made him want to return to N.O.W.H.E.R.E. at least with the intention of getting more answers about his DNA. However, there's a catch to get the answers he's looking for, he will have to bring in Wonder Girl and to that do he will have to go up against the Teen Titans.
But that will have to wait because the first thing he does is come up with a plan to keep Dr. Fairchild from being transported to some N.O.W.H.E.R.E. facility to be experimented on. I guess he did it because on some level he owed her for doing her best to keep him safe despite her unexpectedly turning on him.
Now if you were looking for the big showdown between Superboy and the Teen Titans you're not going to find it in this book. You will have to read Teen Titans issue #5 or volume #1 to see what happened but the end of that confrontation was shown. On his way back to N.O.W.H.E.R.E. to yet again get more answers, he got into an unexpected fight with Supergirl. As with everything pertaining to the New 52 characters are angry for no reason and are more likely to throw a punch than to ask questions. And that explanation fits the New 52 Supergirl perfectly because she immediately goes on the attack after finding out that he was a clone. It finally dawned on her that he didn't understand the meaning behind it and the two parted ways but it left Superboy with even more questions.
Finally going back to N.O.W.H.E.R.E. led to yet another confrontation this time with the organization's agents and Rose which unfortunately didn't end well for Superboy. But it looks like he may get some unexpected help from Wonder Girl if it's not too late.
I have to say I never thought I would be giving 4 stars to anything written by Lobdell for the New 52 but this was surprisingly good. It's not perfect but it's at least exciting to read and rather well written which is a far cry from some of his other works which are extremely terrible such as Teen Titans and Red Hood and the Outlaws. A minor issue I had with this was that some of the story seemed to be happening somewhere off page but thankfully it didn't happen that often. I was surprised that Caitlin Fairchild was included in this and for anyone not familiar with the character she is most known for being in the Gen13 comic book series.
Although this was a good read, it was disappointing that Superboy has no personality. He comes across as dull and boring with nothing that really draws in the reader. I still miss the fun loving and happy Superboy but I guess this New 52 version is an appropriate fit with the dreary tone of the rebooted universe. However, I did enjoy the artwork, I thought both the illustrations and the color were really good.
As I look ahead to reading the rest of the series, I can only hope that it will be as interesting a read as this one but it's the New 52 so I will leave my expectations at the door.
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