Book: Superboy volume #3: Lost (issues #13-19 and Annual #1) by Tom DeFalco (#13-18 and Annual #1), Scott Lobdell (#18-19) and dialogue by Tony Lee (#18)
Cover art by Ardian Syaf and Jaime Mendoza with Blond
Illustrations by R.B. Silva (#13-14 and #17-19), Roger Robinson (#15), Iban Coello (#15-16, Annual #1 and #18), Amilcar Pinna (#15-16), Yvel Guichet (Annual #1), Tom Derenick (Annual #1), Julius Gopez (Annual #1) and Diogenes Neves (#19)
Ink by Rob Lean (#13-14, #16, Annual #1, #17-19), Amilcar Pinna (#16), Jonas Trindade (Annual #1), Denis Frietas (#18) Vicente Cifuentes (#19)
Color by Richard and Tanya Horie (#13-19 and Annual #1), Jeromy Cox (#15), Java Tartaglia (Annual #1), David Curiel (Annual #1) and Nathan Eyring (Annual #1)
Letters by Travis Lanham (#13-19)
Edition: Single Print Issues
Description:
As Superman attempts to help Superboy understand and control his powers, they are set upon by another Kryptonian refugee by the name of H'el. H'el is determined to resurrect his home planet by any means necessary and that includes the destruction of Earth.
Rating: 4 stars
Review:
This third volume was good in regards to the quality and the writing but it does have a problem with being tied into several crossovers. It makes for a slightly disjointed group of issues which were surprisingly still exciting to read but it also helps that I had all corresponding Superman and Supergirl issues for the H'el on Earth crossover.
From the opening issue (#13) which directs you to two other series (Ravagers and Legion Lost) to the bulk of the volume featuring the H'el crossover story (issues #14, #15, #16, Annual #1 and #17). There is no real complete story in this and issues #18 and #19 should have perhaps been included in the next volume because those two issues are setting things up for volume #4.
In issue #13, the matter of the money Superboy "borrowed" (see vol #2) was brought into question by detective Jocelyn Lure but she seemed more concerned with Superboy owning up to the responsibility of someone with his powers. But he's not interested in listening to her unless she can find Caitlin Fairchild who went missing.
Also in this issue, the person who sent the villain Kiva after socialite Dallas Sorrentino (in vol #2) was real interested in meeting the one who incapacitated his minion. This led to a fight between Superboy and the ones sent to retrieve him which unexpectedly turned into a fight between Superboy and the NYC police. Before I forget, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen make an appearance. Jimmy was sent to NY to see if he can find out more about Superboy and to get a good scoop for the network.
With the fight getting out of control, detective Lure's distraction made it easy for Superboy to escape but she had another surprise, she had found Fairchild. From there the reader is then supposed to read Ravagers and Legion Lost.
I didn't read anything from those series but issue #14 does summarize a little letting the reader know that he did meet up with Fairchild and the Ravagers but got pulled by Lure to Arizona into a fight against Harvest and the Legion. But the real point of this issue was Kryptonian villain H'el going after Superboy. Some of the Teen Titans showed up to help Superboy but despite all of their powers they were no match against the villain.
Issues #15-17 finds H'el had nearly destroyed Superboy but thanks to Superman's Kryptonian armor it might be the only thing that can save his life. To stop H'el's plan to restore Krypton which would ultimately destroy the Earth, Superboy was now working with the Justice League. But H'el had already put into place a plan to stop them, leaving Superman and Superboy getting caught in a dimensional trap (Annual #1). After finding their way back, it was going to take all of them to finally put a stop to H'el's plan.
Issue #18 had Superboy trying to put back the money he "borrowed" from the bank but in the process wound up getting into a fight with the villain Plasma who was trying to rob the bank. The fight caught the attention of Dr. Psycho who hoped to gain control of Superboy's telekinetic powers but instead found an interesting surprise. While issue #19 had Harvest relaying his story that also unveils the secret of Superboy's genetics. Harvest's story provides a reason for all the terrible things he has been doing but it doesn't change the fact his plans in the end will only benefit him.
Even with the issues tied in to other series it's easy to grasp what's going on. I'm so annoyed after reading this because despite the massive crossovers in this volume it was still better than Supergirl volume #3. And the Superboy portion of the H'el crossover completely reiterates how poorly written Supergirl was and not only for the crossover but for nearly the entirety of her series. I ended up giving the six volume series only two 4 star reviews (vol #1 and #4) and only one 5 star review (vol #6).
Despite the thin plot of the H'el crossover, I loved seeing the interaction between Superman and Superboy during the crossover. Their snarky conversations really worked for these versions of the characters, you really get a sense of the camaraderie that was starting to develop between them. It would have been great if Supergirl wasn't written as naïve, gullible and susceptible to H'el because I would have loved to have seen the three of them working together from the beginning to stop him.
I was disappointed with the lack of follow up for Jimmy Olsen's subplot where he was trying to investigate Superboy. After issue #13 he does make another appearance in issue #15 with his investigation possibly going in a different direction as he looks into the guys who fought with Superboy. But that was it, hopefully this plot will continue in the next volume because why introduce it if there is no follow through.
This was an interesting read but it does ruin the momentum a bit if you don't have the tie-in issues.
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