Book Review: Adventures of Superman issue #6

Book: Adventures of Superman issue #6 by J.T. Krul with illustration by Marcus To, color by Ian Herring and letters by Wes Abbott.

Cover by Mitch Breitweiser and Elizabeth Breitweiser

Edition: Single Print Issue

Description:

A young Superman faces a threat like he’s never seen before when a powerful alien warlord named Mongul shows up on Earth’s doorstep looking for trouble! Will Superman heed the counsel of his Kryptonian father? Or will the words of a certain silver-tongued Phantom Zone prisoner cloud his judgment?


Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Enemy of the State? follows a Clark Kent who is at the beginning of his hero's journey. It opens with Superman (although in this story he hasn't been given that famous moniker yet) out in space fighting off an invading ship that was headed towards Earth.

After sending the ship on its way, Clark's next stop was the Fortress of Solitude where the reader gets an interesting look at Jor-El and Zod.

I was really surprised by the way Jor-El was written in this story. This interpretation makes Jor-El appear very selfish leaving you to question his motives for sending Kal-El to Earth especially when he does not want Clark (or shall I say Kal-El) to really embrace his new home world nor use his special abilities to help. It also doesn't help that the writer provided a sympathetic voice to Zod where he told of his "unjust" treatment from the council where he placed the blame for his confinement in the Phantom Zone and the destruction of Krypton squarely on Jor-El.

In a way it makes me wonder why the writer chose to take such a different approach to writing Jor-El and Zod because their consciousness appears vastly different than how they are usually shown. The Smallville TV series did something like this where Jor-El was initial shown as a negative presence but that was eventually fixed.

Anyway, as Clark was sorting through this new information, the occupants of the space ship were reporting in to Mongul that they were unsuccessful in their attempt to reach Earth. Despite the set back, Mongul still plans on conquering Earth but this time he will do it himself. After crash landing in Metropolis, Mongul quickly left a trail of destruction.

With the military unable to stop him, Clark stepped in to help. However, General Sam Lane's patience had run out long before Clark showed up and planned to put a quick end to the situation by launching a missile attack. What get's me is Lane didn't care that an ally was there to help, he was willing to kill him along with the alien who was destroying the city. I guess in his mind, both were unwanted visitors that needed to be dealt with.

But they were both too strong and indestructible to be killed by a mere missile but what was Clark going to do with Mongul. He couldn't just send him back out to space knowing that he would return as well as there is no Earthly confinement that could possible contain him. Will Clark according to Zod's accusations follow in Jor-El's footsteps and place Mongul in the Phantom Zone or will Clark come up with a plan that is more in line with who he is?

Aside from the questionable take on Jor-El, this was a good read, it had great writing and equally amazing artwork. I love the entire story because in between fighting Mongul and trying to understand who he was and what his purpose was for being on Earth. Clark figured out the person he was and going back to the Kent Farm to speak with his father really reinforced that. This is a Clark Kent who is no longer searching for answers but is now ready to embark on the next phase of his life in a new career as a journalist at the Daily Planet.

This was a good read and it really makes me want to finish reading the rest of this series.