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Geek Dad
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Absolute Superman #8: Showdown in Smallville
Absolute Superman #8 cover, via DC Comics Ray: For the last few issues, we've been teased about what happened in Smallville. One emotional issue showed us the few weeks Kal-El spent in the small town, being found by Jonathan and Martha Kent when he was a teenager. You could see that they would have shown him the same love they did if they found him as a baby – but then Lazarus Corp came, hunting him, and Kal was forced to flee. And all these years later, that's still the only place he ever felt safe. But this isn't the Smallville he left. The town has been fully taken over by the shadowy corporation, turning the farmers into modern serfs. Jonathan Kent is long gone, and Martha Kent languishes in a memory care center. Kal tries to visit, but she doesn't recognize him. And so he prowls the streets of Smallville – along with Lois Lane, and Omega Man Jimmy Olsen. Put to the test. Via DC Comics. The three main players have been in opposition from the start, with Lois not sure she can fully turn her back on her father's army yet and Jimmy not trusting anyone associated with them. And Superman, of course, stuck in the middle. But now, the Peacemakers are about to enter the fray, led by the mad and cybernetically-enhanced Agent Smith, turned into a raging monster. The action in this issue is intense, but as usual with the Absolute Universe, there's a great emotional underpinning to every issue. And then there's the main villain, Ra's Al Ghul. Whether he's the true big bad of this series or Brainiac is, it's hard to tell. But after last issue's spotlight for Brainiac, what we see of Ra's here is no less terrifying. Here more a mad warlord than the utopian we often see him as, he's further gone – and plays a key role in introducing Kryptonite to the world of Superman, raising the stakes even higher. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Geek Dad
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Absolute Superman #7: The Many Minds of Brainiac
Absolute Superman #7 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: The Absolute titles have developed a very distinct visual sense, and the artists are all top-tier, so it's a very smart move that when one of them needs a break, the writers bring in a pinch-hitter for a very specific type of story. Most include flashbacks and major reveals about side characters – and they're just as brilliant as the main story. That's definitely the case for this villain-centric one-shot, which takes us behind the scenes with Brainiac, the hyper-intelligent being doing the tech work for Lazarus Corp. So far, Brainiac has seemed brilliant and manipulative, but maybe not quite as evil as Ra's Al Ghul and the Peacemakers. Yeah, you can throw that out the window, because behind the scenes, this is one of the most disturbing comics I've read in a long time, and this Brainiac is one of the most evil characters I've ever read in fiction, and it all starts with his twisted treatment of a unique victim – himself. Hunted. Via DC Comics. When we meet Brainiac in this world, he's in the middle of an obsessive search for Superman – torturing a man he's experimenting on and destroying whole cities when they lack the information he needs. A flashback shows that most of Brainiac's victims are in fact other Brainiacs – he's cloning himself constantly, using his clones for menial labor, and disposing of them when they wear out. And we follow one clone, whose job is cleaning up other dead clones, as he slowly gains more awareness, and then finds himself in a surprising position of power – one that makes him maybe the most disturbing Brainiac ever. After all, one of the defining characteristics of Brainiac is his obsession with rationality. What happens when all that power and intelligence winds up in the hands of someone who's already had their mind shattered? It's a terrifying concept, and one that's executed brilliantly here. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
