Superman #14 review

Intersecting with where Supergirl #14 left off last week, we see Kara arrive at Clark Kent's apartment by the front door, compromising his dual identity. Before we catch up to that, though, Lois Lane drops by Clark's place to ask him to reconsider last issue's sudden resignation from his Daily Planet job. The conversation soon shifts to Lois' moving in with boyfriend Jonathan Carroll, with Clark miffed that she hadn't told him her plans. She says that as her best friend, she knew he'd talk her out of it. Quickly changing the subject, Lois points out that she's noticed a daft grin on Clark's face of late, and wants to know 'who's the lucky girl?' - we see him remembering a kiss with Wonder Woman.

It's then that Kara shows up, insisting on a private chat with an unsurprisingly horrified Clark. Before he can come up with an excuse, Lois jumps to a conclusion - Kara is a cosplayer Clark's interviewing for his new, supposedly serious-minded, blog - and Clark goes with that, while speedily shooing an amused Lois out.

Clark is furious at Kara, who's extremely dismissive of his 'foolish alter ego', and whisks her into Metropolis's Centennial Park, where they're joined by the supposed Kryptonian, H'el. He lays out his claims to a link with the El family and dream of a reborn Krypton. Superman isn't impressed, doesn't believe Hel for a minute, and is appalled when - as in the aforementioned Supergirl #14 - he offers to kill the clone Superboy to prove sincerity.

Superman whacks H'el across the park, asking Kara to watch the unconscious Superboy as he goes off to take care of the cruel H'el. Kara's soon involved, though, as H'el impersonates Superman, insults her and knocks her out; when she awakes, who's she going to trust? H'el then assaults Superboy, prompting Superman to proclaim that the boy is under his protection - unlike H'el and Kara, he doesn't see the genetically created teen as less than human. More powerful than either Kryptonian cousin, H'el shoots off, declaring that with Kara's help, he will resurrect Krypton.

Phew, this is a busy issue, with plenty of action and some good character work on Superman and Lois from writer Scott Lobdell. Lois gets a splash page worth of Cliff Notes laying out how awesome she is, while Clark acknowledges to himself that spying on Lois' texts last time was wrong. It's telling that while noting Clark's recent snogs with Wonder Woman over in Justice League, here he's bonkers about Lois in a way that speaks of real, deep feelings; the sooner his schoolboy rebound over to Diana is over, the better. And while Lois insists to Clark - and herself - that best friends is all they'll ever be, there's a definite spark with Clark, who's standing before her in a tight pair of shorts. The dialogue doesn't quite match up to the cliffhanger in Supergirl, but the snippets we got there are close enough to the scene here, and my goodness, the civvies Lois and Clark are wearing in the linked books actually match - that never happens. It'll be interesting to see how Lois reacts when she sees Superman with the 'cosplayer', as she's bound to at any minute.

I like that Superman, who's been patient with Hurricane Kara in her own book, finally shows the annoyance one family member can feel for another here. Just as good, he quickly calms down, gently holding Kara's hand as he listens to her reasons for bursting in on him.

Kara, though, she's a tad off, with her dismissal of Clark's private life and talk of his 'precious humans' - we've seen in her own book that while she's not happy to be on Earth, she thinks the people are worth protecting. Of course, it could be down to the malign influence of H'el, who seems to have some mind powers. We shall see.

H'el himself, whom we learn was behind last issue's Kryptonian dragon, is certainly shaping up to be a good bad guy, not bothering to try to fool Superman for more than two minutes; he's confident he can force his plans through with Kara's help alone. He also has an imperious attitude that suits a villain.

Illustrator Kenneth Rocafort excels, giving us first a great Lois, then an insightful visual of Clark's souvenir-filled apartment and a terrific Kara, totally on-model with the work of her own mag's artist, Mahmud Asrar (click on image to enlarge). H'el looks like the scary fruitcake he sounds like, while the fight is well-choreographed, with Rocafort's peculiarly shaped panels helping the pace more than they distract. The pages are splendidly coloured by Sunny Gho - bright as a Superman book should be, but not without mood. Rocafort and Gho have brought a vitality, a freshness that's helping this comic stand out.

The new creative team is gelling, tightening up the verbal and visual characterisation while fitting into the H'el on Earth crossover. I can't wait to see what Lobdell, Rocafort and co can do when left to their own devices.