Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Jamal Campbell
Published by DC Comics

The newest relaunch of the main ongoing Superman title just came out, and I decided to order it impulsively. I haven’t read a regular Superman series in years, so I’m going into this basically blind, I really don’t know much of what the character’s current continuity is, beyond Lois and Clark still being married and now having a bisexual son named Jon who has also taken up the mantle of Superman to fight for truth, justice, and all that stuff. So where does that leave the original Superman? Well, I’m about to find out.

Sidenote: I wasn’t familiar with the creative team at first, but I see that the writer wrote my favorite single issue of Superman/Batman, and the artist drew the series Naomi, which I dropped at the first issue due to the writing but I singled out the artist as a breakout star in my review. So that’s a good sign.

As I’m writing this I haven’t read the comic yet, but I just got it (when you pre-order digital comics on Amazon, you get them the right at 12am that day, which is 9pm the day before on the West Coast), so now I’m about to and then I’ll share my thoughts…

Okay, well, there’s no appearance or even mention of Jon in this issue, so I don’t know what’s going on there, but Lois and Clark are “back” in Metropolis (I guess they were away somewhere for a while), working at the Daily Planet with Jimmy Olsen, but with one major change: Lois is now the editor in chief, as Perry White is said to be on a sabbatical. She’s not all that comfortable with the job though, as she’s used to being out in the streets chasing stories, not sitting at a desk.

Superman fights a couple of his regular villains, Live Wire and The Parasite, and steps in to officiate a wedding (I’m not sure of the legalities of that). But while he’s doing all of this he’s being coached by Lex Luthor, who is currently in prison. Nevertheless, he knows Superman is listening to him with his super hearing, so as Superman is fighting the villains’ Lex is giving him advice on how to defeat them, and naturally, his methods are way more brutal than Superman’s would be. Superman ignores Lex until he’s requested to meet LexCorp COO Mercy Graves, who informs him that Lex has given full power of attorney over the company to him (again, I question the legality…), and wants him to run it under the new name SuperCorp.

An alien superhero running a multibillion-dollar corporation? What an intriguing idea!

Again, Superman rightfully questions Lex’s motives, and the issue leads up to a dramatic cliffhanger.

Verdict: I dug it!

Joshua Williamson has a good ear for dialog, the highlights being the private scene he writes between Lois and Clark, showing that they’re just as in love as ever, and every line Lex Luthor speaks in this issue is pure gold. Even in prison, Lex acts like he’s in total control. The scenes with Mercy at the newly redesigned LexCorp tower (nanotech put a giant S-shield on top of it) as she’s showing off all the high-tech inventions that Superman could have at his disposal hint at some interesting possibilities ahead.

And the artwork is sweet! I’m really loving Campbell’s style in this issue. This Superman relaunch is off to a fantastic start, count me in!

SUPERMAN #1