Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow #4
Scheduled to arrive in stores: July 18, 2023
Cover date: September 2023
“Chapter 4: Infinity Strikes!”
Writer: Kenny Porter
Artist: Jahnoy Lindsay
Cover: Jahnoy Lindsay
Variant Cover: Todd Nauck
1:25 Variant Cover: Megan Huang
Reviewed by: JP Rocha
We start with a jump forward in time. Infinity has already destroyed the planet Decidia and defeated two-thirds of the Cosmoteers. Superboy and Travv do not seem to be strong enough to defeat Infinity on their own. Out of desperation Travv executes the plan that he has been building up since the Boy of Steel first joined the team. Travv has been handing out rings to aliens that Superboy and the Cosmoteers have been liberating. It seems that these rings are actually mind control devices. Now Travv has the power to control the aliens and their powers for his own agenda. That agenda was first turned against Infinity and then Superboy. Siding with their teammate over Superboy, Pira and Rotur, the other two Cosmoteers leave Conner on the dying planet as they hunt down the exiled Dominator X.
Story – 3: Party’s over for Superboy as this story drags along. “Infinity Strikes!” is a decent story. As a 6-part story, these middle issues can really drag. We have arrived at the midpoint of this book and are let down by Act Two’s fake out confrontation.
Infinity was set up to be the ultimate clone and while he did destroy a planet and held an edge over Conner and the Cosmoteers, he was easily defeated by the mind controlled slaves of Travv. Again we think Infinity is the big conflict for Conner to face, instead the “big twist” is the turn of the Travv and Cosmoteers. Superboy is left in defeat and we have to wait for next issue’s Reign of the Cosmoteers to see how he bounces back to defeat the Cosmoteers and Dominator X.
Art – 3: This is a no for me, Lindsey’s art has not grown on me. On the plus side, Lindsey’s strength is the panel layout and his storytelling flow. Although it is harsh to say, the art is bad. Lindsey is clearly taking a stylistic approach to this book. Unfortunately, it does not work for Superhero books. While it is okay to take different approaches to character designs, it is not okay for characters to be unrecognizable. It is possible for the artist to keep his style choices while maintaining a more streamline DC house style.
Cover Art – 2: A good cover… No. A good image… No. The cover does reflect the story inside, but on its own it lacks storytelling and the layout of a good cover image.
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