Credits: Written by Roger Stern with art by Jackson Guice and Denis Rodier and edited by Mike Carlin.
Cast;The Last Son of Krypton, Kelex and the robots of the Fortress of Solitude, Bibbo, Lex Luthor II, Supergirl/Matrix, Sydney Happerson and Lois Lane.
Plot: Two scientists in the Antarctic see an odd atmospheric disturbance, but ultimately decide not to worry overmuch, recently there’s been a lot of weird readings in the area. Underneath the ice is the reason. Built under the ice is the Fortress of Solitude, a monument for the lost world of Krypton and a home away from home for up until recently it’s last survivor, Superman.
Inside the fortress, the robots there have managed to reconstitute an intelligence. A human shaped energy form achieves awareness, but does not remember everything and realises he has no corporeal form. Kelex brings the energy form up to date, showing the news footage of Superman’s final battle. The form is full of angry denial and flies to Metropolis to get a hold of the body of Superman. The form finds the body and then there’s a flash of light.
The next thing we see is a man holding Superman’s cape. He is the spitting image of Superman, but he himself notes that he is different. The powers he once had aren’t the same and he’s sensitive to light, unusual for a solar powered being with several vision based abilities. He decides to flee back to the Fortress.
Elsewhere in Metropolis, a friend of Superman mourns his loss. Bibbo feels that he failed to brings his fav’rit back and sees that without him, the world is falling apart, so dressing in a makeshift Superman inspired costume, he decides to do good in Superman’s name.
Back at the Fortress, the Last Son of Krypton revels in his powers, praising the house of El for their return. He then sees news reports of Metropolis and realises he has a job to do. The city needs a Superman.
In the city, a man holds a woman against her will and assault of several kinds are on his mind. The Last Son smashes through the wall and saves the woman, but he deals with her attacker and a far more brutal way than anyone in that S-Shield ever has. The woman is scared, but safe and isn’t too disturbed by how her would be attacker was dealt with. The next several days show news reports of similar actions, crimes prevented, people saved, but a more brutal response, people are safe, but this is not the way Superman would normally do it.
It is also reported that Superman’s body is gone, a fact queried by a clearly agitated Matrix (in her Supergirl form) as she rushes to confront Lex as he is discussing it with Sydney Happerson. Supergirl wants answers and to know what this means. Lex points out that there is as many of 4 different ‘Supermen’ and that he is investigating this himself. She flies off to seek her own answers and Lex II (in reality Lex I in a cloned body) wants this dealt with as much as she does, he has no desire to see any Superman again, let alone 4 of them.
The final scene is in the heart of Metropolise with a plane about to crash, the pilot has a heart attack and his sister has no idea what to do. The plane is caught by the Last Son and carried over the Simon Kirby Riverside Park (a nice shout out to the legends Joe Simon and Jack ‘the King’ Kirby. The Pilot has passed away, told to those nearby with a complete absence of the care and tact that Superman has always displayed. At that point, Lois Lane steps out of a taxi and demands to speak to the Last Son, who picks her up and flies off to a nearby roof. She demands to know who he is, his reply is that he’s Superman. She notices how cold and hollow he sounds, until he admits he knows her and she was important before his passing. He then admits that Superman as was, shared his secret with her. His face, his voice (which softens here) and this memory convinces her that this may be her lost love. He soon pushes away though, declaring Kent to be gone and only Superman remains and he flies off. Lois is left with the question, is someone aware of her fallen fiance’s secret life, or has she got him back, only to lose him again.
Notes: From this point on, although linked through the triangle numbers as ever, the four ongoing titles each focus on a different one of the 4 Supermen. Action stars The Last Son of Krypton, Man of Steel aptly focuses on the Man of Steel, Adventures focuses on the Metropolis Kid and Superman focuses on the Man of Tomorrow. Each one focuses on a different aspect of Superman. Action Comics focuses on his alien heritage. There’s no mention of Ma and Pa, no talk of Clark as a person, or his interests. The is only the House of El and the identity of Superman. There was a lot of this in the 90s as I recall, a pull away from the dual identity or an explanation of why the identity exists or is a problem. Does Superman need to be Clark Kent? Does Spider-Man need to be Peter Parker etc. This does that in service to the larger story and does it quite well.
Despite being the Last Son’s story, once he has a corporeal body, you only see him in relation to other characters, you never see him alone and have no understanding of his inner life. In the past Clark (being by his nature a story teller) often self narrates or interacts on a personal level. The fact he doesn’t here shows the contrasts between the hero of Earth and this remnant of Krypton. The other thing this does is introduce doubt, is this Superman? Is this a pretender? Are any of the other 3 legit? This is only the beginning, but it’s clear to see, this is going to get interesting.
Verdict – Writing: 4 out of 5 – We don’t get a lot of inner dialogue after a particular point in this issue, so a lot of the character work is through other characters and Stern knows how to do this well, a long history of titles with strong supporting cast or large ensembles like his run on Avengers or his work on Spider-titles. The pacing is relatively tight and there are a couple of moments that highlight his skills with character.
Art: 3 out of 5 – Guice and co are a solid team and deliver quality storytelling and character design, nothing great, but they deliver every single month.#
Overall – 7 out of 10: A solid start to a epoch making story that had repercussions and new characters that last for years and years afterwards.
Next Time: We begin the finale to Fire from Heaven
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