Super-Sons #15 – Peter J. Tomasi, Writer; Carlo Barbieri, Penciller; Art Thibert, Inker; Protobunker, Colorist

Ratings:

Ray – 7.5/10

Corrina: Back to the Beginning

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

Ray: The final arc of this series begins in Super-Sons #15 and brings back the villain from the first arc. Kid Amazo kicked this series off with a surprisingly brutal bang, a kid villain who murdered his own family on the way to taking on Damian and Jon. Now, he’s back and looking to finish the job, and the opening segment shows his escape from captivity. For Damian and Jon, it’s a normal day after school and Jon is excited to patrol while their fathers are out of town. Damian, meanwhile, just wants to work out and seems vaguely annoyed by Jon’s presence as usual. I still think their relationship in this series is overly caustic, but at least here it’s more “bickering frenemies” than anything else. However, the issue takes a turn for the serious when Kid Amazo attacks the underwater base, flooding it. While Jon is locked in combat, Damian makes a dash for the rebreathers and then goes back for Jon, who is fighting a losing battle.

The issue does a good job of jacking up the tension, as Tomasi remembers that while Jon can take a lot of physical punishment, he also doesn’t have Superman’s enhanced ability to breathe underwater just yet. Thus, there’s a ticking clock on the mission, and he’s only able to win the day with the help of Damian hitting Kid Amazo with an escape pod and dragging Jon out of there. However, Jon is snatched before they can escape, and is held captive by the villain, who reveals that in fact, he’s not the boy they faced before – he’s the robot intelligence that’s latched on to him. He used up that host and now needs a new one – and he thinks a half-Kryptonian would be just the ticket. With Damian teaming up with Cyborg, and the entire Justice League in danger now, there’s a lot to resolve in the final issue. This series has been a mixed bag overall, with some suffering from the unpleasant dynamic between the leads, but others bringing a real sense of fun and adventure to the DCU.

Corrina: It’s too bad this series is ending just when it set up the status quo of the Super-Sons working together from their undersea clubhouse. That’s a concept that could have given us at least another year of stories. But the Bendis wave is coming. Perhaps some of this will be preserved.

As a whole, my enjoyment of the series has been mixed, mostly because while it seems to be a natural all-ages book, it keeps throwing in gruesome moments, as in the first arc, with Kid Amazo and his dead family. This issue does that as well when Kid Amazo gleefully tells Damian and Jon about how he’s murdered his “host” and how he needs a new one and Jon’s elected.

But the action sequences are top-notch, especially as the boys take turns saving each other, and I hate to see a series end when it hasn’t reached its full potential.

Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.

To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.

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