If you’re looking for a good all ages superhero book that isnt based on a cartoon and has solid writing, this is it. Even with all the worries of Conner Kent and the villains that flock to Smallville to attack Superboy, he still finds time to challenge Kid Flash to a race around the world for charity.

Lemire does a great job of bringing in some superhero stuff into a very innocent Smallville and i’m having a lot of fun with it. He adds a bit of teenage drama, but is careful to not overdo the soap opera portion of the story. This issue was pretty solid overall, and i’m patiently waiting to see what the big payoff is going to be. I think he’s doing a great job working his way into mainstream DCU characters.

This is the first book that i’ve been buying solely because of the writer. Gallo’s art isn’t that great…it never has been on this run, unfortunately. If he’s improving as others are asserting its in baby steps. As with many comic artists, he seems to have very little experience drawing the human form from life and it shows with his lack of understanding on the subtleties of anatomy, resulting in some panels that look straight up awkward. Wether its inconsistent and flat faces, body parts that look like unproportionate sausages, or trying to pose characters in “action poses” that look forced and unnatural Gallo’s art isn’t living up to the quality of the writing. As a result, i’m taken out of the story more than i’d like. The colors and letters are decent but really aren’t doing much to elevate the art. The characters tend to either look like they are plastic or wearing bad stage makeup. Either way its not a good situation visually in this book.

I want this series to be great. It should be, but at this point, because of the visuals, its just ok.