Adventure Comics 4 – I cannot describe my disappointment in the direction that the lead feature has taken here. To go from the beautiful, personal work of Johns and Manapul on Conner Kent to the absurd, mildly funny 4th-wall breaking antics of Superboy Prime rendered by the inferior Ordway is just heartbreaking. This was the best thing that Johns was writing, currently, and it’s gone to merely okay with this issue.

So the issue concerns Superboy Prime, who quite frankly I’m getting a little tired of. The fact that Geoff Johns ADDRESSES that in the issue itself doesn’t make it okay, by the way. It just makes it more annoying. The plus side is that, for the first in a long time, Johns is doing a little work to make this character a little more sympathetic, even if he’s pathetic as always. It’s a little heartbreaking to see his interaction with his parents, how deluded he is. I suppose he believes himself to be the hero of his own story, as we all do, and he may be realizing that isn’t the perception of those around him. When confronted with the absolute evil of the Black Lanterns, he takes on a more sympathetic role, and it’s for the better…but really not good enough. I’m just not that interested in seeing his conflict, I don’t particularly care how he resolves it. My guess is that he’ll end up joining his Legion, the Legion of Earth Prime, thereby accomplishing Superman’s goal of ‘redeeming’ rather than killing him. He certainly seems to be thinking about the welfare of those around him, rather than just his own, though the nonchalance with which he brushes away the murder of Lori casts some doubt on how sane he is.

I’d say that part of my disappointment stems from the un-inspired linework of Jerry Ordway. I don’t mind his work so much, per se, but he’s never really been a favorite, and he appears to have gotten worse over the years. Look at some of his older work, even just 5 years on Tom Strong or some of the Infinite Crisis fill ins he was doing, it seemed a lot tighter than what we’ve been getting lately. It’s not bad, mind you, but after the excellent work of Manapul, it’s a glaring drop in quality. One which I can’t really ignore.

It’s not all bad though. This issue also saw the best backup of the series thus far, a great tale that accomplished a lot with very little space. It focuses on two stalwart relationships of this version of the Legion, Dawnstar/Wildfire and White Witch/Blok, in the context of Mysa’s transformation into something the Dark Witch. It’s a strong tale on a number of levels – it develops the 4 characters in question quietly and subtly, updates us on, and changes, certain aspects of the status quo, has a bit of nice action, and is really kind of a beautiful little tale about enduring power of love, even as we – and the worlds around us – change. Clayton Henry gets better with every backup, with crips lines, great figure work, and a glossy quality to his work that is perfect for this futuristic setting. I hope he sticks around when Levitz’s takes over the book – as I understand it he and DC aim to put out more than just 22 pages a month and are therefore going to be using two artists full time. I hope Henry is one of them.

5.5/10 of the main story, 8/10 of the backup.