Um, wow. What an absolute waste of paper and creative energy. That’s the only way to really sum up this one-shot focusing on Steel; it’s essentially the prologue to an event involving Doomsday, the blandest villain in DC history, and it focuses on the character of John Henry Irons, the human who wanted to be like Superman. There’s some good stuff in here, sure; the idea that Steel feels some sort of guilt for Superman’s death all those years ago is a nice touch, but the fact remains that he is a boring character. Even during 52, his shining moment, he was the protagonist of arguably the worst story within the pages of the year-long event, and here we’re shown just why he isn’t considered one of the great superheroes. Steve Lyons writes a very sub-par script that feels rushed and incoherent; everyone seems slightly out-of-character or dominated by their fractured sense of logic. Nothing truly makes sense. The art by Ed Benes isn’t even half as engaging as it was on Birds of Prey, recently; it looks ugly and doesn’t feel like Benes art usually does. The character models are accurate enough, but they don’t flow well, and there isn’t even any cheesecake to make up for that fact. As a result, it’s hard to get excited about this event as it continues in Outsiders, but hopefully it’s better than this one-shot, because right now the whole idea stinks.