[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Story & Breakdown Art: Dan Jurgens
Pencils: Viktor Bogdanovic
Inks: Viktor Bogdanovic, Trevor Scott & Scott Hanna
Colors: Mike Spicer
Summary
“THE OZ EFFECT” part four! If Superman refuses to join Mr. Oz’s cause, maybe Superboy will! The mysterious villain hits Superman where it hurts when Oz and Jon join forces. But the stakes are raised when the Last Son of Krypton is forced to choose between his son and saving his adopted home planet.
Positives
Every story can’t have the moral and social undertones that this one does. This is the greatest type of challenge that Superman faces. It’s not that it’s Jor-El, that’s a different kind of conflict. The real power in this storyline comes from the question: How far will Superman go? It also implies a follow up: How much can Superman do by himself? It’s not a new story type, but it’s been a while since one of this magnitude and intensity has been produced. It really makes the reader think about the analogs in our real world, as well.
From a technical standpoint, the creative team is hitting the story beats to amp up the tension in just the right way. It was inevitable that Jon’s inexperience would place him with Jor-El at some point, so it’s not a surprise, but it is just the added salt in the wound for Superman.
Negatives
Even if you don’t like the use of Jor-El in this story, at this point, just like Superman says in the story, it doesn’t matter. He’s got to be stopped.
Verdict
Prepare to think a little bit about our own world as we see similarities to it in Action Comics #990. Though not a new idea, it is particularly effective in this case as Superman must try to get everyone to get along in order to stop the machinations of his(?) terrorist sponsor father.
