[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Writer: Michael McMillian
Artist: Juan Ferreyra
Summary
Superman has to take on the Joker.
Positives
The art by Juan Ferreyra is fantastic. I’ve been loving Ferreyra’s work on Green Arrow so it was a lot of fun to see his take on the Man of Steel. With this material and tone, Ferreyra uses brighter colors which is appropriate and works really well. The art really pops out and is absolutely amazing to look out.
Michael McMillian gets Clark’s personality pretty well. There’s a wonderful moment in which Superman is irritated that Joker is stomping all over the Kansas State Flower. It’s sweet and cheesy in the best ways.
There’s a nice mystery set up with the Joker. I think this may potentially play into the “Three Jokers” subplot. The Joker in this story seems to be the Scott Snyder version; Ferreyra uses the design from “Endgame.”
Negatives
I think McMillian relies a little too much on words. I know that sounds stupid because he’s a writer but I think his short story is a little over-written. The narration boxes are fairly unnecessary, in my opinion, but I tend not to like narration. I can see what’s happening; I don’t need it narrated to me. There is a lot of Clark explaining what he’s doing as he’s doing it instead of letting the art and characters tell the story.
Verdict
Overall, I think this is a strong story. The art is fantastic as it usually is from Ferreyra. McMillian writes Superman very well; he makes the character very likable in a short amount of time. McMillian also does a good job of setting up mysteries to hook the reader which does work.
