Something new, but familiar, rears its head in Superman #25, by writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist Ivan Reis, inkers Julio Ferreira and Danny Miki, and Alex Sinclair. In this extra-sized anniversary issue, Bendis does a lot of set-up but not much else.

On a planet called Synmar, a group of aliens watch as Krypton is destroyed. They discuss the hows of the whole thing and then watch Superman’s rocket leave and go towards Earth. Fearing what he will become under a yellow sun, they make plans to counter him. From there, the issue starts presenting parallel flashbacks, showing the Synmar recruiting one of their own and him becoming the Synmar Utopica and Lana Lang in Smallville and Metropolis. In the present, the Utopica discusses his existence with the planetary leader and why they aren’t more like him, while on Earth, Lana and Clark discuss their lives in the run-up to an interview. On Synmar, the Utopica is called to the council by distress call and finds them all dead with pictures of Superman plastered everywhere on their viewers.

So, Bendis does a lot of Bendis stuff in this issue- there’s a lot of talking and set-up and not much action. He’s also doing something that he’s been doing a lot in his time on Superman and adding things to the mythos and this issue, it’s the Synmar Utopica or as he’ll probably end up being called, just Synmar. Unlike Rogol Zaar, Bendis is taking some time with the character in this issue, presenting readers with who and what he is and showing him as the parallel for Superman. His people had thought that Superman was sent to Earth to subjugate because of the great power Kryptonians gain under a yellow sun, and that’s why they begin their program to make someone who can match him. However, when they see Superman as merely a defender of the Earth, their super-soldier kind of takes a page from Superman’s book and becomes more of a protector. There’s definitely something going on with the whole thing though- why didn’t they make more super-beings? Who was behind killing the planet’s leaders, and why did they seemingly blame Superman? Bendis does a good job with all of this.

It looks like he’s going to play the Lana-Clark thing as maybe Lana being jealous of Clark and Lois and being sad about what she missed in rejecting him as anything but a friend when they were younger, which… is fine? It’s not exactly a new story development, and while it can be played for drama, is there anyone in 2020 who wants to see this storyline trotted back out again? It sort of feels like cheap drama that’s just not really needed at all. Of course, there’s always the possibility that things won’t play out exactly that way, which would be preferable honestly.

Ivan Reis is back on art, and that’s a great thing. One of the things about his art on Superman so far is that is highly dependent on who is inking him, and this issue has two different inkers, Julio Ferreira and veteran Danny Miki, and while haven’t inked his stuff as much as Oclair Albert or Joe Prado, they do an excellent job. Reis does his thing where he creates a cool looking alien species- the Synmar race looks very interesting, but that’s to be expected from Reis by now- he’s an expert at this kind of thing.

Superman #25 is alright. Bendis is trying to do something with the Superman titles that he didn’t do much of at Marvel- create entirely new characters and villains and add his own stamp to the mythos of the heroes he’s on. Some of his new characters and concepts, like Red Cloud, the Invisible Mafia, and Leviathan, have hit, but Rogol Zaar was a huge miss. It remains to be seen what Synmar will be, but this issue is a good start. The Lana and Clark stuff feels too familiar for long time Superman fans, but it remains to be seen what Bendis will do with it. As far as it goes, this issue works well enough to get a reader to come back, but it isn’t anything special.


Grade: C+