There are so many good comics I wish I had kept reading, but had dropped for whatever unimportant reason. I really, really want to get caught back up with Scarlet Witch! And Birds of Prey! But one comic I’m not dropping anytime soon is…

Comic Book of the Week goes to Absolute Superman #4, which is probably my favorite of the Absolute comics. They’ve all been phenomenal so far, but Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval are working some real magic with this new Superman!

Meanwhile, I’m still playing through Dragon Age: Veilguard and Stardew Valley, so I have successfully been able to stop myself from splurging on Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, though I will very much be playing that game soon! Currently making my way through the final season of Doom Patrol at long last, am really enjoying the new season of Severance, and am reading Marjorie Finnegan: Temporal Criminal by Garth Ennis. Fun book!

Comic Reviews: Absolute Superman #4.

Absolute Superman #4
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Rafa Sandoval
Colorist: Ulises Arreola
Letterer: Becca Carey

There’s just something so confident and powerful about this book, and the way it’s exploring all of its characters in their classic concepts, but through new lenses.

While Lois Lane investigates Superman, she runs afoul of the Omega Men, a terrorist cell (or are they?) who are fighting the Lazarus Corporation. And sure enough, Jimmy Olsen is a member, sent to try to convince Lois that she’s on the wrong side. It all goes sideways and Superman shows up to tell Lois to stop following him. Then the Peacemakers show up — including Christopher Smith — and things go from bad to worse.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

So yeah, this is an issue where we dig into Lois Lane as a badass investigative reporter, while still keeping her as a Lazarus agent. And we meet Absolute Jimmy Olsen, a fighter for the Omega Men, who nonetheless snaps some photos and believes in the good of Lois Lane. And we get Christopher Smith, classic comic book Peacemaker, as one of the new Peacemakers, one who is simultaneously ruthless and bloodthirsty, while also getting a scene where he bristles at the Brainiac Algorithm lying about what he’s been through. So maybe he’s not as psychotic as he is on the surface, which goes a very long way in fleshing out this antagonist.

We didn’t see much of Superman, but his presence is ever felt. I loved the scenes of Lois interviewing people he’s helped, and how this firmly establishes the book as one about Superman helping downtrodden Third World populations against ruthless industry. And then how it pivots into not just being about helping the downtrodden, but about embodying their rage at the world. And this is a Superman built on righteous rage, and I love that about the book so far!

And Sandoval’s artwork is just stunning. I mean, damn. The characters are so sharp, the action so perfect, and the new costume/dust thing for Superman is such a brilliant idea. You can also feel that rage on the very page!

TL;DR: Four issues in, Absolute Superman takes time to flesh out the characters, their core concepts and everything this series is standing for, and it’s amazing.

The comics I review in my Hench-Sized reviews are just the usual comics I grab from Comixology any given week, along with a few impulse buys I might try on a whim. So if there are any comics or series you’d like me to review each week, let me know in the comments.

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