Superman Gets Drunk
Now that Superman has discovered a new ability it’s time for him to test the limits and details of how it works. Actually, he doesn’t really know if it was a one time thing or not, but he’s gotta figure it out.
To do so, he enlists the Justice League to help him with his research. First, they take him to remote places to detonate his Super Flare and then he explodes on The Watchtower.
Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg make appearances in this issue and they all help to one extent or another. They even manage to get Superman drunk once he’s fired off the Super Flare and becomes human for 24 hours.
After a night on the town with his friends, Clark sleeps in late and is awakened with news of a shootout in downtown Metropolis. He throws on his suit and leaps out his window…and falls. I actually though something serious was gonna happen to him , but he still had a jumping capability so did not splat.
He did get a building dropped on him though and that wasn’t such a pretty scene. Superman usually doesn’t bleed and he’s gonna have to be more careful when he’s in his vulnerable state. Not just careful about falling objects, but also wary about people taking pictures – they actually got shots of his bloody and hungover face and posted them to the news.
This issue was written and penciled by John Romita Jr. since Geoff Johns left after last issue. The story is ok and it makes sense that Superman needs to understand his new abilities, but this kinda feels like a fill-in issue. A place holder between stories and while Clark does get drunk, there’s really a lot less humanity in this issue compared to last issue.
Here are a few highlights and thoughts I had while reading this issue:
- I like the fact that the biggest thing Clark enjoys while he’s human is eating
- I loved the scene where Clark gets wasted – 1st time for everything I suppose
- It looks like the Super Flare also emits an EMP
- My big question is if he’s now vulnerable will he be less of a boyscout as people drop buildings on him or shoot at him when he’s human?
- Didn’t the original Superman have a jump ability rather than a flight ability?
- Who are the thugs gathering energy for and why attack Lex Tech?
Other than the exploration of his new power, this issue seems to have moved on from The Men of Tomorrow story arc pretty soundly. While it was fun to see the rest of the Justice League, the story could have been more solid. For that, I rate this issue a C+, above average with plenty of room for improvement.
Next time in my Rebirth reading, I start up a new story arc and a new title as I take a look at Aquaman issue #49: Rising to the Surface.
You can find Superman #40 Powerless by John Romita Jr., and Klaus Janson on Comixology, at your local comic book shop, or from Amazon.