Adventures of Superman: Book of El #7 – Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Writer; Scott Godlewski, Artist; Matt Herms, Alex Guimaraes, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: For the first six issues of this series, we’ve mostly been following Superman himself, as he traverses the far future in search of his missing children. But now, it’s time for Otho-ra to take the helm. The adopted daughter of Superman, she’s always been the more active and fierce of the twins, while her brother Osul-Ra is more powerful but more hesitant to use it. So when Superman is captured and on the brink of death, it’s her time to shine – with the Black Racer in hot pursuit. This cosmic manifestation of Death has been one of the DCU’s biggest threats for a long time, a powerful, implacable racer bound to an individual who pursues anyone whose time has come. Less menacing than the traditional Grim Reaper but no less unstoppable, it’s one of the more interesting concepts to come out of the Fourth World. And now, the only person who can stop him from claiming Superman’s soul is a little girl.
This is one of the most visually exciting issues of the series, with Otho-Ra just ahead of the Racer through an obstacle course of the cosmos. The story is whip-fast, and Scott Godlewski does an incredible job of capturing the vibe of the scale and speed of the race. However, at its core this is ultimately a story about a girl and her love for her father, with the narration doing an amazing job of driving home just what an impact Superman left on the Phaelossians, even a thousand years in the future. I do have to say, though, the ending here makes me more convinced that these two characters are being left in the future and essentially written out of Superman’s present. A shame, but at least Johnson is seemingly getting to be the one to close out their stories. Next month, the story shifts to Osul-Ra as he goes on his own quest – and seemingly finds himself with one of Superman’s darkest descendants.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
