Superman #6 cover, via DC Comics.
Superman #6 — Joshua Williamson, Writer; Gleb Melnikov, Artist; Alejandro Sanchez, Colorist
Ray — 9.5/10
Ray: After a two-month hiatus — where Williamson wrote a Knight Terrors: Superman mini that fleshed out some of the characters — we’re back to follow up on the cliffhanger which saw Luthor stabbed in Strykers as part of an elaborate plot to ensure Superman couldn’t hear him at the exact wrong moment. Two weeks later, Superman is continuing to keep Metropolis safe, but Luthor is still in a coma and no one is sure if he’ll wake up. Pharm and Graft have gone to ground, Superman and Lois are both struggling with their new responsibilities, and Superman has managed to turn Supercorp into a force for good. But something is weighing on Superman — the mystery of Project Chained. This is a top-secret file from early in Luthor’s career, when he fancied himself the hero of Metropolis, and it seems to have been a high-tech prison — designed to hold only one man.
Last rites. Via DC Comics.
While Mercy (and an AI designed to look like a hybrid of Luthor and Jor-El, which is a hilarious little touch) try to dissuade Superman from investigating, naturally Superman isn’t going to look away when someone might be held captive unjustly. There’s only one problem — if Luthor designed a prison this secure, the odds are what’s in there is even worse. As soon as the Chained is revealed, there are some key things about this scene that indicate that this might be a major mythology-changer for Superman, although one we’ve seen before in a few runs. But the way the tension builds to the big cliffhanger is phenomenal. While original artist Jamal Campbell is missing from this arc, Gleb Melnikov has been building into one of DC’s best new artists for a long time and he has a great sense of epic scope and scale here. The Superman resurgence continues to turn this franchise into one of DC’s best.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
