Adventures Of The Super Sons #12 Gets Meta For Its Finale
by James Ferguson
Rex Luthor has trapped Robin and Superboy in the Hypercube as he prepares his final assault on Earth. What the Super Sons find within the cube changes everything, reframing their entire adventure up until this point. Will it be enough to stop Rex before he can take over their home?
Adventures of the Super Sons gets pretty meta in its final issue, looking at what makes a story and how it’s made. It’s an interesting way to look at things and everything these two buddies have been through. There’s a fair amount of exposition as we learn the true origins of Rex Luthor, his gang of pint-sized baddies and the various other entities Robin and Superboy have encountered along the way. Since we’re staring at the climax of this epic storyline, we lose some momentum by explaining all this, but it’s necessary to get to the ending.
The Hypercube manifests as a young alien / robot boy to run through all of this information. Letterer Rob Leigh uses a unique set of word balloons for this character in the shape of three dimensional cubes instead of the traditional ovals. This is a great effect to highlight the unique characteristics of this being.
The Super Sons are within the Hypercube, floating in a vast nothingness. It’s somewhat reminiscent of those old Daffy Duck cartoons where he’s arguing with the cartoonist, although a lot more serious since an entire planet is at stake. This white background serves as a clean slate, showing that the boys can write their own destiny if they take matters into their own hands.
The Hypercube persona has an alien design that’s child-like in nature. Colorist Protobunker gives him a strange blue glow that cuts through the white background he’s surrounded by. Your eye is always drawn to him when he appears on the page.
The beauty of Adventures of the Super Sons is that the kids are center stage. They don’t rely on their parents or other adults for help. Superboy and Robin are saving the world on their own. That’s an inspiring perspective for kids picking up this book. This plays out in most of the characters they come across as well, such as Rex Luthor and the Hypercube.
I’ll never get tired of artist Carlo Barberi’s design for Superboy. The kid’s hair is bigger than his whole head. It swirls over him like this mini tornado. It’s the perfect pre-teen haircut and it’s fitting for Jon’s personality. Inker Matt Santorelli adds some depth to it so it’s not just a big block of black on top of his head.
This issue closes out the Super Sons saga with a neat little bow. Writer Peter J. Tomasi ties up all the loose ends from this series and with these two characters as a whole. With Jon aged up in the pages of Superman, I don’t know that we’ll ever get more Super Sons comics and that’s a shame. The stars aligned to give us adventures of the sons of Batman and Superman in this really awesome, fun way. The world needs more comics like this.
Adventures of the Super Sons #12 from DC Comics is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle.
