Review: More Essential World-Building Anchors ‘Absolute Superman’ #4

While Absolute Superman #4 delays the appearance of the titular character, it does so for a couple of good reasons. Firstly, we get a series of talking heads, from around the globe, and all having one thing in common: they were saved by Superman and all interviewed by a determined Lois Lane. Writer Jason Aaron leans into the Superman-as-Messiah trope as interviewee after interviewee claims a fascination with the Man of Steel long after he’s soared back across the sky to another disaster. And so when he is revealed, it’s a suitably dramatic moment after a tense build-up that takes Lane out of her comfort zone and deep into enemy territory.

Secondly, it allows Aaron some breathing space to solidify some of the elements he is sowing onto this corner of the Absolute Universe. We have a Peacemaker, named Crenshaw, suitably admonished for being a psych. Will this guy eventually become a similar character? And if so, will he also be a blunt tool of Lazarus Corp? We also get a certain red-head reporter, now cast as one of the underground resistance, the Omega Men, and one Peacekeeper — Christopher Smith — losing his sh*t as he tries to come to terms with his own profound meeting with Superman. These inclusions are all individual patches of a larger tapestry which Aaron is weaving along with artist Rafa Sandoval, colourist Ulysses Arreola and letterer Becca Carey. With no fixed abode, this younger Superman is truly a global hero, while the world he lives in is much darker the regular DC Earth-0. And while tackling evil corporations is nothing new, what Aaron is grafting onto this version of the Superman mythos is something new.

This may not be a Superman-focused issue, but it’s an issue that was needed; a break from learning about Krypton and a chance to build a brave new world. It’s well-paced, informative and entertaining.

Absolute Superman #4 is out now from DC Comics