Superboy, Frankenstein Agent Of SHADE, Mr. Terrific Issue 1

I woke up in my cell with a note taped to my forehead that said “You Are Not Writing!” courtesy of Mr. Soot. I wanted to crumple the note but figured it could be used as evidence if I ever get out of here alive. On the bright side some new DC 52 comics were left next to my plate of rice and flies so I guess I’ll get to writing about them.

                                         Superboy 1

I have never been able to figure out the character of Superboy. Is it Superman as a child? Is it a clone? Is he from another reality altogether? I’m glad this is around to give me a fresh starting point because frankly I don’t have the patience to try and figure this out for myself. The issue starts with what is referred to as “the clone” floating in a tank and being observed. The experiment is being considered a failure since the clone does nothing but exist when in actuality it has no reason to do anything other than ponder.

They don’t know it but the clone knows and hears everything they are doing. When they decide to kill it with cyanide it feels pain for the first time and lashes out killing people before a researcher calms him down. It doesn’t understand most of what is going on and even the feeling of air on its skin is strange. A month later it is enrolled in school and answering questions he knows he should not know. He meets a girl and walks her home, meanwhile ignoring a woman screaming for help as the house burns down with her inside. Wait. What?!

It turns out to be a virtual reality simulator and he is aware of it. The researcher wants to know why he did not save the woman saying “…its clear Superman is obsessed with helping people. So unless Superboy’s human cells originated from in a deeply pathological, megalomaniacal narcissist, the likes of which the world has never known…it means we did something wrong.”

In the end Superboy is released by someone high on the food chain and lets him know what he has to do. There are some young heroes behind him and I recognize one as Kid Flash or whatever he goes by nowadays. This was a cool issue and they introduced who Superboy is and what he can do pretty well. Funny how easily some of these 52 stories handle origins so well while others confuse you more than when you began. His costume kicks ass too. This was done by Scott Lobdell and R.B Silva.

Frankenstein Agent Of S.H.A.D.E 1

I didn’t know what too expect going into this one but was pleasantly surprised. It starts with a dog getting skinned. Yeah. That happened by page two. Monsters are loose and its up to Frankenstein to stop them. Seriously, bear with me. Monsters are destroying a small town and its up to Frankenstein, his creator who has taken the form of a little girl, and some creatures to stop them.

Their base of operations is a 3-inch globe that has an entire city in it called The Ant Farm. You can only enter by being shrunk using technology created by Ant Man. Its pretty cool. Frankenstein’s wife was last seen fighting the monsters before disappearing and with the help of a mer-woman, a wolf man, a mummy, and a vampire, they hope to succeed.

This was a pretty fun issue. I love that whenever Frankenstein had a question a little computer would answer his question, especially since I had the same ones. I don’t know what amount of drugs one would have to take to think to give Frankenstein a big ass gun and fight monsters but I’m glad they did it. Cool story by Jeff Lemire and very fitting art by Alberto Ponticelli.

Mister Terrific 1

I just love that name. I’m not sure why. It sounds super cheesy but it fit’s the character. Mister Terrific is chasing some nut job in a powered suit (why are Black heroes always chasing crazy White folks in powers suits?) in England. After capturing him it goes into his origin story which is pretty damn depressing and reminiscent of The Joker’s from The Killing Joke. In an effort to destroy himself he ends up becoming powerful and using his power for good.

In a diner parking lot a normal guy on his lunch break goes ape-shit and kills a homeless man after a strange sound rang in his head. Later while at a fundraiser with some very powerful people that strange sound strikes again this time affecting Mr. Terrific. He reprograms a system that is meant to safeguard against seismic activity to shake the building and kill someone who could be president one day.

I don’t know much about Mr. Terrific besides the fact that he is Black, has a big ass “T” on his face, and watched the Justice League’s base when they were on missions in the cartoon. Oh, and he rides balls. Don’t laugh. This issue wasn’t bad but it didn’t exactly want to take it out on a second date. This issue was done by Eric Wallace and Gianluca Gugliotta.