Absolute Superman #4, by writer Jason Aaron, artist Rafa Sandoval, colorist Ulises Arreola, and letterer Becca Carey, is a much needed change of pace for this new Superman’s supporting cast of characters. Readers get to see how the people he has come into contact with view him this time around. Rather than exploring his psyche, we spend some time with the people he’s affected, which is just as important to Superman as anything else.
Superman doesn’t appear much in the issue. It starts off with Lois Lane interviewing a few of the people the hero has helped, and feeling their disdain towards her and the Lazarus company. They talk about how Superman has changed their lives. Lois leaves, and then goes to discipline a violent Peacekeeper. She takes a call from her father where he says that she’s making a mistake trying to talk to Superman. Lois goes into town anyway, where she’s met with this universe’s Omega Men.
WRITING
Aaron shifts gears a little here. The past few issues have been setting up Superman himself as well as his background, while this one shakes it up. We spend zero time on Krypton, with Kal hardly even appearing in this one. We instead spend most of our time with Lois Lane, which was a really smart move on Aaron’s end. We haven’t explored her much, so this issue makes up for that. He also uses her as a way of showing us the regular world in the aftermath of our hero. She’s on the ground, she stays, and she tries to talk to people. She’s basically the opposite of everything Kal has been up until this point. She works for the enemy, but she wants to learn. She’s becoming a very interesting character.
This issue also introduces a few new characters. The rogue Peacekeeper from earlier is Christopher Smith, the Peacemaker fans know from the main DCU. He’s seen as an uncontrollable killing machine, one with some clear problems affecting his mental state. He’s not well, and he can lose himself in his rage. We also have the new Omega Men. They seem to be a peacekeeping militia with a few familiar faces and some new tech. We don’t know exactly what they want yet, but they’ve established themselves as wanting nothing to do with Lazarus. That being said, we don’t know how they align with Superman either. There’s a lot of pieces in play, and Aaron’s handling of them is smooth and concise. He asks the reader what we should think of this Superman as well.
ART
This issue’s art is pretty in line with the rest of the book so far. There isn’t a whole lot of action in this issue, so Sandoval really allows himself to get a feel for each of these characters. It’s the best some of his designs have looked so far. Superman’s suit especially is a breath of fresh air. The cape looks full of personality and the suit is looking really consistent on every page it’s in.
Sandoval’s paneling is really satisfying. Nearly every Superman appearance is displayed as mysterious yet powerful. He’s shrouded in the red of his cape often, but when he’s in full view, he stands tall and with a purpose. With Lois, her physicality feels really refined. We know more about her through how she stands and reacts depending on who she’s talking to. She’s seen as almost timid when speaking to her father, but doesn’t back down and still stands tall. She’s a confident woman, but is unsure of what she’s doing now. Sandoval presents that to us beautifully.
COLORS
This issue has some really beautiful backgrounds. Arreola colors the foreground of the panels well, but he really excels with the backgrounds here. The colors mix so beautifully and the way they reflect off the characters is amazing. There’s one panel where the moon gleams on a purple and blue sky and that mixes really well into Superman standing in the foreground with his red eyes piercing through. everything blends together really nicely, especially Kal’s cape as he finally enters later in this issue. The massive red cape fills the panel with a shaded silhouette of Superman present in the middle of it. It’s really striking work.
LETTERS
The lettering in this issue is really detailed. When Lois speaks to her father early in the issue, the bubbles coming from the phone have this sort of glitch effect to them that adds a nice touch. Later, when Christopher Smith talks to a mysterious character in the middle of the issue, his speech bubbles aren’t what you’d expect. Rather than being your typical bubbles, they’re presented as boxes that hover over Smith’s head. Like the mysterious character is influencing him, as he knows that Smith is easily manipulated. It’s a really nice touch from Carey that adds some more depth to that character.
CONCLUSION
This issue wasn’t what you’d expect, but was incredibly necessary. It provided us with the views of some minor characters as well as the public’s general view of this new Superman. It told us so much about the character without him even directly being there. Aaron, Sandoval, Arreola, and Carey all capture the magic of Superman here through that. Despite this Kal not being the one we’re familiar with, readers are beginning to learn about him and to grow fond of him. The entire team passes with flying colors on that.
