THIS WEEK: We take a break from Knight Terrors to keep up with the main Superman story in Superman Annual 2023!

Note: the review below contain spoilers.  If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bottom of the article for our final verdicts.

Superman Annual 2023

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artists: Mahmud Asrar, Edwin Gailmon, Caitlin Yarsky, Max Raynor, and Jack Herbert
Colorists: Dave McCaig, Edwin Galmon, and Alex Quimarāes
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Cover: Mahmud Asrar and Dave McCaig

If there’s one major fault of Knight Terrors as an event, it’s that its broken the momentum of several very strong DC series to just insert a two-month-long break in their releases. Logistically, I get it, you can’t put out the two-issue mini-series and the main book at the same time without taking some quality hits on one or the other, but as a reader it’s still a bit of a tough pill to swallow. Luckily, they manage to circumvent that problem slightly with Superman Annual 2023.

This issue checks in on a few ongoing plot points, but the focus is on the Daily Planet staff and Lois’s new role as Editor-in-Chief of the paper. Its a fun look inside the supporting cast that we don’t often get to see much of beyond Jimmy, and it harkens back to an era when the Daily Planet supporting cast was very important to the books. 

One place where that’s most notable in this issue is with Cat Grant. For much of this issue, Superman is off-panel fighting Toyman’s giant robots and hunting down the villain himself. At the beginning of the issue, Lois shows concern for Cat, knowing Cat’s personal connection to the villain. In some of the darkest issues of the Triangle Era, Toyman abducted and killed Cat Grant’s young son Adam, and here that often-forgotten part of Cat’s story is brought up with a focus on moving forward.

Cat struggles with seeing the Toyman on the loose, but this entire issue is about pushing beyond your limits and getting outside your comfort zone. Cat pushes through but also wants to play it safe until she lands the interview of a lifetime with Marilyn Moonlight and learns that sometimes pushing your boundaries is all you need. 

Joshua Williamson knocks this issue out of the park while spearheading the Knight Terrors event, and I’m glad he was able to find time to write this. It was a welcome break from both that event and the ongoing Superman story while also providing some forward movement for plots in that book (Perry White for mayor? Interesting twist). Right now is a great time to be a Superman fan, as the whole line is firing on all cylinders, and I’m excited to see what the rest of the year brings. 

Verdict: BUY 

Round-Up

  • About Knight Terrors: why is this a summer event? What is it about this year that made people say “Let’s do horror in July!”? The event itself has been mostly good, with some tie-in books better than others (Shazam! unsurprisingly among the best of the bunch), but the timing just mystifies me. Do your line-wide horror event in October DC, it would fit better there.
  • Mark Waid just can’t seem to write a bad comic right now, and that’s pretty great. World’s Finest: Teen Titans is a perfect Bronze Age Teen Titans book, completely fitting the tone that original series had when it ended. Most importantly, Waid is writing a perfect Speedy and Robin dynamic, the frenemyship that is one of my favorite relationships in all of comics.  
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