THIS WEEK: In the pages of Superman Unlimited #1, Dan Slott and Rafael Albuquerque deliver a first issue that is absolutely stuffed with ideas, plot threads, continuity recaps and more. Plus, this week is a total banger, showcasing many of the books that are making for a strong 2025 from DC.
Note: the review below contains 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 verdict.
Superman Unlimited #1
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Rafael Albuquerque
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Superman Unlimited #1 wants to do A LOT. It opens with a set-up vignette that will be familiar to readers of the Summer of Superman Special, where it appeared in full. Within the space of 11 pages, that vignette gets the overarching plot of this book moving quickly. We get an update to the Daily Planet that tries to make a daily newspaper make sense within the context of the 2025 media landscape (as much as one can), we get small-scale acts of daily Superman-ing, we get a continuity check-in with the Justice League Unlimited, and we get a space set piece that ends with a cliffhanger (for now).
We also get a great sampling of Superman art from the team of artist Rafael Albuquerque and colorist Marcelo Maiolo, who collectively deliver a beefier, dad-like Superman that also looks youthful and optimistic (this is a good-looking Superman). Following those 11 pages though, the book goes full-on maximalist. Scripted by Dan Slott (doing his first major work for DC in decades, if not ever), the second act in this single issue is a life-flashes-before-eyes sequence that covers what feels like the totality of Superman history, as we understand it within current continuity.
Since Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely so succinctly nailed the Superman origin in All-Star Superman (“Doomed planet. Desperate scientists. Last hope. Kindly couple.”), it’s felt almost fashionable for new Superman writers to do their own version of what makes Superman essential, and this books goes with expansive and operatic, rather than minimalistic and concise. And that really speaks to what I felt most while reading this comic. It’s the type of superhero book you sometimes see when a creator who has long worked for one of the Big 2 starts doing work for the other. You feel a release of ideas and interest that has built up over the years. That’s not a bad thing, and it often leads to a great start for a new run. Of course, time will tell if that’s the case here.
For now, I thought this was a strong first Superman issue. Maybe it’s because the forthcoming movie has me in a Superman-state-of-mind (I mean, did you see that trailer?!), but I found the high-production maximalist Superman continuity rehash in Superman Unlimited #1 to be quite welcome. I think it also had to do with the book laying track for a new story, too, essentially mixing old with new. Indeed, after the set-up and the continuity rehash, this book delivers a third act that sets up a larger Superman story and, perhaps surprisingly, a tweak to the current Superman status quo.
That latter bit is what makes this comic feel like it’s trying to do a lot. In the wake of a clandestine Kryptonite asteroid smashing into our hero in space, he awakens some time later to find that the earth now has a new city essentially powered by Kryptonite. As a result, villains worldwide have easy access to Kryptonite, and as a result the Superman Family cast of characters is as vulnerable as its ever been. This feels like a big deal, for this book as well as the Superman flagship title, Justice League Unlimited, and any near-future DC events. Couple that with a last-page cliffhanger, and you’ve got a single issue that feels both interesting on its own and the start of something major and new.
If Superman Unlimited #1 left me with a concern, though, it has to do with how this run will fit with other books. We still have the aforementioned flagship Superman title, which as far as I know is not poised to end, and this first issue did not seem interested in coordinating with what is currently happening or has recently happened in that book at all. In fact, it felt like it was actively working to supplant it as the main Superman title. That kind of jockeying has historically disrupted shared superhero universes (I firmly believe one should not tell stories in format if one doest not want to engage with one of its major conceits), and it’s also a little odd in an era where DC mainline continuity has felt very cohesive (much to the line’s benefit). It’s too early to know whether that’s really what’s happening here, but I hope it’s not a sign of discord to come.
Overall though, if you’re as Superman-obsessed as I am right now, you’ll want to pick up this book. It looks great, it understands what makes the character both everlasting and relevant to 2025, and it’s just packed with ideas.
Verdict: BUY
The Round-Up
I found this to be just a superb week for DC, and as such, in this section I’m going to rapidly round-up the highlights and what made them work so well for me. Let’s go!
- The current run of Nightwing penned by Dan Watters has felt under the radar, but it’s been getting better and better. This issue — drawn by the reliably-excellent Francesco Francavilla and lettered by Wes Abbott — is an awesome cap on a very cool storyline. It also tackles ideas of superhero exceptionalism in ways corporate superhero books rarely engage with, and it does so in subtle way that raises more questions than it offers answers (the right move, if you ask me). I’m very excited for more of this title.
- I’m also happy to report this week that Absolute Flash has finally clicked for me. It’s not that I disliked the first two issues — the artwork by Nick Robles and colors by Adriano Lucas are far too excellent for that — but I’d just found it to be the least interesting of the Absolute books. Absolute Flash #3, I’m happy to report, has made that take look foolish. This is a great comic. The aforementioned art remains excellent, and now the overall idea is getting clearer. It’s a great take on the Barry Allen-Crisis death, centering it to who Wally is in this new universe, and also it teams our hero with a psychic monkey. That, my friends, is just good comics. This series is written by Jeff Lemire with letters by Tom Napolitano.
- With comics online social media having fractured so severely of late (and nearly every major comics site but this one fading or dying), it’s increasingly difficult to tell which books are getting buzz and which books are not. My sense is that Absolute Batman and Batman: Dark Patterns are dominating Bat-talk, and, to be sure, those books are excellent. But this week’s Batman and Robin: Year One #7 makes a convincing case for that title being the best Bat-book. It’s co-plotted by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee, illustrated by Samnee, colored by Matheus Lopes, and lettered by Clayton Cowles, and it’s spectacular. The Waid-Samnee pairing is a seasoned one, having authored a classic run of Daredevil and an under-the-radar Black Widow book that was just amazing. Well, it’s happening again here. This book looks amazing, some of the best Batman art of all time, and the Bruce-Dick relationship is just perfect. I can’t remember a time when there have been this many great (and varied) Batman comics, and I’m loving it.
- Finally, Wonder Woman #21 by writer Tom King, artist Guillem March, and letterer Clayton Cowles is another stunner. It’s a superhero procedural comic/murder mystery that packs a ton into the space of a single issue, all with a wonderful emotional core. March’s artwork fits perfectly with the way King writes nine-panel grids, so much so that I came away hoping the duo would re-team at some point soon on a full, proper miniseries. This Wonder Woman book is fantastic, and, like Nightwing, I can’t wait for more.
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