Review: SUPER SONS Vol. 1: When I Grow Up…

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi

Pencils: Jorge Jiménez

    
Super Sons: Vol. 1 collects the first five issues
of the Super Sons series and tells
the story of Jonathan Kent A.K.A. Superboy and Damian Wayne A.K.A. Robin, the
sons of Superman and Batman as they form a reluctant team to fight teenage
supervillain Kid Amazo. Kid Amazo threatens the entire Justice League with his
powers and the Super Sons wind up enlisting the help of an unlikely ally in
their battle. Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne have the potential to save to
world…provided that they don’t kill each other first.

    
When I first heard that DC Comics decided to give Superman and Lois Lane
a son, I was a bit skeptical with the direction they were taking. Was this just
a temporary marketing ploy or did DC actually have long term plans in store for
Superman’s offspring? The debut of Super
Sons changed my opinion. The addition of Jonathan Kent has breathed new
life into the Superman mythos and will provide new stories for years to come.

      Super Sons is everything
superhero comics should be. It has a great sense of adventure, great action
sequences, phenomenal artwork, and most importantly it’s absolutely fun. The
comic book industry can take itself a bit too seriously at times and they
forget that they are supposed to provide a sense of fun for the readers. I
actually got excited as I turned the pages of this comic.

    
The highlight of this comic book is the relationship between Jonathan
and Damian. Jonathan Kent is ten years old and his powers are still developing.
He’s a good kid that follows the rules, but the fact his parents refuse to let
him use his powers publicly leaves him deeply conflicted about who he is. When
Jonathan sees one of his classmates get bullied, Jonathan desperately wants to
use his powers, but he knows that he cannot defend him. Damian Wayne is a
thirteen-year-old who is too smart for his own good. Unlike Jonathan, Damian
Wayne rebels against authority, is a bully, and has a high opinion of himself.
However, Damian still wants his father to support him. This creates a great
dynamic between the two. The older and smarter Damian tries to manipulate the
younger, but more powerful Jonathan into doing his bidding. However, Damian
constantly underestimates Jonathan’s intelligence. Despite the fact that Damian
constantly picks on Jonathan, he still looks up to Damian and wants to be liked
by him, even though Damian doesn’t seem to care. These two constantly bicker
back and forth just like siblings do with each other. You can really tell that
writer Peter J. Tomasi has young sons as they have no doubt influenced his
writing on Super Sons. Writers tend
to make child characters’ sound like adults when they talk, but this is
something Tomasi avoids. Both Damian and Jonathan talk exactly like how ten and thirteen year old kids talk.

    
Jorge Jiménez’s artwork fits the tone of this series perfectly. His
artwork is heavily influenced by manga and has progressed in quality very
quickly since he first started out in the industry. One thing that I love about
Jiménez’s artwork is that his drawings of kids actually look like kids. Many
artists struggle with this for some reason and they wind up drawing kids like
they are small adults. The facial expressions that Jiménez uses for the various
characters in Super Sons are also
great. The faces he draws are exaggerated and gives the art of Super Sons a cartoon vibe.
Jorge Jiménez will be a major player in the comic book industry for years to
come if he keeps churning out great art like this.

    
Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne are characters that readers of all ages
can connect with because of their human qualities. We either know kids like
this or we were kids like this once upon a time. I wasn’t a fan of Damian Wayne
when he first debuted, but this series has convinced me that he’s a great fit
for the Robin mantle. Having a borderline evil genius as Robin can lead to many
new storylines in the future. Jonathan Kent is also worthy of the Superboy
moniker. Overall, Super Sons is a
perfect comic book that readers of all ages can enjoy.

     Unfortunately, Super Sons was canceled
last week after sixteen issues to make room for writer Brian Michael Bendis,
who will be writing Action Comics and
Superman starting in May. The
cancellation caused an uproar amongst fans when Peter J. Tomasi broke the news
on Twitter. Tomasi would
later tweet that Super Sons was
not canceled due to low sales and that big plans were in store for Super Sons. Hopefully, Tomasi and Jorge Jimenez will be able to
continue the story of Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne because there are so many more
great stories that can be told with these characters.