Comic Book Review: Superman – American Alien #4
Clark travels to Metropolis for the Cerberus Summit, a rare meeting between three of the world’s most prominent young chiefs of industry: Lex Luthor, Oliver Queen, and the enigmatic Bruce Wayne. Landing an exclusive interview with any of the three would all but guarantee Clark a prestigious internship with the Daily Planet…but Clark runs into some unexpected competition when he meets another college journalist named Lois Lane.
We, yet again, see Clark at an important time in his life and it’s rather interesting. An essay contest has now earned him a chance at an internship at the famous Daily Planet. This issue marks the first time Clark meets Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne/Batman, Dick Grayson and a second time meeting Oliver Queen (if you remember the last issue). The writing is more of what we expect from Max Landis: A lot of dialogue that makes our characters feel human and normal……..until Lex starts to talk. He’s far beyond normal and Landis’ writing makes that very well known. Lex lets Clark know that no one is more important than him and the people will remember no one else but him. It was extremely entertaining reading Lex’s outlook on the world and hopefully we get more from him in future issues. Clark then finds himself interviewing a young Dick Grayson and gets great content but also gets the attention of the one and only Batman. The exchange between the two is the one moment of action that seems to be a common thing in each issue. In those few pages we see Clark find out who Batman is and Batman find out that Clark is no ordinary person. Besides the Lex moments I think this was one of my favorite things of this issue. There was just the slightest bit of action in this book just to satisfy the need but it was the rest of the book that held my attention. I thought Jae Lee’s art was great! It isn’t the usual kind of stuff that you would expect and sometimes that can be a welcomed change. The cityscape is done in a way that feels very raw and it literally looks like you’re looking at a painting. This series so far has been fantastic. It’s a different look at a classic character and Landis has managed to make Clark feel like a normal civilian for the most part. I can’t wait for the next issue!
Superman: American Alien #4 is available NOW from DC Comics
