Superman #38 (DC)

writer: Geoff Johns

artist: John Romita, Jr.

Some of the news coming out of DC has been surprising lately.  No, I want to correct that statement.  All of the news coming out of DC lately has been surprising.

I'm not talking about Superman's new superpower, hyped to debut this issue.

What I'm talking about specifically relating to Superman is the fact that this is apparently the penultimate issue of Geoff Johns' run, and that post-Convergence John Romita Jr. will be continuing on, but with writer Gene Luen Yang (author of American Born Chinese) instead.

Yang may actually be a refreshing pick.  The disappointment lies in Johns leaving again so soon.  But he can't do epic runs all the time, and he's currently in the midst of one with Justice League, which he's written since the New 52 began.

This issue also ends the Ulysses arc.  The moment the new character debuted, it was always a matter of how exactly he might continue as part of Superman's mythology.  With this conclusion, he might replace Johns's own Superboy-Prime from Infinite Crisis as a villain with considerable power left to bide his time.

So much power that he forces Superman to unleash a new ability.  And, just as in defeating Superboy-Prime, it leaves Superman powerless.  For a time.

The Superboy-Prime thing belonged to a different mythology.  I'm not sure anyone will miss that anyway.  Recasting the role, in a completely new context, one that once again has direct ties to Superman but plays as an intriguingly well-defined twist (Superman, for all intents and purposes, is Ulysses's Zod, or Doomsday).  There's plenty of room for other writers, or Johns, to exploit this further down the road.

Meanwhile, powerless Superman.  For a day.  The subject of Johns' impending final issue.  If the results of this quirk are half as interesting character-wise as what Superman does this issue...He tells Jimmy Olsen his big secret.  It's a nice twist on a subplot Johns had been weaving in his arc, redefining Jimmy while also underlining his classic role.

And what of that new power?  It's kind of like a star-burst, what Batman describes as what the heat-ray vision was always about, a mere prelude all this time.  As such, Johns does what he always does, takes a classic mythology and expands it.  He makes Superman more powerful, and more human, at the same time.

Romita has apparently gotten a lot of grief for his work in Superman, but I've liked it, so I'm not sad to see him continuing in the series at all.  He's the perfect embodiment of what Johns has been trying to convey.  If Yang writes what I think he'll write, he will be another complement, and if anything as close to a true continuation as Johns has ever had.

So, good surprising news.