DCU Comic Book Reviews

SUPERMAN #693

7734

December 2009

Written by James Robinson

Pencils by Fernando Dagnino

Inks by Raul Fernandez

Cover by Cafu

Synopsis

At Project 7734, General Lane begins to realize tat Mon-el might not be easy to crack.  Lane isolates Mon-el and tries to convince him that he belongs as part of the team.  Mon-el refuses.  Lane then shows Mon-el all of Project 7734, including the various people Lane has recruited to his team such as Atlas, Parasite, and Mirabai.  Mone-l still refuses to join.  Lane then orders Atlas to physical beat on Mon-el.  Afterwards, Mon-el is sent to the lab of Dr. Calomar.  This continues for two weeks.  Then Parasite appears and tells Mon-el he is also a prisoner.  He asks Mon-el if he will help them two of the escape.  Mon-el agrees.  They fight there way to the teleporter, where they find it has been destroyed by Lex Luthor’s escape.  General Lane is waiting for Mon-el but allows him to escape.  Lane believes there is nothing Mon-el can do.  Mon-el is Superman’s replacement, but the Superman name means nothing.  Mon-el sets out to prove him wrong.  Two days later, Guardian and the science police set out to stop Bizarro.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This is easily one of the better installments of Robinson’s run on this title and I think a lot of that has to do with the focus of the story.  It doesn’t bounce around from character to character or scene to scene, showing bits and pieces that don’t make up a whole.  This is a straightforward story of Mon-el held in captivity and Lane’s attempts to brainwash him.  Because of that focus, the issue reads smoothly and we get a lot of great characterization of General Lane with his beliefs in doing what he feels right and of Mon-el not giving into Lane’s words.  On top of all that, Robinson manages to take some of those random pieces from previous issues (and from Action Comics) and merge them in here, solidifying much of what Robinson has been doing.  Hopefully this issue is a sign that the overall story is going to march forward rather than meander around in circles. 

Despite the strong focus, I should mention the appearance of Bizarro at the end, which is one of those random plot points that Robinson excels at creating.  It is just one of those off-the-wall moments that makes your head scratch and wonder, “what is going on?”  However, since it is the cliffhanger for the story, it is impossible to tell where that part is going, if it will be an integral part of the overall story or just a distraction (presumably to put Mon-el into the good graces of metropolis when he defeats Bizarro?). 

I liked the brainwashing, or recruiting, attempts by Lane.  The temptation and the torture of Mon-el worked nicely and shows Lane has not lost all touch with humanity although there are definite touches of insanity lurking in there.  You can understand his point of view, but his methods and extremes he has gone are not what you would want.  I also liked the fact that Mon-el resisted, refusing to give into Lane’s persuasion.  The little bits, like Mon-el thinking in his own language rather than English, is also a nice touch. 

It may be me, but when Parasite first appeared to provide his offer to help Mon-el, I thought it was going to be revealed as a plot by Lane to get into the head of Mon-el.  I was actually hoping Robinson would be smart enough for Mon-el to recognize what seemed like an obvious ploy:  the “friend” who wants to help you escape.  It is interesting, but this is the second review (Power Girl #6) recently in which I was skeptical of a character’s motivations only to have said motivation to be exactly what they said.  Am I just too cynical to believe what is going on in the story?

Comic Connection

The escape by Lex Luthor and Brianiac from Project 7734 is shown in Adventure Comics #2. 

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