Superman: Son of Kal-El vol. 2 — The Rising

Henry Bendix, president-for-life of the island nation of Gamorra, has a plan to make superhumans more useful to humanity.  It’s a system he calls The Rising, and in addition to granting people superhuman abilities, it also allows him complete control of their actions in the process.  He’s itching for a way to show off this technology publicly and finds the perfect opportunity when a giant undersea monster starts heading in the direction of Metropolis.  Bendix’s good buddy Lex Luthor is more than willing to let him have a crack at stopping this creature because doing so will help to embarrass the city’s current guardian Jon “Superman” Kent.  Of course, if lots of people wind up having to die in the process… eh.  That’s simply the cost of doing business when it comes to saving the day and ensuring Superman has a bad one.

Tom Taylor’s second volume about the adventures of Jon Kent is less about changing the world, or Gamorra specifically, and more about how the character relates to other significant characters in the DCU.  Which is why we see him working with two different Aquamen to save Metropolis from the monster trudging its way to it, and get a two-issue team-up with Nightwing that illustrates the characters’ shared history and how they’re working together to make a better present.  There are plenty of fun moments here, even if they’re hard-pressed to top a throwaway bit of dialogue involving Batman and the time he learned not to sneak into Clark and Lois’ house unannounced.

The best work here is with Luthor, however, as the writer shows how different the approach Clark’s son can be while also showing that not as much has changed between generations as you’d think.  It’s fun to see this new rivalry develop alongside the genuine threat presented by Bendix, and the multiple artists – Clayton Henry and Steve Pugh in the annual, Cian Tormey on most of the issues from the main series, and Bruno Redondo on the two-issue “Nightwing” crossover – handle it well.  If anything feels like it gets pushed aside for this volume it’s the business with Jay Nakamura and his news organization “The Truth;” though the final page indicates it’ll be a main concern for vol. 3.  Which I’ll be back for as there’s nothing here to put me off from what Taylor and company started in the previous volume.