Absolute Superman #4 Review

Background – What happens when a hopeless world starts to gain some hope?

Writing – This issue is primarily a Lois Lane centric issue. Lois has made it her mission (life goal maybe) to track down Superman. However, the mission is slowly turning from a seek and capture mission to a seek and learn more about him. The first time she met Superman she felt compelled to write and now she has started to show more compassion to the people of the world that The Lazarus Corporation has been subjugating. That compassion is where this world’s Jimmy Olsen makes his debut.

Jimmy is a member of the Omega Men in this reality and a higher ranking member at that. He has had his eye on Lois for some time and thinks he can reach the good person she is depe down. Why exactly Jimmy thinks this is still unknown to us, but I’m sure that will be revealed soon enough. His boss is another story however.

If Jimmy’s designation is Alpha Prime then his boss is Omega Prime. While we don’t know who she is yet, I have a suspicion that its Lucy Lane. It would be the most likely choice and a nice reversal of what we normally get. Lucy is always the straight and narrow one who follows her dad around and listens to everything he has to say. She at one point joined him in his mission to discredit and later kill Superman by becoming Superwoman. It’s quite possible she’s become disfranchised with the Lazarus Corporation and its fascist regime. It’s going to be very interesting to watch this play out.

I’d also like to point out that in every universe we’ve ever seen The Omega Men are always freedom fighters. It’s nice to see that some things remain constant even in this hopeless world.

As for our villains, The Peacemakers follow their orders to a fault, all through the guidance of the Brainiac system. Christopher Smith is one of these Peacemaker Agents and he is becoming dangerously unhinged. What’s interesting is that he notices this and tries to get help. Unfortunately, the Brainiac A.I. (which may not even be A.I. but I’ll get to that in a second) finds reasons for him not to worry, whether it’s telling him that his weapon simply malfunctioned when he shot civilians or simply putting him into another squad even though he requests help. He winds up killing a large crowd of people after Superman freezes his whole squad and does so while blacked out. It’s very possible that Christopher is just starting his journey into becoming a full fledged villain.

Finally, the Brainiac “A.I.” may not even be a computer program. We’ve gotten glimpses of Brainiac or someone who’s taken the identity of Brainiac acting as the central hub of the program, dispersing information, advice, and help, although the word help can be used loosely, considering it purposefully arms Lois’s eviscerate rounds when she asks for non-lethal ammunition. It also purposefully sends in Christopher’s team to provoke more chaos on the scene. I want to say this thing (or person) is our new Lex Luthor. Yes, I know Brainiac is technically bald as well, but there’s a reason we’ve only seen the Brainiac figure from behind or in shadow.

OH! I almost forgot! Superman shows up for two pages in this issue, uses his super-breath, warns Lois to stay away and flies off. While it doesn’t seem like much, we do get to see that the Lazarus Corporation is VERY scared of him.

Artwork – This book has looked consistently good through its entire (albeit short) run. It’s very hard to choose one particular panel or set of pages. The one drawback to this issue is its use of TWO WHOLE pages of nine-panel grids. Nine-panel grids give me severe and terrible flashbacks to Heroes In Crisis and the second half of Tom King’s Batman run. After witnessing all the gorgeous artwork in this book, it’s like seeing two pages that simply don’t belong in the book.

Final Thoughts – The whole Absolute line is just (no pun intended) absolutely smashing it and Superman is the best book out of the 3 we already have. Character development abounds in this issue, a villain takes more prominence and we get the beginning of a budding friendship between Jimmy and Lois. I’m excited to see where we go next (which if I’m correct is back to Krypton!) This is a strong 4 out of 5. Just get rid of those nine panel grids!

Comic Details

Publisher:  DC

Writer:  Jason Aaron

Artist: Rafa Sandoval

Colorist: Ulises Arreola

Letterer: Becca Carey

Cover Artists: Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola

Genre:  Superhero

Format: Monthly

Release Date: 2/5/2025