Superman #4

Written by: Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason

Art by: Patrick Gleason

Coloured by: John Kalisz

Lettered by: Rob Leigh

In the previous issue, the Superman and the Eradicator battle until the Fortress of Solitude begins to collapse around them, endangering Lois and Jon until the Eradicator steps in to save them. Realizing that the Eradicator may not be their enemy, Superman continues his analysis into Jon's physiology to determine the cause of his erratic powers. After revealing its back story, however, the Eradicator also reveals its purpose; to preserve Kryptonian DNA following the destruction of Krypton. Sensing that Jon's DNA has been corrupted by his human half, the Eradicator attempts to purify him by cleansing his human side until he is stopped by Krypto, who is sadly seemingly lost protecting Jon.

This issue picks up directly after, with Jon picking up and donning Krypto's cape, Superman and the Eradicator fighting in the background. After some encouraging words from Lois, Jon joins the fray, him and Superman successfully punching the Eradicators head clean off, when suddenly all the Kryptonian souls that were trapped within explode outward and are released. The souls are drawn to a piece of Kryptonite being held at a bar, Superman and family being dragged along with them, followed swiftly by the regenerated Eradicator. While the overall story of this issue was just interesting, the best part of it were the little moments. Lois encouraging Jon to be his best, a bartender standing up for Superman and believing in him, Lois risking herself to save her family, all of these little things add together to create a great story outside of the main plot of the book.

I feel like the art in this issue may have taken a small dip from previous issues. Some of the faces and expressions look odd, and occasionally there are some weird poses that some of the characters find themselves in. There is also one scene where the shadows are so prevalent that it appears that Superman is actually wearing eyeshadow. None of these do much to detract from the book as a whole, however, which still has great designs, specifically on the damaged Eradicator and the Kryptonian ghosts, and a great colouring job. The dip in quality of the faces in this issue, from an artist that I know can do better, may be an unfortunate result of the decision to double ship these books. Time will tell if this improves or if we will have to continue dealing with this quality dip.

Overall, I enjoyed this issue. It was nice to once again see Jon step up and fight alongside his father, as well as see other characters step up and create little touching moments that serve to add to the overall feel of the book, if not the plot itself. While this issue didn't do a lot in terms of resolving the current conflict, it had enough of these moments of character growth, as well as some plot revelations, to make itself an enjoyable read. While perhaps not the best issue of Superman since Rebirth, this issue is more than capable of standing alongside the rest of the issues of this series, and I continue to recommend this to anyone who has even a passing interest in Superman.