Superman #11

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi

Artist: Patrick Gleason

Colourist: John Kalisz

Publisher: DC Comics

In the previous issue, Jon is abducted on his way home by Damien Wayne, believing Jon to be a danger to the planet. Batman and Superman arrive, and Jon manages to calm them down before they come to blows. They all return to the Batcave where Batman and Superman congratulate each other for raising their children well, but unfortunately in the other room, Damien begins to once again needle Jon, throwing the death of their family cat in his face. The two sons begin to fight again, but are quickly stopped by the arrival of their fathers, determining that they need to attend Batman's boot camp.

This issue follows the boys as they take on a number of challenges that are meant to make them act as a team. They fight off several Batman allies, escape a derailing train, and eventually fly back to Gotham, encountering a hurricane along the way, failing each test due to their inability to work together. The two ultimately learn to work as a team in order to save their fathers from a monster that Batman had created to give them incentive. All in all, this was a simple story of two heroes coming together despite their differences to help people, and for that style of story, it was entertaining, It was nice to see the ways that the fathers challenged their sons, as well as watching the sons interact to overcome these challenges. The weakest part of the issue, in my mind, is Damien himself, who seems to be the entire reason the exercises fail in the first place. Jon seems perfectly willing to cooperate, which just makes Damien look worse by comparison.

The artwork is well done in this issue, with several pages being dedicated to larger set pieces. We are treated to multiple images of the sons being attacked by an opponent, a page of a massive hurricane over Gotham, and a page of a train derailing from a broken bridge, adding a lot of variety to the visuals. I would also like to highlight the final fight between Jon, Damian and Batman's monster, the majority of which taking place on one page and, somewhat hastily, showing the two boys learning to work as a team.

Overall, I thought that this was an enjoyable issue. Even though it may be a story arc used all the time, Jon and Damien learning to put their differences behind them and work as a team against the trials set by their fathers was an interesting spin on the concept, and although not extremely original, was executed very well. While I never had much interest in Super Sons until now, I look forward to seeing what they offer us.