Superman: Birthright #5
Originally Presented at Comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Great
A new-to-Metropolis Superman is re-introduced to Lex Luthor.
Writer: Mark Waid
Pencils: Leinil Francis Yu
Inks: Gerry Alanguilan
Colors: Dave McCaig
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover Art: Leinil Yu & Gerry Alanguilan
Publisher: DC Comics
Review: This issue serves very well to serve my theory that Superman: Birthright is Mark Waid’s attempt to create a bridge between current DC continuity and the wildly popular Smallville television series. And you know what? I’m fine with that.
Superman, on his first day of working as Clark Kent at the Daily Planet, thwarts an invasion of Metropolis by a squadron of black ops-style helicopters that leads him to an old acquaintance. The confrontation between Superman and Luthor does not fit in the post-Crisis continuity, but it would be perfectly in-character between Tom Welling’s Clark and Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex ten years in the future.
Yu continues to impress with pencils that, at times, seem reminiscent of Walter Simonson, especially with the impressive ways he visually displays some of Superman’s non-visual powers, such as a sequence where we “see” him isolate a radio signal that he’s actually picking up with his super-hearing. Despite such similarities, though, Yu’s style is all his own and he is deservedly on his way to becoming the next comic book superstar.
If you know someone who watches Smallville but has never read a Superman comic book, here’s your chance to hook them. Hand them the first five issues of Superman: Birthright and say, “here’s what’s going to happen to them.” They will not be disappointed.
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