Superman: Son Of Kal-El #15
Superman and the Revolutionaries engage Bendix in the final battle for Gamorra in Superman: Son Of Kal-El #15, by writer Tom Taylor, artist Cian Tormey, inker Scott Hanna, colorists Federico Blee and Matt Herms, and letterer Dave Sharpe. This is a pretty good ending to this story, with action, excitement, and a great guest-star turn from Lex Luthor.
Superman and Jay encounter Jay’s mother, controlled by Bendix. Jay tells Superman to go take care of things while he distracts Bendix. Using help from the scientists he saved, Superman figures out how to stop the controllers of Bendix’s superhuman armor. Bendix lashes out at Jay, but Robin takes him down. Bendix escapes to Skywatch for a doomsday strike, but Superman is warned by Dreamer and takes the blast. In Skywatch, Lex shows up and reads Bendix the riot act before airlocking him and self-destructing the space station. Superman comes down to Earth, and everyone celebrates the end of the battle against Gamorra.
This ending has been a long time coming, and it works very well. One of the best things about how Taylor has written Superman is he’s less about violence and more about figuring out how to win. Gamorra is under Bendix’s control, but the people don’t love him at all. By protecting them, Superman not only does the right thing but gets the clues he needs to win the day. A lot of people criticize Taylor on this book because of Superman’s activist stands, but little things like only using violence when he needs to show that Taylor is keeping the characterization consistent, which isn’t something that every writer in comics can boast of.
Also, Taylor’s Luthor is amazing. Lex Luthor is always fun when he shows up anywhere, but Taylor writes him as the smug know-it-all he should be. He subverts all of Bendix’s systems, and when the other “mastermind” thinks he has the advantage over Luthor, Lex shows otherwise. This is peak Lex in this issue, and it looks like Taylor is going to use Lex more, which will be a blast.
Tormey, Hanna, Blee, and Herms do a nice job with the art. There isn’t a lot of traditional action in the issue, but what there is looks good. The character acting works, and the line work is strong. Taylor throws the Batman slapping Robin meme in there with Robin slapping Bendix, which looks great.
Superman: Son Of Kal-El #15 ends the Gamorra plot very well. Taylor keeps up his strong character writing, and the art team does an excellent job. This ending does everything it needs to and has some wonderful moments.
