Convergence: Superboy #1 Review

writer: Fabian Nicieza / artist: José Marzán, Jr., Karl M Moline / DC Comics As the resident Batgirl/Cassandra Cain fan, it goes without saying that I have an embarassingly enormous amount of love for one Conner Kent aka Kon-El aka Superboy, to the point that I even found it hard just to watch Young Justice because so much of his backstory/relationships were just… wrong. But name me any pre-New 52 incarnation of Superboy and you may or may not hear some version of a “squee” escape my lips, especially for the one leather-clad hipster phase in the 90s where Kon was trying way too hard. But enough fangirling. The story opens with Superboy in massive amounts of pain as he undergoes high levels of solar radiation exposure with no results, an effect generated by the dome over Metropolis which negates any and all superpowers. Although Superboy can be fairly brash in any version, his first appearance displayed a childish cockiness built to hide his inferiority complex from living in Superman’s shadow. We see a lot of that struggle played out in this comic but without the “powers of a god” to hide behind, producing an impressive amount of character development in just a few pages as he wrestles with his humanity.

[divider type=”space_thin”] Further, unlike many other teen-based comics (yes, that one), Fabian Nicieza never lets us forget that Conner is, after all, still just a kid. José Marzán, Jr. and Karl M Moline’s art, too, is the perfect blend of cartoon and realism that helps to…