The Good

There’s a certain art to making characters extremely likeable in a short amount of time without resorting to cheap tricks and easy tropes. Rather than focusing overly on Superboy’s current state in whatever event he was snatched out of for Convergence, we get to delve into his state after a year under the dome and, for him, that’s a year without the powers that have defined him since his creation and allowed him to exist the way he wants to exist. Fabian Nicieza does a fantastic job of showing us just what it means for this poor clone to lose the one thing that, in his mind anyway, is the reason for his entire existence. Nicieza does a great job of contextualizing who this person is without actually showing much of their own inner-monologue, which is an interesting tactic as it gives us a more unfiltered look at who he actually is by showing how OTHER people perceive him.

Karl Moline provides pencils this issue and does a great job blocking the action, once it kicks off, and that’s no small order considering who’s involved with said action. There’s a great sense of place that gives a sense of almost realism to the action, which involves a great deal of unreal participants. We also get a great example of power management from Superboy and whenever he takes center stage in the issue, he’s got a great look to him. José Marzán Jr.’s thick, defined inks help give the issue a real sense of weight and power, again, especially where Kon-El is concerned and Hi-Fi’s colors are bright and bring a palpable sense of wonder, even hope, to a very dour time.

The Bad

Context is still important to a story, and it is something missing from this issue. Essentially everything that isn’t Superboy is difficult to understand and even harder to care about from the bizarre, psychic scientist trying to help him to the two fighters who appear to challenge him mid-issue. They come off as characters driven by the script rather than the other way around, and while that’s somewhat by necessity given the limited scope of the book, there’s got to be a middle-road between having one incredibly well developed character and having several poorly developed ones.

The art suffers similarly as anyone who isn’t Superboy gets short-shrift, many times lacking detail or definition and making it hard to see both who they are and what’s going through their minds in a given panel, making a great many things feel hollow.

The Verdict

Making this incarnation of Superboy interesting is a feat unto itself and deserving of praise, but there’s just not QUITE enough here to leave enough of an impact in terms of the characters. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell who books like these are for as new readers won’t have the slightest clue what’s going on, but longtime readers, or fans of the character, won’t get enough of said character to be fully satisfied. There’s a great issue somewhere in here, but it lacks the time to grow and develop and it feels like the creative team did what they could to tell as compelling of an issue as they could.

i loved this issue.

The cover is great. The interior art....ehh not so much.

I actually dug this issue.

I'm surprised this only got a 3, I loved it

A 4 worthy issue bogged down by background stuff, so I agree 3

I keep seeing the same "BAD" in every review here for all of these Convergence issues and they all boil down to the same thing....they aren't new reader friendly.....I'm almost 100% positive that DC wasn't trying to make them new reader friendly....these issues are for us old heads who grew up reading these books and not for anyone else....I knew exactly who the supporting characters were and didn't see anything wrong with how they were handled....not everything needs to be new reader friendly...it's nice that DC is actually doing something nice for us older readers for once

@danhimself: The whole event does feel like it is for us readers who have been reading since we were kids doesn't it?

Pretty decent issue. Had good action and the story actually moved instead of just stalling like the rest of the Convergence issues today.

But the art wasn't that great and I wish they made Conner more snarky and arrogant as he was back then. That's what made him so much fun at that time.

But all in all not bad and one of the better ones from today. 3.5/5 stars for me.

@danhimself: I agree. I enjoy this issue

it does but at the same time I almost feel like this is going to end up being another middle finger to us as well....since we know that once this is over we're going right back to the New 52 it feels like they're saying "you want this? ok! here it is!!! .... for a few months then you're never seeing them again"

@danhimself: I see where you're going. Truth be told I never really had a problem with the New 52. Just minor complaint's. But on another hand with that it just maybe the case. Though DC does always have a plan sometimes its something that we don't agree with but they do have a plan and they have been building towards Convergence for months now. Something just tells that there is more to Convergence than nostalgia, hero vs hero battles, and end of the world implications..

@starscream_vs_you: I'm probably going to be one of those people that will always want the Pre52 back....I feel no connection to these characters anymore

@danhimself: I understand that and know what you mean.

God this Kon is so hot <3

Yea as a person who finds enjoyment in both pre and post N52 it somewhat bothers me that everyone complains about the Convergence titles not being accessible to new readers while people have been saying that the N52 was insulting to older fans since before it happened.

Really if i were DC i guess i'd just move the info pages to the front of the books and do a little paragraph explaining the Era the world is from in another, or even as the opening to every book.....because really the complaints have sort of ruined alot of discussion on the topic for me....I mean really what new reader is going to have a clue what "Zero Hour" is and how it differs from last weeks Universe? But at the same time you would need to a complete timeline to pick apart some of this, so why not just take it for what it is, a (convenient) celebration of DC's history.