Superboy #2

That may need some explanation.

This month’s Superboy picks up where the last one left off: Poison Ivy is in Smallville and she needs Superboy’s help. Superboy initially distrusts her, but she claims she’s not the one causing all of the vegetation to go nuts. There’s some alien power affecting the whole Green and all the plant elementals are feeling it. They track it down to some kind of alien device. Ivy is able to… “disable” it and immediately turns on Superboy, trying to use her pheromones to force him to steal the device for her own use. It’s then that Simon is able to use some of Parasite’s cells to genetically modify his frogs and use them to take Ivy down. It’s all wrapped up nicely when Superboy and Simon find an ancient artifact with some very familiar markings (to the reader, that is).

Jeff Lemire proves that he has a very good handle on what DC wants from the Superboy premise: a simple story of Superboy in Smallville with a villain-of-the-week and his pals helping him figure out the problem. In other words, a cross-breed of the original Superboy stories with the early Smallville TV series. As unoriginal as the premise is, it’s executed well. Lemire has a good hold on Superboy’s character (even if Pier Gallo went a bit overboard with his hair). Simon Valentine is more than just a young Lex Luthor (so far), he is his own character and an interesting one at that. 

All that said, the issue really feels like half a wrap-up of the previous issue and half the opening part of the next issue. Stuff happens, but it’s all just hints at future storylines. That’s not unprecedented for the second issue of a series. Things are just getting started and a lot of pipe has to be laid to pay off in the future. All in all, you can probably pass up this issue safely, but you won’t feel gypped if you do buy it.