The Daxamite and the Legion.
Mon-El has gotten his hands on a set of crystals that have the ability to show him visions. He soon gets a bird's eye view of his origin and his race. Later on, he finds himself having to deal with his current problems involving General Lane's personal war against the Kryptonian race. -summary
For those who may be out of circulation with things; Superman left the Earth for New Krypton to keep an eye on his people whose military is being lead by the Kryptonian criminal Zod. Superman had a very hard time buying Zod not having ulterior motives. Before coming to that decision, he knew Metropolis would be without a protector, therefore, he left Mon-El in his place. Superman's story has been taking place in the World of New Krypton story arc, while Mon-El resides in the Superman books, and two other Kryptonians, Flamebird and Nightwing, frequent the Action Comic books. This story Man of Valor written by James Robinson is another crossover in the long running story arc. The previous book Superman: Mon El, set the stage for the character's development and introduced his situation. Leading up to this story plenty has taken place in the Superman Universe, and this story follows hot on the heels of Superman: Codenamed Patriot. The book isn't newbie friendly at all, and if someone decided to come into this story; I have no doubt it will feel scatter-shot as hell to them.
Collecting pieces from Superman Secret Files 2009 1, Superman Annual 14, Adventure Comics 11, and Superman complete issues 692 - 697. The story kicks off with an origin tale on Mon-El's people the Daxamites, and how closely their ties are with the Kryptonians. I believe this story will only be as interesting based upon how much Mon-El has grown on the reader. It was a nice tale laying out how bloodthirsty the Kryptonian race originally were, and how conflicts can breakout amongst the same group of people due to different views. Unfortunately, I didn't really feel this part of the story, because I wanted it to focus more on the New Krypton arc. It was decent reading at best.
The following story helps further Mon-El's development, as his growing relationship with his female partner receives some attention. This really wasn't bad either, since by this time, the reader knows Mon-El is slowly dying from a disease, and he has been trying to live life to the fullest. He appears to have a love for his job working as one of the Science Police, and the romantic connection between the two felt predictable but very necessary.
Eventually, the story finally heads into the actual crossover, where we see Mon-El already captured and in the clutches of General Lane. Mon-El was tricked and swiftly defeated by the two Kryptonite-hearted warriors Metallo and Reactron, along with the sorceress Mirabai in Codenamed Patriot. General Lane already knows Mon-El is a Daxam so he doesn't want to kill him, instead he seeks his enlistment into his group of superbeings. From here, a new and very interesting plot thread begins taking place with two of Superman's deadliest enemies. One thing I have to give to this crossover, is how well it handles the suspense when setting up future events. When I first read this portion, I was constantly on the look out to see what these guys were going to do.
The story has its share of good moments and things really do look bad for the Kryptonians. Lane continues to be developed well as a formidable enemy, as he has succeeded in turning the entire planet against them as well as throwing dirt on Superman's name. At this point in time, the people on Earth want nothing to do with Kryptonians, and the blame is forced upon them whenever something out of the ordinary goes down. The story has its share of action with the most notable being an encounter between Mon-El and Bizarro. Robinson finds time to inject a theme here and there, with the most notable being wars effect on the innocent. Metropolis citizens have to suffer going on without water, due to the sewer system being completely destroyed making it scarce. Water doesn't only have people trying to price-gouge it, but simple things like showers and clean clothes have become a luxury. This is a very interesting story element, unfortunately it's only thrown out there in passing and never really delved in to.
I remember being happy to see Mon-El get some face time and the revamping in his origin made me think DC cared about the character. At the same time, despite the effort they put into him, it still felt like he was more of a plot device for this particular story arc; which gave off this feel as if DC still didn't find a place for him. Case in point, since later on he would become a Green Lantern for reasons I still think only made sense to DC.
The artwork has issues that stand out while in others it's barely average at best. I still like how Mon-El has his own slim appearance, and he doesn't come off like a Superman copy. The same for Conner Kent aka Superboy. He has this pop culture look to him that completely separates him from the Man of Steel, sporting a T-Shirt with Supes symbol on it and jeans. The Parasite is one of my favorite Superman villains, but I'm a little iffy on that sickly looking design given to him. The action panels have nice trade offs featuring Bizarro, however I saw nothing too special when compared to most of the previous volumes.
Man of Valor is a fairly decent crossover although it sometimes seem to have a disjointed feel, since the story jumps to different periods on occasion, plus the Legion of Superheroes make a cameo appearance. Thankfully, there's a page of dialog explaining their presence and what caused it, which I think was really necessary. Mon-El receives an ending fitting of a hero for sure. I only wish there was more done with him so he didn't completely feel like a stand-in.
Pros:Solid ending, Main Crossover has interesting moments
Cons:Fairly average tale with a slow beginning