We Can't See
WARNING- This might have light spoilers.
Truth was the the beginning of what was sure to be a rough road for Clark Kent. No Secret Identity+ Lower Power+ Racists= Bad Times. While the first issue was a solid enough start it wasn't really Pak's best start to an arc since he started writing for both Action COmics (or as I refer to them, Paktion Comics) and Batman/Superman. This issue wasn't just a slam dunk,hole in one,home run etc, but it felt like a giant comment on todays issues with the Law Enforcement. But, I'll go more into detail in the
Great
THat's right, not good, GREAT! A really topical issue on today's problems with Police Brutality in America (and maybe other places around the world). One of the complaints I constantly hear about New 52 Superman was that he was all Action and not inspirational anymore, this issue really puts that fear/problem to rest. In the process you can see why they needed to take his powers away to do this. Not only is it showing that Superman is still Superman even without his power, but let's be honest, this issue just wouldn't have worked if you did it with a full powered Superman. This issue isn't about Superman standing up for us against an alien threat (something we've seen thousands of times), but standing up for us to a real problem facing communities in America. And to me that makes it all the more real and impactfull.
This issue also really shows the anger by the people, shown by a character called "Dante". He shows the desire to rebel against the crooked system. And on the opposite side we see the fear, shown by a small child crying for his hurt father, Lee seeing that they are not backing down and Jimmy (who represents the people who capture the video of these acts in the real world) seeing the horror of what's going on.
We see that the people are trying to show them that they are Peaceful by sitting down (reminiscent of peaceful protest people done by the Black Community in the 1950's and the hunger strikes in India). But the police don't care and their captain wants them gone. This is where we see the inspirational Superman people have been craving for. We see him calm down Dante and some of the police. Clark might not be able to fight, but he'll stand for them, and what it leads to is some gut turning/heart strings pulling imagery.
Bad
I don't knock down points based on art, but this isn't really Kuder's best and there is a bit of a sin, when Clark "flies" out of the explosion, he doesn't really look burnt, nor do his clothes.
If I really had to nitpick, it is weird to see how Lee Lambert had problems with Superman but after just seeing the fear and mistreatment of the people , when Superman showed up she was kind of all turned around. To quick a turn around.
Thought
Not much else I can say really. There have been some good Truth issues but this was a true treat to read. Pak again shows his mastery of both fun and emotional in this one issue. It showed the Superman who is inspirational but at the same time won't stand by when you start hurting people. This was a story of a man fighting a crooked system and I see no better hero than Superman to do it. He might not be from here, but he was raised here and the people don't view him as a space god but as one of their own. Truly a great issue.