Smallville in Chaos
The Good: This is only my second issue of Superboy, and yet I didn't feel too lost. It definitely calls back to some running threads, but doesn't snob you away if you're not caught up.
I picked up last issue because of Reign of Doomsday, and I only kept on for this issue because of Marco Rudy's art. I was first exposed to it in Superman/Batman #76, where I fell instantly in love with it. Rudy does an amazing job with surreality, and yet he doesn't get caught up in it. You can always recognize his artwork, even when he varies it, because of his approach to panel layouts. He always does all sorts of unique and fantastic things with his panel layouts. It's like nothing I've ever seen. His artwork is fantastically cool.
I really like the idea of The New Titans. Tim is some kind of hybrid of Red Robin and batman, then we've got characters like Negative Lad who surprised me, and Hawklad who had a cool design.
The different art styles had a cool balance, and using the crazy surreal weakly-defined watercolor art for the post-apocalyptic sequences was highly effective at, forgive the unintentional pun, painting an effective picture of the scene.
Sets up a really interesting plot thread for the future.
There was a lot of effort put into thinking how this crazy hypothetical future would work. All sorts of characters were referenced.
The Bad: I was getting really invested in The New Titans. A shame I won't see them ever again.
Without wishing to spoil it, I was really disappointed with the explanation of the crazy future. It had a huge impact on me and Superboy, but it was a shame to see what the true nature was, especially when I spent the whole issue hoping it wouldn't be that.
Although I generally was a big fan of The New Titans, the fact that they were all Something 'Lad' 'Kid' or 'Lass' rubbed me the wrong way.
Marco Rudy won't continue doing art.
In Conclusion: 3.5/5
I did enjoy the previous issue, but the only reason I bought this one was Marco Rudy's art. And MAN did he not disappoint. The issue was GORGEOUS. The story was interesting, and it really grabbed me. It was chaotic and emotional, which actually suits Rudy's art well. Plus it leads on to new plot thread without forcing you to read more. I'm still on the fence about adding another series to my pull list, but I'm probably going to get the next issue.
