The much anticipated Superman: Son of Kal-El #13 is out today and it features the introduction of Dreamer to the DCU. Co-written by Nicole Maines and Tom Taylor (read more on their collaboration), the issue also continues to progress Jon and Jay’s fight against government leader Bendix. He’s basically Lex Luthor, but far more unpredictable.
Superman: Son of Kal-El #13 opens where we left off with Jay and Jon reacting to the fact that Jay’s identity has been revealed to the world. The fact that his mother is an ex-president of Gamorra does not look great considering he’s trying to topple Bendix. This leads to the natural decision for Jon to bring Jay to a place where he can lie low and stay safe.
Enter Dreamer. Taylor and Maines introduce Dreamer in a smart way that details her powers while tying her importance to pop into the story right now. I won’t spoil it, but she’s got major details on a possible future. It is a bit odd this future is being revealed now after the Justice League just died, but this is comics after all and not every story is taking place at the same time.
Speaking of this possible future, it takes up a whopping ten pages of this issue. This allows artist Clayton Henry and color artists Marcelo Maiolo and Matt Herms to have a ton of fun using a bunch of familiar Batman-centric characters. Sure, it’s a possible future, but it’s a nice epic story within a story that sets up stakes. The characters look great and the costuming is top-notch stuff.
Jon is pissed.
Credit: DC Comics
That ten-page vision of the future does make the plotting of this issue feel a bit all over the place. If you cut that out, a basic start to the story arc is established, but not much more. That makes the meat of the issue a possible future that raises stakes, but it’s still a dream yet to come true. Maybe if the scene was shorter it’d allow for more plot progression for this story arc.
Fans of Dreamer should enjoy this issue. She’s got a confidence that’s unmistakable and given her trepidation with using her powers to transport via animals you get the sense there’s a lot of untapped potential for future stories. Throw in the fact that she gets some help from Jon with her powers and you have yourself a good start to a cool team-up.
Superman: Son of Kal-El #13 has a good introduction of Dreamer that works with the ongoing threat of Bendix. As Superman and Jay begin to assess how they defeat Bendis, Dreamer’s inclusion ends up feeling like a team is gaining strength and there’s more yet to come. Plus, it’ll make you want more Dreamer comics!
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