“Metropolis was once called the City of Tomorrow, but now it will be called the lost city of Parasites. All because of your ego, Superman.”
Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and not to mention the rest of the Daily Planet has been overtaken by Parasite’s infectious legion. As things go from bad to worse, Big Blue finds himself alone and desperate.
With nowhere else left to turn, Superman is forced to cooperate with Lex Luthor’s new SuperCorp plot to save himself and a ravenous Metropolis from themselves.
This issue brings the Night of the Parasite to a close, as short as it was sweet. And while the story itself is a fairly simple one, it uses that notion to set up fresh ideas and new dynamics that could greatly impact Superman’s modern age mythos.
If there’s anything to gain from this zombie apocalypse inspired tale, it’s that Joshua Williamson has a great understanding of these mythos and what makes the Man of Steel work. And he uses that understanding to skillfully invoke John Byrne’s and Marv Wolfman’s tonal reinvention of the character after Crisis on Infinite Earths.
That is to say it’s quite fitting that Williamson jumped right onto this title after writing a sequel to the original crisis.
Whereas last issue focused on Parasite’s horrific spectacle, this one focused on further establishing our key players and their cooperation to stop him. And while this is another case of little being shown of our new characters, it lays the groundwork for a new spin on a number of pre-existing character dynamics, especially with Superman’s rogues gallery.
Since Dawn of DC has put such an emphasis on the Superman line of books, the focus in this flagship title is put almost fully on Clark and his relationships–namely that of his with Lex Luthor. Though his extended family appears just enough to feel present in his life, this is very much Clark Kent’s book, and it has all of his charm as a character sewn into the fabric of it.
Using body horror is an excellent way to help establish the new mad science angle for the future of this run, and Parasite proved to be the perfect antagonist for that. Once again Jamal Campbell and co. went above and beyond in presenting the world of Superman in its glory while not forgetting the dark and unsettling nature of this kind of story.
Now that the groundwork has been laid and our new creative team has settled in, the time is ripe for the games to begin. But what games is that? One that Lex Luthor is undoubtedly at the center of, and one that only spells trouble for the playing field that will undoubtedly be the unwitting city of Metropolis.
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