Super Sons #10 (2018)

Super Sons #10 (January, 2018)
“One Fine Day”
Writer – Peter J. Tomasi
Artist – Jose Luis
Inker – Scott Hanna
Colorist – Hi-Fi
Letterer – Rob Leigh
Assistant Editor – Andrea Shea
Editor – Paul Kaminski
Group Editor – Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $3.99


Man, after spending twenty years in Phoenix, it was incredibly strange to wake up and have to knock snow off a car before I could head out!

Just returned from our jaunt back east for Papa’s 90th… seems we have a knack for picking the most inopportune days insofar as weather is concerned.  Had a great visit, and the travel wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared.  Flights were on time (ahead of time, even!) and the streets were, for the most part, pretty clear.


Also, got to stop at a White Castle for the first time in about 20 years.  That Chicken and Waffle Sandwich was ridiculously good!  It sucks that in my neck of the woods the only regional niche fast food joint is In-and-Out Burger… and, if ya ask me… that ain’t all that great.

I’m happy to be home, but still happy that we decided to go.  That having been said… I’m still quite exhausted, which as far as the blog is concerned means, we look at a new book.  Because… ya know, new books only take about five minutes to read.  In fact, I think I’ve spent more time babbling through this preamble than it took me to read the story.


So, was it a fun five minutes?  Let’s find out…


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We open with a countdown… and Jon demonstrating his newfound ability to fly for Clark and Bruce.  No longer limited to the “leaps and bounds” approach, Jon is now nearly as fast as his old man when it comes to flyin’ the unfriendly skies.  While in the air, Jon spies a Big Belly Burger being robbed over in Gotham… Clark defers to Bruce, since it is “his city”, and Wayne gives the thumbs up.

With Jon out stopping the crime, Bruce turns to Damian and asks if Superboy has demonstrated any other new powers of late… and mentions their recent adventure alongside the Teen Titans.  Damian plays dumb… which is probably not the best thing to do when you’re talking to Batman.

Jon returns, landing in the back of the pickup truck… gotta say, it’s pretty weird seeing Bruce Wayne drive a pickup.  Anyhoo, Damian joins him on the outside and grinds his gears about spilling the beans on the Titans romp.  Jon dismisses it by mentioning his mother’s super-hearing and super-mind reading, which is pretty cute.  From here they pretend to fly on the roof of the truck… and gotta say, this is such a joy to read.  Can we get Tomasi on the actual Teen Titans book?

A brief “intermezzo” follows… and features a future Batman rising from the flames in future Gotham City.  Going to assume this is Damian Wayne as Batman, as he’s wearing the same high-collared belt-pouchy costume he did back in Batman #666 (2007).

Back in the present, we shift three weeks later.  Both Jon and Damian are awakened from bed by their fathers, and are told to “suit up”.  In a pretty neat touch, there appears to be a 90’s era Kon-El Superboy poster in Jon’s bedroom.

We next join the Super Dads and Sons at the boys’ new underwater headquarters!  Or the… ahem, Fortress of Attitude.  Yikes, that’s pretty lame… hopefully Damian gets full veto power over that.  The place is completely decked out… it even has a 3-D Printer for Damian to print Batarangs on-demand!

Now, anyone who’s ever gotten a really generous gift knows… there are often strings attached, and this is no different.  If the boys wanna continue to fight crime together… they’re also going to have to go to school together.  Turns out that Jon recently started attending the West-Reeve Private School in Metropolis (I understand that reference!)… and he’s about to get a new classmate!  Any unexcused absences will result in Damian hanging up the Robin costume.

With the rules laid out, the Super Dad’s leave the boys to their underwater treehouse.  Suddenly they are alerted that Chemo is running amok in Metropolis… and we close out with the World’s Funnest taking care of business.

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Is it already a cliche to refer to this book as a lot of fun?  Because… it really is.  Fun, that is.  This is really everything that Teen Titans ought to be… and more!


I really don’t understand how DC has been dropping the ball on the Teen Titans for so long now, when they also have a book like this on the racks.  This is an absolute pleasure to read… and shows Damian and Jon as kids… but not petulant Millennials.  Those Teen Titans stories are almost immediately dated with their constant dependence on playing to the “Hey, what are kids into?” mentality.  Super Sons, on the other hand has a timeless quality and feels like something that could be read in ten or twenty years and still feel relevant.  The teens of today won’t be reading this in “full cringe” mode remembering just how irritating they were… or how irritating the writer depicted them to be.


This also gets points for being a “one off” and a “day in the life” story.  Full disclosure… I have not been keeping up with much of the Rebirth line (outside of the Superman books and Teen Titans).  It’s a mixture of indifference/disinterest, being absolutely overwhelmed by the bi-weekly deluge, and reading other stuff for the humble blog that I haven’t been able to keep up.  When my to-read pile was only a few inches tall… it still felt doable, and even somewhat “urgent”.  At this point, however, I’m so far gone that it doesn’t even matter anymore.  Super Sons was, unfortunately, one of the books in the now “to-read longbox”… so I haven’t really been following it all that closely.  This issue really caught me up… and didn’t make me feel like I was “out of the loop” on much.  This series feels like one that I can “pick up and play” without feeling like I need to do a whole bunch of pre-work.


The art here was also pretty fantastic.  Not sure where this Jose Luis came from, but… damn, he cranked out quite the beautiful comic book.


I really can’t recommend this enough… I mean, there’s history and nods to the past… if you want them.  If you never read 90’s Superboy or Batman #666… you’re not missing out, however, if you did… these additional touches are just awesome to see.  This is a book with a massive heart… something I complain about so much of the current line lacking (Teen Titans in particular).  I dare you to read this and not smile.


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