Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Rafa Sandoval, Ulises Arreola, and Becca Carey
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $4.99
Reviewed by: Anonymous
Release Date: August 6th, 2025
Superman’s true enemy stands revealed. The notorious Ra’s al Ghul, lord of Lazarus Corp, murderer of millions, has plans for the Last Son of Krypton. Will Kal-El’s rage unleash the dark power of Superman: Son of the Demon?
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THE DISPATCH
Absolute Superman #10 brings Kal‑El face‑to‑face with his most personal and formidable adversary so far: Ra’s al Ghul, now revealed as the mastermind behind Lazarus Corp and responsible for the deaths of millions. With that seismic reveal, the issue pivots—from slow‑burn world‑building to thrilling confrontation—and asks whether Kent’s rage might truly unleash the dark legacy of Son of the Demon.
Jason Aaron has spent much of the series patiently building up Kal’s identity and moral stakes—his estrangement, his alienation, and his refusal to bow to corporate tyranny—making this moment feel both inevitable and emotionally devastating. Now, confronted with the architect of ruin, Kal is pushed to consider whether to channel his pain into vengeance. The emotional gravity of those earlier scenes—Krypton’s collapse, the exploitation by Lazarus, Kal’s isolation—makes this pay‑off hit hard. Suddenly the world they built isn’t just backdrop, it’s battlefield.
Artist Carmine Di Giandomenico steps in for this issue, and his calmer but intense style complements the shift. Where Rafa Sandoval evoked vast social landscapes and weighty atmospheres, Di Giandomenico balances cinematic framing with charged close‑ups of Kal’s internal conflict. Every shadow across Superman’s face, every torn sleeve, feels charged with moral tension. The action carries weight—this is no light sparring match, but a collision of ideals and destinies.
Narratively, issue 10 feels like a turning point. Past criticism about pacing—how earlier arcs dwelled so long on Krypton and political allegory—gives way to narrative urgency here. This chapter doesn’t abandon the philosophical underpinnings of the series; it tests those themes. Kal’s reaction to Ra’s isn’t scripted heroism—it’s passion, fury, dread, and something darker lurking beneath, the potential birth of Son of the Demon whispered but no longer hidden.
Characters who previously existed more in hinted histories—like the Lazarus Corp’s reach and Ra’s ideological manipulation—come front and center. When Ra’s reveals why Krypton’s elites funded their escape and how he engineered the same for Earth, it adds a chilling mirror to Ras’s long arc of claiming to preserve civilization by cleansing it.
While earlier issues earned appreciation for their slow-building world and sympathy for Kal’s outsider status, this issue reaps those rewards. The emotional stakes are now firmly personal. One can feel the tension in every panel: will Kal’s rage corrupt him, or will he find purpose beyond vengeance?
This issue also subtly reframes the series’s broader themes. Oppression, class struggle, corporate domination—these have always been present. In issue 10, they become urgent: what happens when the oppressed gets the power to reshape—and punish—society? Di Giandomenico’s visuals make the moral ambiguity tangible.
Fans who had wondered whether this Superman was too far removed from his mythic roots will find that Aaron is not abandoning the iconography, but re‑contextualizing it. The slow-start criticisms give way to clarity: Superman’s strength is no longer passive idealism but tested integrity in the face of atrocity.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In all, Absolute Superman #10 delivers the cathartic confrontation long teased by earlier arcs, powered by deeply felt stakes and crisp, expressive art. It’s the issue where Kal-El must choose: embrace rage, or transcend it. And by the final pages, you feel that even if his path diverges from what we’ve seen before, it remains unmistakably Superman.