Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Jamal Campbell
Cover Artist: Jamal Campbell
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Superman has a lot to be thankful for, but he also has a lot to deal with. One of those things is Silver Banshee being forced to fight him against her will, while his buddy Jimmy Olsen reveals she’s his new girlfriend. What madness is this? Love? See where this story takes the Man of Steel in Superman #5 as he seeks to end this fight and get to the true masterminds behind it.
Review:
Wow! This issue surprised me. Let’s face it, the cliffhanger in Superman #4 left me with the same reaction Lex Luthor has in this book when he finds out that Jimmy Olsen is dating Silver Banshee. Really?! How does that work? Well, this comic shows how and it’s genuinely heartwarming and makes me hopeful for them. But there’s more to this comic than that.
So, readers wondering just how Jimmy met Silver Banshee and they became an item. Well, the comic does just that ever so briefly, but what this creative duo did was cram all their interactions together into one beautiful tapestry of romance just for them made by Jamal Campbell. Best part, they save up on pages for the rest of the story by doing this. With the quick flashback out of the way, the comic returns right to where left off with Jimmy shouting “I love her!” and everyone, including Silver Banshee are caught off guard.
I won’t lie, I haven’t been keeping up with Silver Banshee in the last decade. Usually, most of her appearances in the past years have been cameos at best where she gets to show off her cool look and powers and then vanish into the background. Or she’s just there to fill up space in the background of a cool double page spread but is never an active character in the story. Essentially, she’s been a jobber villain for a long while and it’s great to see her not only in a Superman book since she’s a Superman villainess, but have an actual role in the story. Hopefully this series will keep her in the loop and pave the way for a new compelling direction for her and Jimmy in future DC stories.
From there, the comic resumes the chaos initiated by Pharm as Silver Banshee has no choice but to fight Superman. Or else. Of course, Superman isn’t going to let the mad scientist get his way and neither does Jimmy Olsen. Readers get to see not only Supes and Jimmy together, but they get to see Jimmy be a heroic character in his own right and this punctuated by the solid dialogue by Joshua Williamson who shows the friendship and heroism of these two on full display.
The comic continues to do a great job of balancing the heart, humor, and action with the great art by Jamal Campbell. From start to finish, this creative duo keep knocking it out of the park with the characters, dialogue, pacing, action, and overall story momentum as they embrace all of these elements in the comic book medium. Then of course, there’s the ending which caught me 100% off guard as I’m sure it did with everyone else. But that’s for the SPOILERS section. Either way, this was a great issue to conclude the Silver Banshee arc and set things up nicely for future issues.
SPOILERS:
Now, let’s talk about that ending. I will not lie, I was shocked that not only did Williamson have Lex Luthor shanked in prison, by the same guy he flicked an acorn into no less, but so early in the run. Remember, it’s only the fifth issue, and the duo have seemingly killed Lex Luthor. Key word is “seemingly”. I hold no illusion that this won’t stick and either Lex will pull through or he’ll die but come back somehow. I’m banking on he’s in critical condition and will be inactive for an actual storytelling reason.
Unlike most writers or creative teams at both Marvel and DC, Williamson and Campbell have given me confidence to believe that they know what they’re doing with this. What I’m looking forward to is just what the fallout of this will be, and when exactly will Lex return. If we didn’t have to wait two maybe three months because of Knight Terrors, I would’ve given this comic a 10/10.
Final Thoughts:
Superman #5 concludes the story arc with Silver Banshee as Superman resolves the fight, with a little help from his pal and Banshee’s new boyfriend Jimmy Olsen. The comic does a good job showing how the two hook up and sells the relationship between Jimmy Olsen and Silver Banshee as genuine. Jimmy even gets his time to shine in his own way with Superman. The creative team do a great job with giving this comic heart, laughs, and a good deal of action. And the ending will definitely create shockwaves for Superman and the rest of DC Comics, at least it should.