REVIEW: Superman ’78: The Metal Curtain #4

Superman ’78: The Metal Curtain #4 continues as Metallo reveals himself to the world. This series so far has been a pleasure to read, again getting to explore the much loved Christopher Reeve era of Superman is a delight and this series continues to do it justice.

But before we get into the issue itself, let’s take a look at the covers. The main cover is by Gavin Guidry and Jordie Bellaire and brings us a close up of Superman’s most famous and notorious foe – Lex Luthor. I love this cover, it perfectly brings Gene Hackman into comic book format and captures his essence perfectly. Not only that but I adore the little Superman hints on his tie and pocket square.

The first variant is by Steve Epting and it is stunning. Rather than a cover to this particular comic and contents, this feels like a movie poster for the original film and that is not a criticism in the slightest. The detail and extremely accurate depictions of each actor is near perfect.

The final variant is by Hayden Sherman and I adore it. It’s actually my favourite of the bunch mostly because of how simple and effective it is. Seeing Superman streak into the sky is just so iconic and seeing that beacon of hope shine against the city skyscrapers is just genius! Not only that but there are some subtle nods to the original creators of Superman and also the director of the original film.

Superman ’78: The Metal Curtain #4 opens out as Metallo reveals himself to the world. Of course there is mass panic and the very first few moments have some really clever uses of imagery and a rather morbid twist on the iconic Superman imagery we have come to know and love. 

With Metallo having a soviet background there are a fair few moments that are reminiscent of ‘Superman: Red Son‘, but writer Robert Venditti really does give his own spin on that notion and brings us a fresh new take on a soviet “Superman”. Here we see him shoot at innocent civilians and he uses that attention to call out Superman to continue their battle, this time in front of the ‘propagandists’ – the press and world media. Letters are done by Dave Lanphear of A Larger World.

Once again there are times where the artwork really does the talking in this issue, especially the suit change scene where we see Clark Kent leap out of a window to change. These moments created by interior artist Gavin Guidry, with colours by Jordie Bellaire really put a smile on my face and really captures the innocence and joy of the original films.

The art is a highlight for me in this issue, there are some great scenes of Superman throwing tanks and his take on war is near perfect. Superman isn’t in this fight alone, its the army & Superman vs Metallo and I love seeing people side up with Superman to take on such an enemy and they aren’t the only ones. It seems this was an easy win for Superman thanks to the bit of advice from Lex Luthor.

Superman ’78: The Metal Curtain #4 is an absolute joy to read, just like the entire series so far. I have a feeling that this isn’t over for Metallo and it certainly isn’t the last Superman is going to hear from Lex Luthor.