REVIEW: Superman Unlimited #8
Superman Unlimited #8, “Rocketed From Earth” sees the new Toyman utilize the surplus Kryptonite to create Earth’s first Faster Than Light space engine. This leads to some interstellar espionage requiring the services of guest star Guy Gardner. Stagg Industries is also involved making this a nice comic book reunion of “Superman” movie elements.
The standard cover is by Dave Johnson. Proudly announcing his appearance this issue, Guy pushes Superman out of his way to face their common threat. Although this isn’t Guy’s initial reaction within the story, it’s still a pretty accurate depiction of his overall demeanor and makes for a great visual interaction with Superman.
The variant by Guillem March is a great show of Superman’s strength and compassion as he protects the Bottled City of Kandor from a massive amount of falling debris. The presence of Kandor is quite interesting considering the city hasn’t played any part of Dan Slott’s story thus far. Is March giving us a bit of foreshadowing or is this nothing more than a great variant?
Ariel Olivertti’s variant feels a bit more relevant as Krypton explodes behind a heroically posed Superman. One great tragedy resulted in the greatest super hero, yet the remnants of his home world can destroy him. It’s a powerful cover by a brilliant artist.
Two other great variants are available by Nathan Szerdy and Gerardo Zaffino.
Lucas Meyer, colored by Marcelo Maiolo and Jāo Canola make up the interior art team this issue. We get another great visual team that brings the best out of a Green Lantern appearance in ‘Superman Unlimited’ #8. There’s also some fun moments with Toyman that keeps the story light and somewhat whimsical. The action starts early and is nonstop until the end making the issue extremely fun to read.
Dan Slott gets some dialogue assistance from Jeremy Adams which is lettered by Dave Sharpe for this story. Simon Stagg has commissioned Toyman to create a FTL space engine powered by Kryptonite and Lois Lane is amongst the few on board for the inaugural launch. Due to the nature of the power source, Guy Gardner is tasked to oversee the mission in case things go awry. Obviously it wouldn’t be much of a story if things went smoothly so Stagg makes sure they have a run in with some unruly aliens. Unable to help himself, Clark rushes to the scene to help Guy protect the Earthling passengers. Their interactions alone are worth reading this issue as well as Toyman’s reactions to everything happening.
(7/10) While Superman Unlimited #8 is a fun read, it really comes off as a “filler” issue. Stagg’s motivations aren’t made very clear and other than Kryptonite being used in the spacecraft construction, it really doesn’t touch on the overall plot points from previous issues. Still, it could be seen as a great jump on point as the next issue is sure to be fascinating.
