Writer Mark Waid
Artists Eduardo and Diego Baretto
Boom! Studios
Well, when you ride the Plutonian Superman’s crazy train you’re just along for the one morbid thing: this issue’s body count. What will it be this time? A whole city? Half a continent up in smoke? Who gets tossed into the Sun and are they interesting?
Here’s the story so far:
“Previously: Plutonian is back on Earth, and he’s not alone; he’s brought with him a band of psychopathic aliens who are even more destructive than he is. Even Survivor and the “new” Paradigm don’t know how to handle them. The U.S. has entered into a mysterious and somber pact with Japan and China to take them out. And Kaidan, in contact with the ghost of Survivor’s dead twin has learned the power twins game changing secret–that they’re actually triplets.”
Turns out that we have yet another issue of slacking for the Plutonian. He has killed absolutely no one. Zip. In fact, he’s saved somebody, twice. This would be one of the woefully underpowered heroes from the Paradigm called Bette Noir. She has really good aim with her gun, which means that she’s no match for the Plutonian. She had been waiting to be thrown into the Sun or be turned into a puff of smoke by way of eye lasers until the Plutonian found her last issue. Meanwhile, in this issue, she’s tried to commit suicide twice. The Plutonian has stopped her both times. You get the sense that this isn’t done out of any nobility but with all the mercy of a cat playing with its prey before dining.
There’s also another plotline developing where Cary, one of the few super powered people that can go toe to toe with the Plutonian without being immediately murdered, has found a third brother. This power isn’t entirely explained but it seems that Cary can share the power with his brothers. One of his brothers died early on in the series but there is a third brother with whom Cary is trying to communicate with. He’s arguing that if they combine their powers they can take down the Plutonian.
He’s not having much luck. If I understand the plotting here, Cary would gain strength from his brother’s death. The fact that he doesn’t immediately do it is probably proof that he isn’t that far gone although frankly I wouldn’t blame him. What’s one life versus millions? I also think Cary has gotten a raw deal from the world. People think he’s as evil as the Plutonian but the truth is that mentally he’s just human. He makes mistakes. I hope nothing bad happens to Cary because he’s one of the few things left on the planet that can even slow down the Plutonian. That might be a spoiler.
Meanwhile, the terrified humans have decided to unleash an ultimate weapon which might be able to take out the Plutonian. There’s only one down side. This would kill a third of the population’s planet. But we’re all dead anyway as long as the Plutonian roams free so they pull the trigger. Here’s what results:
Well this looks somewhat ominous. The history of the series seems to be that whatever you get to kill the Plutonian is often worse than the Plutonian. Still an intriguing series that I hope will end with the Plutonian’s death and/or banishment. And where’s Qubit, world’s smartest dude? Stay tuned. 4.0 stars just for those hands.
