Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Superman-Prime #1
DC Comics
Johns, Gates, Woods & Orway

The third installment of the Tales of the Sinestro Corps one-shots dealing with the main bad guys in the Sinestro Corps War. This one is the best of the bunch for the simple reason that it advanced the overall arc a little.

As with the previous two issues this is a retelling of the origin of the character, in this case Superboy (Superman) Prime. Having not followed any of 52 or Infinite Crisis or Infinity Crisis or Identity Crisis I can say I knew nothing of this character. So in that regard I enjoyed the origin story.

It's painted with love lost, betrayal and mistrust. All of the qualities that make for an angry young man. Angry young men usually make some good villains. Even bratty ones.

Perhaps the best part of this story is the revelation that Prime hates the Anti-Monitor. This is only an issue because at the present time they are allies. Oops. I think this could be a key plot advancement.

One other overall plot advancement was that Cyborg Superman is defeated, but we don’t see this actually occur. We only see his body plunging into Prime. Does this take place in a yet to be released issue? I'm confused on this one. Maybe Steel or the Eradicator took him out.

This issue features many DC heroes. Even on the C and D class level. It's great usage of the universe. We even see Super Dog get into the mix. Prime attempts to shove Super Dog's cape down his snout, but at least we get to see Krypto.

I liked the issue, but like its predecessors, it doesn’t follow the Tales of Sinestro Corp stories we saw months ago. If you didn’t read one of those they have conveniently put one in the back of this issue to show how they were done.

The backup story shows the Lyssa Drak character telling one of her chilling tales about a Sinestro Corps member and his deeds of fear. This one focuses on a baby stealing monster named Kryb. Kryb kills the parents, steals the baby and then stores it in his back. It's like a little school for the orphans. Albeit a creepy and disgusting one.

This story about Kryb shows exactly what I have expected from these one shots. I wanted to know why Prime was selected to be in the Sinestro Corps. Sure you can intermix it with some origin and some today action, but I want to know why Sinestro wanted him. I wanted Lyssa Drak to host the story of his entry into the Corps. Well we don’t get what we want all the time. That doesn’t mean I cant complain about it.

I loved the artwork. It's a throwback to the 1980-90s version of the DC universe, and particular the Superman characters, with Ordway on board and it's fabulous.

In all, a nice issue, but not essential reading for the overall arc. The backup story of Kryb got this one an extra geek goggle.

4 out of 5 geek goggles.


Tales Of The Sinestro Corps Superman Prime #1