COMIC BOOK REVIEW - Superboy: Extraction

By The Masked Medic

So when we last were hanging out with Superboy, he was still a killing machine, with perhaps a little bit of doubt, but with a clear mission to kill the Teen Titans. However, towards the end of the last novel, ‘Incubation’ perhaps the hero in him was awakening.

This novel, ‘Extraction’ does quite a bit of a fast forward and puts Superboy bang in the middle of a fight with N.O.W.H.E.R.E. alongside the Teen Titans and the Legion too. From there the rest of the novel is made up of a series of one-shots which essentially describe Superboy’s continuing journey as a hero, and also the friendships that he begins to forge. One of the stories involves him and Bunker from the Teen Titans fighting a giant sentient robot, which was quite a good read.

From a character development point, ‘Extraction’ does a lot to more Superboy’s persona from a mindless villain to a potential hero. However, since there’s so much focus on the development, the story lacks a bit, and for me, the collection of one-shots wasn’t actually that fun to read.

The artwork was okay, and in certain parts, it looked quite cartoonish and basic to me. The covers were all by different artists, and only the one above stuck out to me. Overall, not bad from a character development point, but I’m waiting to see Superboy meet Superman at some point!

Favourite Panel:

Ok, so here he’s definitely a hero, right?

Favourite Character:

Superboy. But only because there wasn’t anyone else substantial to pick!

Rating:

• Story Arc: ★★½

• Character Development: ★★★½

• Artwork: ★★½

• Enjoyability: ★★

• Re-readability: ★½

Level: Intermediate