Superboy
Book 1: Trouble in Paradise

Collecting Superboy #0-10, written by Karl Kesel and illustrated by Tom Grummett and Humberto Ramos.

In Superboy #1, Superboy, Dubbilex and the Leeches arrive in Honolulu on the latest leg of the Superboy world tour. A cybernetic villain by the name of Sidearm attacks Superboy and takes Roxy Leech hostage. Local police detective Sam Makoa isn't best pleased that metahumans have arrived to make a mess in his jurisdiction.

I am a sucker for rad 90's characters and the 90's version of Superboy was one of the raddest. The original version of Superboy was an alternate universe teen version of Superman (I think), whose timeline was erased during Crisis on Infinite Earths. This new version of Superboy popped up after Superman died fighting Doomsday. Most of the groundwork for this series was set out in the various Superman books, so you will have to read them to get to know who Dubbilex, the Leeches and Tana Moon are. To cut a long story short, Dubbilex is an alien/clone who is acting as Superboy's chaperone, Rex Leech is Superboy's shady manager and Roxy is his daughter. Tana Moon is a TV reporter, so basically Superboy's version of Lois Lane.

In Superboy #2, exotic dancer Kay decides to track down Superboy after seeing him on TV. She changes into her alter ego, Knockout, and engages him in battle in the Hawaiian Historical Museum.

Superboy isn't the only problem that poor old Sam Makoa has to deal with. There is a gang of hi-tech thieves called the Silicon Dragons causing trouble. Equal force is their code and with Superbyo setting up shop in Hawaii that means that it's only a matter of time before they retaliate in kind. Knockout doesn't have anything to do with the Silicon Dragons, she's just an unfortunate coincidence. I don't mind, I'm just happy for a good superhero fight.

In Superboy #3, Superboy regains consciousness after his fight with Knockout and is notified that a strange being known as the Scavenger appeared and stole a mystical spear during the fight. There is also supposed to be a gemstone that powers the spear's mystical properties, but it was lost long ago. Superboy takes on the task of finding the gemstone.

Superboy starts having coughing fits during his fight with the Scavenger. This is down to a disease that all of the other clones created by Cadmus have contracted. It was all part of a story line going on in the other Superman books at the time, The Fall of Metropolis. Lex Luthor, Jr, also contracts the plague and it is revealed that he is the original Lex Luthor in a clone body. As far as I know this story line hasn't been collected in trade form. It's a real pity as it sounds like an interesting story.

In Superboy #4, a sick Superboy and his friends watch a rough version of a cartoon based on his adventures.

A nice down time issue after three issues of action. Not everybody is happy about how they are depicted in the Superboy cartoon, especially seeing how Rex Leech is portrayed as a handsome, benevolent billionaire instead of a sleazy business manager. The cartoon is obviously a parody of Batman: The Animated Series, right down tot he similar animation style. I would have said Superman: The Animated Series, but I don't think that had been made around the time this issue was published.

In Superboy #5, Superboy's friends rush the ailing Teen of Steel to Pearl Harbour Navy base and Dubbilex insists that he be flown to Cadmus Labs in Metropolix. Meanwhile, a doctor by the name of Kauna finds himself bonded to a metal that obeys his thoughts. Kauna names himself Silver Sword and attacks the base where Superboy is being looked after.

Doctor Kauna had previously appeared in Superboy #3, where he was leading a dig to unearth the gemstone that powered the mystical spear that the Scavenger stole. He wanted the gemstone to become a hero himself, but that plan failed when the gemstone was lost during Superboy's fight with the Scavenger. He ended up finding a discarded canister on the beach and was caught in an explosion when it went off in his face. Now his wish for super-powers has come true, I guess.

In Superboy #6, after the events of Fall of Metropolis, Superboy helps save lives in the ruins of the city. If that wasn't enough, the Parasite is on the loose and is more powerful than ever.

I often site General Zod and Cyborg Superman as my favourite Superman villains, but I always forget to add Parasite to the list. Not to repeat myself, but I just think he looks so rad. He looks like a big ol' leech man. Now that I think about it, he reminds me of Flukeman from that episode of the X-Files.

In Superboy #7, Superboy teams-up with heroes from another universe to take down a villain known as Rift.

This issue was part of a crossover with Milestone Comics. I don't know any of the Milestone characters, but I have heard of Static though. I do remember him having his own animated series that crossed over with the DCAU at one point. Didn't Static also join the main DC Universe? Research indicates that Milestone Comics was in imprint of DC, who published the titles. Also, the company was formed when a group of African-American creators went into business for themselves, believing that minorities were being under-represented in mainstream comics. So good for them. (Static did indeed become part of the main DC Universe and even joined the Teen Titans).

In Superboy #8, in a tie-in to the Zero Hour event, time has gone all topsy-turvy and Superboy gets into a fight with the original Superboy (the teenage one from before Crisis on Infinite Earths).

This is the first of the two Zero Hour tie-ins included in this trade (more on the special #0 issue later). As well as getting involved in the big timey-wimey crossover, the various DC heroes found time going all funny in their own titles. Batman met a time-lost Barbara Gordon (she would have been Oracle round about this time), Tim Drake teamed-up with a young Dick Grayson from back in his days as Robin. Even Catwoman had to deal with dinosaurs.  

In Superboy #0, Professor Emil Hamilton of S.T.A.R. Labs arrives in Honolulu, looking for some time off. That soon proves not to be as he witnesses another fight between Superboy and Sidearm. Professor Hamilton requests to examine Superboy at S.T.A.R. Labs and Superboy recounts his earliest memories. Meanwhile, members of the Silicon Dragons free a creature known as Nanaue out of prison.

During the Zero Hour event, all of DC's mainstream comics released a special #0 issue that revealed a previously unknown aspect of the title's character. Here we get a flashback to Superboy's escape from Cadmus and his very first encounter with Sidearm.

In Superboy #9, Superboy enjoys some time off at the beach with Tana Moon and her brother's family. Then Tana's niece is attacked by what seems to be a shark. Sam Makoa identifies the girl's injuries as claw marks and recounts a time when he encountered a shark-man creature whose family regarded him as a god from Hawaiian legend: King Shark!

I have to admit that I only know King Shark from Gail Simone's first Secret Six series and even then he only appeared near the end of the series. Any way, I was happy to see his first appearance. One thing that I found confusing was that King Shark spoke when the Silicon Dragons broke him out of prison, but he never spoke again in any subsequent appearances in Superboy’s book. Weird.

In Superboy #10, Superboy and Tana spend some time in Hilo when smoke on the horizon alerts Superboy to a monstrous tree going on a rampage. It is revealed that the tree monster is actually a teenager with transmutation powers that wants revenge on the people that laughed at him.

I liked the art by Tom Grummet in #1-8 and #0, but I couldn't really get into the art by Humberto Ramos in #9 and 10. It was a bit too cartoony for me. Thankfully, Grummet returns to art in #11. Ooh, Superboy teams-up with the Suicide Squad in #13 as well. I hope there is a second volume of Superboy coming out soon because I would really like to read more.

I read a collection of Tim Drake's early adventures of Robin and I have read a volume of Mark Waid's run on The Flash where Impulse first made his appearance. It's a pity that Impulse's own series isn't available in a trade. I do have the first volume of John Byrne's Wonder Woman on my read list though, which introduce Cassie Sandsmark, the new Wonder Girl. So I guess that will mean I have classic Young Justice sorted. Maybe I will get JLA: World Without Grown-Ups, which is the first team-up between the young heroes.

My rating: 3.5 stars.