Superman Makes the Man of Steel His Own Worst Enemy and I’ve Never Been So Excited

A new chapter in the thrilling saga of DC’s Man of Steel is now underway in Superman #26, and while all eyes are on the future, Superman never abandons the critical threads of the past. This key element has made Superman one of the most gratifying series in DC’s current library, as past events always feel meaningful without becoming obstacles to fresh concepts and ideas. It’s resulted in a book that rewards longtime readers with additive layers to characters, relationships, and alliances while also consistently pushing the story forward into new territory, and over two years in this series still feels as powerful as ever.

Superman #26 deals directly with the fallout of Mercy’s big gamble that set a murderous and crazed clone (X-El) on a rampage across Metropolis, and writer Joshua Williamson takes some time to catch up with several different areas of the Superman family and the book’s extended cast. It’s become a trademark of the series and is a credit to how much investment has been made in the rest of the cast, as Lois, Lex, Mercy, and Lena have all become just as important to the overall story and just as compelling as Big Blue.

Lena Luthor is especially great throughout the issue and makes an immediate impact during the book’s opening pages thanks to the brilliant work of Eddy Barrows, Alejandro Sanchez, and Ariana Maher. Luthor has been on the receiving end of no shortage of scoldings over the years, but you feel every painful word in Lena’s justified evisceration of him, just as you can’t shake the feeling that something is off with Lois after her back-to-business shrug-off of not having powers. Everyone feels remarkably human in this series, and it’s part of what successfully grounds the bigger superhero spectacle of it all.

That leads us to the direct threat of this issue, which isn’t actually coming from Lex or Mercy this time around. Williamson leans into other aspects of Superman and his personality that we don’t always get to see and creates a freight train of internal conflict in the process, and then we also get key characters from earlier in the run (including one of my absolute favorites) showing back up in unexpected ways.

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There’s also a grand plan in place, with two interludes building upon the two most recent arcs and setting up big confrontations down the line. Those who have been paying attention to not only Superman’s main series but also All In overall will be excited to see both of these story elements in play, and it once again goes to show how deftly the series balances its macro level storytelling and the moments in between that gets you invested in the first place. Superman has been on an all-time run over these last two years, and as the next era begins in earnest, I can’t see a future where that is going to change.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Superman #26 is on sale now.

What did you think of Superman #26, and what do you want to see next from the series? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things comics with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!