Broken Frontier

Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow? In the world of Flashpoint, he's the boy of yesterday, a weak-willed and weak-powered subject of Project Superman's machinations. Ma and Pa Kent aren't in the picture, but General Sam Lane is. Can Kal-El escape the clutches of the menacing government and help save the day, or is this Superboy anything but?

Project Superman has been one of the Flashpoint tie-ins that's actually gotten a fair bit of attention from the comic book fandom, if only for the combination of Scott Snyder and Gene Ha and a character that many are placing bets on being more important post-Flashpoint. Subject Zero, the almost Dragonball Z-esque superhuman of the book, may be Apollo from the former WildStorm Universe, or may just be a super-powered individual who happens the share the same hair color and build.

Subject Zero takes much of a backseat in this issue, yet manages to do some backseat driving with Kal-El's activities. This book primarily focuses on the life that Kal-El, the would-be Superman, has in a world where he wasn't adopted by the kindly Kents. Raised akin to a lab rat by the government, General Sam Lane starts to see him as the son he never had.

This issue plays much with the Superman mythos, doing everything from explaining the corpse of Krypto seen in the main Flashpoint book alongside showing what Lex and Lionel Luthor were up to in this time period of the Flashpoint universe. Admittedly, Lionel Luthor looks a little odd in comparison to his Smallville appearance, but that can be chalked up to any number of legal or artistic issues. The true heart of the issue is the appearances of Sam and Lois Lane. Sam Lane is portrayed as a nicer character than ever before, and Kal-El and Lois Lane appear to have their fates intertwined no matter the universe (until they're broken up in the New DC 52). Snyder makes a character that has, universally, been a pain to the heroes, and turns him into one of the most sympathetic characters in the book. Ha, on the other hand, works best when things are in disarray, varying up panel style with danger and getting to break out some unique skills when it comes to some superheroics, such as the Phantom Zone or x-ray vision.

The book, undoubtedly, exists only to have some sort of Superman book during an event where he's largely absent, and in fact, is predicated on him not being the hero we know. Still, it turns out to be a decent origin story for a character that can only exist for a few more issues.