Under observation by scientists, the boy exhibits super strength and chats away with Supes in the dead language of Krypton.
Thinking he may not be the last survivor of his home planet after all, and noticing that the U.S. government seems more interested in testing the boy than taking care of him, Clark Kent returns to Smallville to ask his parents for advice on adopting mysterious boys who fall from the sky. The first issue is, unsurprisingly, highly cinematic in its feel, and thanks to Adam Kubert's superb art, reads like storyboards for what Donner's Superman III might have been like, if he didn't elect to quit the franchise halfway through Superman II
Ohikkoshi
Dark Horse Comics
Manga-ka Hiroaki Samura is best known for his epic samurai manga Blade of the Immortal, so this new collection of some of his more obscure work should come as something of a shock to many of his U.S. readers.
Instead of scarred samurai and assassins slicing their way through Edo-period Japan, Ohikkoshi features modern romantic comedy and slice-of-life stories.
Though the subject matter and tone are vastly different from that of Blade of the Immortal, the draftsmanship and sense of design is recognizably the work of Samura, whose sense of detail and delicate mastery of shading separates his work from most rom-com manga.
The title piece, about a group of twentysomethings drinking, rocking and trying to couple, is described as a "Japanese Art School Confidential," though that description doesn't do it justice. Also included are "Luncheon of Tears Diary," about a wannabe manga artist suffering from a mahjong addiction and an acute case of virginity, and "Kyoto Super Barhopping Journal: Bloodbath at Midorogaike," a strange autobiographical travel piece by Samura.
The book offers a compelling case for Samura's skills. If the samurai genre is his comfort zone, than this is about as far from his comfort zone as he can get, and the work is just as strong.
Emo Boy Volume 1: Nobody Cares About Anything Anyway,
So Why Don't We All Just Die?
Slave Labor Graphics
The title pretty much says it all, doesn't it? Writer/artist Steve Emond's hilarious black-and-white comic book series about the eponymous teen has finally earned its first graphic novel collection, allowing bookstore customers to enjoy the opportunity to laugh at the hurt feelings, overwrought emotional suffering and melodrama of the world's most emo high-schooler.
Emo Boy has a pretty good reason to be so Byronic, though. In addition to being your run of the mill sensitive soul in an insensitive world, E.B.'s so emo that his emo-ness registers as a mysterious superpower, one so powerful and uncontrollable that it occasionally blows someone's head off—like the first girl he ever kissed. Think of him as the long-lost cousin of the X-Men, only instead of eye beams or claws, his mutant power is melodrama.