Last month’s ‘Superman #9’ ended with the Man of Steel battling the new villain Anguish. Anguish had robbed a bank only to steal a locket from a safety deposit box. As she fled the scene, Superman arrived and the fight ensued. While all this was going on a shady reporter had sold some information to Morgan Edge’s Galaxy Newswatch about the real identity of Superman… a man named Spence Becker!
As Superman dukes it out with Anguish, things aren’t going in the hero’s favor. Anguish’s powers are beyond even her control. Her body becomes either rock solid or incorporeal whenever she is threatened, allowing her to never feel any physical sensations. That means that Superman can’t attack Anguish directly. But, even more perturbing to Superman is that Anguish robbed a bank and didn’t take any money.
It’s revealed that the locket that she stole contains the last existing photo of her mother. Anguish’s abusive father had locked it up and kept it from her for years. Now that she’s got her powers (as of yet unexplained), she’s returned simply to get the locket. When the locket is accidentally damaged her the scuffle with Superman, Anguish decides to take Superman’s family from him in return. The problem is that everyone now thinks that Spence Becker is Superman… including Anguish! Now it’s a race against time to stop Anguish from harming innocent people.
They’re only a few issues into their run but writers Giffen and Jurgens have hit a good stride with the ‘Superman’ title. Anguish is a great new villain and the epilogue in this issue even manages to hint at things to come that relate to the Russian sub that Superman rescued a few issues back. If this is what we can expect from this writing team, I’m hoping that they stick around for a while because the last two issues on this title have been super! (Yeah… I punned that one up.)
Verdict: Buy
SUPERMAN #10
Written by Keith Giffen and Dan Jurgens
Art by Dan Jurgens and Jesús Merino
Cover by Ivan Reis and Eber Ferreira
