Source: comixology.com

3. The New Adventures of Psionic Lad, Part One

Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Pier Gallo

The hard part about this book is that there’s so much plot crammed into each issue that I run out of space to do much analysis. In this one, Conner gets up for school and walks through the mess that was made in the last arc. The probe ruined all of Smallville’s crops, so the town is in trouble. Because of this, we get an appearance from Bart Allen, aka Kid Flash, who plans a charity race with Conner that we’ll see in a few issues.

I’m not sure why Lemire felt the need to set this up like this now, but I honestly appreciate it. Tying it to the devastation is a nice way to make it feel like a continuation of the story.

At school, there’s an event that leaves everyone unconscious, except for Conner and Lori Luthor. Psionic Lad, a new hero from the future, arrives. Time cops follow, and they blast Superboy into unconsciousness.

There are a lot of good little character scenes here, too. Lori learns that Conner is Superboy (feels like she shoulda already put that together), and Conner tells Simon that they have to stop hanging out at school to protect his secret identity.

That scene made me feel some real sadness. Good job, comic.