Agent Lane is bound and determined to find Superman, no matter how far she has to go. But who is just as committed in finding her? Your Major Spoilers review of Absolute Superman #4, awaits!

ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #4

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Rafa Sandoval
Colorist: Ulises Arreola
Letterer: Becca Carey
Editor: Chris Conroy
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: February 5th, 2025

Previously in Absolute Superman: After an encounter in Brazil where Superman protected a group of workers, while attached to Agent Lane, she has become singularly focused on finding him. Meanwhile, certain members of the Lazerus’ PMC, The Peacekeepers, are starting to struggle with their actions.

A WISH FOR RAGE

Absolute Superman #4 starts off with a series of interviews with people from all over the world. Lois Lane tries to endear herself to the people but receives very little help from them. Eventually though, she learns that these people share certain things, one being that they have all been abused by The Lazarus Corporation and the other being that they all wish to see Superman’s rage. Elsewhere, a Peacemaker officer tries to explain to the Brainiac computer system that he tried to murder a bunch of people but simply missed. The computer dismisses this as equipment failure. Lois Lane is back on the hunt for Superman when she encounters a member of a fabled terrorist group known as The Omega Men. He attempts to sway her to their cause. Before he can accomplish his mission he’s interrupted by another member of The Omega Men, then a cadre of Peacekeepers, then Superman. Superman manages to subdue the Peacekeepers and warns Lois to stop following him.

CHALLENGES EVERYWHERE

While not going full on gritty, Absolute Superman #4 is certainly the darkest issue so far in the series. Part of that has to do with the actual content of the issue, but much of it has to do with how it adds wrinkles to traditional philosophical dilemmas that have always existed with Superman. Superman has always been a hero for the people and that’s perhaps never been truer than in this series. But, things get a little complicated when we see that the people he’s saving, don’t simply want to be saved, they want those who’ve been hurting them killed, specifically by Superman. Of course, this reaction is understandable, but it opens up a new angle to the mythology of Superman that hasn’t been examined as much as some of the other aspects of the character. While I wasn’t a huge fan of turning Lois into a mercenary at first, I’ve been appreciating how they’ve reintroduced her journalism roots, in a unique and interesting way. We also get a nice homage to Jimmy Olsen’s photographer origins here, when he’s not being a freedom fighter. It’s this ability to capture certain aspects of a character even as they have wildly different roles than their main universe counterparts that makes this issue so good on its own and at the same time be a sort of proof that Absolute Superman was worth existing in the first place. Even a character like Christopher Smith gets depth and pathos in ways that fits, even when he’s mostly known as a humorous character these days.

YA KNOW WHAT? THE CAPE WORKS

The most striking part of the art in Absolute Superman #4 has to be the cape. The earlier depictions of the cape made out of dust worked, but left a bit to be desired. In this issue though it gets a chance to show just how visually striking and beautiful it can be and it does this in just a handful of panels. Seeing Superman fly off with it trailing behind him, and how it billows around him as he engages with The Omega Men is just a wonderful shot.

BOTTOM LINE: A WORTHY INTERPRETATION OF A BELOVED MYTHOLOGY

There have been plenty of reimaginings of Superman over the years, some good, some terrible. The way that the mythology of Superman and his supporting characters are displayed in Absolute Superman #4 quickly puts this particular incarnation easily in the former category. 5 out of 5 stars.

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