Comics of May 30, 2018 and goal update

Further update on how my swimming is going. I mentioned last week that I swam my first ever 200m butterfly. To be honest, that was in a 20m pool, so it wasn’t a competition length pool. Last weekend, I upgraded that with a 200m butterfly in a 25m pool. That is actually a competition length pool. And after that, I swam a 400m individual medley in less than 8 minutes. To achieve my goal, I only need to do that in a 50m pool. Which I’ll attempt before I even think about attempting a 200m butterfly. I’m getting excited about this, and about seeing if I can swim a 200m butterfly in the long course as well. To think that it was just under a year ago when I swam my first ever 50m butterfly, and I barely finished it.

Anyway, it’s time to talk about comics. I picked up the X-Men Red Annual, The Man Of Steel 1 and Super Sons, Dynomutt and the Blue Falcon. Here are my detailed first impressions.

The X-Men Red Annual is great. It takes place before X-Men Red 1. In fact it begins pretty much right after the Phoenix Resurrection miniseries. It shows Jean Grey reconnecting with those she cares about, and mourning those who have gone. She meets up with several X-Men who will later join her X-Men team, most notably Laura, thanks to her connection with Logan. It also promises that they’ll be facing a major threat sometime soon. This is mostly a dramatic issue, and the character drama is well done. In fact, the closest thing I can think of to a serious complaint is that the artist forgot about Gabby’s facial scars. Jean Grey fans will very likely enjoy this, and it’s also worth picking up for those following X-Men Red.

The Man Of Steel 1 marks Brian Michael Bendis’s first actual DC Comic, instead of his short piece within Action Comics 1000. This comic is mostly build-up, but it shows potential. There’s some good character work with Superman’s family. It also introduces a new character who could be fun. It’s an enjoyable first issue, but it’s also hard to tell from this alone whether this’ll be a good miniseries or not. It’s weekly either way. It’s at least worth a look for Superman fans, as well as for Bendis’s many loyal fans.

The Super Sons special is fun. It ties into the Batman Incorporated series by Grant Morrison, while remaining mostly focused on Superboy and Robin. It’s a fun adventure involving a cyborg dog and his partner/master, whose brain has been hijacked. Along the way, both Jon Kent and Damien Wayne learn something about the nature of death and loyalty. The conclusion is surprisingly dramatic for an otherwise fun story. Fans of either Batman or Superman will likely enjoy the Super Sons series, and this issue is a good example of why in case you want to check it out.