3. Superman Unchained #4 By Scott Snyder And Jim Lee (DC)
Maybe the worst part of DC's Villains' Month (and there were a few dozen terrible parts to it) was that we got a 2 month delay between the third and fourth issue of the excellent Superman Unchained. When we left Superman, he was in Tokyo with Wraith surrounded by Russian robots being told by Wraith that he would kill Superman(!). Meanwhile, Lois was following a lead in Nova Scotia about Ascension, the terrorist group behind the recent global attacks, and the recently escaped Lex Luthor kidnapped Jimmy. The Wraith comment about killing Superman wasn't as ominous as some readers thought as we find out almost immediately that he and the Russian drones aren't connected. Superman and Wraith have an interesting fight as Superman is wounded by bullets emitting low frequency red solar radiation, and Superman deals with the drones in the best way Jim Lee knows how to draw (hint: he basically turns into a bullet himself). There's also a great scene where Wraith - who's established himself not just as Superman's superior but also teacher in this issue - instructs Superman in a new way of using his heat vision to take down the drones. Scott Snyder's doing a great job writing a compelling comic by giving us multiple interesting storylines to keep our attention, knowing that alongside Superman, the other characters like Lois, Lex and Jimmy also mean a lot to readers. Lois' storyline continues to be mysterious as she encounters someone who saved her as her plane was going down and it has something to do with a glowing blue crystal shard. However her journey to find Ascension takes her right where she wants to be - or does she? - and ends with a bombshell revelation about her dad, General Sam Lane. Lex meanwhile does a lot of supervillain speechifying. Jimmy's tied to a table a la James Bond (albeit not at all Bond-like in any other way) and Lex a la Bond Villain sneers about death and Superman while making ridiculously elaborate origami figures, continuing his fascination with this hobby that Snyder's given him in this series. I would've liked a bit more from him and Jimmy as it's fairly one-note throughout, but it wasn't terrible and the Superman and Lois storylines more than make up for anything lacking. Superman Unchained continues to be the best Superman comic of 2013 and issue #4 is awesome - let's hope we don't have to wait another 2 months for the next issue!