City Boy #2: City Rush

City Boy #2 is an awkward comic book with inconsistent penciling and a pacing structure so rushed it could win a marathon. However, if it were just those things, it wouldn’t be an awkward comic, as there’s still a lot to love about this issue and what it does for the series. Its scope is expanding and bold, declaring itself to be a true blue member of the DC Universe in a way that will either work or flop, depending on the reader.

This issue picks up right where the first last off, Cameron going into full overdrive as he attempts to save his Fujimoto and takedown Boss Chung; in the middle of the action, Intergang shows up to capture Cameron and take the story on a massive reel turn. Tortured and held hostage, Cameron is subjected to visions of the future. Darkseid’s coming, and Cameron is the only person who could prepare the city of Metropolis in his image. With his back against the wall and the armies of Darkseid around him at all signs, he can really on his connection to Metropolis to make it out alive and prevent the incoming invasion.

Getting it out of the way, the sudden transition into a massive New Gods-centered storyline is a hard shift to swallow. What made the first issue so appealing was the small-scale view of a side of Metropolis we rarely ever see in any other Superman title. The voice for character-driven storytelling and world-building that sprung out from Cameron’s Lazarus Planet story and the first issue of this book falls to the wayside here, injecting more plot building in a very unnatural way. As such, it doesn’t feel like a story is unfolding, but instead a set of tease and iffy action scenes that go unexpectedly big for where the character is at. We go from zero to one hundred with how his powers work and how Metropolis can actualize, but it’s a pretty cool development visually.

If paced with more room for air, these sudden developments could’ve become a bit more exciting. Due to its delivery, it falls flat and acts as a deterrent to what made the hook for this book so interesting. However, this could be a necessary sacrifice for the mini’s overall pacing and story for the following issues. If that’s the case, then the stumble here in tone and writing may not matter too much in the grand scheme of things, but if the book continues forward as yet another bombastic book wrapped up in the grandiosity of Superman and his world as opposed to the new and fresh one we were introduced to previously than City Boy will lose what made it special. It doesn’t help that a certain appearance at the end of the book occurs this early in the series, but there’s always the chance this could pay off. However, as a stand-alone issue, City Boy #2 lacks charm and an engaging character narrative. It’s all table-setting fluff without the fun.