Before he became Metal-Zero, John Corben had two great loves: his country and Lois Lane. Awakening from a coma after the events of ACTION COMICS #8, Corben finds himself betrayed by both-and now his Kryptonite heart beats only for revenge! And when he joins up with the Secret Society, there's no limit to the destruction he can cause!
Writer Sholly Fisch does his best to clean up the character's not-so-straightforward continuity and give him a new purpose in life. The reasoning as to why they use Kryptonite as a power cell makes little sense, and the same goes for a few other key details, but overall Fisch succeeds in making the character compelling and accessible. While I will admit that the New 52 Metallo isn't exactly the most intriguing of the DCU's villains, this issue does leave him in a place where he could very well become one. Read Full Review
This issue was still entertaining ... still worth buying and reading (as opposed to other Villains' month issues). But just not dazzling. Read Full Review
Metallo is a villain that both makes sense, and doesnt. It makes sense that a sociopath who is part of the army might become an even more violent character without the rigid structure of a military, but Metallos hatred of Superman and Lois Lane seems petty. Either way, the issue does a good job of showcasing Metallos hatred, desire for revenge, and his determination, all while being an entertaining read. Read Full Review
Villain Month has been more miss than hit to me. Sholly Fisch and Steve Pugh give us the continuing origin of Metallo and I liked it. We get an understanding of his motivations and see how deep his hate for those who wronged him is. Read Full Review
Id advice saving the buck and buying the regular cover, but this is definitely not an issue to miss. Though I personally do not like the new character look, he seems to be relatively unchanged in terms of motivation. And Im okay with that. Its nice to see that writers arent just completely ignoring the Morrison run, however unpopular it may have been. Its always easier to just ignore or flat-out disregard a previous story. It takes actual talent to acknowledge and redeem one. Im glad to see that DC is moving toward the latter in most Superman books. Read Full Review
Well, the whole thing is bad really. Metallo as a character is a misogynistic caricature of a juiced up U.S. Marine, who is being everything he should't be. This is honestly one character they can retire, DC and Superman don't need a bad War Machine knock-off that is a border-line bigot. I want to again point out that I don't fault Sholly for the bad in this book, he did what he could with bad character. Read Full Review
I like both Fisch and Pugh and enjoyed this issue. It is not, however, the best be seen from either of them, but its still a nice little story defining Metallo and setting him up as a straight ahead villain now.