Note: This review is about the collected edition called Smallville Attacks, which collects all 11 issues of Superboy.

This book about Superboy dealing with secrets from Smallville's past, a hero from an dystopian future and his own personal problems isn't what you would call "riveting".

It starts off with Conner Kent being met by the Phantom Stranger, who warns him of things to come in his usual cryptic manner. Soon after, Conner's friend genius Simon Valentine (who doesn't show off his intellect all that much, unfortunately) reveals that he knows about the protagonist's other life. Superboy is forced to take on Parasite after being ambused by him. After defeating him, he is forced to work with Poison Ivy for a short while. This quickly leads him to discovering a silo wherein a man is attached to machine with foreign symbols etched into it and begin an adventure which doesn't mesh with the Boy of Steel very well.

Alongside all of this, the aforementioned time-travelling hero named Psionic Lad comes into the present day. His future is ruled by a man named the Prime Hunter and he "thought" his way through time (this isn't explained in the story) in order to ask Superboy to train him so that he can go back to the future and take down the Prime Hunter. The true reason he is here isn't to be trained, however, with the actual reason being a cliché that anyone can see coming from a mile away.

Parts of the narrative don't fit all that well. In the sixth issue (part of the Reign of Doomsday crossover), Connor is forced to take on Doomsday in Detroit while Simon goes to speak with Ray Palmer (the Atom), who is looking to recruit him for meta-science studies at his college. The inclusion of this issue fails to add anything of relevance to the story and mostly consists of Superboy getting beaten up by the monster that murdered Superman. The story would have flowed better had it been excluded from this collection.

Conner also has to deal with his feelings for his cousin Lori Luthor, Lex Luthor's niece. This part isn't resolved either and they end up as just being friends and not considering each other family. There's also his emotions regarding his recent break up with girlfriend, Wondergirl (who is only mentioned and not seen here). This part also does not receive any sort of closure to it as well.

The antagonist of the story wishes to rule the world by way of an army he commands. I won't go into anymore details regarding this as it will spoil the story, but it does end on a happy note. The villain himself is not well known and is a magic user and because of that, just seemed too bizarre to fit with the main character of the story. It felt forced and his motivation wasn't interesting because this has been done before.

The artwork featured isn't anything noteworthy, save for a dream sequence in issue seven. The sequence features a Superboy in a Smallville ravaged by him as he is hunted by his friends for killing their friends and loved ones. The artwork and colors fit well with the nightmare that Superboy was experiencing and was the standout sequence among the rest of the unremarkable artwork on display.

In conclusion, this book featuring the Boy of Steel isn't going to be recorded as one of his standout stories. The villain doesn't mesh with the protagonist, a plot twist regarding two characters is incredibly obvious, some characters are underutilized, part of the book doesn't fit with the rest of the narrative and Superboy feelings about his aforementioned relationships don't evolve or receive any closure. This isn't worth picking up. more

This look at an alternate reality version of Captain America who fights in the American Civil War proves to be a lackluster story that doesn't feature Captain America for most of it and doesn't impress the reader that much.

The plot opens with The Watcher, here a computer hacker named Hector Espejo, telling us that he's able to access and read websites from an alternate reality. He explains that the national hero of this other reality is General America, the great-grandson of this world's Captain America, our lead character. Hector is able to access the story of this version of Steve Rogers' origin through the aforementioned website.

Beginning in 1863, Corporal Stephen Rogers falls in with a regiment of soldiers tasked with going into Jackson County and destroying the towns there. Stephen is unable to comply with his orders when he witnesses the destruction and slaughter his allies bring down on the townsfolk. After getting some local children to safety, Stephen is shown the true colors of his leader and is attacked by him. Barely alive, he is able to flee and after a very short dream sequence, is rescued and taken into a camp where he is nursed back to health. It's here where he becomes Captain America. We are given a slapdash explanation of Stephen being the one to unite everyone and stop the war because of his morals and views (also because he's white and no one of any other race would be trusted if they were Captain America). Following this, our protagonist is being given his powers through a Native American Spirit imbuing them in his body. While Stephen's transformation occurs, the villain is also exposed to said transformation and becomes the White Skull. This enrages the Skull and leads to him killing multiple people in camp, before quickly being stopped by the newly minted super soldier. The narrative ends with Stephen earning the rank of Captain by the war's end, alongside telling us other differences in this world, such as the suppression of the KKK before it could expand itself and Abraham Lincoln surviving his assassination attempt. We are also told that the White Skull survived, escaped jail and formed a hate group to take over America, which still exists to this day and is still fought by Stephen's descendants.

The inclusion of this version of the Watcher seems pointless since he only shows up in the beginning and ending of the issue. We are simply told that he can hack into the websites of other realities. No other explanation besides that. It would have been better to just use the normal version of Uatu the Watcher and have him narrate the issue to us.

There's almost no difference between Captain America here and the one in the main continuity. The only exception is how this version gets his powers. He's still the same old Steve Rogers we're all familiar with. The only major difference here is the identity of the White Skull and it serves as an unexpected reveal towards the story's conclusion, though we don't see much of him as the Skull before Cap takes him down.

The artwork here is shoddy and grimy. With the exception of the dream sequence and the Native American spirit, all of the art just looks terrible when reading. Characters look ugly and for the most part, with every expression on their face looking very unpleasant. The colors used are mostly dark with very few lighter shades being used. All of it makes the artwork feeling off and will make you want to stop reading because of the sheer hideousness on display.

With poor illustrations and an uninteresting story, this What If issue doesn't deserve to be read by anyone. You can easily ignore this one and read other, better stories where things take a different turn of events. more