Superman: American Alien #4
DC Comics
Written by: Max Landis
Art by: Jae Lee
Color by: June Chung
A lot happened in this issue so I’m just going to cover the broad strokes. Clark is in Metropolis covering the Cerberus Summit alongside Lois Lane after winning a contest. Oliver Queen recognizes Clark as billionaire Bruce Wayne and takes him via helicopter to Lexcorp. On the ride Clark comes clean about who he is and manages to score an interview with a changed Oliver Queen. After arriving at Lexcorp, Clark scores an exclusive with Lex Luthor thanks to Mr. Queen. Luthor gives a long speech about his importance leaving Clark at the “Lexcorp Kidz-Zone.” Irritated He runs into a young Dick Grayson who’s suspicious of Clark but gives him a small scoop on Wayne and his opinion on the Batman. The issue ends with Clark being ambushed by Batman while writing his story and discovering who’s really under the mask.
Max Landis has written my favorite Superman to date. His unique perspective and voice for the character shine through in every issue. More 
specifically though the way he evolves the characters in every issue especially this one taking time to really show us who they are is wonderfully done. Landis has a masterful way of taking a character and introducing the reader to a part of them that’s always there but they may not always be seen. The art by Jae Lee is wonderful to say the least. Each artist so far has fit perfectly with the story being told and Lee is no exception. His incredible attention to detail for me, added depth to the characters we got to know, adding extra dimension to their dialogue.
From his beautiful city backgrounds to a shadow of Clark, Lee’s art was perfect for this issue. There’s also a huge amount of texture that I didn’t notice until my third read through. I’m really not sure who credit goes to for that but Jae Lee and June Chung (colorist) both did incredible work for this issue. Chung’s vibrant, warm, color choices blending into dark blacks to create even brighter sun-like reflections is superb. Her mixture of blues and purples for background in Clark’s talk with Grayson are stunning as well.
Once again American Alien has maintained its place as one of my favorite series coming out of DC. To write this review is incredibly difficult because part of me wants to write about the series so far when I need to focus on a single issue. Number four unlike other issues seemed to focus more on bringing other characters to the light and showing us how some of Clark’s relationships would develop in the future. I enjoyed this issue each time I read it just like I’ve enjoyed each issue previous to it. The one page comic of Parasites origin illustrated by Steve Dillon was wonderful and my favorite so far. If you haven’t read the previous issues you’re really missing out on an excellent series.