Superman: Dawnbreaker by Matt de la Pena is a story about Clark Kent before he became Superman. Superman: Dawnbreaker is the 4th book in the DC Icons series. The DC Icon is a series written for Young Adults that features a DC hero or villain before they become costumed. In Superman: Dawnbreaker, Clark Kent is 17 and attends Smallville High School. He has the powers of strength and speed. Throughout the book, he develops X-ray vision, cold breath, flight, and heat vision. This is how the TV series Smallville started, and Smallville did it so much better. I did not like Superman: Dawnbreaker I did not think it brought anything new or clever. The book does social commentary on the status of immigrants in America, but it is very sloppy. I thought the book was going to tie in that Superman is an immigrant too, but it doesn’t do that. The book features one Mexican family that seems to have no Mexican heritage at all. The Family owns a restaurant in town that is an American Diner. A plot point involves a vote on a stop and frisk law that targets minorities. Additionally, Mexicans are disappearing. I have no problem with agenda writing but make it work to fit the story. The pacing of the story is slow until the end. The ending was the best part of the book, it was exciting and emotional. The ending had one twist that worked very well and shocked Clark. Superman: Dawnbreaker was published on March 5, 2019.

Plot Summary: Clark Kent is walking home. He gets pressured to rejoin the football team, which he was on as a Freshman. They want him to play in a game, but he is worried he would injure someone. Clark says no but before he can get pressured more a crazed bald man looks to cause harm. The man gets away as he saves a footballer and injures him in the process. Clark is back on the Kent farm. He saves a helicopter from crashing on the farm. The helicopter had two kids from the richest man in Smallville. Clark befriends the youngest son. He uses this opportunity to learn more about the father. Lana Lang suspects the father is doing bad things. She works for the school paper and wants a story on why he keeps buying up all the farmland. Clark meets the son at a local diner where a girl Clark is smitten with Gloria works for her family. Clark notices she is upset and asks why, and she reveals Mexican Americans are disappearing. Clark tells Lana this. He cannot find any evidence. Soon, the investigation into the richest man in Smallville draws some parallels. Clark also finds a group hidden in the shadow. They try to break into his farm. This is where a meteor crater once was. What could they be looking for?

What I Liked: I liked the sexual tension between Lana and Clark, even if they never acted on it. The scene where Clark uses his powers to create an ice skating in Spring. That scene was very well done. The ending was emotional, there’s a twist with someone Clark thought he could trust. I did like how Kryptonite was used in the story.

What I Disliked: The sloppy handling of the immigrant crisis in the story. The book tries to set up a mystery about who the villains are. However, it was pretty easy to find out. The character of Lex Luthor was handled very poorly, did not like the way he was written at all. I did not like that it specified the missing were Mexican. This detail made the villain appear racist. All they wanted were more members of society who they thought would not be missed. I still can’t believe they did not connect that Superman was an immigrant, it is a pretty obvious connection. People not recognizing Clark as Superman at the end was hard to believe. He just started wearing glasses maybe a day or two days before he wore the costume. Also in this story, once the costume is on it doesn’t come off, like Clark can not take it off.

Recommendation: Superman: Dawnbreaker is a bad book. A Superman story should be a nice fun read but this book was not fun. The agenda writing was so poorly done. Superman: Dawnbreaker is the weakest of the DC Icons that I have read. Please read the excellent Harley Quinn Series. Harley Quinn: Reckoning and Harley Quinn: Ravenous are both excellent and very well written. Batman: Nightwalker was just okay but way better than Superman: Dawnbreaker.

Rating: Superman: Dawnbreaker 1.5 out of 5. The ending saved this book from being a total 1-star book.

Ranking: I have read 4 books in the DC Icon series. I have ranked them in order from favorite to least favorite: 1) Harley Quinn: Reckoning, 2) Harley Quinn: Ravenous, 3) Batman: Nightwalker, and 4) Superman: Dawnbreaker.