This was an okay graphic novel for middle grade. It seemed a little disjointed and didn't flow very well. The artwork didn't seem as engaging for readers as well.

In a world threatened by climate change Jon Kent and Ian Wayne, sons of Superman and Batman, team up with Tilly and Candace to trace who is spreading disease, destruction, and sabotage to the Polarshield Project. Plenty of action, and a bit of cliffhanger that leaves room for volume 2.

'Super Sons: The Polarshield Project' by Ridley Pearson with art by Ile Gonzalez is a graphic novel for young people with familiar characters. Unfortunately, it's just not that great if you know these characters.

Jon (not Jonathan) Kent and Ian (not Damian) Wayne are an unlikely duo. When a rise in the earth's water table forces them to move to the same city, they both end up investigating a global conspiracy together. They meet a young girl named Candace who has strange powers and who may help or hinder them.

I have no problem with best selling authors writing comics, but if you are going to use well known characters, they should be familiar. This feels like the early days of comic book movies where Hollywood would do the same thing. It also feels like the author took no time to even read a few current issues of the comic book. What you end up with is a character with the same name who feels familiar, but just doesn't resonate. Maybe for a younger audience with less familiarity this would work, but the way the Super Sons is written now is far more interesting for young and old readers.

The art is digital and feels lifeless here. There isn't a lot to recommend here unless you've got a young one who will only read graphic novels.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Zoom, DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

The further development of Batman and Superman's sons is fun to read.
Does not correlate with the movies or the current DC universe, but still a great read.

DC's first foray into its new imprint for young children, DC Zoom, is unfortunately, a disappointment. I guess this is what happens when you have creators who know absolutely nothing about the characters write a comic book. The characterization is way off. Damian is an entitled rich kid who wants to be called Ian with none of his rich backstory, being the grandson of Ra's al Ghul. The story is incoherent at best. I can't believe Pearson has written like fifty children's books. I couldn't follow his story at all. This is set in the future where climate change is flooding the coasts. For some reason, kids in the unaffected cities hate the refugees from other cities calling them Flood Runners. What are they supposed to do, stay and drown? Characters have stupid pun names like Dr. Para Sol and Dr. Cray Ving. Para and Cray aren't even names! This is also not a complete story, but only part 1 even though that is not indicated anywhere in the title or cover.

The weak art is sloppy and unfinished looking, only somewhat saved by the coloring.

A muddled mess that won’t appeal to either audience, those who know the characters or those who don’t but are interested in second-generation heroes, because much of the appeal of the concept is ignored or run away from.

The book is full of bits and pieces that never jumble together into an actual story (or get resolved here). Flood walls are being sabotaged by a mysterious conspiracy, and protestors are against Wayne for not making them perfect. The nation’s capital is Coleumbria, where Superman is promptly sent into space for a suspicious science reason.

The book opens on, instead of any familiar character, the mysterious Candace (shown on the cover), who is secretly a princess with a magical tattoo and hereditary leader of the Five Fingers. This is never explained. Later in the book, she’s referred to as “an African queen or something”, which is not the most enlightened phrasing.

The art does what it needs to do but is static, with no sense of flow. The few costumed action scenes are minimal and hard to follow, with not enough space (either in page length or panel size) to show wonder or excitement. The colors aren’t bright but faded and dark.

The majority of the characters are generic in design. Jon Kent is adorable, but aside from his powers, the rest of the cast could have wandered in from some other “kids save the world” story. They don’t need to match the characters in the comics—it’s probably better, for a wider audience, that they don’t—but nothing much is done with the immense potential of the concept. None of the storylines conclude in this volume. It’s all setup and preparation for something interesting to happen at some later point.

I had an absolute blast reading Supersons: The Polarshield Project. This graphic novel did a great job introducing some new characters, and putting new spins on familiar ones. The threat happening was serious, and they would need to come together to stop it. A new character shrouded in mystery could be the key to stopping it, but there is still not much known about them as this story comes to a close. If you want to read a really exciting story then this is a graphic novel you will want to check out.

I've been waiting for these new DC titles for kids since they were first announced at ComicCon. This first one was a little disappointing for me. Maybe it's the graphic novel format - it's hard to hit the depth and details you can with a prose novel. But I felt there were story and character development gaps in this. Maybe the next book in the series will have a more rounded-out story.

Thank you Netgalley, Ridley Pearson, and CD Entertainment for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not a huge DC fan to begin with, but I generally like Batman as well as younger heroes (like the Teen Titans and Young Justice). So I was drawn to this by the fact that it features the sons of Batman and Superman, as well as introduces the reader to some new characters.

This graphic novel has a lovey introduction by the author about the excitement that comes with a project like this, but also coming from a non DC background attempting to incorporate these new characters into the DC universe.

The art is decent. I like the design for Jon Kent, but not so much for Damian "Ian" Wayne. The colors and character designs are simple, but in a good way. The reader is introduced to Candace, a supposed princess of some sort. How does she connect to our two super sons? Well, I guess you'll find out at the end, where there is some potential to this series.

So what is the Polar Shield Project? In this world, global warming has been a major natural disaster. Over the course of time, coastal cities have built walls to keep the water at bay, but the walls break, or aren't high enough, so all the people must relocate. The Polar Shield project is a plan to cover the planets atmosphere with a layer of dust that will help regulate the Earth's temperature. Superman gets to handle this one because they are using Mars dust (or something like that. I didn't follow it 100%)..

Meanwhile, Jon and Ian are complete opposites, yet find themselves drawn to each other through the ruffian crimes around them. They try to hide their relations to superheroes, but when Jon can lift pretty much anything, people tend to grow suspicious, you know?

Overall, a relatively quick and pleasant read. Only really recommend for younger readers or those who aren't too connected to the DC universe.

Fast paced and action packed, Super Sons: The Polarshield Project tackles family issues, climate change, and an evil force trying to create panic through inflicting illness.
After climate change has forced the population from Metropolis, Jon Kent and his mother Lois must travel to Wyndemere while Superman embarks on a dangerous mission to Mars to try and save the Earth. Once in Wyndemere, Jon must deal with a new school, bullies, and a shaky alliance with Ian Wayne, son of Bruce Wayne. Along with his new friend Tilly and the mysterious Candace, Jon and Ian must work together to save Wyndemere from a deadly illness.
With great artwork and plenty of action to keep the pages turning, The Polarshield Project is a terrific start to a new series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this advance title. All opinions are my own.

I'm digging this graphic novel. It was so much fun! A good choice for boys and girls. Perfect for independent readers.

I'm not a big fan of graphic novels, but this one caught my eye because of the author, Ridley Pearson. I really liked the art work, which was vivid and dark, which totally matched the dystopian future feel to the book. I had no background story for the characters, so I was a little lost there, but the story of trying to live up to your family's legacy as well as find a place for yourself seemed like a common theme. I think the kids will like the story's fast pace as well as the variety of characters in the story.

While I was excited for this particular novel, as a fan of the original Super Sons run in Rebirth, I felt ultimately let down. The author's unfamiliarity with the DC canon felt like a detriment and I missed a lot of the kids' interactions with their respective dads as well as the shaky grounds on which Damian or "Ian" and Jon formed their friendship. Hopefully the sequel will cover more of their friendship and family moments, but I don't think this series will be for me.

In this middle grade book we meet the young sons of Batman and Superman and they team up to save the world. We also meet characters like Candace (shown on the front cover and probably a major player in the story) and Tilly (not shown on the cover), but we learn very little about them. The bits we do learn are confusing. The book bounces around quite a bit adding to my confusion. I feel there are elements of a good story in there, but it hasn’t gotten there yet. Perhaps with additional books out in the series pieces will start to fit together. Artwork is okay. Story line is mostly okay. Character development is found lacking. The author freely admits to not knowing the DC universe and it shows.

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I appreciate having had an opportunity to read and review this book. The appeal of this particular book was not evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review I prefer simply to advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.

So, the Polar Caps have nearly melted, flooding a lot of this world's fictional US.

Bruce Wayne's company has built leevees, but, even those are being stressed to the max. And then comes this Polar Shield Project that will supposedly raise the temperatures again. But, is there something else going on too?

Jon and Ian (don't call him Damian) are on the case. With the help of Tilly and Candace too.

At the beginning there was a warning about how the characters would be different (I assume Ridley Pearson wanted to make them his own, or maybe it was DC's idea) But, even with the warning it was still a little jarring for this lifelong DC reader. Some of the TPB just felt totally off to me. Maybe I'll read it again and see if that feeling goes away.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to DC Entertainment.

Brace yourselves, I have opinions here. Look, I loved Tomasi's Super Sons, ok? And this new series is spitting on everything that made Super Sons great. Damian "Ian" Wayne (whose hatred of his given name is never explained, nor why on earth he would have been given such a white bread nickname in the first place) is a jerk -- which, yes, he's a jerk in every continuity, but he doesn't have Damian's redeeming qualities. We don't get to see his love of animals, or his desire to please his father, or his conflicted relationship with his mother, or anything at all with his siblings. He's a disrespectful asshole to Patience, who has replaced Alfred (is Alfred dead in this continuity?) and is just overall really unappealing. Other people have already written about the initial whitewashing of his character design, and while his skin tone is darker than was shown in previews, that's literally all that was done to fix the problem. Jon Kent is introduced in a scene where he's *complaining about his parents helping people*, and if there's a bigger misunderstanding of his character in all of the DC Universe, I'd like to know what it is. Then there are two new female characters who get almost zero introduction and they're fighting over Jon's attention because why would you have TWO girls in a story if not so they can fight over a boy. The actual plot is a mess. I'm all in favor of raising awareness of climate change but this book is terrible. The art is the one redeeming quality -- as mentioned above, I'm not crazy about Damian's character design but overall there's a coherent sort of cartoony style that works for this age group.

I always enjoy reading About the two most well known superheroes off springs . This one is timely and has an environmental crisis that needs to be solved . They become friends with Candace who has a mystery of her own . Enjoyable story and stellar artwork . This story is perfect for younger readers as well as hard core DC fans

The overall story for Super Sons was interesting, but there was too much going on to follow all the threads and it was very choppy (maybe NetGalley has a bad version - it was so choppy I almost believe that). The female characters were bland enough to be forgettable, I can't remember either of their names. We only view the "African Princess" background story through one or two lines, and that was probably one of the most interesting parts of this whole book. Who are the 5? Who was her mother? How much does she know, and how does she get her memories back?

The sons of Superman and Batman meet up in this Cli-Fi graphic novel. In a world where the polar ice caps have already melted and tons of refugees from flooded areas have to be resettled, tensions are running high. Many who live in the areas where "floodies" are relocating feel resentful and angry at the crowding and strain on resources. With Clark, Lois, and Bruce off to investigate matters, the kids are left in town and decide to do some research of their own.

In this version of the DC Universe, Ian Wayne and Jon Kent don't know each other. But they manage to find each other at school and begin an adventure looking into recent outbreaks of a strange flu that lands people in the hospital with a coma. Could there be a link between the victims and can a few kids working on the school newspaper find it? Jon and intern Tilly meet up with Ian and the mysterious Candace, who is researching old legends related to the legacy her mother left her.

With the adults out of town, or out of commission, can four kids with various skills uncover a widespread conspiracy and stop the damage before it is too late?

Both young men wrestle with the responsibility of their abilities. Jon has promised not to use his strength to fight or to hurt others. Ian has all the wealth and resources of Wayne Enterprises at his command, but will he use them ethically? And what will Candace do with her legacy? Her mother told her that, "Power is nothing without compassion." What power was she referring to and does Candace now have it?

There are multiple threads of intrigue and storyline to keep readers guessing and coming back for more. There is also plenty of humor. For instance, Ian's secret identity as BatKid complete with a baseball bat and a baseball studded with nails for weapons. "BatKid. Isn't it obvious?" he asks.

Recommended for readers middle grade and up who enjoy superheroes and graphic novels.