Scans_Daily

He's POTENTIALLY tragic, definitely: a few-sentence summary of his history reads that way, assuming it condenses his more or less aimless misdeeds. But in practice, there's been almost nothing to the character but rage and cruelty for a while now, and I don't see that changing as long as he's Johns's baby.

Johns seems convinced that the shock value of a Superboy lookalike gone completely bonkers sadistic evil is hugely entertaining on its own, that it doubles as some kind of statement against grimdark stories instead of a primary example of them, and that a stream of angry fanboy talk within the fourth wall is just too funny to interrupt with characterization.

Against the odds, this formula more or less worked in Legion of 3 Worlds (probably because such a crowded story needed a villain of a very simple nature in order to maintain any narrative focus), but every time it looks like SBP might evolve somehow, he crashes against that formula and his personality resets. It's like he's up against another wall of time, except this time the wall is punching him.