Action Comics #6

I still have a lot of early New 52 books to read. I'm on the #5's and #6's with most of the titles that I kept following. I read up to #7 on most of those, and that was when I realized that the comics were stacking up unread again and I stopped buying them regularly.

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 6
Date: April 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison, Sholly Fisch
Penciler: Andy Kubert, Chriscross
Inker: John Dell, Chriscross
Colorist: Brad Anderson, Jose Villarrubia
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau, Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: Rags Morales, Brad Anderson

Superman gets some help from time-traveling members of the Legion of Superheroes to deal with a threat that is hiding in plain sight. This story had a lot going on, and a ton of plot twists. Some of the paths taken to get to the end were a bit awkward and overly complicated, but the good moments were really good, including a really awesome Superboy/Legion ending.

Backup story is another look into the past. This time, it's Clark Kent's last day in Smallville before heading to college. It's sweet and sentimental, with some amusing bits of dialogue.

This was worth the slogging through all of the time-travel silliness.

Rating: 8/10

Action Comics #5

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 5
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison, Sholly Fisch
Penciler: Andy Kubert, Chriscross
Inker: Jesse Delperdang, Chriscross
Colorist: Brad Anderson, Jose Villarrubia
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau, Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: Rags Morales, Brad Anderson

Variant cover is pictured.

This issue is almost entirely made up of retellings of bits of the Superman origin story. It's effective, but not terribly groundbreaking. There's some retconning, of course, but again, nothing that is all that shocking.

When we finally get into current plot, it's a messy time travel story that doesn't really go in any direction except toward the needlessly complicated.

Backup story is more Superman origin stuff, this time focusing on Jon and Martha Kent in the early years of their marriage and their struggles with infertility. It's generally good, although it very quickly goes down the path of "everything happens for a purpose" which is pretty much the least interesting thematic direction this could have been taken in.

All of that being said, there are some good details throughout the issue, and it does a nice job of laying seeds for future stories.

Rating: 5.5/10

Action Comics #4

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 4
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison, Sholly Fisch
Penciler: Rags Morales, Brad Walker
Inker: Rick Bryant, Sean Parsons, Brad Walker
Colorist: Brad Anderson, Jay David Ramos
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau, Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: Rags Morales, Brad Anderson

In the midst of a full-scale robot invasion, the people of Metropolis begin to realize that Superman is one of the good guys. I particularly liked Clark's reaction to the police who try to arrest him (As a huge robot looms over them: "Slap on the bracelets, boys. Otherwise, stand back and let me do my job.").

The alien force behind the robot invasion is the same force that "collected" Kandor. Now it's grabbing a significant chunk of Metropolis (including Lois Lane). Meanwhile Superman has his own problems in the form of John Wayne Corben AKA Metallo.

But Superman has some backup too. As it turns out, Corben isn't the only guy named John who can put on a suit of armor.

Steel gets the backup feature, and his introduction is handled in short-and-sweet style that integrates nicely into the overall plot. And references back to the original tale of John Henry are always fun in Steel's stories.

Rating: 7.5/10

Action Comics #3

So, of course, after a weekend of running bonus reviews to get back on track toward 365 in 2012, I get hit with a stomach flu and a major malware problem simultaneously. I'm recovering, and so is my PC. So onward with the reviews!

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Penciler: Rags Morales, Gene Ha
Inker: Rick Bryant, Gene Ha
Colorist: Brad Anderson, Art Lyon
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: Rags Morales, Brad Anderson

The third issue of the new Action Comics gives us our first look at Krypton, focusing on the destruction (well, shrinking, I suppose) of Kandor, rather than the fate of the planet Krypton itself. The scene give a few interesting new insights, including a link to some of the current villains in the main timeline, but it's also presented as something of a confusing jumble of telepathic chatter that detracts more than it enlightens.

Things get better when we get back to Clark Kent, who gets in some great lines ("You need to be the cop you wanted to be when you were a kid."), while making classic amateur superhero blunders, and questioning his own path in the face of an onslaught of bad press from corrupt media tycoon Glen Glenmorgan (doing his very best J. Jonah Jameson; all we needed was "Superman: Threat or Menace?" on the cover of the Planet).

Most awesome detail in this issue? A glimpse inside Clark's perfectly organized sock drawer! Ha!

The ending brings the issue full circle with the origin of Metallo and a robotic invasion all connected back to Kandor.

Everything worked but the opening scene.

Rating: 7/10

Action Comics #2

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 2
Date: December 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Penciler: Rags Morales, Brent Anderson
Inker: Rick Bryant, Brent Anderson
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: Rags Morales, Brad Anderson

Still in the "Superman Year One" mode. The military has captured Superman following last issue's train collision, and Lex Luthor is in charge of giving the Man of Steel a little taste of what Dick Cheney liked to call "enhanced interrogation techniques". In this case, it involves an electric chair. When Luthor is done with that, he plans to try some fluoroantimonic acid (Which is actually pretty cool stuff! Wikipedia it! I did!). And speaking of chemistry, Clark gets the best line of the series with this exchange:

Luthor: Does the word 'Krypton' mean anything to you?
Superman: Noble gas... Number 36...

Oh, hey! It's John Henry Irons! We also get to see General Lane (who gets a visit from his daughter, who's on the trail of the captured Superman). Also introduced is John Corben, who has some past romantic history with Lois.

Not surprisingly, the army doesn't hold Superman captive for long, but the story had lots of good details and little plot developments along the way to its inevitable ending. A major revelation about Lex Luthor sets the stage very nicely for some future storylines.

This was good. Superman is still "super" but a bit more limited than in some past versions. The young, inexperienced, and slightly cocky attitude is refreshing, while still maintaining the underlying potential to grow into the familiar heroic persona. The supporting cast had plenty to do and the action was fun and clever.

Backup feature is picture-essay with the creative team discussing character and prop design and it's a pretty interesting read, especially the revelations about their inspirations from very early Superman stories.

I've neglected to mention this in a few previous reviews, but all of the New 52 #2's contain a preview of the Christmas-themed Batman graphic novel, Batman: Noel. The artwork is gorgeous, but there isn't much you can make out as far a plot goes. It appears to be a variation on Dicken's A Christmas Carol.

Rating: 7.5/10

Action Comics #1

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 1
Date: November 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Penciler: Rags Morales
Inker: Rick Bryant
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Alex Sinclair

The first Action Comics #1 since 1938! I'm still disappointed that the series won't go to #1000, but as I've mentioned before I understand how DC felt that the renumbering would only be seen as a true relaunch if they renumbered all their titles, including the "big number" books like Action and Detective.

I bought the variant cover version with Jim Lee's artwork, which is actually taken from a (really good) splash page in Justice League #1 (my review of that issue is here).

What we have here is a new take on Superman. He's younger, and clearly inexperienced. He's also got a solid case of cynicism for the legal system, and a cocky and arrogant attitude, particularly toward the Metropolis Police Department. Detective Blake: "We used to have laws in this town. Like gravity." Ha!

The opening scene has him pulling a Batman-style stunt of dropping a white-collar criminal off of building ledge and catching him just before impact to force a (clearly inadmissible!) confession.

Superman's powers have also been scaled back considerably. He's a lot more vulnerable to harm (although still tough enough to take a shot from a tank's main gun).

As for villains, we've got a decent (and pretty much by-the-book) portrayal of Lex Luthor working as a consultant for General Lane (Lois' father). Oh, and the other major adversary in this issue is a bullet train (emphasis on "bullet").

A lot of people probably won't like Superman's new cocky attitude. I didn't think I would. But I did find myself enjoying this portrayal of the character, particularly if the direction we're going in is toward a some growth and maturing. The villains were spot-on (bonus points for Luthor's reference to the brown tree snake and the cane toad!). I liked Clark's interaction with his landlady, who seems like a good supporting character, and I liked his vibe with Jimmy Olsen. There was also a fun scene where some bystanders came to Superman's aid against the military.

The ending sequence was visually pretty cool, but I was a bit lost on the logic behind the scene, which involved a bomb on a train for no reason that I could figure out. It looked like this was a case of trying to fit too much material into a limited number of pages. Something had to get rushed. The ending cliffhanger was still pretty effective, with an great visual.

Rating: 7/10