Action Comics #34 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder & Scott Kolins (art), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: Brainstorms aren’t always good things and this one seems to prove it.

The Review: Recently, I’ve thought that if we could just move past the Doomsday stuff, Doomed might be a pretty decent storyline. I’m glad I stuck to my guns in saying there’s nothing further to develop with Doomsday, not even in the body of Superman, because that’s largely turned out to be the case. Obviously, it’s not terrific that it took an excruciating number of issues to make that clear, but the important thing is we’ve finally gotten past that.

The way I see it, the story of Doomed only truly started once Brainiac started flatlining everybody on the planet, sparing neither superhero or supervillain, yet keeping them all alive for purposes we can only speculate to. Doesn’t that sound a lot more interesting than “Superman infected by Doomsday virus”? Now we’re talking about a legitimate global disaster that requires a proportionate response, which is going to be hard to come by when the threat is actually bigger than the planet itself.

Action Comics Annual #3 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Oh, now we’re going to clean up the atmosphere?

The Review: I expressed some annoyance with how Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1 shifted the details of a major plot point—Batman’s dispersal of the kryptonite in the atmosphere—to a different annual altogether. I’m no less irritated going into the annual in question, which is not a great attitude to come from. I just don’t like the idea of forcing readers to buy all kinds of extraneous issues to keep apace with a story.

Anyway, once you set those feelings aside, this annual is about as decent as its sibling, and in the grand scheme of things, far more necessary. S/WWA #1 was really about Diana stalling Clark long enough for Bruce to do his work (and Steel’s potential crush on Lana); you can live without seeing that. Anyway, Pak does the courtesy of repeating the essentials for you: the arrival of Brainaic’s first wave of attack, the other heroes’ difficulty in dealing with it, and Brainiac’s big momma-ship pulling beside Earth at the end. You get all this and the most important happenings in the arc as well.

Action Comics #33 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder (art), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: As if Doomsday isn’t enough of a problem, now there’s mass narcolepsy going on.

The Review:
Last time we visited this storyline, I said that I was on the verge of giving it up, a proposition I was only half-joking about. I just couldn’t bear the idea of buying three comics a month for however long this arc lasted, knowing I wouldn’t really enjoy them. At least with Transformers, I only kind of knew I wouldn’t like it. But after dropping Batman/Superman, economic considerations aren’t as pressing anymore, and admittedly, Pak’s starting to take the story in an interesting direction.

Don’t get me wrong; the Doomsday Superman stuff is incurably dull. There’s little psychological gold to mine from Clark’s mental war with his Doomsday conscience; it’s your typical angel-devil set-up, but with superheroes. You also doubt that Clark will ever fully succumb to his destructive urges because once he does that, even involuntarily or by accident, it’s over for Superman—either that, or everyone, including Clark, will need to have a short memory. You might as well flip the page every time you see a craggy-faced Clark.

Action Comics #31 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder & Cameron Stewart (art), Rafa Sandoval (pencils), Vicente Cifuentes (inks), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: Looks like someone’s gonna have to start the Cure Doomsday Disease Foundation—and fast.

The Review: If you’ve read my reviews of Action Comics and Superman/Wonder Woman
from the last couple months, you’ll know that I haven’t exactly been looking forward to the Doomed arc; been actively dreading it, really. Despite many assurances from Pak and other writers involved that this will be a Doomsday story unlike other Doomsday stories, Doomsday itself is just so flat an antagonist that no story in which it features seems likely to be that compelling.

If there’s any success to be had from this storyline, then, it’ll be by removing Doomsday from the picture altogether. You don’t even really get to see him in this issue at all, his appearance apparently limited to Doomed #1, an issue which I never picked up. That’s one of the more irritating hazards of a crossover event, but fortunately, Pak helps us out using a tool from his Marvel days: a recap page, in the form of a Daily Planet printing, which tells us that after a Herculean effort, Superman defeated Doomsday in Smallville for the second time,* though he may have inhaled a bit of the monster’s spore-like remains in the process.

Action Comics #30 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder, Jed Dougherty, Karl Kerschl (art), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: Clark is haunted by the ghosts of not-home-for-Christmas past.

The Review: I’ve made my opinion about Doomsday very clear, and nothing that’s been done with the character since the relaunch has given me reason to change my mind. And as far as Death of Superman goes, its prominence in comic book history is far out of proportion to its actual quality. So, yeah, I’m not looking forward to a new Doomsday story, no matter how much the writers insist, almost desperately, this is not DoS,
redux.

That insistence comes through clearly in this issue’s opening pages, when Pak claims (via Tower Control), “This may not be the same old Doomsday after all…” What? Just because he killed two innocent civilians indirectly instead of with his own bare hands? Had Pak left it at just that, you definitely wouldn’t have much reason to put too much stock in the upcoming Doomed. The last page reveal of a mutated, probably evolved Doomsday is more promising, but solely eye-candy at this point.

Action Comics #29 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder (art), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: Usually, it’s the ghosts that chill you.

The Review: As you can probably tell, I was not thrilled by Batman/Superman’s first annual.  Indeed, the sheer senselessness of most of its moving parts threw me but good, almost leaving me cringing from its poor construction.  The situation’s even more mind-boggling when you turn to this issue of Action Comics and find inside what can only be described as an exemplary sample of superhero writing.  How does this divergence happen?  Hell if I know.

But enough of dredging up day-old grievances.  What really matters is that Pak has gone and done the near impossible, an almost Geoff Johnsian feat: finding a voice for Clark that is at once true to the traditional core of his character, yet also young, entirely at home in our time.  At one point, he delivers one of those famous Superman lectures to Ghost Soldier, with a personal conviction and intensity that makes it less preachy but more than a rant:

Action Comics #28 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder (art), Wil Quintana (colors)

The Story: Every farm girl should be so lucky to have Superman for a slave.

The Review: I don’t often talk about covers, but the one Kuder made for this issue really stuck out to me: Superman, flying—no, blasting out of an exploding light, one arm stretched up in flight, the other rigid and clenched into a fist, his face tight and focused but with no hostility.  It’s so classically Superman-ish.  Aside from the high collar and missing underpants, this is a Man of Steel even past readers would immediately recognize.

That seems to be the trademark of Pak’s run on this series: bringing Superman back to his roots while keeping him updated for the pleasure of a contemporary audience.  The pre-relaunch Superman was noble and virtuous, but also kind of a stick in the mud.  His PG-rated personality often seemed to make him incapable of relating to a population that grew more audacious every year.  Unfortunately, the Superman post-relaunch lost a bit too much of what made him a beloved icon, putting him at risk of becoming too much like any other modern superhero: powerful, aggressive, and snarky.  We can thank Pak for stopping that trend before it completely takes root.

Action Comics #27 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder & Mike Hawthorne (art), R.B. Silva (pencils), Ray McCarthy (inks), Dan Brown & Eva de la Cruz (colors)

The Story: All those stories about mole people are finally proven true—except worse.

The Review: As I said in my review of Superman Unchained #5, I’m not of the camp that believes Clark Kent should have a completely happy-go-lucky childhood—emphasis on “completely.”  Done right, a little pathos makes the boy Clark seem even closer to us, like when his super-hearing kicks in and he catches his parents mentioning he’s “not human[.]”  How many of us had an experience of overhearing what we shouldn’t and the massive anxiety it produced?

So, yes, a little rain has fallen into Clark’s early life, but hey—rain is a good thing, and the sun that comes out afterward more than redeems it.  Jonathan and Martha, like the awesome parents they are, quickly notice the sad changes in their son and decide to fix things with the truth, rather than let the secret fester.  Clark’s initial reaction to his extraterrestrial legacy is naturally rendered, rejecting it even as he reaches out for it, but his parents’ gesture leaves a lasting impact on his values: “Love?  Yeah.  From the parents who wrapped me in the blanket…and the parents who saved it for me.”

Action Comics #26 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder (art), June Chung (colors)

The Story: Superman, this is no time to play fetch with the rampaging monster!

The Review: Last month I expressed bafflement over what I took to be a back-up feature in Pak’s debut issue on Action Comics.  Now that I see that little ditty was just the springboard for his first true arc, I don’t know whether I should be feeling chagrin, embarrassment, or validation over my earlier remarks.  While the folks who caught #25 will be glad to get right into the action, those who skipped it will have missed out on some important logistical groundwork.

Not that important, though, which makes you think the only reason Pak put his prologue in #25 was to get some additional breathing space here.  The trade-off pays off, as Pak delivers a tale of heartfelt action-adventure worthy of our star.  While the issue starts off in typically superhero fashion—Superman warding off a giant underground cave monster—it quickly takes on shades of light comedy, human drama, and sci-fi reminiscent of All-Star Superman.  Weirdly enough, it feels more like All-Star Superman than even Grant Morrison’s beginning run on this series.

Action Comics #25 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder (art), Arif Prianto (colors)

The Story: The perfect man encounters the perfect storm.

The Review: There are a lot of similarities in the way Pak begins his Action Comics run to John Layman’s start on Detective Comics.  Both writers have achieved name-recognition and respect in the industry, but haven’t yet reached the household status that Scott Snyder, Geoff Johns, or Gail Simone have.  Nevertheless, they’ve each been entrusted with one of DC’s longest running anchor titles, starring its biggest icons.

And like Layman, Pak finds himself working with a crossover event early on.  Fortunately for him, circumstances are a little kinder than they were to Layman.*  Although you can’t help raising an eyebrow at Zero Year reaching as far as the Super-family of titles, it does give Pak an excuse to start out in Clark’s formative years, which he already has some experience doing.  The only downside is his first issue won’t necessarily set the tone for the rest of his run, given how different the Clark of the T-shirt days is from his fully-outfitted, present-day counterpart.

Elephantmen #25 – Review

By: Richard Starkings (writer), art by various

The Story: In a recap of sorts, we follow the inner monologue of one of Hip and Ebony’s fellow agents at the Information Agency, as he reflects on the history of the Elephantmen.

What’s Good: I love Elephantmen, but this is the first really good “jumping on point” issue that has come out since the series started.  It gives a nice recap of the series to date, complete with lots of footnotes to previous issues if you want to know more.  Of course, you’d be better off buying the trades or tracking down the back issues, but if you refuse to do that, this issue will get you pretty well caught up before spending the last 2 pages introducing the ominous new story arc that will carry this series for the near future (which looks like a lot of fun, btw).

The other hook on this anniversary issue is that it is drawn with 25 splash pages, each by a different artist.  In some ways, this issue is a little like having an Elephantmen themed sketch-book.  Not surprisingly, my favorite page was by Ladronn who is probably most responsible for the look of the series.