Action Comics #901 – Review

By: Paul Cornell (writer), Kenneth Rocafort & Jesus Merino (artists), Brad Anderson (colorist)

The Story: To kill five Super-people, of course you need five Doomsdays, right?

The Review: In my review of Superboy #6, I described Doomsday as a shallow character who no one cared (or at least, I didn’t) much to see again, a statement worth elaborating on given how this issue plays out.  Doomsday, for all the hype surrounding him, simply exists as a means to endanger Superman, that’s all.  D-day has little thought or depth to his character, and almost no potential to be anything more than a convenient way to threaten Superman.

Small wonder then Cornell’s previously excellent writing on this series has devolved along with the class of villain featured in this storyline.  Mind-boggling as it is to believe, the script comes off generic—at best!—and confusing, a big step down from the thoughtful, elaborate, and witty material we’ve been used to getting when Lex Luthor ran this title.  Cornell even descends to moments of melodrama: “Lois, I will find my way back to you!”

It’s hard to tell whether the confusion of this issue comes more from the almost absolute lack of direction (the Super-family literally don’t know how to get out of the starship) or from the puzzling motivations of the characters, like Superman choosing to drag Doomsday along with them because he’s “worried the other Doomsdays might harm it.”  Why exactly would they harm essentially the source of their creation?  And how can the original Doomsday get harmed by his lesser-powered clones anyway?

There’s a lot of chattiness in this issue, yet without much purpose to the chatter except to kill time before we can claw our way to getting this storyline over with.  It really shows how the characters have no idea what to do with themselves.  Eradicator: “—this looks like a language…  If we could start to translate it…”  Superman: “Yes, that should be part of our long-term plans.”  The implication they could be staying here for much longer is enough to make you wince.

Action Comics #900 – Review

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

The Story: Lex Luthor is about to bring fun, love, and joy to all the people of the universe—the crazy part is I am being totally serious right now.

The Review: Say what you like about Superman: he can be overly naïve, overbearingly preachy, arguably antiquated, and a hopeless optimist.  But any character who can support a title through 900 issues is doing something right.  This unassailable milestone is evidence that Superman remains a deeply embedded icon in our culture.  To be rid of him, our society would have to drastically change—and not necessarily for the better, as this issue demonstrates.

Paul Cornell wisely downplays the Big Blue’s return to his original title to finish off his epic Lex Luthor storyline in grand fashion.  In attempting to break down Superman by forcing him to experience the depths of human emotion, Lex reveals his own under-appreciation for humanity.

Superman already knows more about being human than most of us ever will, while Lex’s quest for his own divinization constantly sets him apart from his fellow man.  He squanders his chance to bless the universe with true, eternal bliss and gain ultimate power by his need to irrevocably prove himself superior to Clark Kent, best man of Smallville, of all people.

The grandeur of this plot gets blemished by the constant distractions from the Reign of Doomsday storyline, which seems obviously forced on Cornell.  He tries to accommodate it as best he can by using it as Lex’s “bait” to get Superman to come to him, but even so it comes off a clumsy, ill-conceived, far more superficial plotline (a grim portent of the material we’ll be getting in upcoming issues) in comparison to Superman confronting a godlike Luthor in space.