Action Comics #815

May 8, 2004

Quick Rating: Below Average
Title: Superman Versus Gog: End Times

Superman and Gog throw down in Smallville… can the Teen Titans turn the tide?

Writer: Chuck Austen
Pencils: Ivan Reis
Inks: Marc Campos
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover Art: Arthur Adams
Publisher: DC Comics

And the soap opera begins.

I’ve never made a secret of how dissatisfied I was with Chuck Austen’s work on X-Men and Captain America, but I’ve tried very hard not to let that color my judgment of his Action Comics run. I’ve tried not to let that make me harsher than I ordinarily would be, and I’ve looked very hard at this comic, but there’s no way I can juggle these elements that doesn’t fall apart on every other page.

With the news that Doomsday is on the loose, Superman sends three of the Teen Titans to Smallville to hunt for him. (Problems #1 and #2 right off the bat – why would Doomsday go to Smallville in the first place and why would Superman send three kids, even Superboy, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl, to look for a monster strong enough to kill him? Problem #3 comes in when you realize the Titans are walking around Smallville in costume for no apparent reason. This is all in the first panel, mind you.) Instead of Doomsday, though, another foe inexplicably attacks the small town – Gog.

Back in Metropolis, Clark Kent is in a screaming match with his wife over the phone asking the question everybody else was asking last issue: why didn’t she tell him that Perry White had demoted him? One can accept the premise that she wanted to give Perry the chance to tell him himself, but we learn this issue that she knew it for two weeks – you can’t accept that Lois would keep such a secret for that long without telling Clark or confronting Perry. We then meet Clark’s replacement, a character whose reputation has been built as a sleazy television tabloid reporter, so naturally he’s earned a spot on the Daily Planet staff.

The actual fight scene, in fairness, has a few high points. Superman taking charge of the Titans is a nice bit of characterization, but he then proceeds to throw off one-liners that would have seemed appropriate coming from Spider-Man but are totally out of place for the man of steel. Then, when he’s got his villain on the ropes, he stands there and cracks jokes instead of delivering the knockout blow, behavior one expects from a grade-b supervillain, but not from Superman. It’s also particularly amusing that the same Superman who makes jokes about clichéd villain dialogue is the one who, earlier in the issue, actually shouted the phrase “Don’t start that, okay? Don’t make this my fault,” while arguing with his wife.

Thank God for Ivan Reis and Marc Campos. These guys draw, hands-down, the best Superman I’ve seen in years. He looks strong and powerful without lapsing into the cartoonish the way other recent artists have, and they do a fine job with the Titans as well (I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing them do a run on that title sometime). The fight with Gog and the resulting debris look really good. In fact, if one were to review this comic merely on artwork and not on dialogue, it would be easy to give it an almost perfect score.

Unfortunately, the story factors heavily into it, and there are just too many holes in it to possibly recommend. Austen has no grasp on the characters or on logical plotting, and the comic book suffers exponentially because of it. I really do want to enjoy this title. Superman is my favorite character and I want his titles to succeed. But I can’t see that happening in the near future.

Rating: 4/10

DC Universe Holiday Special 2008

December 23, 2008

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: The Man in Red and other stories

A series of seasonal tales from across the DC Universe!

Writers: Sterling Gates, Matt Cherniss, Peter Johnson, Dan Didio, Paul Dini, Joe Kelly, Franco Aureliani, Art Baltazar, J.C. Vaughan, Amanda McMurray, Rex Ogle, Alan Burnett, Adam Schlagman
Pencils: Karl Kerschl, Ivan Reis, Ian Churchill, Dustin Nguyen, Mick Bertilorenzi, Tim Levins, Lee Garbett, Rafael Albuquerque, Michael J. Dimotta, Kevin Maguire, Rodolfo Migliari
Inks: Joe Prado, Dan Davis, Trevor Scott
Colors: Pete Pantazis, Rod Reis, Bob Rivard, Dustin Nguyen, Pam Rambo, Heroic Age, Cris Peter, Frank Martin, Michael J. Dimotta, Max Niumara
Letters: Travis Lanham, Rob Leigh, Pat Brosseau, Sal Cipriano, Nick Napolitano
Editors: Dan Didio & Eddie Berganza
Cover Art: Frank Quitely
Publisher: DC Comics

Holiday specials, to be frank, are usually a mixed bag. You get some good stories, some bad stories, and in the end you’re left trying to decide if there was enough good to justify the price. This year, however, the DC Universe Holiday Special has a surprising amount of good, more than enough to balance out the rest.

“The Man in Red” begins the issue with a very familiar story – the last son of a dying world is sent to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. It’s obvious from the beginning, of course, that there’s a twist – and even more specifically, just what that twist is – but somehow, that doesn’t make the story any less fun. “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” is a bizarre Aquaman story. When the king of the seas finds s ship being hijacked on the surface, he leaps to the aid of the husband and pregnant wife fighting for their lives. Along the way, though, he finds himself playing the part of a different king. I really liked this story, I must say. The parallels were obvious, but not heavy-handed, and definitely gutsy.

Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen give us a very different take on Batman and Robin in “Good King Wenceslas,” and even though DC isn’t currently using the label, this is as good an Elseworlds story as you’ll find this year. Batman comes back again in “A Day Without Sirens,” by Joe Kelly and Mick Bertilorenzi. Jim Gordon is skeptical when a local agency tries to pledge a night with no sirens, no crimes, no emergencies for the GCPD to handle. But as the clock ticks and the phone doesn’t ring he’s forced to question – is it a Christmas miracle?

“It’s a Wonderful Night” takes advantage of a unique dynamic as Nightwing and Robin encounter Captain Boomerang. Lest we forget, their fathers killed each other, so there’s a tension there unlike any other. Perhaps my favorite story in the book, though, was “Christmas With the Beetles.” Three generations of criminal have run afoul of three generations of the Blue Beetle, and the cycle looks like it’s going to start again, unless a father convinces his son to change his life. I love seeing the two older Beetles in action, and as a fan of Jaime Reyes, he was welcome in this book too. “An Angel Told Me” is a nice – if not amazing – Huntress story about a kid in her school who has been showing up with mysterious bruises. It’s a bit predictable, but gets the point across without preaching.

“The Night Before Christmas” features a highly up-to-the-minute Teen Titans team (plus Traci 13, Jaime’s girlfriend) hanging in New York City at Christmas. The story deals heavily with the dynamics of the characters, with Robin and Wonder Girl contemplating how to keep the team together, Bombshell refusing to interact with her teammates, and Red Devil feeling kind of left out. Unlike most of the stories in this book, which have an ambiguous sense of time about them, this story could easily be inserted in-between pages of the current Teen Titans run, and in fact, probably should be included in a trade paperback of the series.

Alan Burnett and Kevin Maguire step up with “Party Animal,” a tale of the Shaggy Man. The addle-brained villain is rounded up on Christmas Eve, but rather than interrupt the Christmas festivities at S.T.A.R. Labs, Green Lantern and Red Arrow bring him to the JLA Satellite – to interrupt their party. The story is funny, and Maguire’s fantastic artwork helps a lot to get the comedy across.

Finally, Dr. Light stars in “Let There Be Light” by Adam Schlagman and Rodolfo Migliari. Stuck at work on Christmas Eve, Kimiyo Hoshi is attacked by the surviving members of the Fearsome Five, teammates of the villain whose identity she has claimed. There seems to be a definite attempt to bring this character to the forefront these days, which I’m fine with as long as it’s done well. Migliari does some excellent artwork with her, and the story actually addresses the one thing about the character that has always bothered me – namely, why she’d adopt the name and costume of a monster like Arthur Light.

Although there are a few lesser tales in this book, this mixed bag is far less mixed than the typical Yuletide special. There’s a lot of really good material in this issue, and the special is definitely worth the price.

Rating: 8/10

Action Comics #822

December 5, 2004

Quick Rating: Below Average
Title: Repo-Man Part One

Planning to spend Christmas Day on the farm, Superman finds himself face-to-face with Repo-Man.

Writer: Chuck Austen
Pencils: Ivan Reis
Inks: Marc Campos
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover Art: Ian Churchill
Publisher: DC Comics

When Lois and Clark head to his parents’ farm in Smallville for Christmas, they find an unexpected visitor – Lana Lang. Which is bad, see, because Lois now hates Lana because – oh, why spoil the surprise? Let’s just say it’s for a reason that would seem perfectly natural in an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, but is so utterly out of place in a Superman comic book that it makes me want to rip out large, bloody clumps of my hair and throw them in a fire in the hopes of summoning good spirits to make the badness go away.

Anyway, once on the farm things are weird and freaky and awkward right up until a supervillain attacks for no apparent reason. (Well, there’s a hint of a reason.) And kudos to Austen for coming up with Repo-Man, the worst supervillain concept since Typeface.

Austen’s Superman, for once, is actually fairly in-character (and even gets in an amusing, appropriate quip during the fight scene). He’s behaving exactly like Clark Kent would behave under the circumstances. The problem is that if any of the other characters were behaving like themselves, the circumstances in question would have never, ever happened.

I also don’t understand why they bothered to cast this as a Christmas issue. Once upon a time, there was at least one Christmas story in the Superman comics every year. This was an event. This was something to look forward to. This gave us gems like “Metropolis Mailbag” back in Superman #64 and “Face to Face With Yesterday” in Adventures of Superman #474 (technically this was a New Year’s story, but it was one of those books that really defined Clark’s character and showed what turned him into the hero he is today). There’s not even a hint of Christmas in this book. The story isn’t Christmas-themed and there aren’t even any decorations – not a hint of lights, no tinsel, no Christmas tree in the middle of the Kent farmhouse. If Martha Kent didn’t welcome the others to Christmas dinner, I could have believed this issue took place in September.

Ivan Reis, whose artwork is usually the saving grace of this title, should take some of the blame for that, I suppose. He’s the one who didn’t draw any Christmas decorations. Although I suppose it’s possible that there was no call for them in the script and the few Christmas references were added later when someone realized this issue was coming out in December. He also gives us a version of Jimmy Olsen that doesn’t look even remotely like any other incarnation of the character, ever. Even with the red hair, I didn’t realize it was him until somebody else called him by name.

Action Comics is the title that gave birth to Superman. I keep waiting for him to return to it.

Rating: 4/10

Brightest Day #14

December 4, 2010

Title: Acrobats

Writers: Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi
Art: Ivan Reis & Joe Prado
Colorist: Peter Steigerwald
Letterer: Rob Clark, Jr.
Cover: David Finch
Editors: Adam Schlagman & Eddie Berganza
Publisher: DC Comics

Deadman thinks he’s found the object of his quest. He’s been charged to find the one person destined to wield the power of the White Lantern, and who better than the recently returned-from-the-dead Batman? When he tries to give the power to Bruce Wayne, though, the White Lantern winds up sending Boston Brand on a journey of self-examination instead.

I doubt that anybody truly thought Batman would become the White Lantern, but I was kind of surprised at how quickly the possibility was dismissed in this issue in favor of examining Deadman’s past. The story takes him on this whole Christmas Carol/It’s a Wonderful Life journey sort of quest until he comes to a pretty important realization. It’s not exactly anything surprising – in fact, what happens with Dove here is something I think most readers of this book have really seen coming for some time – but the execution is very good. The Deadman storyline in this series has, hands-down, been my favorite, and giving this entire issue to following it made me very happy.

Ivan Reis and Joe Prado did very nice work on the artwork, with the colors helping to draw the contrast between the darker present-day segments and the brighter, in some ways happier scenes set in the past. I like the Batman/White Lantern hybrid costume we see briefly as well, and I have no doubt that plans for an action figure are in the works. Plus, they do something pretty rare: they get to draw Deadman in actual physical combat, in this case with Mr. Freeze, which is something the character’s previous status quo often made impossible. You forget how well his costume is designed for the sort of acrobatic kick-slinging he does here.

Very strong issue.

Rating: 8/10

Untold Tales of Blackest Night #1

November 16, 2010

Title: Sea of Fear
Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Pencils: Patrick Gleason
Inks: Sandra Hope
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Letterer: Steve Wands
Cover: Ethan Van Sciver
Editor: Eddie Berganza & Rex Ogle
Publisher: DC Comics

What, you thought just because Blackest Night ended like eight months ago that DC was done with the franchise? Not long ago they released this one-shot, featuring “lost” tales that could have been told at various points during the main saga. Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason present the book’s framing sequence, in which Sinestro Corps member Lyssa Drak begins to examine the lost pages of the Book of the Black, to discover what happened to some of the characters who didn’t get the spotlight in the main title. It’s an effective enough framing sequence, one that fits in well with the character and the various Corps and gets us into the short stories easily.

Title: Deleted Scene(s) From Blackest Night
Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Ivan Reis
Inks: Oclair Albert
Colorist: Rod Reis
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano

The first two short scenes are literally “deleted scenes,” each of which was presented in script form in the “Director’s Cut” edition of Blackest Night #1. Both of them are really very strong. We’ve got a Ragman scene, where Nekron attempts to raise all of the hundreds of souls that make up his patchwork suit of rags. In the second scene, a group of villains from Keystone make a suicide pact to escape the swarm of the Black Lanterns and join the “winning side,” but a miscalculation thwarts their plans. These scenes were both excellent and fit well into the framework of Blackest Night, but I can see why they were left out. Neither of them advanced the main plot – they’re nice and add color, but aren’t necessary. A one-shot like this is a perfect place to feature them.

Title: The Evolution of Species
Writer: Adam Schlagman
Pencils: Jason Fabok
Inks: Ryan Winn
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Travis Lanham

The first full story in the book is an Animal Man tale with a nice twist. The dead chosen to rise were those that would get the strongest emotional reaction from our heroes, so Buddy Baker finds himself trying to save his son from a rampaging horde of extinct animals. It’s a clever idea, but Schlagman doesn’t stop there. He follows through Animal Man’s adventures throughout the Blackest Night, including the point where those heroes who returned from the dead were all turned into Black Lanterns and, later, into White Lanterns. The Black Lantern Animal Man makes a couple of disturbing proclamations, and it would be interesting to see if anyone is planning to follow up on the items he drops here.

Title: A Losing Battle
Writer: J.T. Krul
Art: Ed Bennes
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Letterer: Rob Clark, Jr.

J.T. Krul, who wrote the magnificent Blackest Night: Titans miniseries, picks up where that left off in his Donna Troy story. This feels very much like an epilogue to that miniseries, featuring a Donna who has been “infected” by her own dead child. Dove tries to cure her, but the story follows through to the point where the Black Lanterns attacked. While this story is structured well, and Krul is very good with the characters, this story feels very superfluous. No real new insight is gained or added to the concept.

Title: Blackest Nightmare
Writer: Jeremy Love
Art: Brett Booth
Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: Steve Wands

The Scarecrow takes center stage in the next story, which shows us the moment he’s chosen to join the Sinestro Corps. This story, while also superfluous, is at least really cool. Sinestros have to face their own fears before they instill them in others, and digging into Scarecrow’s psyche to see what he’s afraid of works well. It’s not particularly surprising, mind you, but the execution is good and Booth’s art fits the character.

Title: An Incident on Korugar
Story and Art: Ethan Van Sciver
Letterer: John J. Hill

Ethan Van Sciver, co-creator of the multiple Corps, takes a rare turn as a writer this issue. When he and Geoff Johns were creating the Sinestros, he brought forth a lot of new character ideas, including Karu-Sil, who here faces her own Black Lantern (during the tentative peace treaty with the Green Lanterns) and unwittingly reveals a lot about her own past. This is probably the strongest story in the book, giving us some real meat for a character that’s only gotten a few minor appearances to date.

The book is fun, and a couple of the stories do give us some interesting background information. Ultimately, though, it doesn’t really feel needed, so it’s hard to give it a higher rating.

Rating: 7/10

Brightest Day #11

November 5, 2010

Title: Father’s Day

Writers: Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi
Pencils: Ivan Reis, Scott Clark, Patrick Gleason & Joe Prado
Inks: David Beaty, Oclair Albert, Keith Champagne & Tom Nguyen
Colorist: Peter Steigerwald
Letterer: Rob Clark Jr.
Cover: David Finch
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Publisher: DC Comics

Here’s where things are really getting interesting in this series. This issue is basically split between the two most interesting storylines in the book: Aquaman and Firestorm. Aquaman struggles to protect the “new Aqualad” from Black Manta – who purports to be the boy’s real father. As is the case with some of the great foundling superheroes, this issue shows us the sort of mettle this kid’s foster father has, which no doubt will be important in shaping the sort of hero he’ll ultimately be.

The Firestorm story is even more gripping to me. Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond, the two current halves of the hero called Firestorm, are forced together to face their own Black Lantern counterpart, now calling himself “Deathstorm.” Evidently, something about the “Firestorm Matrix” allowed him to retain his own dark semblance of life after the Black Lanterns were defeated, which proves particularly nasty when he makes the move to kickstart his own army.

There was a fear, when this series was announced, that it was something of an afterthought. As great as Blackest Night was, it would have been a mistake to crank something out hastily just to cash in on it. This is really starting to feel like the series is picking up on pieces and groundwork that Geoff Johns lay out in that earlier book, particularly where Deathstorm is concerned. Even if this was an afterthought, it plays out of the Firestorm storyline from that crossover beautifully.

The artwork in this issue is also particularly good, not just the line art, but some truly fantastic color and effect work from Peter Steigerwald. The scenes “inside” the Firestorm Matrix are dark and engaging, a perfect counterpart to the way Firestorm is usually portrayed. Only the glimpse at the Martian Manhunter at the end falls a tad bit short – those pages feel a bit more like I’m looking at a cartoon than the rest of the book, which isn’t a good thing.

Great chapter of this ongoing storyline.

Rating: 8/10

Action Comics #814

April 12, 2004

Quick Rating: Fair
Title: Another Day at the Office

When things are funny at the Daily Planet and Clark can’t get any answers, Superman takes some time away from the office to unwind.

Writer: Chuck Austen
Pencils: Ivan Reis
Inks: Marc Campos
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover Art: Arthur Adams
Publisher: DC Comics

The new Action team takes over this issue with a simple, done-in-one story about a day in the life of the Metropolis Marvel. Superman spends an average day taking down some train hijackers, catching falling cars and fighting Darkseid. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Hiring Chuck Austen to take over the longest-running superhero comic in the world was, to put it lightly, a controversial choice, and in this issue it’s plain to see why. There is some good in this issue – Austen’s Superman is someone who is sure of himself, confident and clearly loves his powers and being who he is, and that’s something this character should have and, frankly, doesn’t always display under other writers. The problem is that Austen frequently goes too far in the other direction, saddling the character with stilted dialogue and going from confident to arrogant, a characteristic that doesn’t befit Superman in any incarnation.

On the artistic side, though, there is no complaint at all. Ivan Reis and Marc Campos were born to do this title, and their bold, powerful Superman is one of the best takes on this character since Stuart Immonen was handling him on a regular basis. Readers who have complained about “manga-style” artwork will have nothing to bemoan here. The fight scenes are great, the facial features are dynamic and expressive, and every page of the comic looks great.

Let’s not forget the cover, either – Arthur Adams, creature artist extraordinaire, gives us a wonderful pin-up of Superman versus Kalibak (a scene that actually appears in the issue, take that, Marvel editors), and to top it off, the title returns to the original logo with this issue. I know I may be the only one who cares about that, but it’s something I really like.

Rating: 6/10

Brightest Day #8

September 6, 2010

Title: Defiance

Writers: Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi
Pencils: Patrick Gleason, Ivan Reis & Ardian Syaf
Inks: Vicente Cifuentes, Rebecca Buchman, Mark Irwin & Ivan Reis
Colorist: Peter Steigerwald & John Starr
Letterer: Rob Clark, Jr.
Cover: David Finch
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Publisher: DC Comics

J’onn J’onzz delves into Miss Martian’s mind, seeing through her eyes her recent encounter with the new Green Martian who is loose on Earth somewhere. Back on Hawkworld, Hawkman and Hawkgirl find themselves almost in a state of worship following their recent burst of White Lantern energy, and the healing properties that came with them.

I hate saying it, but the Hawks’ story still isn’t grabbing me the way the rest of this title is, and spending most of the issue on it lessens my enjoyment of the tale considerably. It feels as if Johns and Tomasi are trying for a sort of “John Carter of Mars” story, having them take on the roles of Earth heroes fighting the cosmic barbarians on a far-off planet. While there’s plenty of potential in that idea, somehow the execution is just falling short for me. I’m finding it hard to keep track of the other players in their story, and I’m not particularly concerned about what happens to the main cast as the tale moves forward.

The Martian Manhunter stuff this issue is considerably more entertaining. It’s easy to forget that the shapeshifting Miss Martian is actually a White Martian that’s fighting off her own worst instincts, and that makes the character herself seem more heroic for the ability. J’onn’s search seems to finally be gaining a focus, as he takes off for one of the DC Universe’s most recently changed cities.

The artwork is back and forth – none of it bad, but the different artists on each section definitely have different styles than one another, and that weakens the book, just a little.

Any time the Hawks take center stage, my appreciation for this book dips. Here’s hoping their story gets better, and some of the more interesting characters move into the forefront soon.

Rating: 7/10

Action Comics #813

March 9, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Heaven (Godfall Part Four) & a back-up story

Now that Superman knows he is trapped in Kandor, how far will he go to break out?

Writers: Michael Turner, Joe Kelly & Chuck Austen
Pencils: Talent Caldwell & Ivan Reis
Inks: Jason Gorder & Marc Campos
Colors: Peter Steigerwald & Christina Strain & Guy Major
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover Art: Michael Turner
Publisher: DC Comics

After three issues of a story that disturbed me with how familiar it seemed, the “Godfall” storyline takes a step in the right direction this issue. Superman, having been lost in the timestream, thought he was back home on Krypton. Instead, as we found out two weeks ago in Superman #202, he was really trapped in the bottle city of Kandor at his own Fortress of Solitude, kidnapped by a fanatical worshipper of his that wants to escape the city and become a goddess in the outside world.

The story has, fortunately, taken a twist that distinguishes it from previous “Back on Krypton” storylines. However, Michael Turner and Joe Kelly have begun playing fast and loose with continuity. The trend in comics these days seems to be to accept those parts of a character’s past you like and ignore those you don’t. What we are presented here is a new version of Kandor that doesn’t reconcile itself with either the pre-Crisis version (a city stolen from Krypton by Brainiac) or the post-Crisis version (a city comprised of kidnapped aliens from throughout the cosmos). This Kandor appears to be some sort of strange hybrid of the two. If you can wrap your head around these sorts of unexplained continuity shifts, that’s fine, but it’s also the sort of thing that alienates long time fans, confuses new fans and eventually leads to things like Zero Hour.

On the art side, Talent Caldwell is doing some beautiful stuff. He has a Superman that looks proud and majestic, even when beaten, and the determination in the man of steel’s eyes reminds you that, boy scout or no, he is a force to be reckoned with.

In the back-up story, Chuck Austen redeems himself from the abysmal Lana Lang story he gave us last issue with a rather good reintroduction of an old Superman villain. (I am deliberately avoiding using the title of this story, which appears on the last page, as it is a huge spoiler.) Austen’s story involves a young boy who, at the scene of a tragedy, is convinced Superman will save his parents, not realizing they are already dead. He takes the child through levels of blind faith and innocence to the depths of heartbreak and anguish, and he manages to accomplish that fairly well, while bringing back a villain we haven’t seen in some time in the last panel, giving us chilling implications for Superman in future months.

Ivan Reis does great artwork on this issue. His style reminds me very much of the artwork we had in the Superman titles in the late 80s and early 90s, when I began reading the books, and therefore I loved it immediately. I actually prefer it, even, to the style Turner and Caldwell use on the rest of the book. Reis is one of those solid artists that always turns in good work but gets overshadowed by superstars who can’t meet a deadline.

I feel a bit better about the Superman titles after this issue than I did after the last issue of Action Comics. “Godfall” concludes this month and next month, supposedly, a new era begins. Let’s just hope it’s a good one.

Rating:  7/10

Action Comics #812

February 7, 2004

Quick Rating: Fair
Title: Home (Godfall Part One) & My Heart

Another day in the life of Kal-El… on Krypton?

Writers: Joe Kelly & Michael Turner, Chuck Austen
Pencils: Talent Caldwell & Ivan Reis
Inker: Jason Gorder & Marc Campos
Colors: Grafiksismik & P.S. Colors, Guy Major
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Eddie Berganza
CoverArt: Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald
Publisher: DC Comics

In Superman #200, the man of steel vanished into a time rift. Last month we saw how the city of Metropolis is coping with his absence. This week, we finally pick up on the man himself, living in a universe where Krypton never blew up, he never came to Earth and he is – irony of ironies, married to an alien.

This Kal-El has a good life, a beautiful wife, a wonderful home… but he senses something is amiss. He overreacts to the slightest problems, as though he’s constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. He knows his life is too good to be true.

And therein lies the major problem with this book – for a title intended to spearhead the relaunch of the Superman franchise, this book is treading over some seriously worn territory. I’ve lost count of how many stories we’ve seen dealing with a hypothetical life where Krypton survived or where that version of Kal-El felt something amiss. (Alan Moore did it best, in case anyone is keeping score.) There’s nothing wrong with this story, don’t misunderstand, but for the longtime Superman fan, there’s an overwhelming sense of “been there, done that.” For the casual fan, they’ll pick up this issue and just start scratching their heads thinking, “Wait, didn’t Krypton explode?”

The artwork, however, is another matter. Speaking as a professional, detached journalist and a longtime reviewer, there is only one phrase sufficient to describe the Caldwell/Gorder/Grafiksismik art team: Wowiewowwowwow! This is one beautiful comic book! The pencils just pop off the page, the characters look wonderful and the chase scene on laser-motorcycles is more exciting than anything George Lucas has pulled off in his last two movies. The character designs are fantastic too, with very good uniform for the Kryptonian Kal and a gorgeous, clearly Turner-inspired design for his wife, Lyla. If you’re the sort who buys comics more for the artwork than the story, boost the quick rating to “very good.”

There’s also a backup story, “My Heart,” by Chuck Austen, starring a version of Lana Lang that greatly disturbs me. Over the years Lana has evolved greatly, going from a girl that only existed to pine over Superman to a woman who made her own life separate from her childhood crush. In this story, we see her regress even more than she has in recent months, existing again to pine over a man married to someone else. She simply comes across as a bitter, petty woman, and that’s not the Lana fans have been reading about for years.

To be fair, Austen does have spot-on characterization for Jonathan and Martha Kent, and Reis does a very good job on the pencils. He’s got a confident style and makes just about any book look better. This isn’t a terrible book, but it’s not really very special, except for some great art. It’s not a book that will spark a resurgence in the Superman franchise.

At least, not yet.

Rating: 6/10