Review: Action Comics #1092

Action Comics #1092 came out last week, the first part of the next Superboy arc in the title by writer Mark Waid. 

Waid has been doing a good job of re-establishing Superboy as part of the Superman mythos here, slowly showing us early Clark discovering his powers, stretching his limits, and trying to become a public hero. The first arc showed us his reveal to the public. This arc he is more of a known commodity but still figuring it out. For long time readers, there have been hints at well established pre-Crisis moments perhaps coming back. But even Zero Hour friend Kenny Braverman has shown up.

This arc seems like it will focus on Superboy's public persona and how that aligns with the military and General Lane. I guess here is where the lifelong hatred starts. It is pretty interesting to see our hero stand up to Lane for the first time. 

Cian Tormey is on art this time and brings a sort of smooth if slightly cartoony style. Slightly! But it works for a flashback story with a sort of teenage dorky Clark. He does well with some powerful character moments here, building the panel to accentuate the proceedings.

I am liking this stealth Superboy book. Hoping others are too! On to the book.

We start out with Clark saving a Smallville farmer trying to fly a 'do it yourself' old crop duster. 

It is a fun moment as we see our hero struggle with these new powers. There is a fine line between super-breath and freeze breath. And there isn't any heat vision yet. So he is learning on the job. That's always going to be fun.

And I really liked this panel by Tormey with Clark's speed lines matching the plane's fuselage giving it a real slick dynamism.

We also get the sense of how Superboy is dealing with his local and his international presence. Outside Smallville, he is hiding his features. In town, not so much. He wants people to see him as just a person coming at them naturally. 

It is almost counter-intuitive. Isn't it more important to hide yourself from people who see Clark all the time to differentiate? The sentiment is right though.

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Meanwhile, General Lane continues to want to hunt down our hero. And he is using science.

I have to remind myself that this probably takes place around 2015, not 1950!

So Lane using satellite knowledge and STAR Labs using air movement data to triangulate to Smallville.

In my heart, Superboy is in a Smallville out of Back To The Future. So it will be a struggle to frameshift to a more recent time, a time when I was already entrenched in my own adulthood.

But it makes sense that a young Superboy wouldn't think that he would endanger Smallville.

Before that story surges, we get to see some of the simple life in Smallville. 

While Clark sulks over Lana falling into the arms of Kenny, complaining of how he is 2 parts of a love triangle.

But this was my favorite part of this scene. Seeing Ma and Pa love each other in a flirty, touchy way felt very very fresh. I don't know if I have ever seen a young Kent couple hugging and kissing. Kudos to you Mark Waid. Clark would need a healthy example of love in his life to know what to look for.

With Lana seemingly out of reach, Clark decides to hang with Pete Ross more.

And a mention of the famous tent! Yesssss!

I wondered before if Pete already knew Clark was Superboy. The tent mention makes me think we might see the famous rain and lightning scene again! 

But hearing Clark and Pete use words from the Star Wars prequels made me feel quite old. But, that makes some sense.

But Superboy is a global commodity. We see rescue scenes from all over the world including Metropolis. 

Here, he swoops and saves a blind woman from being hit by a truck. But that rescue is so jarring, the woman feels faint and has chest pain. The Metropolis crowd turns on him.

I love this second panel make-up by Tormey. Lots of negative space. A tiny Superboy. This shows visually how small Superboy must feel, how diminished. Great mix of arts and words.

The story flips in Smallville. When General Lane rolls in with troops insisting that Superboy get turned over, the Smallville crowd surges to protect him, forming a human wall. 

Now compare this panel to the last. This is a cramped, up close panel with no negative space. The people are spilling out of the panel. It gives a very different visual story, showing the power of the people. 

Wonderful.

Not wanting things to spiral out of control, Superboy invites Lane into the diner for a private conversation.

I love that Waid has Superboy admit that he has been taught to respect and listen to authority. But he can't here. So he offers a deal. He will work with Lane when needed. And he decides what he will and won't do. He has ethics. 

This is another great panel construction. We don't even see Lane. This is Clark's moment to be big and bold. If you make this panel showing Lane, Superboy would need to be smaller. Lane would be on the other side of the table, separate, perhaps emphasizing that they are far apart. We don't need that here.

Instead we get Superboy large, in charge, and confident. Perfect.

But then we get an epilogue. In the Future Expo, the one which spurred all these memories, the 'mystery device' begins to call out for Superboy. We first saw this in Action Comics #1087 and even then I knew it would be a plot device. But who is call out for it. (And I think this is in the present, not the past, but let me know.)

I have an odd comic memory hole.

It reminded me of the Mother Box in the Englehart/Rogers Mister Miracle reboot. But I can't think that is what this is ... this time I'm wrong.

Put your guesses in the comment.

And let me know where you stand on this Superboy book. I am really liking it.

Overall grade: B+