Review: Action Comics #1053

Action Comics #1053 came out last week and was another crackling issue ... well mostly crackling, This is an anthology book so there are three individual stories present here. No surprise, I liked some more than others. 

There is the main story, the Superman Family story with Superman fighting Metallo. This is an excellent story. This Metallo is creepy but also sympathetic. The actions and interactions of the super-family are wonderful. In particular, two moments - one between Kal and Kenan, and one between Jon and Osul - are emotional and powerful. Rafa Sandavol's art feels a little raw but that adds energy to the proceedings. Nothing wrong here.

The Dan Jurgens/Lee Weeks flashback story to an untold tale of young Jon is a solid storyline. There are two plots proceeding at pace here. One is Jon befriending an alien Princess in peril. I think this is a 'don't judge a book by its cover' moment for Jon. There is the Doombreaker plot with Doombreaker looking for the Doomsday spike which created him in the first place.

But it is the last story, the Power Girl story, by Leah Williams and Marguerite Sauvage that I find lacking. Sauvage's art is beautiful in its pastel glory. But the story, a complete demolition of Power Girl, feels wrong. Power Girl has had a solid characterization and a strong foundation for decades. She doesn't need fixing. Here, Williams decides to torpedo everything we know about Power Girl. I don't recognize a Power Girl feeling alone, anonymous, rudderless. If anything, it just makes me want to re-read the Palmiotti/Conner run to read Peeg done right. This feels like another creator coming up with an idea and bolting it onto a pre-existing character. I have got behind new interpretations of characters before and I have given this story some time to see if it would work. For me, it just doesn't.

On to the particulars.

Review: Action Comics #1052 - Part 2

Last week I reviewed, perhaps harshly, the Power Girl story in Action Comics #1052. Today I'll finish reviewing the stories within. Both of these stories I liked much more. 

The main story by writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist Rafa Sandavol continues the Metallo arc. I really loved this story for a bunch of reasons. The art is really powerful. Sandavol brings a sort of scratchy, rough feeling to the proceedings that really works well. The story continues to be intriguing as Metallo seems to be having his puppet strings pulled by someone out of sight (although probably revealed in solicits). Thankfully, this explains away what seemed to be a glaring discrepancy between Action and the Superman book. But more than this action, Johnson really calls back to his Warworld Saga as the ramifications continue to ripple out. And, as Action Comics now feels like the old anthology Superman Family, I am thrilled that Johnson are showing us family moments for the supers. Great stuff here.

Add to that the Dan Jurgens and Lee Weeks flashback story with a young Jon Kent. Again, Weeks style works well here as he was the artist for the Convergence story and the sequel miniseries introducing us to this dynamic. The story is just starting but I like Jon starting to come unto his powers. But I wonder if there will be a sort of hackneyed 'don't judge a book by its cover' lesson here.

Overall, these both worked very very well. It all starts with the wonderful Steve Beach cover. I like the washed out, lack of outlines bright blue highlighting the family uniforms.

Bring on the book!

Review: The Death Of Superman 30th Anniversary Special, pt 1

 It's hard to believe that it has been 30 years since the Death of Superman storyline. But it has been and DC decided to commemorate the occasion with an oversized one shot, appropriately named The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special. 

It is a wonderful book, bringing together the architects of that classic arc for several stories. The book is too big to cover all in one review so I'll be covering the first (and longest story) by writer/artist Dan Jurgens with inker Brett Breeding.

The story takes place in the recent past, recent enough that Jon is around but not recent enough for Jon to be aged. I am surprised that once more DC is giving us stories of a de-aged Jon. Perhaps they realize that a tween Jon still has story opportunities. Here Jon learns about how his father died at the hands of Doomsday. It is an excellent retelling of the classic story (it was 30 years ago, maybe people haven't read it before) while adding a new character. 

But the joy here is the retelling of the story from Lois' perspective, teaching Jon about how deadly Doomsday was and how noble Superman was in sacrificing himself.

I grabbed the Franscesco Mattina cover because the punched out symbol cover is a nice riff on the similar covers introducing us to the four wannabe Supermen that emerged in The Reign of the Supermen arc.

On to the story.