Now that’s a cover worthy of an anniversary issue, so thanks to Ryan Sook for getting Action Comics #1100 off to a super start. Just look at those Supermen of different eras – there’s no New 52 fella, what a shame – and details such as the Lexcorp-sponsored racing car and visual pun of the speeding bullet train.
Inside we get stories from all four creative teams on the current Super Family books – Superman, of course, Superman Unlimited, Supergirl and the comic that started it all, Action Comics.
First, in Mission Failure, Mark Waid, Skylar Patridge and Sook conclude the current Superboy tale which has seen him attacked by Epoch. the Lord of Time. His powers drained, Clark has fashioned armour from the ship that brought him to Earth. With Epoch in a future hi-tech suit, Clark is outclassed… at least in the brawn department. Cue the brains. He pretends to pleas with the Lord of Time, to kneel before Epoch, putting him in touch with solar expert Dr Bruce Gordon’s power restoring machine. And once he has his abilities back, future friends Martian Manhunter, Mary Marvel and Booster Gold drop back in from a brief trip to limbo. Worst of all for Epoch, he has a fighting mad Boy of Steel to face.
With Epoch’s time up, the Justice Leaguers enlist Clark to help them find his future self, who’s been missing in action since the end of the DC KO event. While traversing the time stream, Clark gets a few sneak peeks at what’s to come.
Soon Superboy sees a hand fading in from… somewhere, causing Clark to leap from Booster’s time bubble to investigate. And that’s the end of the Waid & Co section of the issue; as the conclusion of a storyline that’s been going on for months, this was a bit of a letdown, not unenjoyable, but not especially exciting. For one thing, it feels very rushed, with no attempt to explain why the return of Clark’s powers would return his faded Super Friends to the Smallville of the past.
Things do get better, as we immediately segue into a sequence by Josh Williamson with art by Daniel Sampere.
The story is called ‘Superman meets Superboy’ and their interactions are lovely to see. Even better, though, is Superman’s reunion with Booster.
At this point, readers like me are expecting a quick hello between Super Sr and Jr, a minor mindwipe for the latter, and a one-way trip back to Smallville. Not today.
The reactions of Superboy and Superman to one another are lovely, Williamson has quite the delicate touch. As for how Superman wound up looking tatty in the time barrier, that’s a tale being told in next week’s Superman Annual.
Daniel Sampere, drawing his first Superman in awhile, produces some beautiful pages, the expressions on the characters are perfect, while the depiction of the time stream is excellent, with the colours of Alejandro Sánchez doing some of the heavy lifting. Sanchez also does wonder with facial modelling. And back to Sampere, he draws great boots – even Superboy notices.
At the end of the last Supergirl issue Kara grandly declared herself Heir to the House of El, changed her costume and looked set to do great things.
Yet in this issue’s next chapter, she’s hanging around Lois and Clark’s apartment in her regular outfit with two Superboys and a Thundergirl. What’s up? Kara explains to Lois that after her recent ordeal in Kandor she just wants to chill for awhile. Which is pretty understandable. Lois knows, though, that Kara is keen to tackle the Green Kryptonite oversupply situation in El Caldero. And she needs all the help she can get.
The story ends on the same note as this week’s Superman #40, with Kon-El and CK at one another’s throats. Dan Mora, commendably, instead of inserting the Superman page here, draws it again with the angle tweaked ever so slightly. The man is earning his money.
But that’s not all we get, there are a couple of pages showing Krypto in a team-up with that weird man-dog hero from Justice League Unlimited… against a giant-sized Streaky the Supercat. It’s drawn with enormous dynamism by Mora, but seems like mere page filler; also, could DC Comics stop pretending Krypto is Kara’s dog? Streaky is Kara’s pet, and he’s not a feral monster.
There’s a wonderful moment with writer Sophie Campbell poking fun at herself. As for the Heir business, that arrived at a weird time, it should’ve come up about six months ago, not just as Superman was about to return. Will it be picked up on after this crossover, not necessarily with Kara stepping up as head of the family, but being considered ‘co-lead’ of the Els?
When he’s not giving us terrific action, Mora does subtlety – the other day I wondered why Lois suddenly had her hair up in a terribly ageing bun on the last page of the aforementioned Superman #40. And on the first page of ‘Game Night’ Mora – and likely Campbell – make everything clear, without a word needed.
Finally, Dan Slott and Lucas Meyer take us to the aforementioned El Caldero, the ‘Emerald City, where miner turned Kryptonite King Eduardo Castilho is having problems with the mini-Fortress of Solitude that sprang out of a sunstone crystal that fell to Earth in his land.
Bruno is the leader of Castilho’s loyal Krypto-Knights and surprisingly adept with Fortress tech. He’s also all across the spread of Green K throughout the world.
It’s good to see Castilho isn’t a villain; he genuinely reveres Superman, but his greed, his desire to make his nation rich, has put Superman, Supergirl and Krypto at huge risk. And seeing it’s now endangering regular humans, he’s disturbed and wants to put things right. But while the Kryptonite King isn’t out to conquer the world, how about Bruno?
Slott and Meyer have proven a brilliant creative team of late and hopefully this sample of their work will drive people towards their Superman Unlimited. In End of Reign they recap what’s been going on over there as regards the whole Green K business ready for the upcoming Kingdom of Zod Super-Books crossover. In this story we get Slott’s trademark smart dialogue and neat plotting, while Meyer’s sharp illustrations and creative compositions ensure a smooth ride from beginning to end.
The colours by Giuliano Peratelli are striking, heck, the whole issue benefits from excellent colouring – as well as the previously lauded Sánchez, Ivan Plascencia and Tamra Bonvillain, while artists Sook and Mora colour their own work. Steve Wands and Dave Sharpe join Carey in the top letterers department, while Jillian Grant and Brittany Holzherr handle the editing.
A taster for the various Super titles, a prologue to Kingdom of Zod, a capper to the wonderful Superboy serial and a stylish recap of Superman’s life, Action Comics wears a lot of hats in just 56 pages. And it is great.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 