DCnU Reviews, Week 1: Action Comics

(Back in June when the new DCU titles were announced, I ranked all 52 titles on my likelihood of buying them. Only fair then to look back and see if my initial assessments hold up. My plan is to review each of the new titles as they come out.)

Action Comics #1
by Grant Morrison, Rags Morales & Rick Bryant

Original Rank/Assessment: 1 (Definitely Yes) - They had me at Grant Morrison + Superman.

Of all of the New 52 relaunch titles, this is the one which had me the most excited. Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman (with Frank Quitely) is in my opinion the best super-hero comic of the past twenty years. So Morrison's new take on Superman has a lot to live up to. Thankfully, it mostly does.

It is tempting to compare Action to All-Star; where the later presented a Superman at the end of his career, Action starts the story in Superman's early days. All-Star was an ode to the silver-age Superman, while Action draws upon Superman's earliest golden-age adventures for inspiration. But I think that such comparisons at this point are a bit premature; All-Star is a completed work, while Action is just the first issue in what is meant to be the foundation of a new mythology for the Man of Steel.

True to its name, Action Comics has plenty of action. A young Clark Kent is new to Metropolis, and is committed to fighting injustice, both as a would-be hero-of-the-people and as a crusading reporter for the Daily Star. We get introduced to Kent, as well as his best friend Jimmy Olsen and Olsen's boss Lois Lane, both of whom work at the rival Daily Planet. We also get a glimpse of Lex Luthor, who is working with a homeland security-type organization to try to bring the brash young hero down.

What we don't get is an origin story. In All-Star, Morrison covered the well-known origin of Superman in just one page. In Action, he dispenses with it entirely. This is good. If any super-hero's origin is well-known, it is Superman's. Instead we are thrown right into the action, drawn with dynamism by Morales, in an escapade that could have come right out of one of Superman's earliest stories by Siegel and Shuster in the original Action Comics.

In fact, keep your copy of the first volume of The Superman Chronicles handy, as there are and I presume will continue to be many allusions and call-backs to those formative stories of the late 1930s. Those were the days when this country was straining to climb out of the great depression, and there was still great mistrust in politicians, corporations, bankers, etc. Not a completely analogous situation to today's America, but not far off either. And thus we get a Superman for our times, a crusader who stands for truth and justice. Every generation gets the Superman it needs; and Morrison is giving us ours.

Rating: 4 (of 5).

It's Time for a New Superman

Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938.

The Silver Age (aka "Earth-1") version came about sometime in the late 50s/early 60s; there was no hard reboot, but for the sake of this argument let's say it was 1960, when he appeared alongside other silver age heroes in the first appearance of the Justice League of America.

The Post-Crisis (aka the "Byrne") version debuted in Man of Steel #1 in 1986.

And now the DCnU reboot will come out in 2011.

22 years between the debut and the silver age version
26 years between the silver age and Post-Crisis versions
25 years between the Post-Crisis and the DCnU versions

Looks like we're right on schedule!

Expect a brand new reboot of Superman for his 100th Anniversary in 2038...

When Superman Met Pac-Man

My birthday gift to myself was this piece of original art, purchased off of the eBay:

Yes, it's Superman & Pac-Man. Markings on the reverse indicate it was likely drawn by Ernie Colon, ca. 1982 for DC Comics. Yet it is lettered in Japanese, which would imply that it was done for the market in Japan. There are erased correction instructions in the margins, some in English and some in Japanese. I know nothing else about it; at some point I'll try to get the text translated which may give a clue as to its origin (or not...)

(Big thanks to Mike Sterling for pointing out the auction for this on his blog!)

Happy Birthday To Me!

The awesome Adam Buttrick drew me this picture for my birthday:

Thanks Adam!

Christmas Covers - December 21

The Sons of Superman trim the tree on Curt Swan & George Klein's cover to Superman #166 (1964).

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover. (Click on the image to get a larger version.)

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.

Just 4 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2009: Hulk #9)
(2008: Teen Beam #2)
(2007: Bugs Bunny #46)
(2006: Wacky Squirrel #2)
(2005: Archie Giant Series Magazine #15)
(2004: DC Comics Presents #67)

(Polite Dissent's 2010 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(2010 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)
(Bully the Little Stuffed Bull's Riverdale Christmas)
(The Comics Cube's Christmas Countdown)  
(Brendan McKillip's Comic Advent Calendar 2010)
(Mail It to Team-Up's 25 Days of Christmas)

Friday Night Fights: Krypto vs. Alien Invaders

 

From Superman #670 (2007). Artists: Rick Leonardi & Dan Green. Writer: Kurt Busiek. Letters: Comicraft. Colors: Alex Sinclair.

Super-powered pets? It's a Free-for-All, dog-gone it!

Happy Earth Day

Superman and Yet Another Comics Blog invite you to join in celebrating Earth Day.

(Cover to Superman: For Earth by Jerry Ordway - 1991)

About that Smallville Episode

An episode of the long-running Smallville, written by a DC Comics scribe, directed by one of the show's stars, and featuring a classic DC character.

No, not "Absolute Justice." That was something of a train wreck.

Instead I refer to last night's episode, "Warrior." It was written by Bryan Q. Miller (recent scribe of Batgirl & Teen Titans), directed by Allison Mack, and featured the return of Zatanna in a supporting role.

And it was a good deal of fun.

The plot involved a cursed comic book that turned an eleven-year-old kid into an adult super-hero (shades of Captain Marvel). While Clark & Zatanna try to find the comic and restore the kid to normal, Chloe crushes on the new hero in town. Oh, and Lois Lane dresses up as both a Storm Trooper and Xena at the Metropolis Comic Con.

One of the themes of the episode was that you need a bit of whimsy in your life and not be so serious all the time; a lesson the show itself could stand to learn. If only Smallville were this much fun more often, it would be a much better show.

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

Now that's what I want in my Jimmy Olsen comics: Jimmy facing off against a giant green ape! Brad Walker, John Livesay & Pete Pantazis do the honors on the cover to Action Comics #854 (2007).

(Standard disclaimer about giant Kryptonite-infused apes not really being monkeys applies.)


Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Friday Night Fights: Earth-2 Superman vs. Post-Crisis Superman

From Infinite Crisis #5 (2006). Art by Jerry Ordway. Letters by Nick J. Napolitano. Colors by Guy Major. Story by Geoff Johns. (click pic for larger)

Ka-Pow? Krashh!

Christmas Covers - December 19

Superman and other heroes help Santa Claus pass out presents on Frank Quitely's cover to this year's DCU Holiday Special.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.

Just 6 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(2007: Walter Lantz New Funnies #167)
(2006: Omaha the Cat Dancer vol. 2 #1)
(2005: Marvel Comics Super Special #39)
(2004: The Spirit #12)

(Polite Dissent's 2008 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(Brendan McKillip's Comic Advent Calendar 2008)
(Brian Cronin's 2008 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)
 

Friday Night Fights: Superman vs. Earth-Man

Earth-Man probably spits into the wind too.

(From Action Comics #862. Story by Geoff Johns. Art by Gary Frank & Jon Sibal.)

Round Nine? Darn Skippy!

My Original Art

I don't own a lot of original comic art, but I do own four pieces of original art from Superman by Curt Swan. They've been matted and framed and now hang on the wall in my back hallway. This makes scanning them troublesome, but I did recently pull out the digital camera:


(larger)
Here the four pieces hang side-by-side on the wall.



(larger)
Superman vs. Chemo from Superman #382, inked by Dave Hunt.


(larger)
Lana Lang confronts Jimmy Olsen and new cub reporter Justin Moore in Superman #383, inked by Dave Hunt.



(larger)
Jimmy Olsen discovers a villain at a radio telescope in Superman #378, inked by Dave Hunt.



(larger) (more glare but more legible)
Lois Lane infiltrates the villains' lair. Can she uncover their plot to use a deadly Hydrogen Bomb?! From Superman #238, inked by Murphy Anderson.

Battle of the Century

So I'm flipping through the newest Showcase Presents: Superman (vol. 3) when I come across a story titled: "Krypto Battles Titano." Has there ever been a more perfect idea for a comic story? A dog with the powers of Superman battles a giant ape with Kryptonite vision! I almost don't want to read the story itself, because it cannot possibly live up to my imagination of it...

Random DC Super-hero Thoughts

* Have you noticed that all of DC's Superman titles are perpetually running late these days? We expect it on All Star Superman, and Superman/Batman & Supergirl have been plagued with lateness from the get-go. But these days Action Comics, Superman, and the new Superman Confidential are suffering from delays. One or two titles once in a while is understandable; but the entire line? I don't recall offhand who the editor of the Superman line is these days, but it sounds like a change is in order...

* Just finished reading Green Lantern Corps #5-6 last night. Golly what a boring title! How can one take the inherently cool concept of an interstellar police force--starring Guy Garder no less--and make it deadly dull is beyond me. Dave Gibbons has many virtues as a comic creator, but writing super-hero comics is not one of them.

* You know who would make the perfect writer for a Supergirl comic? Sean McKeever. He's newly exclusive to DC; coming off Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, one of Marvel's best titles, this would seem like the perfect fit. Toss in Les McClain as the artist and you'll have one fine comic! (And maybe it'll even come out on time...)

Geek Shame

Over at Seven Hells, Devon asks: "What is your most embarrassing comic book purchase… EVAR?!?" (via Lyle)

He goes on to admit that his is multiple copies of the polybagged Superman #75, while respondents go on to list various Rob Liefeld books, as well as other things such as Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters and Wildcats: Nemesis.

Me? Oh sure I could list the various comics that I bought in the hazy 90s boom too. But taking the embarrassing part of the question as the crux, I'll admit here that, for sure embarrassment, it must be Penthouse Comix #5.

Now in my defense I bought the issue because it had Curt Swan drawing an adaptation of Larry Niven's "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex." And you know what, that story was worth every ounce of embarrassment. Still, given the cover, I was glad that the comic store (Dave's II in Ann Arbor!) used plain brown bags.

Super Covers Week: Clark vs. Superman

Super Cover Week continues with the Battle of the Century: Clark Kent vs. Superman. Don't you just hate it when you have to fight your alter ego?




If my name were 'Mala' I think I'd want to become Clark Kent too!




Cannon balls?




If you're going to use your Head of Hate to hypnotize someone to destroy Superman, might I suggest someone other than a mild mannered reporter? (Perhaps Geeen Lantern--he can create a planetoid of Kryptonite!)




Exactly what good does it do to expose someone's phony secret identity?




Again with Superman masquerading as Clark Kent...




Now this is the way a mild-mannered reporter should take on a super-hero: through yellow journalism!


Thus ends another edition of Super Covers. Later this week I'll have the final installment (like how I stretch a week out into two?)

Super Covers Week: Monkey Covers

What do you get when you combine Super Covers Week with Monkey Covers Sundays? You get Super Monkey Covers! Because there's nothing better than a Superman cover with a monkey on it!




Superman and monkeys have been forever intertwined. It started early, when as Superbaby young Kal-El encountered Beppo, a Kryptonian monkey who stowed away on his rocketship.




Superbaby totally owned monkeys, defeating gorillas to become the mighty lord of the jungle.




But as he got older and became Superboy, he found his simean foes getting tougher too. He'd have to battle the giant Kingorilla...




And he totally got showed up by Chandu, a gorilla with x-ray peepers just as good as Kal's.




Even alien monkey creatures wouldn't leave the Boy of Steel alone!




And when you beat one super-ape, there's always another in line to take you on.




Somehow Clark managed to survive those youthful monkey encounters and grow up to become Superman. But that didn't mean the end to his monkey troubles. It just meant that the monkeys became even more deadly, like King Krypton, the Super-Gorilla!




Or the greatest super-foe ever: Titano, the Super-Ape! He's a giant ape with Kryptonite vision!




Remember kids: King Kong is only make-believe, but Titano is real!




That Jimmy Olsen--what a punk! He arranges a fight between Titano and Godzilla just to make a movie, and then doesn't even lift a finger to help his supposed pal.




Jimmy should take a clue from Lois Lane. See, this is why Lois wins pulitzers and Jimmy is forever stuck as a cub reporter.




Even Superman's friends find themselves vexed by monkeys from time-to-time. Supergirl faced off against the mind-controlling Gorilla Grodd.




In the future, the post-Crisis Superboy fought talking gorillas.




Even poor Bizarro wasn't immune. Bizarro-Titano has blue Kryptonite vision. Bizarro Titano?! I love comics!


Finally, what could be better than Superman fighting giant apes?



Superman becoming an Ape! And fighting a Giant Robot Ape! Pure genius!


That wraps things up for today. Super Covers Week was only meant to cover a week, but I ended up skipping a couple of days, so we'll be spilling over a bit into this next week as well.


(standard disclaimer about giant apes and super-powered gorillas not really being monkeys applies)

Super Covers Week: The Future

Super Covers Week continues. It's a question that has interested the creators for decades: What does the future hold in store for the Man of Steel?




Will he get old but never die? That's how it appears on the cover of Action Comics #251.




Perhaps he gets old and has to move into a home with other fading heroes, like in Action Comics #386.




Or he gets older, just very slowly, as in John Byrne's Superman & Batman: Generations 3.




Or he just gets old and doesn't have the sense that Ma Kent gave him to come out of the cold, as in the darn cool cover to Superman #416 by Eduardo Barreto.




Or he goes the Rip Van Winkle route, like in Superman #107, and discovers that he's not so super anymore.



One doesn't have to go into the far future for a glimpse of Superman's life; how about the near future of... 2001? In Action Comics Annual #3, we find the Man of Steel becomes the President of Steel! (Ironically, in the regular comics, when 2001 rolled around it wasn't Superman but his arch enemy, Lex Luthor, who became President!)




Alternately, Clark could become a widower. But really, making out with that skank Maxima on your wife's grave? Tacky, Kal-El, really tacky.




See, now that's better. (But what kind of name is Lanie for a kid?)




But who says it has to be our Superman in the future? What if Superman came to Earth today--in 1976? Then he'd be the Superman of the future in 2001!




Even farther in the future, here's the Superman of 2965. He's 'so different' from our Man of Steel, what with the flying and the same powers and everything...




Now the Superman of 2999--there's a kid who understands tradition, as he recreates the cover to Action #1.




We end with the aptly named Superman: Man of Tomorrow #1000000, with Gene Ha giving us the Superman of today encountering his future self of the 853-rd century!


Thanks for journeying with us into the future. We'll be back tomorrow with more of Super Covers Week (and if you've been paying attention for the past couple of years, I bet you can guess what tomorrow's theme is...)