Superman: Action Comics #993 – Dan Jurgens, Writer/Artist; Joe Prado, Cam Smith, Inkers; Hi-Fi, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 8.5/10
Corrina: Superman on Krypton
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
Ray: Dan Jurgens, an iconic writer/artist on both Superman and Booster Gold, finally gets to team up his favorites again on an issue where he once again takes art duties. And like Tony Isabella, Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, and others, he shows he hasn’t lost a step.
When we last left off, Superman stole the cosmic treadmill to go back to Krypton and find out the truth about Jor-El, only for Booster to show up a second too late to stop him from breaking the timeline. And true to Booster’s luck, Flash shows up a second later and assumes Booster is trying to steal it, leading to a pointless but funny fight that’s ended thanks to the intervention of…Skeets? Love that little gold robot. Superman, meanwhile, is being catapulted through time and gets fragmented visions of Krypton’s past. Some are the Krypton he knows, while others hint at a powerful, surviving Krypton.
He eventually emerges on a seemingly alive and thriving Krypton, only days away from its destruction. Trying to go undercover, he starts to notice things that don’t match up – most significantly, Jor-El and Zod seemingly as allies. Booster follows him, and they only get a little bit into their mission before Superman’s powers fade under the red sun and the security forces notice them. Back on Earth, it’s fun watching Steve Lombard be a tryhard as he attempts to impress Jon with his knowledge of Booster Gold, but there’s actually a fairly significant and intriguing Lois Lane plotline here as well, involving her father. Sam Lane’s gone from being a curmudgeonly grump (Jurgens’ original run) to a genocidal war criminal (the ill-advised New Krypton megastory), but Jurgens seems to be gearing up to do a new take on him. And I think we’ll all be glad to see Lois get to go on her own adventure!
Corrina: Lois Lane having an independent plot? Get out! That hardly ever happens 🙂 This one promises to be intriguing as well.
Back to the main story, where Superman is operating on instinct and emotion rather than logic. He probably should be trying to find out why his future/present/past keeps changing rather than find out if Jor-El was evil but perhaps he’s hoping by doing one, he’ll sort out the other. I still would like some mention of Jonathan and Martha Kent as Clark’s parents. Clark is acting emotionally more like an orphan who was raised without any parents rather than one who had the iconic “kindly couple” that taught him how to be a good person.
But I had to laugh at the Booster/Flash fight and Steve Lombard and Jon’s scenes, especially since Jon can be as skeptical as his mother. So far, of the recent plotlines, this feels the most like classic Superman story.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
