Superman: Action Comics #1035 – Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Sean Lewis, Writers; Daniel Sampere, Sami Basri, Artists; Adriano Lucas, Ulises Arreola, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: It’s been building towards this for a while—Superman is leaving Earth. The cover makes it clear that his family will be saying goodbye to him for now, but really it’s been hinted at in a lot of ways. This run has not been kind to Kal-El. His powers are waning, the world’s governments are angry at him after he took action to defuse tensions between the US and Atlantis—and give them a mutual enemy—and Mongul has sent enemies directly into his home in the form of slaves with twisted connections to Warworld functioning as assassins against their will. When we last left off, the young female refugee had been turned into a weapon and was threatening Lois and Jon—but the Super-family was holding their own.
One of the best parts of this run has been the compassion Superman has shown. Even as he faces powerful enemies, he understands who his enemy truly is—Mongul. The scene where he finally confronts the tyrant remotely is brilliantly tense, and there are a few surprises waiting for us. I did not expect to see Superman expelled from the Justice League for his political actions—a clever reversal of when it happened to Batman. The reveal of his second secret team, though—that’s a shocker, and brings another title back into continuity. But nothing in this book is as strong as Superman’s goodbyes to Lois and Jon, showing that no matter how powerful he is, Superman’s greatest strength will always be just how human he is.
The backup returns us to Tales of Metropolis from the old Superman book—for something completely different. Did you want a Jimmy Olsen/Guardian team-up book where they fight a digital-era Bloody Mary? This book has you covered! A demon named Dismember has been preying on the kids of Metropolis, sucking them into glass mirror shards after being summoned. It’s an old-school creepy tale with a modern twist, and some great visuals from Sami Basri. Plus, it’s the kind of story we really don’t get from Superman titles.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
