Superman: Action Comics #1052 – Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Dan Jurgens, Leah Wiliams, Writers; Rafa Sandoval, Lee Weeks, Marguerite Sauvage, Artists; Matt Herms, Elizabeth Breitweiser, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: The next installment of the Superman family anthology that Phillip Kennedy Johnson is spearheading continues to deliver, kicking off with an excellent lead story that pits the Super-family against Metallo. The Kryptonite-addled soldier is more powerful than ever, and after fighting and nearly killing Superboy, he’s strong enough to hold out against the entire family—until Superman throws him into space, where he’s haunted by visions of his sister. While Luthor is the top suspect in the attack, there are other wrinkles—including the presence of Blue Earth, a new anti-alien hate group advocating against the Warworld refugees and trying to turn the public against Superman. The best scenes in this story are once again the extended Super-family interacting, and it’s a lot of fun to see how Clark and Lois are doing their best to raise these two young kids from a highly atypical situation—carrying on the good work of the Kents. This continues to be one of the best Superman stories we’ve had in a while.
The second story, by Jurgens and Weeks, takes the story to California where the family is settling back in on the farm. But it doesn’t take long for trouble to find them, as Jon gets pulled into the story of a mysterious young princess being hunted by alien warlords. As he gets kidnapped from Earth along with her, Superman springs into action—which might leave Lois alone at the farm just in time for an old enemy to come calling—seeking help. Jurgens is a master of these characters, of course, and he’s drawing on a lot of his old plots for a really fun story.
Finally, Williams and Sauvage continue their Power Girl tale, as Karen’s erstwhile relative Kara Zor-El comes in for a visit at Omen’s psychic clinic. Someone has attacked her speech center, making her words come out in unknown languages. To solve it, they have to enter Kara’s mindscape—which is a perfect place for some therapy about how Karen doesn’t really fit into the Superman family because of her multiversal origins. It’s fun to see these characters interact, and the art continues to be absolutely stunning.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
