Superman: Action Comics #1060 – Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Steve Orlando/Nicole Maines, Joe Casey, Writers; Eddy Barrows/Eber Ferreira/Joe Prado/Jonas Trindade, Fico Ossio, Dan McDaid, Artists; Matt Herms, Luis Guerrero, John Kalisz, Colorists
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: It’s the final regular issue of Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s Action Comics run, and he’s ending with one hell of a cliffhanger. Sister Shadow, one of the first villains he ever introduced in the lead-up to the Warworld Saga, is back and posing as the bigoted activist Norah Stone—undermining Superman’s place on Earth and engineering the kidnapping of his daughter Otho. But she’s not there to hurt Otho—rather, she sees her as the only member of the Super-family who could become a monster like her and wants to twist her in her name. While Superman embarks on a quest to get his kid back with the help of a very confused but competent John Constantine—and a few surprising guests in the climax—there are some really excellent scenes with Kara and Osul as well, as Johnson continues to make the most of this powerful new Super-family he’s built.
With it being the last issue save the annual, it’s no surprise that the backups are both done in ones—starting with a Dreamer story that sees Nia being recruited by Amanda Waller. Dreamer obviously isn’t Waller’s usual type of target, but she needs a precog to take out another precog, and is able to manipulate Nia into joining up for a black ops mission. This story has a lot of great touches about how Nia’s power works, and it has a manipulative but slightly more nuanced take on Waller as well. This seems to be a prelude for a new Suicide Squad team, and this is a strong setup that makes Dreamer’s presence actually make sense.
Finally, we get a preview of “Kneel Before Zod” by Casey and McDaid as well. Zod is still in his Bendis-era status quo as a semi-reformed leader of a new Krypton under the supervision of the United Planets, but cracks are starting to form. He’s obsessed with his experiments, the UP are starting to see him as a wild card, and worst of all, his son Lor-Zod is becoming increasingly rebellious and starting to dig a little too deep into his father’s forbidden experiments. This is just a quick tease, but a very intriguing one.
Overall, what comes next for this title sounds very promising, but man, will this era be missed.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
