Superman: Action Comics #1100 – Mark Waid, Joshua Williamson, Sophie Campbell, Dan Slott, Writers; Skylar Partridge, Ryan Sook, Daniel Sampere, Dan Mora, Lucas Meyer, Artists; Ivan Plascencia, Alejandro Sanchez, Tamra Bonvillain, Giuliano Peratelli, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: It’s an oversized, all-star spectaculat for Action Comics’ 1100th issue, leading into a new era for all four books in the line. We kick things off with “Mission Failure”, by Waid, Partridge, and Sook, as they kick things off with a full-sized story. Epoch the Time Master has already succeeded in erasing Superman’s powers, and he now plans to kill the young Superboy before he can ever become Superman. Armed with only some Kryptonian armor, Superboy has to hold out just long enough for Dr. Gordon to manage to restore his powers. After that, Ryan Sook takes over on art as J’onn, Booster, and Mary take him into the timestream to search for the real Superman – and along the way, give him some spoilers about how his legacy as Superman turns out. It’s pretty fascinating to see how he reacts to certain things that are common knowledge about Superman to us.
But it’s not long before the two stories collide, as Josh Williamson and Daniel Sampere take over for “Superman Meets Superboy” to send the young Superboy and the Superman we know into a new adventure. That’s right, the genuine article is back – looking a little worse for the wear. Superboy pulls himself out of a void at the end of time, and both are reunited with the heroes who came to find him. Superman’s story is yet to be told in a one-shot coming out next week, but the veteran hero is back in action – and this is a quick but fun installment that has some fantastic character moments.
“Game Night” by Campbell and Mora picks up with a quiet night for Kara, Jon, Conner, and new addition Thundergirl from Kandor. I could quibble with some of Lois’ dialogue in this segment, particularly her odd hostility towards Conner, but things pick up when Superboy Prime joins the party – and Kara has to do her best to keep the two Superboys from killing each other over Conner’s very well-founded old grudge. Streaky’s randomly been turned giant and homicidal too, so an average day in a Sophie Campbell comic.
Finally, Dan Slott and Lucas Meyer pick up with the El Caldero plotline, as the Kryptonite King tries to figure out how to use his new Kryptonite fortress to his advantage, complete with a new army based around alien tech – only to discover he’s far from the biggest fish in the sea. Castilho and his masked ally Bruno have consolidated power in the country, but now Bruno is ready to make his move – and his true identity kicks off the next big era of Superman books. This is a fantastic issue, with scarcely a missed beat in almost fifty pages.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
