Will Read Comic Books

Well I gave it my best shot.

I think I’m going to keep my review of Action Comics #3 short, mainly because I don’t want to waste any more time on this book. 

Plot-wise, Sneak Peak at Astro City on Krypton (with scary Krypto), Clark gets the shake-down by the cops, his landlord thinks he might be Superman, Metropolis doesn’t like Superman saving cats from tree, talking machines, Luther talking to (most-likely) Brainiac, Metallo. I still feel like I’m reading Spiderman, but with more aliens and inter-planetary socialites.

Art-wise, Morales makes a cool Krypton, but dumpy clark is driving me nuts. I can say that he is a trained, competent artist. I just hate almost anything he wants to put to paper.

+UPDATE+ Apparently Gene Ha did the Krypton Scenes. I’m officially cutting this and never picking up a Rags Morales book again.

Frankly, I’m disappointed. Morrison’s All-Star Superman (which I picked up just three weeks ago—forshame on me) is just amazing. It appeals to everything I love about Superman and his archetypal good-guy nature. Angst should be had over not being able to save the world, not about whether or not people like him or his inability to stop greedy politicians from doing bad—but not super villain bad—things to their constituents. 

I have a Messiah Complex to live out vicariously through Superman and Morrison is not allowing me that anymore. Now he’s gotta be really ‘down to his socialist roots’.

Whatever, I’m done.

TL;DR 

I’m dropping Action Comics because its boring and I don’t like Morrison’s Superman. I also hate Rags Morales’ art.

WK

As an idea, Superman is an archetypal hero of grand proportions - a Messiah-like character whose intentions towards his adoptive planet have always been for its benefit. Practically speaking, however, we instinctively know that archetype so well within the collective Zeitgeist of our age that only when that archetype is taken to its extreme, either in the definition of the archetype or throwing that archetype into something against our core sensibilities does it get interesting.

Unfortunately, I don’t think Grant Morrison is giving us that. 

In this issue of Action Comics, Morrison delivers a story of Luthor torturing (or at least trying to torture) ‘the alien’, while various backup characters fall into place for later returns, most notably a certain Dr. Irons (Steel) and John Corben (Metallo). Superman eventually escapes with sass equal to that of the previous comic and just for fun, we get a call-back to Superman’s Jewish roots (see creator Jerry Siegel) by making his first hint of his Kryptonian heritage a burning bush moment with his Spacecraft. And Superman’s cape can’t be burned, just so’s you know.

I originally thought that Morrison’s bringing Superman back to his ‘roots’ would be totally awesome, but I feel I’ve seen this all before, but in other heroes. I feel like Clark is a guise for a Peter Parker and Supes is the same, but with different powers. Sure, he may be fighting for Socialist ideals to a point, but really, I’m kind of bored. 

Morales and Team bring much of the same for the art - while it is nice, I’m certainly not amazed by its uniqueness in any way. 

TL;DR

It’s not that I don’t like it, I just don’t feel anything with it. I’m not sure this book is going to stay with me by the end of its first arc.

WK

My Late Review of Action Comics #1

Action Comics #1 - Grant Morrison, writer, Rags Morales, penciller, Rick Bryant on inks and Brad Anderson on colours

There’s a lot of hype around this series and what Grant Morrison is doing with it. To start, I have to lay this out on the table: I have only ever read two Morrison issues - Animal #1 (vol. 1) and New X-Men Annual 2001. The Animal Man issue I read off of Vertigo’s website once and the New X-men book I picked up in my grocery store that year, and while I wanted to follow that up, they didn’t sell the series after. Not having the motivation to head downtown to my “Local” comic book store, I gave up. I like both well enough (I have a minor hankering to read both runs) but that is the extent of what I read by Morrison.

Second confession: I have read a total of two superman-centric trades:Superman: RED SON and Braniac (Action Comics 866-870). I bought Red Son because the premise was wicked and was gifted Braniac. I enjoyed them both immensely, but the rest of my Supes knowledge comes from other media. 

With those two confessions out of the way, I thought this issue was…ok. I like the idea of bringing Superman back to his Socialist origins, and the easter eggs lines about the Legion of Super Heroes et al were pretty on point and cool. That being said, it didn’t particularly draw me into the story. I get that this is a first issue that is clearly building a larger story (have there been any one-shots in the New52 yet? Do I not understand what a one-shot is?), but I don’t know — it just didn’t excite me. I think it comes up in two things:

1. It feels kind of Spiderman-y. Trashy apartment, working for a news agency and having all the scoops about yourself…this may just be a comic hero trope being played out, but I think I need more than struggling nice guy who happens to be a sass-talking superpowered being when not in conversation with old ladies. 
2. I’m not sure how I feel about Rags Morales’ art. It seems a little inconsistent when representing Supes, and there seem to be different levels of anatomical reality for different characters - pulls me out of it, to be honest. The inks and colours were on point though - not amazing, mind you, but certainly industry standard-plus. 

I’ll be picking up the next issue certainly, as well as the rest of the first arc, just to see what happens. 

TL;DR 

Wasn’t amazing, wasn’t bad. I’ll keep picking it up.

WK