#no special ramble accompanying this post i just think he is very iconic

[davidmann95]

Action Comics 1000!!!

Action Comics #1000!

(The above being the cover I ended up getting, since another anon asked me about that. Allred’s was better, but I thought this was not only more broadly iconic, but a better contrast with Action Comics #1 with the color scheme and Superman showing the opposite side of his nature as an ethereal figure reaching down to help rather than a strongman smashing a car. There were several store-specific covers I would’ve preferred, but they’re store-specific, and I wasn’t gonna wait however many years and pay however much money to meet Doc Shaner and have him do a sketch on the blank variant, so whadaya gonna do?)

Was this all it should have been? God no, of course not, conspicuously not, at least not on the writing end - no Morrison or Waid or Ellis or Ennis or Gaiman, King being the only one here arguably on that tier (someone made the not-unconvincing suggestion that DC didn’t want to get anyone who’d obviously overshadow Bendis’s debut). Artwise on the other hand this was a runaway smash, a mix of classic talent and contemporary big names, with most of the obvious available figures ‘missing’ from this already hard at work on Man of Steel.* Still, DC should’ve been trying for another Superman #400-scale testament to the ages, and instead it’s a nice normal anniversary issue.

But as nice, normal anniversary issues go? This was a damn good one. One where, oddly, I only accurately predicted how much I’d enjoy one story, with a number I thought would be mediocre or simply pretty good based on the creative teams being among the better or best, one or two I thought would be sure standout winners being mid-tier, and the story I thought would be the guaranteed stinker of the bunch winding up a highlight. In order of presentation, with some small spoilers:

For The City That Has Everything: I was not expecting much from Jurgens, but he really outdid himself, at least by his own modern standards; the crowd shot at the end was what put it over the top for me. Every Superhero getting together to thank Superman for their existence is something I’ll always stan for.

Never-Ending Battle: God what a pretty story. To be honest, I was a little disappointed about Gleason being the one to go onto Action Comics with Bendis, but that’s entirely in the past now; dude’s dynamite when let loose. Tomasi’s writing is sort of superfluous if still nice, but it’s both strange and hilarious to imagine Superman actually giving this rambling recounting of his day, bereft of visual aids and leaving out most of the actual details in favor of moral lessons and philosophizing about the deeper narrative meaning of his own life.

An Enemy Within: The one shoulder-shrug of the bunch; Wolfman just can’t quite make it come together with the Swan material he had to work with. Killer last page though.

The Car: So I’d seen a blurry shot for the first page of this in that group photo the editors posted once this issue went to the presses, and since it looked like Pa in the barn in Smallville, and with Johns’ Donner-nostalgia and Donner actually being Donner, I expected a pat Jonathan-teaches-young-Clark-a-lesson yarn here. This is, uh, definitely not that. Instead it’s a story I never knew this issue needed but it absolutely did, as not only the sequel to Superman’s most important tale, but one that retroactively places the most important parts of that ‘Superman spirit’ as it’s developed over the years back before they were fully conceived, in a way that fits this particular take on the character. Definitely my favorite thing Johns has done with Superman since at least Legion of Superheroes, and lord does Coipel need to be doing interiors for DC on the regular.

The Fifth Season: A great character piece that ends up working as a pocket sequel to Birthright, which softens the blow of Waid not being here, and Albuquerque acquits himself particularly admirably given this was originally supposed to be drawn by Tim Sale. Between this and letting his cosmic freak flag fly in Metal, I officially want Scott Snyder to take a second proper crack at Superman someday.

Of Tomorrow: I responded to this when it was released online, and as expected it’s by far the best of the bunch.

Five Minutes: The sort of ‘normal’ Superman story that simply had to be in here, and in that regard this succeeds perfectly well. And Ordway always delivers.

Actionland!: I was disappointed in this one…until it went in the direction it did. Still, I feel like it grasped at being even better yet couldn’t quite get there, and given how well Dini did with the backup in Action #975 last year I expected more. I can’t complain too much though, because good lord y’all, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez with Kevin Nowlan inks and Trish Mulvihill colors.

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet: The one that was obviously supposed to be terrible, and…wasn’t? I didn’t contest Meltzer being in this mix - there’s always an unjustifiable inclusion based on internal politics with these sorts of things, and moreover the dude helped save Jerry Siegel’s house; that counts for something, so better him than Goyer or JMS - but understandably didn’t expect much, especially after his piss-poor contribution to Detective Comics #27 a few years back. But, accompanied by in my opinion the best John Cassaday art in a good long while, he told a really gripping little story here that manages to cut the bummer of a knot that lies at the heart of one of the most archetypal types of Superman stories: you have to acknowledge sometimes that Superman can’t save everyone, but you don’t want to actually see him let anyone down. Though Superman recommending someone become a cop is…a little more charged in 2018 than Meltzer probably had in mind, which knocks it down a couple points in my estimation.

The Truth: People seemed to be hating on this one on Twitter, but personally? I thought it was fun. Very slim, which isn’t unexpected given Bendis is working against his own best tendencies for Jim Lee and Lee isn’t well-suited to him in the first place and it’s a prologue/in medias reis teaser, but it has a few really good moments (”STOP!”), Bendis seems to remember Superman’s supposed to be a tough dude as well as a kind one, and Jim Lee can still draw the heck out of some punches. The ending twist is one that could go well enough without breaking anything or work out very badly indeed, but this did its job of getting me to think I’d like to read a weekly miniseries and then two Superman comics a month by this writer for the foreseeable future.

As for the pinups, Romita Jr.’s is weird but in my opinion effective, Simonson’s is obviously good, and Jimenez is god-tier. So that’s about it; wish they’d sprung for more big-name writers, it especially stings Morrison isn’t here, and it’s inexcusable that Lois didn’t get a story, but by and large, this was a damn good piece of Superman comical bookery. Roughly speaking, Wolfman/Swan

* Other than Alex Ross, who even more than say Frank Quitely is genuinely bizarre to not see here. The latter I understand doesn’t have any special affection for superheroes - he may have done some Milk Wars covers, but those would’ve been helping out a friend of a friend - but Ross I can easily envision tearing out one of his teeth or breaking a toe without hesitation for this gig. I guess Marvel must have him under an exclusive, with an exemption for Astro City covers.