Action Comics #19 - A Review

And now, a moment of silence in memorial for Andy Diggle's one-issue run on Action Comics and what might have been.

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This was it.  This was everything we'd hoped for in a Superman comic in the New 52.  This issue was everything a Superman comic SHOULD be.  Not to disparage Grant Morrison's work on this title or disavow every positive thing I've said about it before, but having read this issue I see now the problem with Morrison's run that I sensed but could not put words to before.  Morrison's Action Comics was not about Superman as a character - it was about the world of Superman and what Superman represents.  Was it worth reading?  Absolutely!  Was it about Superman?  Not really. 


Diggle focuses upon the characters as characters and reveals everything you need to know about them in the span of a few pages.  Lois Lane is outspoken and tough as nails without seeming shrewish.  She may rib on "Smallville" but you still see the respect she has for Clark Kent.  Lex Luthor is appropriately diabolic - the sort of man who keeps a psychiatrist hostage to analyze him for any mental weaknesses, only to argue her diagnosis.  Diggle also explores how Luthor is Superman's totally opposite in the respect that both men perceive the problems with the world and wish to save it but Luthor's ends are not the same as Clark Kent's.  And Superman?  He is summed up as neatly as I've seen anywhere as a man who hates bullies and won't start a fight but will damn well finish it if he must.


Tony Daniel's artwork is as skillful as ever.  Reports say that he'll be handling the writing on this book as well, finishing the scripts based on Diggle's plots.  I wasn't a big fan of Daniel's Detective Comics run but I think I'll give this series one more issue to see if it can hold my interest.  As it is, this issue is well worth your time and money.

Justice League #13 - A Review

Justice League #13 provides another example of how infuriating many of the New 52 books by Geoff Johns have been.  Like Johns' Aquaman, this issue offers us a look at a larger DC Universe while at the same time offering us surprising little insight into that universe.  While this issue does offer several good bits of character business, it is icing on a bland cake.


The main plot focuses upon the League's attempts to capture The Cheetah - once again the closest thing to an arch-enemy that Wonder Woman has.  Her background has changed slightly, with archeologist Barbara Minerva now having been a one-time ally of Wonder Woman who became possessed by a goddess of the hunt after accidentally cutting herself with a ritual knife belonging to a lost tribe in the Amazon jungle.  Why she took the name of an African predatory cat when her powers come from a South American goddess is not explained.

As always, Johns is at his best when he forgets the story and focuses on making his characters characters.  The best moments in this issue are the little scenes where the heroes are allowed to be people.  The awkward moment when Wonder Woman and Superman discuss the kiss they had in the heat of the moment last issue.  Barry Allen's reassuring Victor Stone that he is still more man than machine as the two discuss the recent shake-up of their teams.  And the real prize of this issue - a back-up story co-written with Animal Man writer Jeff Lemire, in which we see Steve Trevor and Oliver Queen discussing evidence Green Arrow found that a covert super-villain team exists.


The art is largely excellent.  Tony Daniel, fresh from Detective Comics, does a fine job of rendering the action of the main story, with savage pencils defined by the inks of Richard Friend & Batt.  Less memorable is the back-up story drawn by Brad Walker, whose Oliver Queen looks far-too baby-faced for my liking and indeed seems to look like a young boy in some panels!

Ultimately, the biggest problem with Justice League is that it fails to seem like the flagship title of the company.  Everything here is competent but Justice League should be more than that.  It should be amazing - an action movie on paper!  And this... this just isn't that exciting or enthralling.