Robo-Tastic Action!
Grant Morrison is the writer who made me love Superman as a comic book character again with his All-Star Superman title. In his Action Comics run in the New 52 he's really exploring the possibility of a world that doesn't want Superman around. As robotic armies are manufactured as fast as Superman can punch them into pieces, the young Kryptonian finds himself overwhelmed and outgunned for the first time in his life. This feeling of helplessness is very welcome in a Superman title, because even though he is "the man of steel," he's not interesting unless he faces challenges that he can't overcome without working for it.
This issue had a few new tweaks to the story that I was really fond of. For starters I really liked that he was wearing a white shirt with an "S" symbol this time around. It makes sense that he would be making these at home and it might look suspicious if a young person Superman's age were always buying royal blue shirts. It also just kind of looks cool and switches it up from the norm. I also enjoyed the cameo of Steel in this issue, as well as the tie-in with the city of Kandor. Morrison is dropping little golden flakes of greatness all over this issue and it really shines.
Rags Morales' artwork feels so kinetic that I found myself holding my breath while reading some of the panels. You can really feel every pull and punch that Superman dishes out and takes in this issue, and he takes a pretty big beating. I'm not completely sold on John Corben/Metallo (or is it Metal-Zero), I think he looks a little clunky. But I'm sure he's going to become a bit more streamlined in the future.
This issue had great action, fast pace dialogue, and a cliffhanger ending that makes readers yearn for more. It deserves a solid 4/5 for a great addition to the new title. Although I was a little confused as to why they bothered to split up Steel's story and put it in the back with a different artist? Maybe Morales was running behind or maybe they did it just for fun, either way it didn't take away from the overall book and it was fun to read.
