Revealing Strengths and Vulnerabilities: Superman #39

The following is my review of Superman #39, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

The concept of a secret identity is a lot harder to contemplate in an era where identities are only as secretive as a botched instagram post. It was probably a lot easier decades ago when only the CIA, the DEA, and George Lucas utilized elaborate camera tricks. So someone like Clark Kent could get away with having a secret identity, especially with all the skills and powers that come along with being Superman. Over his history, he’s had to elaborate and creative. He’s not like Batman, who has enough money and gadgets to make most of his identity issues go away. But in this era, elaborate and creative just isn’t enough.

This creates a logistical problem of sorts for Superman. He lives in an era where phone booths are as extinct as eight-track tapes and everyone has a camera in their pocket. Yet somehow he’s still able to keep his identity secret from his friends, his family, the NSA, and Fox News. It’s one of those issues that’s easy to shrug off because it’s been part of Superman’s mythos since the 1940s, a time when a camera cost a mortgage payment. But after discovering a new power and keeping all his secrets solely amongst the Justice League, he’s taken a chance and revealed his identity to someone.

It’s overdue and it lacks impact, but it’s still an important development. Superman #39 explores that development in wake of the conflict surrounding Ulysses. It’s a development that didn’t have much of a transition, but it still counts as a pivotal moment for Superman. It even ends up being more than pivotal. It offers a refreshing insight into what makes Superman the ideal by which all heroes are measured.

The revelation itself isn’t the center of the story. It essentially starts a conversation that ends up going way beyond the merits of a secret identity in the 21^st century. Jimmy Olson’s reaction is fairly predictable. It’s not overdone or overly dramatic. For a character like Jimmy Olson, that’s appropriate. He’s still this wide-eyed kid who sees the world from the perspective of someone whose spirit hasn’t been crushed by mortgages, bills, and the IRS.

To Jimmy Olson, his best friend being Superman is like finding out his best friend just bought a Ferrari. It’s shocking, but in a good way. Nobody faints. Nobody gets mad. He doesn’t whine about his friend lying to him all these years. He just accepts it and embraces this revelation. It might come off as bland, but it’s not callous. He doesn’t shrug it off or get overly worked up. And it’s because Jimmy’s reaction is so healthy that Superman can offer some perspective about what he’s going through.

In addition to revealing his identity, Superman is also dealing with not having his powers for a day. It’s one of the unfortunate side-effects of his latest Dragonball Z derived ability to generate a solar flare. But not having his powers doesn’t cripple him. He doesn’t tremble with fear and he doesn’t carry himself like he’s not Superman anymore. He actually embraces the opportunity to be fully human and having someone like Jimmy Olson to share the experience with makes it meaningful.

It’s probably the most mature way anyone has ever responded to a loss. Most people have a nervous breakdown whenever they drop their cell phone in the toilet. Superman lost the power that makes him Superman. That’s a lot more serious than simply not being able to Tweet from an elevator. But this loss doesn’t cause Superman to curl up into a fetal position and pray to Rao for the strength. It doesn’t even stop him from being Superman and this is where the true impact of the story shows.

Even though he’s fully human and completely vulnerable, Superman still doesn’t hesitate to help people in need. When a girl falls out of a tree, he helps her. When a crazed gunman takes a hostage, he does something about it. He does it when he’s just Clark Kent in normal street clothes. He also does it while he’s wearing his Superman armor. Not having his powers doesn’t change that in the slightest. He’s still Superman. He can still be the hero everyone needs him to be without his powers. In that sense, even other heroes who might complain about not being able to lift a freight train have no excuse.

The story doesn’t contain much in the form of style, nor does it offer anything decidedly epic like Superman’s final battle against Ulysses. But it does offer a beautiful reminder of why Superman is so iconic. It shows that Superman doesn’t do what he does because of his powers. In fact, his powers wouldn’t even rank in top five in terms of reasons why he’s the ideal by which all heroes are measured. He does the right thing, regardless of whatever power he may or may not have. That ideal is and always has been Superman’s greatest power.

This underlying theme is the greatest strength of the story. It’s a theme worth reinforcing. It’s easy to forget in between clashes with Lex Luthor and battles against alien warlords that Superman is more than the breadth of his powers. There will always be some satisfaction to the stories where he decks Lex Luthor and flies off with Lois Lane into the sunset. But there’s a different kind of satisfaction in stories that show why Superman embodies the ideals of so many heroes before and since his creation. It could be argued that him punching out Lex Luthor is more satisfying, but reinforcing those ideals is definitely more meaningful.

The story in Superman #39 isn’t overly epic. Revealing his identity to Jimmy Olsen doesn’t make for an overwhelming narrative, but it still does so in a meaningful way. It just ends up becoming secondary once Superman gets a chance to be Superman without his powers. It’s easy to be inspired by a man who isn’t afraid to do the right thing even when he can’t punch through a brick wall. But with or without Superman’s powers, it still doesn’t make glasses a viable disguise.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

The Final Boss: Batman/Superman #7

The following is my review of Batman/Superman #7, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

Generations of blood sports and media violence has petrified the overly conservative crowd about the effects it has had on youth. Every now and then, one of these overly conservative cronies will whine loud enough to get the attention of politicians and pundits. They’ll try to argue that violence in the media serves no purpose. They’ll come off as doomsayers that claim everyone who partakes will become overgrown crack babies who regard human life with the same disdain as they regard pixilated images of Nazis. It’s like they don’t even consider that this brand of media can actually have a positive effect.

In Batman/Superman #7, the whining and complaining of the talking heads has taken form and substance. Mongul has created a massive network of professional gamers to wage war on the scale he desires. That network has forced Batman and Superman to fight each other in a unique and sometimes off-beat way. There’s no heated rivalry or intense philosophical disagreements. They’re just at the mercy of Mongul’s gaming hive-mind and with help from Toymaster, they might as well have joysticks wired into their spines.

This battle between Superman and Batman has been novel and laced with a special brand of satire, portraying the professional gamers that unknowingly have control of the two most powerful heroes in the DC Universe as disconnected and cynical. But as the battle plays out, it takes on a very different tone. Like playing a game of poker with a known cheater, Superman and Batman understand that they can’t win if they play by the rules. But this is where one of the unstated positives of media violence and gaming can have.

Experienced gamers are a lot like movie buffs who have seen one too many horror movies use the same formula. They pick up on the subtle signs and patters that let them know when something isn’t what it seems. In a horror movie, it may be that cute, innocent-looking girl that the masked killer is chasing and can’t seem to kill. That girl usually turns out to be the sister, girlfriend, or relative of the killer. Or it could be more elaborate than that. She could be a wizard, a psychic, or half-vampire. But experienced horror movie fans will know that something is different about her. And Mongul doesn’t seem to think that the professional gamers he’s exploiting will notice that something is very wrong with this game.

Jimmy Olsen, Superman’s pal, is the first to notice. Then Superman himself picks up on it. While he may not be much of a gamer, he understands them enough to know they don’t appreciate being exploited. So in the same way child stars don’t appreciate being exploited by their parents, they get upset and lash out against the one that’s pulling the strings. And unlike the parents of child stars, the secret villains in a video game don’t have lawyers and contracts to hide behind. Superman needs only to reveal the hidden boss to the gamers and they can take it from there.

He does this by exploiting the rules of gaming itself, allowing himself to be defeated so that he can become a player himself. This allows him to become part of the hive that Mongul is trying to exploit. But exploiting Superman is like trying to scam the Mafia. It doesn’t turn out well. By turning the game against Mongul, he strips away the more satirical tone of the story and exposes some traits about gaming that will probably never be discussed on a segment on Fox News. Gamers may become desensitized by the destruction and bloodshed of certain kinds of imagery, but they’ll never be desensitized to the satisfaction of beating up on the final boss. From Mario to Mortal Kombat, it’s what many gamers live for. And Superman makes it even more of an experience in the final battle.

In the same way the story is told through the point of view of the gamers, the gamers also get to experience the battle through Superman. It’s an experience that can never be conveyed with words or pictures. By actually playing through Superman, the gamers get to be the embodiment of good that he idealizes. It’s turns the game from a spectacle to an opportunity. In any other circumstance, it would be overwhelming to be Superman. But in the context of a game, it’s not just possible. It conveys a special kind of thrill. It shows that as much as games can allow people to exercise their worst traits, it can also help them exercise their best traits. It’s a two-way street that for which only one direction gets most of the traffic. And in this case, it helps save the day almost as much as Superman and Batman.

The overarching theme of this arc has been pretty erratic. At times, it’s too erratic and difficult to follow. But taken as a whole, it is a theme that resonates in a unique way. The only thing that keeps it from resonating more is the lack of a personal touch. There is an effort to take Toymaster’s female associate and give her more of a personal role in the outcome of the story. But it seems out-of-place and underdeveloped.

Batman/Superman #7 never came off as a story where the outcome was in doubt. Like so many other stories about DC’s mightiest heroes, they find a way to defeat the powerful villains that plot against them. But it’s the unique manner in which Superman and Batman defeated Mongul that makes it satisfying. It did not follow a traditional path. It took the concept of gaming and made what could have been just another battle against an unruly space tyrant into a spectacle. It won’t overwhelm anybody with melodrama or suspense, but it is still entertaining and insightful. It reminds everybody that video games are as close to being Superman and Batman as they’re ever going to get.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

Satirical Muscle: Batman/Superman #6

The following is my review of Batman/Superman #6, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

It’s a story that has played out many times and in many different forms. A powerful alien tyrant less regard for human life than a hungry grizzly bear arrives on Earth and picks a fight with its mightiest heroes. Those heroes fight back, punches are thrown, buildings are destroyed, human life is threatened, and eventually the hero triumphs. It is a theme so common that modern audiences have become desensitized to it. In the same way news of Lindsey Lohan’s latest arrest fails to raise an eyebrow, a battle between Superman and the alien overlord, Mongul, is hardly a novel concept. However, that’s exactly the point that is conveyed in Batman/Superman #6.

Batman and Superman are two of the most powerful forces in DC Comics. They’ve been the subject of numerous epic battles and multiple blockbuster movies. The residents of the DC Universe have seen these two triumph so many times that it has become expected. So when Mongul arrives on Earth, some don’t even treat it as a threat. They treat it as a game. And that’s exactly the genius of Mongul’s plan. He wants it to be thought of as a game because to him, it is a game. He’s just the only one playing for real stakes.

The battle between Mongul, Batman, and Superman is almost secondary. Much of the story is told from the point of view of a team of virtual gamers, including Superman’s friend, Jimmy Olsen. They have been led to believe by Toymaster that they are test driving an advanced game that just happens to involve Superman and Batman fighting Mongul. But neither they, nor Toymaster for that matter, know that one of Mongul’s alien associates helped create the game using alien nanotechnology. This allows the gamers to influence Superman and Batman, something that Lex Luthor and the Joker have failed to do on more than one occasion. It creates a very difficult situation for two of the Earth’s mightiest heroes, but it also creates an interesting narrative that’s downright coy at times.

There’s a sort of superimposed satire surrounding the story. As Batman and Superman are fighting to defeat Mongul and protect innocent people, the gamers treat it as trivial. The finer details of the struggle are greeted with a yawn. They’re like those annoying commercials in a recorded TV show that everyone loves to skip. It undermines the actual struggle, taking away from the seriousness of the situation. It would be like mixing coverage of a terrorist attack with a game show and therein lies strength of the story.

Even after Jimmy Olson realizes that the game he thinks he’s playing is actually happening, Mongul and Toymaster still treat it as such. Like a showman at a demolition derby preying on peoples’ appetite for destruction, drawing in other gamers from all over the world and using their collective skills to manipulate Batman and Superman into playing his game. It’s one thing to overcome the mind control of Lex Luthor and the Joker when they’re attempting to twist their enemies into submission. At least the strings that connect to the puppet-master are still visible. In this instance, those strings extend to computer networks all over the world where gamers treat the virtual world as their own personal shooting range.

Without this perspective, it’s just another battle between Superman, Batman, and an ugly alien overlord. It would have a much different impact. Moments like Batman apparently dying might actually be shocking on some levels. But in the context of this story, it’s no different than watching Mario fall of a cliff in a level of Super Mario Brothers. That satirical trivialization of the struggle and the lives involved are what gives this story a different kind of depth. It’s not meant to be overly serious. At the same time, it has some distressing connotations.

At times, however, it’s too trivial. Putting Batman and Superman in a video game where they have to fight Mongul undermines the struggle or any personal story that the characters have. There’s plenty of insight into how Batman and Superman feel about their situation. But it basically amounts to them acting like narrators of their own story. They can’t control themselves because of the influence of Mongul’s game. There’s not much to be gained from that from a characterization standpoint. It’s almost a given that whatever happens to Batman and Superman will have as much lasting impact as a reset button on a real game console.

That doesn’t make the story any less enjoyable. Batman/Superman #6 doesn’t pretend to have a lot of drama or character growth. It’s a story built on a foundation of satire and irony. These gamers who are the source of the conflict are so desensitized to violence and danger that they don’t know that they’re putting the whole planet in danger. There’s something to be said about the attitudes of gamers when they can’t tell the difference between real violence and actual violence, but to be fair they are dealing with alien technology and they don’t know that they’re being deceived. However, that only makes them as innocent as the same people who fall for get rich quick schemes. It’s a game that really is too good to be true in the same way most money-making schemes are too good to be true.

In the end the story in Batman/Superman #6 won’t have much impact outside its entertainment value. Fans won’t be any more shocked, outraged, or disappointed than they were before this comic came out. And the breadth of this story is limited, as is the case with all satire. But it does make for a novel plot from a novel perspective. In an era where everything is a reboot, remake, or sequel, that goes a long ways towards making this story uniquely enjoyable.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

Action Comics #1 - Action Packed Awesome

Nostalgia is overrated. I have no problem saying that and rubbing it in the faces of people who still use walk-mans and think the 80s were the greatest era of music in recorded history, going so far as to sport a mullet after they've become the official hairstyle of sex offenders. The past is nice and all, but sometimes you just gotta move forward. DC took that concept to heart, stepping on the hearts and ignoring the incessant whining that ensued when they said they were going to relaunch all their books. And not just the ones that were doing poorly on the sales charts. They did it for every book. That includes Action Comics, a series so old that my dad was still a sperm fragment in my grandfather's nutsack when the first issue came out. This is the actual comic that introduced Superman...you know, the most iconic superhero ever? Well over 60 years later, DC is turning the odometer back on this classic comic. They're not starting from scratch, but they are starting with Superman so they're still nostalgic for some shit. To that extent, it nostalgia doesn't suck quite as much.

So here's the deal. I reviewed Justice League #1. I enjoyed it. It wasn't a solid 5 out of 5 like you would want the first comic of a massive reboot to be, but it was serviceable. That was the big guns, but it's the little guns that often do the more targeted killing. That's why picking up Action Comics #1 was at the top of my to-do list just below a routine visit to a hooker and a liquor store. This comic isn't on the same scale as Justice League #1. In fact, it's not even in the same era. This comic takes place years before Justice League #1 when Superman is in his early twenties. He's not quite Mr. Red, White, and Blue yet. Hell, he still wears jeans when he's in his cape. He's not quite the finished product, but he's on his way. Much like Brett Favre's backup quarterbacks minus the sexting scandels.

Now that Smallville is off the air, there's a market for a story like this. If this is truly a reboot, then Superman as we know him had to have gotten to where he is now in a different manner. How different is it? How different can you make it and still have him be Superman? The guy tasked with telling this story is Grant Morrison, who can soak panties with his English accent and bald head. He's the kind of guy who enjoys telling stories of god like figures. This is the story of a god-like figure in training so he's got plenty to work with and plenty of reasons not to screw it up.

Action Comics #1 doesn't retell the same origins stories we've all heard a trillion times before. We know all about the doomed planet, the orphaned boy, the small town values, and the Marlon Brando voice overs. That doesn't change or at least that hasn't been revealed yet. This comic starts off with Superman doing what you would expect a young college kid who read too much Noam Chomsky to do. He uses his vast powers to terrify corrupt businessman. Fuck killer aliens. Fuck giant monsters. This young Superman swoops in, grabs rich old fucks, and holds him by his ankle over a roof while the police try not to piss themselves. Take that, Tea Party!

Unlike the Superman we know, he's not rubbing shoulders with the authorities. When you're threatening a rich white guy, cops tend to notice and they tend to point guns at you. For Superman, they might as well be throwing didoes at him. It doesn't mean shit. He's basically asking Mr. I-Love-Ayan-Rand to admit that he's a douche-bag that screws over poor people. He won't, so Superman takes him on an express ride to the surface that's sure to cure every kind of constipation known to man. This not only scares the shit out of the rich fuck. It gets him to confess that he's a dirty, corrupt politician. He's basically Mitt Romney's prison bitch. That's good enough for Superman. He doesn't tell the cops to arrest him. He just says that if he doesn't get his act together, then he'll come back for him. Beats the shit out of the Supreme Court, eh?

Now this is a pretty bold statement for the new Superman. This young, growing superhero is not on the level of kicking Darkseid's ass just yet. His ideals are still developing and right now they're at the same level as most college kids who pay way too much attention to their extreme liberal professors that think hippie communes are a great way to spend a summer. It's a very logical even if it's not very super kind of mindset for this up and coming Man of Steel. And it works in a way that only Apple engineers can masturbate to.

Even though the police have a much more pressing matter with an asshole politician just confessing to a crime, they still point their guns at Superman. So the police in Metropolis are about as efficient as Congress, ignoring the real problems and going after what's flashy. Now at this point Superman can't fly away. He can only jump over buildings. Now if that sounds a little lame, keep in mind that those were the powers Superman had way back in the day when he started off. That whole flight thing hasn't developed quite yet. A kid his age can't take on too much power. Otherwise it's just too easy for him to be an asshole to the rest of the real assholes. It's still more than enough power to outrun Metropolis's finest. Superman even has a little fun with it, treating it like a North Korean fitness exercise where he's running from guys with guns instead of just rabid pit bulls.

As you would expect in the real world when a superpowered being is making fools out of humble authority figures, the government takes notice. In particular, the assholes of the government find it necessary to unleash the shittiest parts of their ego. That's where General Lane, Lois Lane's father, and Lex Luthor, egocentric douce-bag extraordinaire, enter the picture. They've been tasked with apprehending Superman, presumably to see if his powers include magically winning elections. Luthor being Luthor, he's always jumps at a chance to stroke his ego. Plus, he gets to play with the government's credit card. Who wouldn't enjoy that?

Proving that the relaunch hasn't made him any less an asshole, Luthor lures Superman to an area full of innocent poor people that are in the process of being fucked over. An abandoned house that's scheduled for demolition gets a little pre-demolishing with a wrecking ball. As it just so happens (and Luthor makes it abundantly clear that he's aware of this), there are people inside that are likely to be crushed more than Tom Curise's Oscar chances. Superman being for the little guy at this point, does what he does best and helps get them to safety. However, rather than greet him with a metal, Luthor and the authorities greet him with a tank that doesn't even warn him when it fires on him. That's basically a metaphor for date rape and Lex Luthor.

Superman gets caught up in an electric net. It tingles a bit, but then he breaks it. Even if it doesn't even scratch him, he's a young guy. He gets pissed off when his cell phone gets no service. So he naturally does what any of us would do. He takes the wrecking ball and uses it to beat the shit out of the tank. It's a hell of a lot more effective than a hunger strike by your typical hippie. Then when they start firing back again, the people that Superman just saved come to his aid. It's a nice way to show that not everybody in this new DC world is an asshole. If you save the lives of a bunch of poor people, they'll return the favor. It's a beautiful think that shows that while Superman may be a headache for powerful white men, he's still a man of the people.

So with help from the people, Superman escapes. Somewhere out there Glenn Beck is crying over how communism is infiltrating our comic books, but for every tear he sheds a nerd loses his virginity to a supermodel so I think that's worth it. Upon escaping, Superman returns to his normal life as Clark Kent. But it's not that of a mild-mannered reporter. Remember, he's still a young guy. He's basically the equivalent of a starving college student. He doesn't use a phone booth to change. He just grabs some clothes from a laundry wire, assuming they're clean, and slips back into anonymity. It's to be expected, but it still works.

We then get a brief taste of how Clark Kent lives. He's very much a student, living a meager existence with an old land lord that isn't quite as big an asshole as most landlords. She's nice to Clark, treating him like the kind of kid she's trying to hook her grand-daughter up with. But she still bitches about the rent. Clark being the good guy that he is pays it and doesn't make excuses about staying in a strip club longer than he should have. He's got humility, but he gets along with people and he's not as clumsy.

You can argue that this Clark isn't terribly different from his predecessor. You could also argue that he's not too similar either. This is more an everyman who avoids being a dick for all the right reasons. He's not like Peter Parker or Batman or other big name heroes that make excuses for or in spite of their lifestyle. Superman seems comfortable with his world. Now we don't know how he got here or what's different about his life in this new DC universe. It's not even hinted at. That can be a little annoying, but it still works.

Now enter Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson. You can't have a Superman story without those two. That would be like having rap music without the weed. In this world Superman isn't working with Jimmy and Lois. He's actually working for a rival newspaper. Jimmy just happens to be Clark's friend. Lois wants nothing to do with him. So it's basically your standard pretty-girl-ignores-the-hero type deal. It's basically square one for Superman and some who were fans of the Superman/Lois marriage may not like that. Given how long it took for them to get together last time, my pubic hair will have turned gray before they come around this time.

But Jimmy and Lois's story is linked to Superman's story. Remember that rich fuck that Superman put the fear of God in? Well they're also trying to expose his bullshit and they're doing it without holding him over a rooftop. They're following a guy named Gus Glenmorgan, who was said rich fuck's enforcer. Like your typical college students with no regard for their lives, they try to go after him. And this is after Clark told Jimmy they shouldn't get on any trains because of his own little investigations surrounding the rich fuck. But low and behold, Lois doesn't listen. And you wonder why she constantly needs rescuing? They almost deserve to have the train go out of control as a result of sabotaged. Hell, in the DC universe, a train gets sabotaged ever other Tuesday it seems.

Lois and Jimmy try to confront Gus. When Clark hears that they completely ignored his advice and got on the train, he springs into action. It turns into a double does of "you're fucked" for Lois and Jimmy. When they confront Gus, he pulls two guns on them. If that weren't enough, the train goes out of control. Now this isn't the locomotive that Superman has constantly been compared to in terms of power. This is a fucking bullet train, meaning it's faster and stronger than those steam powered pieces of shit from the 1800s. So it's a bit tougher to stop and by a bit I mean even Superman has problems with it.

What follows next is your standard pants-shitting danger that Lois Lane will come to get used to throughout the DC universe. That's another bit that will never change no matter what universe DC is in. As the train goes out of control, it jumps the tracks and enters the streets. In the process Gus, Jimmy, Lois, and everyone else with loose bowels has to hold on for dear life as they crash through Metropolis like a Motley Crue reunion tour. It's a nice spectacle that shows Superman being Superman, regardless of how hippie-like Grant Morrison has made him.

Now wait a minute. How did that train go out of control anyways? Was it that rich fuck? Would he really be that stupid to crash a train after he just had Superman scare the shit out of him? Well rich white men in DC aren't quite that stupid. Lex Luthor on the other hand? Well his balls are almost the size of his ego. Despite putting General Lane's daughter in danger, he's perfectly fine with endangering hundreds of people. Sure, the General is pissed at him. But he could care less because it did just what they wanted him to do. It subdued Superman. Thus, the first issue of Action Comics ends with Superman being knocked out by a fucking train. That's growing pains for you!

Going back to what I said about nostalgia earlier, it's like crack. It's easy to overdose on. This comic could have been one big flashback issue. It could have been like me after one too much Bahama Mamas and just puke out old crap that has already been digested. But it wasn't. There wasn't a single flashback. There were only a few fleeting mentions of the past. Everything was very forward-focused. We start with this young, immature, hippie Superman and Grant Morrison rolls with it! This is a guy who isn't inspiring the law, but he is inspiring the little guy. It's the kind of story that wasn't told in Smallville, nor was it told in the countless origin stories in great depth. It's an untapped well of awesome that works beautifully even if it's a little thin in some areas.

The fact that it's so forward thinking is also somewhat of a shortcoming. So much of this new Superman is just imposed without context. Grant Morrison just plops him in Metropolis, has him scare the piss out of the establishment, gets some hippies to jerk each other off, and has Lex Luthor take it from there. It's a complete story with plenty of details in the middle, but not enough details in between. We don't know the circumstances of Clark's life in Metropolis. We don't know much about what makes him tick at this point besides watching too much of the Daily Show. There are a lot of blanks that weren't filled or even hinted at. This being the first issue, there's plenty of time to do so. However, it leaves the first issue feeling somewhat incomplete.

Never-the-less, this comic succeeds in more ways than Justice League #1. It's a more thorough and refined story. It stays within it's scope and does all the little things well. Everything feels coherent. Superman feels like a young Superman ought to feel. Same with Lois and Jimmy. Their characterization and dialog is spot on. There's plenty of variation to ensure that this story feels new and fresh. If it had a little more context, it would be perfect. For now, it's the next best thing! I give Action Comics #1 a 4.5 out of 5. It took over 900 issues, but this series was finally rebooted. Now after the first issue, it has a long ways to go. But even if you're not keen on following the next 900, it inspires you enough to pick up Action Comics #2. Nuff said!