Review: Action Comics #867

If you’re not currently reading Action Comics, it’s time to start.

I know, you’ve been conditioned to think of Action as the second-tier Superman book.  And when was the last time in-continuity Superman stories were even relevant anyway?  All that changes now.

Action 867 is part two in Geoff Johns’ Brainiac storyline.  This is Johns at his best.  It’s amazing to watch him skillfully re-invent concepts that are decades old.  He makes dated concepts like the bottled city of Kandor for fresh for the first time.  Sure, there’s some retconning involved.  But, as with Johns’ best work, the end result is so satisfying you won’t mind.

As this issue begins, Superman and Supergirl are in the Fortress of Solitude investigating what Superman assumes to be Brainiac.  By page three, Supergirl drops a bombshell on her cousin that completely changes the way you’ll view the sometimes silly super-villain.  Between Kara’s fear and the horrifying flashback to Krypton last issue, Brainiac inspires dread for the first time . . . ever.

Let that soak in for a second.  In two issues, Johns has established Brainiac as a threat.  In two decades of reading comics, I haven’t seen a writer pull that one off before.

Now for an even more amazing feat.  In the same scene, Geoff Johns finally makes Kara into a real character.  Ever since she was re-introduced to the DCU, writers have struggled to find a voice for Supergirl.  Geoff Johns does in seven pages what other writers could not do in thirty-plus issues of her own comic book.

The issue is mostly set-up for what promises to be the definitive Brainiac story.  There’s also some re-establishing of the status quo for Superman with interludes at the Daily Planet and Smallville.  But it doesn’t feel like exposition the way some opening chapters do.  You can feel the tension building already.  And of course you get the patented Johns cliffhanger at the end,

Are you ready for the icing on the cake?  The art is fantastic too.  I’m sure I don’t have to tell anyone that Gary Frank is an amazing talent.  But I can’t remember when his art has looked this good.  I’ve always been a fan of Frank’s clean style and expressive faces.  And it doesn’t hurt that his Superman and Lois look a lot like Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder.  Whether we’re dealing with Ma and Pa Kent at the breakfast table or Superman dismantling drones, Frank gets all the details.

Johns and Frank are working the same magic on Action comics that Johns and Van Scriever worked on Green Lantern a few years ago.  They are making Superman relevant again.  Now is the time to check it out.  You won’t be disappointed.

Tags: Action Comics, DC Comics, Gary Frank, Geoff Johns, Superman