ACTION COMICS #3

World Against Superman

January 2012

 

Written by Grant Morrison

Pencils by Rags Morales and Gene Ha

Inks by Rick Bryant and Gene ha

 

Covers by Rags Morales and Gene Ha

Synopsis

On Krypton, Jor-el senses an alien threatening the planet.  He sends a warning to his wife, Lara, who attempts to escape with her baby, Kal-el.  On Earth, Clark Kent is awakened by a knock on the door.  Inspector Blake and the police arrive to look around his apartment.  Later, Clark meets Jimmy Olsen, who tries to get Clark to join him at the Daily Planet, but Clark remains loyal to the Star.  Afterwards, Clark calls his confidential source and gets a tip on the Factory of Tomorrow and robot trains.  At the factory, Clark is interviewing the factor owner when Lois and Jimmy show up to do the same.  As the argue over rights to the story, the machines in the factory seemingly come to life.  Elsewhere, John Corben is fitted into the Steel Soldier, but is overtaken by an alien consciousness.  He wants one thing:   Superman.

 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

So, it seems as if my guess from the last issue is fairly spot on as it seems to be Morrison’s version of Brainiac.  The beginning of the issue shows Brainiac’s theft of Kandor while the end shows Brainiac arriving to complete his destruction of all Kryptonians. 

 

The issue felt, to me, like it was missing bits and pieces.  The pacing is totally off.  I think Morrison is trying his best to get through a well-worn story (misunderstood hero) as quickly and efficiently as possible and as a result the rushed script feels incomplete in places.  The transitions from scene to scene were awkward, as some of the emotional beats fail to register because we are caught a little off balance by the jarring shift from one scene to another.  Take for instance the bottom of page 13, a seemingly random panel that doesn’t connect to the panel above it or the next page.  It stands out, which may have been Morrison’s point, but that doesn’t mean it reads any cleaner. Moreover, there are other parts missing, such as what Clark tells the landlady after she asks about outer space.  Nor do we get a definitive reason why Blake is trashing Kent’s apartment, although the inference is that they think Kent is working with Superman somehow because both Kent and Superman are trying to take Glen Glenmorgan.  But I think the most startling transition is Metropolis citizens (who seemed to be solidly behind Superman in previous issues) suddenly turning against him.  Yes, I get it that Glenmorgan is behind it all, but it seems to occur way too fast.  And this, I think, is the basic problem with the issue.  It moves by quickly, lacking detail and depth, making it feel like it is missing something.  This is a good story, but oddly paced. 

 

The sequence at the beginning was a little confusing because we see Lara making her escape along with the Kal-el.  Was she only escaping Kandor, to arrive at some other destination on Krypton?  It seemed to me that if Brainiac (assuming it is him) destroyed Krypton.  Maybe the scene here is just the precursor.  What we don’t see is Lara finding Jor-el and then the two sending Kal off in the rocket before the entire planet is destroyed. 

 

I hope Morrison can explain why Luthor would be so against the arrival of the alien Superman but would be willing to make a deal with another alien.  It seems contradictory to me.  The first issues established Luthor’s disdain for Superman, to the point where he only referred to it as an “it” rather than “he”.  But now, in this issue, he seems to be eager to meet with the alien connected to Corben.  Maybe it has nothing to do with alien life, but rather with Luthor’s ego at not being the main man in Metropolis.  Or maybe Brainiac (assuming it is him) agreed to abandon Earth once he got what he wanted, thus keeping Earth free from aliens.

 

 

 

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