Action Comics #3
Grant Morrison: writer
Rags Morales and Gene Ha: pencillers
Rick Bryant and Gene Ha: inkers
My goodness, this issue just gets messy. The art mostly does, the story seems a bit out of place, and overall it just doesn't feel like it is worth the bang for the buck.
We start off with Superman dreaming of his time on Krypton when he was a child and he saw the destruction of Krypton. He looks to be a year old, if that. Apparently Krypton was now destroyed by Brainiac, or at least that is the way it is being shown as for this issue.
Also in this issue, lots of hate for Superman. Anything from the fact that he is an alien to how much property damage comes from him rescuing people, it just keeps coming. And then there are the insults thrown at Clark himself.
Then at the end of the issue we get the cliffhanger of Brainiac stating that he wants Superman, and that it is Lex Luthor who is responsible for him being there. So it looks like they will be going with the Lex Luthor who wants to take over the world character in this new DC universe. Which isn't bad, but I've read a lot of good characterizations of Lex where he is philosophically opposed to Superman and how Superman dehumanizes people by trying to be human himself. It might not make sense in that sentence, but try to check out Brian Azzarello's and Lee Bernajo's Lex Luthor: Man of Steel miniseries. That is the type of Lex that I could go for, not a cartoony villain that resembles the 1970's Superman movie character.
But looking at what we are given, and how the story sorta forces itself along with these big moments that I wanted to see more of and drawn out moments that I wanted to see less of, I am getting the impression that this series just isn't for me. Especially with the $3.99 price tag. We only got 20 pages of stories with a bunch of backup material that gives minor impressions of the behind the scenes to all of the Superman books that got relaunched. Granted, if you are already reading some of those titles then the information you are reading in the back of this comic is information you already know. So it is basically an ad.
The great character change for Superman in this new universe seems to be to make him an arrogant, cocky, self assured, asshole of a character. And the only purpose of doing that is to show how much his character changed to the "modern" timeline that the Superman book is following right now (that's the 5 years thing that DC is making into a timeline to make certain books make sense and... just wiki it).
I'm just not into the book. The art has gotten worse over the three issues, which is a sad fall from the first issue being so great. DC has made a strict schedule that the creators must adhere to in order to stay on the books, and the rushed work is noticeable here. This is even with a guest artist coming in to help you out.
Maybe reading the first three issues in a row will help me stay on for another month, but more than likely it will not.
For those keeping track, this is the second Superman title that I am dropping, and the third book overall. Unless I see something upon re-reading it.
Words: 5/10
Pictures: 4/10
Recommend: I say no.
Buy Next Issue: Probably not.
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