Action Comics#1001 Spoilers and Discussion

[Miles To Go]

I decided to just read the thing anyway despite my panic yesterday, and...yep, I'm still on the fence

Superman and Melody confront the kid who told Moore Clark caused the fires and reveals he was bribed. We learn the Red Cloud, the true cause of the fires, is a woman. Trisha Q confronts Clark at the Planet and tells him she believes Lois left Clark for Superman. We get a glimpse of Lois at the very end in a hotel room on what appears to be the outskirts of the city, and she's writing an expose on her marriage to Superman!

It wasn't bad, and I'm glad they sort of nipped the whole "Supes caused the fires" in the bud and made a team of Clark and Moore, with Moore telling Clark he's a little too intimidating towards the kid and to simmer down.

I know Lois has written exposes on Clark before, but she must not be counting on Jon coming home because if he did that would endanger him or disrupt his life forever if he ever made it home. I cautioned that Bendis ought to be very careful with Lois, but it seems at the moment the Super-Family is on the verge of shattering...and that does not sit well with me.


HOWEVER, there's a TWIST...in the list of "Red Cloud" suspects, they imply Lois is actually an imposter!

[Superlad93]

HolyCarpIt'sGoodHolyCrapIt'sGoodHolyCrapIt'sGoodHo lyCarpIt'sGoodHolyCarpIt'sGood!!!!


Can't nobody tell me nothin' bad bout this book right here, man! You just can't!!!

*phew*.

Okay, I had to get it out for my on satisfaction lol. But, seriously though, this is was a very strong start to Action Comics, and a fantastic contrast to Bendis' Superman. Very neighborhood nice-guy-big-brother mixed in with some excellent world building, use of the greater DCU, humor, character work, intriguing, and a soap opera style "wuuuuuuuuuut" ending. This is both a fantastic return to the better parts of the triangle era and a spiritual successor to George Reeves' Superman.

But let's not play game. Let's talk about PAT GLEASON'S NEXT LEVEL ART!!. This is the culmination of that experimentation from the Boyzarro arc and his Action comics 1000 story. This is my guy's final form right here. I'm as cisgender as the day is long, but I'll be got damned if I can't appreciate the swoon-worthy close-up panel Superman where Superman says "Metropolis is my home." Gleason, if you're reading this, I know what a murdered page looks like when I see it. I've got half a mind to call the cops on you, man!

And sign me all the way up for Superman in the middle of a mob story. That whole collection of scenes after Superman takes flight is *muah* spectacular.

[Superlad93]

Also, still on the fence on the whole "what's Bendis gonna do with them thing?" Well, have no fear, Superlad is here.....

with a new interview and a very unambiguous quote:

https://www.newsarama.com/41087-bend...p-focused.html

Nrama: You mentioned Lois in our last interview, about how there’s some conflict after she returns. But we've talked before about how you have some ideas about their married life that you want to explore. Is this where we'll see their relationship, in Action Comics?

Bendis: Yeah, we'll have some very fun Mr. and Mrs. Smith type adventures with the two of them that I'm very excited about. And you know, they were living a normal family life, but they're not a normal family. There's nothing normal about them. They have a child with special needs. They have a family with special needs.

Everything about them is unique.

So why are you doing what everyone else does?
With that question, we're going to kind of re-establish their relationship and kind of be, like, the modern family of the DC Universe.

Nrama: Wait, are they going to be like The Jetsons or something?

Bendis: You’ll see. It's a work in progress, and one of my favorite things. And you as family person know this - it's constantly being built. It's constantly being worked on. It's constantly evolving. So that's what they are going to do.

I really want to explore the family dynamic, and you know, how much they love each other. It's like, OK, we love each other. That's a given. So let's figure this out. And that's a lot of fun to write.

[Myskin]

Bendis is the best thing happened to Superman since Grant Morrison and All Star Superman.

[Kuwagaton]

I'm pretty sad to lose Gleason having now experienced his collaboration with Bendis. This was all so spot on and really tailor made for him.

So on that baldie line up we have lots of regular villains but also... who, Didio and Bendis with an eye patch? And Mr Bloat! It could be because he's working with Paquette but I'd truly love it if this was a nod to Man of Steel under Schultz in general.

I like how the arson plot was quickly and literally swallowed up by the new villain and the niche mystery there.

[Myskin]

And Mr Bloat! It could be because he's working with Paquette but I'd truly love it if this was a nod to Man of Steel under Schultz in general.

That's Humpty Dumpty:
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/humpt...ty/4005-47319/

I can't recognize the stompface guy, though.
EDIT got it, it's Bootface.

[DragonPiece]

This was pretty much everything I hoped this book would be when Bendis described it in interviews. Wish it was double shipping.

[manofsteel1979]

Holy crap this was great.

That's all I can say, really. A bit nervous about the Lois stuff, but that interview Superlad posted takes care of that for now.

[Miles To Go]

Holy crap this was great.

That's all I can say, really. A bit nervous about the Lois stuff, but that interview Superlad posted takes care of that for now.

Yeah, it's nice Bendis is keeping us up to date on what's to come with these two, even if the marketing for the book is all doom and gloom and will they/won't they. I'm not sure if "Mr and Mrs Smith" is ideally suited for these two, but we'll see how Bendis does with it.

[Chubistian]

This was faaaaantastic. Gleason has made some changes to his style that I truly like. Not that I didn't like him before, but artists usually are looking to improve and try different things, so I like that he keeps on trying to reinvent himself whithout loosing his essence. Writing was fun,intriguing and really shows a well done Superman. This month, between AC and Superman, I give the "victory" to AC. I was just astonished by it, while still enjoying the first issue of Superman

[RepHope]

That was really damn good. Bendis has a perfect grasp of Supes' voice, I was reading the dialogue with Reeves voice in my head. Gleason's art is phenomenal, I really hope we get to see him draw a Parasite story one day, because he managed to make Parasite look scary for the firs time in forever. The Red Mist got changed to the Red Cloud, I would have made her the Crimson Cloud, but whatever more female supervillains for Clark's Rogues Gallery! I'm loving this "Invisible Mafia" group, it's nice to see Supes fight crime again. Great first issue, and confirms for me that Action is going to be the star of the Bendis Superbooks.

(A bit off-topic but is anyone else having trouble using CBR? I keep getting database errors that I have to spam reload to get past.)

[Sacred Knight]

Very solid. I love a good mystery and this is setting up quite a few, even while seemingly resolving the motivation for the fires. The new crime group has my attention for meeting in a gigantic lead tube, haha. And the new villain is almost guaranteed to be someone we know. I still hope its not Melody as I'm liking her, but we'll see. Then of course the mystery with Lois.

[Chubistian]

That was really damn good. Bendis has a perfect grasp of Supes' voice, I was reading the dialogue with Reeves voice in my head. Gleason's art is phenomenal, I really hope we get to see him draw a Parasite story one day, because he managed to make Parasite look scary for the firs time in forever. The Red Mist got changed to the Red Cloud, I would have made her the Crimson Cloud, but whatever more female supervillains for Clark's Rogues Gallery! I'm loving this "Invisible Mafia" group, it's nice to see Supes fight crime again. Great first issue, and confirms for me that Action is going to be the star of the Bendis Superbooks.

(A bit off-topic but is anyone else having trouble using CBR? I keep getting database errors that I have to spam reload to get past.)

I have had the same problem with CBR today

[Kuwagaton]

Okay, so now that I feel a little more confident about posting stability, a few things:

technically we are 9 issues into the Bendis run. And it's a pretty impressive display of decompression that we're only a day past Man of Steel #2. But this is the first issue of his Action, and that cover blurb is misleading. We know that things can easily change as the story unfolds, but this wasn't a job for Clark. He wouldn't have had access to Moore of Conners, and din't even try. Clark is probably the third most important character after Lois. It was a job for Superman.

And as it was pointed out in Man of Steel #2, Superman is able to throw his weight around a bit when it comes to how people see him and respond to him. But he muscles the situation and... well, the only thing he knows about the perp is that his timing is sufficient to avoid Superman catching him or stopping the crimes from even happening. So putting the kid in that situation had a chance to really go south.

That's Humpty Dumpty:
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/humpt...ty/4005-47319/

I can't recognize the stompface guy, though.
EDIT got it, it's Bootface.

Oh. Ah well. Guess I shouldn't be surprised that there is a less obscure character with the same look.

[astro@work]

I have had the same problem with CBR today

Me three. Been getting the database error, or slow response all day. Although it seems to have cleared up for me in the last few minutes.

And back on topic, my money is on that not being the real Lois...and that's why Jon isn't around. He's still with the real Lois.