REVIEW: Action Comics, #41

[CBR News]

The best Superman creative team pre-"Convergence" triumphantly returns, as Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder deal with the fallout of Superman's revealed identity in "Action Comics" #41.


Full review here.

[Auguste Dupin]

Always glad to see the quality of the book recognised, despite the pre release controversy.

[Deniz Camp]

It was a great issue. Aaron Kuder is remarkable and Pak - who can sometimes be a bit saccharine for a given book - really works the emotions well here.

It's a book more about the heart then the head thematically and executionally, and the smaller scale really makes that feel somehow more genuine.

[Deniz Camp]

I do wonder who they'll get as their second artist. My hope is that we get someone pretty regular, rather than patch work people. Expressiveness is such a key element of the book hitting those notes; maybe Scott Hepburn. Been digging what he's been doing with ink washes lately.

[ultraaman]

Agreed. This was a pleasant surprise all around.

[DragonPiece]

I do wonder who they'll get as their second artist. My hope is that we get someone pretty regular, rather than patch work people. Expressiveness is such a key element of the book hitting those notes; maybe Scott Hepburn. Been digging what he's been doing with ink washes lately.

Second artist for what?

[Auguste Dupin]

Second artist for what?

Kuder has a tendency to need a little extra help when it comes to making monthly comics in time.

[Joe Acro]

A few things stick out in my mind. Someone else mentioned to me that his costume being stolen in the Convergence: Superboy back-up is odd considering how we left him in Superman. He already lost his costume there due to his new power and had to get a new one. Why should he still have one that the Fortress can take back? Moreover, putting that event in the back-up, much like with the Omega Men, puts an oddly important part of the puzzle in a comic that some fans might miss.

This is also seems at odds with what we had in the Superman story. He wasn't powerless. He simply lacked power each time he unleashed his sunburst, until he built up his solar energy again. It certainly seemed like he might be permanently weaker, as the build-up to the sunburst might have been robbing him from using other abilities, but the Superman in this comic feels like an even more extreme version of that. It's possible that, since the Superman arc is currently behind Truth, that it will help us understand this loss of power, so we'll have to wait and see.

I think my main concern is that it doesn't really "feel" like a Superman comic. I enjoy a Superman who has trouble grappling with powers--I like Electric Superman, I like Red Kryptonite stories, etc.--but at the moment he just seems less super. It really feels much more like a Spider-Man story, especially with Superman having a more street-level powerset.

[Auguste Dupin]

A few things stick out in my mind. Someone else mentioned to me that his costume being stolen in the Convergence: Superboy back-up is odd considering how we left him in Superman. He already lost his costume there due to his new power and had to get a new one. Why should he still have one that the Fortress can take back? Moreover, putting that event in the back-up, much like with the Omega Men, puts an oddly important part of the puzzle in a comic that some fans might miss.

This is also seems at odds with what we had in the Superman story. He wasn't powerless. He simply lacked power each time he unleashed his sunburst, until he built up his solar energy again. It certainly seemed like he might be permanently weaker, as the build-up to the sunburst might have been robbing him from using other abilities, but the Superman in this comic feels like an even more extreme version of that. It's possible that, since the Superman arc is currently behind Truth, that it will help us understand this loss of power, so we'll have to wait and see.

I think my main concern is that it doesn't really "feel" like a Superman comic. I enjoy a Superman who has trouble grappling with powers--I like Electric Superman, I like Red Kryptonite stories, etc.--but at the moment he just seems less super. It really feels much more like a Spider-Man story, especially with Superman having a more street-level powerset.

You know, so far, nothing especially indicates that it's his power flare that caused him to be depowered. Seems to me that they are being ambiguous about it's a plot point. Add to that the hints pointing toward a conspiracy (being constantly attacked by the same shadow monsters, everything involving Dawn Command...) and I really doubt it's been caused by an abuse of the solar flare.
As for the costume...Johns never said where it came from so if Pak tells me it's Kryptonian, then as far a I'm concerned, it's Kryptonian. And I blame Johns.
As far as feeling like a Superman story, well...frankly, Superman has been at so many power levels, and the idea of him losing his powers has been so prominent in his stories since at least the 50's (seriously, has there been any continuity that did not feature a story where he lost them?) that I don't see the power level as being significative in a story "feeling" like Superman's. Like many of his greatest stories, this issue points out that it's his heart that makes him Superman, not his powers.

[HsssH]

Kuder has a tendency to need a little extra help when it comes to making monthly comics in time.

Well he got couple of months during Convergence..?

[Charles J. Baserap]

All I know is last week's issue of Action Comics felt like I was walking in on the third reel of a movie with references made to not one, but TWO, issues of Superman that would shed some light on things but have yet to be released so I'm already a bit irked at this storyline.

I read the previews so I got the gist, but there are editor's notes in the issue that reference how Clark lost his powers and another part on some other major event tying to the storyline that direct you to issue #41 and #42 of Superman. Even needing to read the preview to the story from Convergence which I had gotten already along with the Divergence free comic book day stuff, it feels, to me, like poor form on DC's part because you're advertising this jumping on point and the average newbie walking into a shop that they're hoping will happen will pick this up and be like WTF?! which is why I have an issue with the way it was done. I haven't missed a single issue of Superman since 2000 and this is the first time I've ever picked one up and felt like it was missing pieces, and the editorial notes directing people to issues of Superman that hadn't even come out yet made it feel all the more disjointed. A brand new reader jumping onto the advertised jumping on point and advertised first part of a new arc and direction shouldn't have to know to look at a book that was released last month or the month before for a preview or to look for it online to do research or rely on books not even out yet in order to understand it.

This felt very much like all of the crucial things happened off panel by virtue of delays, likely because the Superman book was delayed and some of the beats were likely supposed to occur a little earlier and then got thrown ahead in the schedule, especially since one of the issues in question isn't showing up for around 8 weeks after this one, and it's the SAME series being referenced twice. As an advertised jumping on point for new readers, it's not the best manner of storytelling available because while you and I might now it's a trope that's been used, whether accidentally or on purpose, will a newbie? This read differently than, say, Age of Ultron #1 where we were dumped into dystopia and filled in along the way, or even Superman #0 which seeded some of the Krytpon Returns stuff with H'el. This had a different feel to it that made it feel like it was supposed to be part two all along. If it had pointed to two different series out in the next week or so, maybe it'd feel different, but that it pointed to two issues of Superman, one out three weeks later, the other 7 or 8, made it feel like at least the first of those two issues should have out in an earlier form, but the delay on Superman and then allowance of Romita to pen an issue may have pushed the script a little bit or the new writer had to change some things or whatever since when he was first advertised as coming on, there was no real mention of him being embroiled in this crossover. which is another issue for a newbie--

You're a new reader, hear the new Action Comics is part one of a brand new jumping on point, and head into the store to get it only to find you needed to read a preview first, see notes to check out other issues not even out yet, and then find out the story is going through several other books you had no idea you'd need to read to get the full story; suddenly, your $3.99 a month has just turned into 4 or 5 times that. For ME, already getting those book, not a problem. But for the alleged new readers they're trying to court? That might be a bit of a turn off.

[Auguste Dupin]

Well he got couple of months during Convergence..?

That's probably gonna help, but it also depends of how long "Truth" is gonna last.

[Charles J. Baserap]

That's probably gonna help, but it also depends of how long "Truth" is gonna last.

At least until September since the August solicits didn't indicate any of the books involved being a final chapter.

[Loose Threads]

Truth is more a status quoe than a story. It could last longer.

[Auguste Dupin]

At least until September since the August solicits didn't indicate any of the books involved being a final chapter.

Probably way longer than that actually. Just a personal estimation on my part , but I think we're looking at a status quo that will last at least 10 to 12 months.