Saturday, September 24, 2011

Action Comics "No. 1" -- A Throwback to Superman's Roots

Action Comics No. 1 (the 21st Century version, not the 1938 original), is a throwback, a re-imagination of the Man of Steel today.
The cops are after him, everyone is suspicious of him; and his powers are far less.
Contrast that with the new "Superman" comic, where he's shown a few years later, and you have two different, but connecting storylines.
It's probably Superman's growing powers that are the hardest to get use to.
(Spoiler ahead ...)
He gets knocked out stopping a train at the end of Action No. 1, while he's far too powerful for that later. He leaps at first and progresses into flying.
His costume also gets fancier as time goes on.
Clark Kent is really characterized as a whimp in the new comics.
So, overall, it's a B+ for Action comics; an A for Justice League comics; and an "F" for Superboy comics so far.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Justice League No. 1: Four Star Caliber!


I have now digested the first DC Comics reboot issue, Justice League No. 1, and it is certainly four-star material.
The only shortcoming it had was that the story seemed too short, but then there were limited pages and it is continued to the next issue ...
I loved the idea of all the League members initially being independent of each other and of most not trusting each other to begin.
Of course, the public doesn't even trust super-heroes yet either.
Superman's new uniform is the best reinvention of the outfit to date.
Green Lantern was clearly overconfident and flabbergasted that Batman has no "powers."
The next issue is "Superman vs. Batman" and that should also be great.
The mention of one word, "Darkseid," also means the League is headed for the greatest of villains soon.
I'm not sold yet on Cyborg being a member of the Justice League, but time will tell. I think the Martian Manhunter would have been a superior choice.
Anyway, as long as DC keeps most of its first string of heroes in the issue, that's perfect. DC editors have never learned in several decades that second-rate team members dominating the League doesn't work and is doomed to be mediocre.
Keep up the great work DC!