It’s a new beginning for Action Comics after that misfire back in March/April with Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder paving the way. Before they get their main story started, Action Comics begins in the Bat-universe for the tie-in to Zero Year. Is this detour the right idea to start this run with? Is it good?
Action Comics #25 (DC Comics)
During the course of Zero Year, a Category 3 hurricane (or perhaps tropical storm) is heading straight for Gotham. Gotham is without power and because of that, not many people hear about this. A young and hardheaded Clark Kent heads to the sea as Superman (still rocking the jeans) to see if he can actually stop a hurricane by himself! Meanwhile, out at sea on a ship, Lana Lang is trying to keep the vessel from sinking in the storm.
This is perfectly sound logic and I will hear none of it from the audience!
This really wasn’t much of a tie-in to Zero Year. If you take out Gotham and replace it with any other generic costal city, you pretty much could tell the same story without any differences. However, that’s not to say this is a bad comic. Quite the contrary, I found it to be enjoyable an see it as sort of the beginning of Superman becoming the Superman we all love and know. He starts off a bit cocky, but after a while, he starts settling into that “do as much as he possibly can at the moment despite the odds” role. Well at least, that’s how I see it, but still it is a good comic.
Besides Superman, our other character in the story is Lana Lang and the version presented here is very enjoyable. She’s sort of like Superman here and I do love the parallel going on with how their thoughts match up to what they are doing at the time. Very strong in the character base stuff, especially seeing the backup tale as a sort of before and after with Supes. The story moves well and pacing is nice in that regard, while the narration and dialogue is enjoyable. The writing is just solid overall.
Well, can you blame them? They don’t want to get sucked into a Sharknado.
The artwork is by Aaron Kuder and it is pretty good overall… for the most part. Very solid line work, the backgrounds and locations look fantastic, the action and tension is displayed well, and the use of color really gives the art an added boost. The only problem I have towards this book is with the characters themselves. Some of their body proportions, especially with their heads and necks, look very off. It’s like some parts of the body are just too small. Then there are some rather goofy looking expressions, especially when they yell, that really don’t fit well. Well drawn book overall, but those characters need some work.
Are you good now? Got all of that off your chest?
8.0
- The story is very enjoyable.
- The characters are well-defined and fully realized.
- The artwork looks well done.
- Some of the characters look off in how they are drawn.
- Barely has anything to do with Zero Year.
Is It Good?
Action Comics #25 is not a relevant Zero Year tie-in, but does offer a promising start for Greg Pak’s run on the series. He gives a solid and enjoyable one-shot tale and really gets the characters and their personalities down just wonderfully. There is plenty to look forward to if this issue is any indication, so make sure to give it a look.
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