‘Wow Smallville, Impeccable timing. Five stars.”
Hope is hard to come by in this day and age. Times are getting harder and harder as the days go by and almost nothing seems to make sense. Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Rafa Sandoval, and Matt Herms, much like the rest of world, are using storytelling to air out their frustrations with Action Comics #1058’s “New Worlds, Part Two”, continuing the political war between humanity and alien species as Superman and the rest of the Superfamily fight against the Blue Earth organization.
Following the first issue, Johnson and co. show us the aftermath of the false Superman and dive deeper into the political ramifications of what an oppressive organization can do with the power of the people. Norah Stone as an antagonist is striking and deeply interesting as Johnson manages to walk around the complications that come with political villains and opts to tackle her, and the story in a Paul Kupperberg fashion by outright showing her dark and twisted beliefs. Sandoval and Herms also do a brilliant job with the art as the two use the colors of everyday life to paint a horror story of oppression and unjust discrimination against aliens and their immigration to Earth.
Johnson’s dedication to showing how unsettling Blue Earth is as an organization has been successful with books like Power Girl, written by Super-Office friend Leah Williams and drawn by Eduardo Pansica, showing how bad the anti-alien protests have been in Metropolis and other neighboring states in America. The present day is scary and unpredictable for the Kryptonians of the House of El with haunting visions of Doomsday, Brainiac, Bizzaro, and now bigotry. Luckily, Gene Leun Yang takes us back a few issues to tell a story with a familiar and well-loved creation of his in “Secret Identity, Part One.”
DC Comics
Gene Leun Yang and Viktor Bogoanovic take us to New Super-Man of China and show us exactly how he’s made it into the new family. Before Supergirl leaves to dispose of a villain a small handful of the family was fighting, Kara believes that Kenan is worthy enough to join the family and assume the role we see of him now as a big brother to the family. However, the twins take offense to that and believe he’s a villain who is spying on them and trying to use the family against each other. Of course, in reality, Kenan is just trying to investigate an unusual conspiracy that the Bat-Man has uncovered and this sends him into a shaken situation between Superboy and the Super-Twins.
Yang’s writing is fun and serious at the right moments and knows how to switch between tones fairly well despite the short page rate each short story has compared to the main story. What makes Yang’s writing stand out the most in this story is how he’s writing this larger misunderstanding in a way that leaves the reader feeling awkward and somewhat uncomfortable much like Kenan is feeling himself. There is a relatability here, and it continues the messy and stressful journey that the heroes have been going through since the start of this new era. Not to mention, Yang benefits from touching on an aspect of this saga that we haven’t learned about yet: how Kenan joined the Super-Family initiative in the first place.
“It’s like you’ve got a sixth sense about when we’re in trouble, Kenan. I hope you’ll consider joining us? Officially, I mean”
Unfortunately, if any problem arises in this intriguing story it would be the art. Viktor Bogoanovic’s art style doesn’t truly fit the Super-Family – it fits the world of Gotham and the horrors of the gothic atmosphere better than this story. There are some benefits to that, however, as he showcases a lot of the unsettling aspects of this story well. It could be better, and it’s definitely not his strongest work.
DC Comics
“Yes, everyone is so full of joy and excitement! It is quite disturbing!”
Funny enough, despite what the Super-Twins get up to here, following this story is Greg Hahn and Travis Mercer’s “Panic at the Parade!” which puts the twins in a cutesy and fun situation with Superman’s pal Bibbo Bibbowski. The story is, well, exactly as the name suggests. A panic indeed happens at the 98th Metropolis Annual Day Parade and chaos ensues as the twins and Bibbo get into crazy and wacky hijinks. I’m not kidding. It’s just a panic at the parade. If I can give Hahn any credit it’s that the story is very sweet and works as a nice breather after the two political deep dives that were “Secret Identity, Part One” and “New Worlds, Part Two”, but it doesn’t contribute much to the larger world of Metropolis – despite giving the world more Bibbo, which is needed in this ‘80s to ‘90s inspired era of Superman. However, it doesn’t add more than that. The brightest thing within this short story is Mercer’s art as he shows the beauty of childhood madness through the eyes of two kids who never had a peaceful life up until this point. His art carries a beautiful and fun atmosphere to the nightmares that the twins wrought upon the citizens of Metropolis.
Altogether, Action Comics #1058 is a strong installment in an already strong series, but walks into a few road bumps here and there. As always, I can’t wait to see what these writers have in store for the Last Sons and Daughters of Krypton.
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!
You must be logged in to post a comment.