Scans: Action Comics 4&5
Action Comics #4: Written by GRANT MORRISON; pencils by RAGS MORALES
Action Comics #4 Steel backup: Written by SHOLLY FISCH; art by BRAD WALKER
Action Comics #5: Written by GRANT MORRISON; pencils by ANDY KUBERT
Action Comics #4 was basically a couple of big fight scenes: Superman fights Metallo (or Metal-0, I guess seems to be his name now); the Collector (Brainiac? He isn't called that yet) bottles Metropolis; Steel fights Metal-0. So there isn't much in the way of character development for Clark (if I skip the slugging we're down to very little scans), but Fisch delivers a fun little origin for Steel in the backup that gives him a personality and a voice.
Though I was annoyingly distracted the whole issue because Superman's t-shirt is white and I don't know why, lol. Can't be a coloring error, as it happens consistently.
I love villains who tell everyone how long it is until the process is "irreversable." If you were a villain, wouldn't you say something like "The process will be irreversable in two hours" and then when the heroes attack in 90 minutes yell "PSYCH! It was only an hour! Muahaha!"
In the backup, there's a flashback to about an hour ago, as John Henry Irons gets ready to confront Metal-0 and lays out his approach to the world and to science. His hero is Richard Feynman! I love him already.
"Lex Luthor has never played the bongos" is about as good a summary of his character as I've ever seen. :)
Steel and Metal-0 slug it out, but eventually Steel outwits him rather than out-punches him, by uploading a virus into his system.
Nice.
Action #5 had shockingly gorgeous pencils by Andy Kubert that added both beauty and urgency to Jor-El and Lara's frantic struggle to survive as their world falls apart. I kind of like that the two of them don't resign themselves to their fate immediately, but scramble around looking for some way out. Their first idea involves escaping into the Phantom Zone, but they forget that the villains are all waiting for them:
Krypto is in the Phantom Zone! He's not dead! Yay!
As a side note, I like that Morrison has made Lara slightly more active while not changing the basic origin. She's the one who thinks of the rocket, for example, and it's a rocket they built together.
There's a beautiful page that follows showing the rocket escaping from the explosion, showing Kal-El crying as he hears the screams of the dying world that will haunt his dreams forever. Then we cut to Martha and Jonathan, just back from delivering a stillborn deformed lamb, and Martha is weeping because of their continuing inability to have a child. Of course, when they see the rocket fall, they decide to take a chance and save the baby from the inevitable government goons. Jonathan tricks them with a funny ruse:
I'm not sure why the government never does a DNA test on their "Kryptonian" and discovers "Hey, these are just sheep genes!" but it's a clever enough twist that I'll run with it. :)
And then, well, at the end everything kind of goes off the rails and we see future versions of the Legion and Superman arrive after the rocket has its engine stolen and...well, I'm not going to sum it up until I know what the heck is happening. *grin*
Action Comics #4 Steel backup: Written by SHOLLY FISCH; art by BRAD WALKER
Action Comics #5: Written by GRANT MORRISON; pencils by ANDY KUBERT
Action Comics #4 was basically a couple of big fight scenes: Superman fights Metallo (or Metal-0, I guess seems to be his name now); the Collector (Brainiac? He isn't called that yet) bottles Metropolis; Steel fights Metal-0. So there isn't much in the way of character development for Clark (if I skip the slugging we're down to very little scans), but Fisch delivers a fun little origin for Steel in the backup that gives him a personality and a voice.
Though I was annoyingly distracted the whole issue because Superman's t-shirt is white and I don't know why, lol. Can't be a coloring error, as it happens consistently.
I love villains who tell everyone how long it is until the process is "irreversable." If you were a villain, wouldn't you say something like "The process will be irreversable in two hours" and then when the heroes attack in 90 minutes yell "PSYCH! It was only an hour! Muahaha!"
In the backup, there's a flashback to about an hour ago, as John Henry Irons gets ready to confront Metal-0 and lays out his approach to the world and to science. His hero is Richard Feynman! I love him already.
"Lex Luthor has never played the bongos" is about as good a summary of his character as I've ever seen. :)
Steel and Metal-0 slug it out, but eventually Steel outwits him rather than out-punches him, by uploading a virus into his system.
Nice.
Action #5 had shockingly gorgeous pencils by Andy Kubert that added both beauty and urgency to Jor-El and Lara's frantic struggle to survive as their world falls apart. I kind of like that the two of them don't resign themselves to their fate immediately, but scramble around looking for some way out. Their first idea involves escaping into the Phantom Zone, but they forget that the villains are all waiting for them:
Krypto is in the Phantom Zone! He's not dead! Yay!
As a side note, I like that Morrison has made Lara slightly more active while not changing the basic origin. She's the one who thinks of the rocket, for example, and it's a rocket they built together.
There's a beautiful page that follows showing the rocket escaping from the explosion, showing Kal-El crying as he hears the screams of the dying world that will haunt his dreams forever. Then we cut to Martha and Jonathan, just back from delivering a stillborn deformed lamb, and Martha is weeping because of their continuing inability to have a child. Of course, when they see the rocket fall, they decide to take a chance and save the baby from the inevitable government goons. Jonathan tricks them with a funny ruse:
I'm not sure why the government never does a DNA test on their "Kryptonian" and discovers "Hey, these are just sheep genes!" but it's a clever enough twist that I'll run with it. :)
And then, well, at the end everything kind of goes off the rails and we see future versions of the Legion and Superman arrive after the rocket has its engine stolen and...well, I'm not going to sum it up until I know what the heck is happening. *grin*