Christopher Reeve Returns!

I always hate sharing reviews, like the one I share today with our sister publication Stevereads. It always feels like I'm doing something unoriginal, retreading on someone else's work. But in this case, I have two things going against me: one, last week had shown a dearth of possible review choices, essentially leaving me with this one; and two, this issue is too damn good not to review!

Now, there are two kinds of comic fans in this world. There's the kind who've never heard of -- or only heard of in fleeting glimpses -- the Legion of Super-heroes. Every once in a while, when they appear in the continuity, these comic fans couldn't care less. For them, the Legion is nothing too special.

Then, there are the Legionnaires. Probably the most devoted fans ever, these fans look upon every instance of the Legion in DC history as scripture, who know every Legionnaire's terribly-conceived nickname and history, from Bouncing Boy to White Witch, Braniac-5 to Timber Wolf. And this issue we're reviewing tonight, Action Comics #858, is for them. Written by Geoff Johns (fast becoming our favorite DC scribe) and with art by Gary Frank (Squadron Supreme), this issue begins a new Superman-Legion storyline that could be fantastic when all is said and done.

It all begins on an alien planet in the distant year 3008, where civil war has run rampant. Two parents strap their child into a rocket and, inspired by the tales of Krypton's last son, launch it into space and towards Earth, so that it may live a full life and become a new hero to the people of earth. After some travel, the rocket crash lands in the heart of Smallville (There's even a sign: "Welcome to Smallville - Birthplace of Superman!") where it lands in a crop field. What is it with aliens and crop fields, anyway? Ahem. Moving on...

A couple, driving by in their "hover-truck", witness the crash and look to see what it is. When they see an alien baby has emerged from the pod, they do what any person on Earth in the year 3008 would do.

"We kill it."

And so it begins, and we are returned to today, where Christopher Reeve -- I mean Clark Kent -- is suffering the usual doldrums of being a shy, sensitive young man in Metropolis. He can't make any friends, his best friend is an obnoxious photo-geek named Jim Olsen, and as far as Lois Lane is concerned, she might not exist. So after getting a chewing out by Perry White over his self-confidence issues (Perry's no smooth talker, let's say that much) Chris -- I mean Clark -- gets what he thinks will be a brief reprieve when Braniac starts tearing up a nearby park and Christopher -- I mean Clark! -- leaps out a window and changes into Christopher Reeve -- dammit, I mean Superman! Turns out this isn't just some random Braniac attack, though. It's actually a message from Braniac's descendant, Braniac-5. Turns out something terrible is happening in the future (as alluded to in the recent JLA and JSA story lines) and now Braniac-5 feels he has no choice but to bring Chris -- I mean Superman -- to the future to solve what's happening.

This is a good first issue, but I still feel a little lost as far as some of the more Legion aspects go. I'm no member of the Legion fan club, that's for sure, but I'm slowly but surely leaving the other end of the spectrum after some Steve-approved Legion reading. Even I know the story, first told back in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), where Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Lightning Boy (later Lightning Lad) first recruited young Superboy to the future to become an honorary member of the Legion. But there's still a lot about the Legion I don't know, and it's not something that can really be picked up overnight.

Also, the art is a little... I don't really know what to think of the artwork by Frank. The layouts are gorgeous, and the backgrounds are beautiful. It's the character art that I have a problem with. Besides the fact that by now we know who played Frank's favorite version of Superman (hint: it ain't Dean Cain), all the characters not portrayed by a dead celebrity (and that doesn't count a young Christopher Reeve -- I mean Clark Kent!) are a little creepy-looking (okay, that covers the young Kent) The eyes are a little too wide, as if they all belonged to the same suicide cult, looking for new recruits. It's like butter-face. Every thing's good "but the face".

This issue and probably this whole series should be the best thing to happen to Legion fans and non-Legion fans alike. For the fan-boys, the very appearance of the Legion should be reason enough to pick up this book. For non-Legion fans, the opportunity to learn for yourself about the Legion should be the perfect pretense for picking up this book and the subsequent issues. As I said before, Geoff Johns is fast becoming one of my favorite writers, and as long as he keeps writing for Action Comics, I'll take a gander.

Just no more Christopher Reeve... please!!

... And Justice for All

One word: "Wow."

Still with me? Good. I may still be relatively new to this whole comic book business, but I can say I think without a doubt that Justice Society of America 10 is the greatest comic I've read, certainly in recent memory.

Now, to fully understand it, you need to go back in time to the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and learn there were once TWO Supermen, Earths 1 and 2. Kal El, the original Superman, and Kal L, the one who's cousin is Power Girl. Got it? Good.

Apparently, at the end of that Crisis, when the Multiverse was destroyed, Kal L (Earth 2 Superman) was stuck in the only universe left (Earth 1) with no purpose whatsoever. When Infinite Crisis came around (95-96) DC killed off Kal L and Power Girl (his cousin) mourns his death.

Still got it? Maybe? Well, don't worry if you don't understand every emotion coursing through this book, because all you need to appreciate this issue are a pair of eyes and a sense of wonderment. It's gorgeous, from the Geoff Johns and Alex Ross storytelling, to the Dale Eaglesham artwork, to the specially painted pages by Ross, this comic comes nothing short of brilliant.

To summarize, at the end of JSA 9, the team had solved the problem of a dead super-villain causing an inextinguishable towering inferno by having Starman (Thom Kallor) create a black hole and toss the dead Goth inside. This apparently had the dubious effect of bringing a whole new Superman from... somewhere, none of them knowing quite who he is.

Remember when I said there was supposedly no Multiverse? Uh, yeah. Didn't take, I guess. Actually, taking Marvel's explanation of chronal physics (Steve is frothing at the mouth about now) a new Universe exists for each choice of every decision that is made. So even if the Multiverse was destroyed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, there's no reason to think that new universes didn't immediately start popping up since. Okay, end of the Marvel allegory right there.

Anyone who's read Kingdom Come (and shame on you if you haven't, read it and come back later) will know exactly who this man is. This is the Superman from Earth-22 (as Starman refers to it), transported from an Earth where superheros run rampant, and only Superman and his allies were keeping it from destroying the people they'd sworn to protect. All the Sudden, this Superman finds himself in what is almost a complete opposite, where teams like the Justice Society keep those kind of things from happening to begin with, where people are protected by the heroes, not protected from them.

There's one sequence (if you check out this book, you'll know it when you see it) that is just done beautifully. I won't give any details away, just read it if you haven't already... or, hell, even if you have read it already. I've reread that sequence a dozen times already, and it still hits me right there, every time. As I said before, the artwork by Dale Eaglesham is good enough anyway, but when the new Superman thinks back to his Earth the flashbacks are done in gorgeous Alex Ross paintings. It makes me desperately want a new Alex Ross book to read, or to just go back and reread Kingdom Come. There's simply nobody like Ross. There really isn't anything wrong with this issue. The ending does seem a little slapped together, but not so much that it detracts from the rest of the book. And that's really just a minor quibble.

Probably the most intriguing part of all this is that DC's new promotional ad is a two-page spread reciting: "...And Evil Shall Inherit the Earth." Among other interesting parts of the spread are a trio of Supermen who appear to be the "evil" supermen. One is Hank Henshaw, the robotic Superman who appeared after The Death of Superman. But one of the others is this alternate Superman, apparently harnessing the power of the Atom. It's one more piece of the puzzle that we're getting from this current JSA run, and I can't wait for more from this team, and to see where it all ends up.