Action Comics #1002: Queen Crimson

I’m a bit lukewarm on this arc so far, the central plot feels very average and low risk, I liked the callback to the fires and a concrete reasoning being attached to them, but I also didn’t feel that it needed it. I did enjoy Perry reaming Goode for not properly fleshing out her story, that part felt right to me, an I love the way Clark slumps in order to hide his identity, which is a thing that is often missed with Superman.

I did find Superman’s little tantrum in space a bit silly, wouldn’t he just be bombarding the Earth with meteorites? Not that Superman has never thrown a tantrum before but it was really out of character, as was Clark Kent hanging out in a bar. As much as people say Brian Bendis has Superman’s voice down I’m not seeing it nearly as much as some, Superman ranges wildly from a rampaging child to a condescending jerk from issue to issue. I’m also really beginning to despise the Bendis speak displayed at least twice in this issue alone. It shouldn’t take 2 pages to say one thing, the book isn’t so long you need to pad it out 4 pages.

Additionally, it seems really weak to kick this issue off by framing Superman, again, for the second time in 2 issues. Thankfully the folks framing him keep winding up dead by Red Cloud, so in a Darwin Awards kind of way, the problem should resolve itself soon enough.

The title page had some funny little easter eggs in the form of Clark’s desk having a bunch of post-it notes, entertaining but a little silly since a couple of them pretty clearly out Clark as Superman.

Patrick Gleason continues to distinguish himself as a phenomenal Superman artist and impressively seems to have improved on some of his character models, which could get a little cartoony at times. I am seriously astounded by that big Guardian vs Red Cloud splash page, dang near poster worthy! Likewise, a panel of Superman in front of the sun with lens flare (which I used for the cover image of this article) is really amazing and employs some phenomenal perspective.

I will say for some reason in a couple panels the characters faces seem to melt in unrecognizable ways, especially the bar scene, although maybe that’s an attempt to convey drunkenness? Can Superman even get drunk?

All 3 covers of this issue were great, I absolutely adore the main cover, but I can’t resist those Mack watercolors myself!