Action Comics #1054: A Hero That Inspires is a Hero That Saves

Action Comics #1054 – Main Story

This issue is damn near poetic.

Phillip Kennedy Johnson took on the series as its primary writer way back when Action Comics has grown to be a superhero title that would irrevocably define what a superhero story can be in the modern day. This issue explicitly carries the qualities of a perfect superhero story, a tale of significant action and more significant stakes that still manage to keep a bleeding heart of thematic richness. At that heart’s center is a climactic fight between Metallo and Superman, a battle between a god who chose to be a man and a man who decided to be a monster.

Our story opens with Otho as she rains hell down upon the Blue Earth rally. Jon, Osul, and Clark quickly intervene, only for the twins to wind up captured by Metallo’s soldiers. While Jon hags back to handle the raging enemy alongside the rest of the Super Family, Clark races against the clock to rescue the Super twins from Metallo’s grasp before it’s too late.

Two massive chunks of this story hold the key to what makes its story so satisfying, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the apparent change in artists. According to the credits page, Max Raynor has taken over for Rafa Sandoval on this issue, yet Sandoval’s name remains ever present on the main cover, and Raynor’s does not. Whether or not this was an editorial kerfuffle or something else, the one thing that can be told is that the art team does not miss a beat with Raynor coming on board. The art is sleek, emotionally captivating, and adds much weight to the action sequences.

Kennedy’s writing remains unfathomably good. He manages to weave so much into this issue without missing a beat or rushing anything remotely important. His narrative work with Jon is some of the best we’ve had since the character was a twelve-year-old boy. Johnson clearly understands healthy, but still imperfect familial relationships. His voice for the two isn’t Superman and Superboy but father and son. Jon’s struggle with his place as the son of Superman comes to a head in this chapter, and Jon blames himself for the Super twin’s abduction. It’s an emotional setup for growth that will go way down the line, but how Johnson presents these early seeds is engaging, as he frames it all through a well-done dialogue between Jon and Clark.

The fight between Clark and Metallo is nothing short of epic, Kennedy using it to highlight Superman’s propensity to see the good in all. This Metallo story has framed itself within a debate regarding whether morality matters when trying to save a life, something Clark has to work through every second of the day. Johnson has been doing his best thematic work with this arc so far. He’s woven together multiple character threads, such as Otho’s, to help examine the line in which heroism becomes villainy. The fight with Superman ends with him extending his hand to Metallo in a beautiful show of heroism, telling him that his punishment will come, but first, they must save his sister. That’s what a hero is, someone who saves, not just punishes, and the cherry on top of a heavily philosophic and relationship-focused arc. The fight and violence are chill-inducing but never brutal, and Raynor simply draws the hell out of them.

The Backups

Dan Jurgens and Lee Weeks are continuing their story without hiccups or ease. It’s a well-written reflection on an era of Jon Kent that is supposedly forever trapped in the past, but this doesn’t make it a worthless piece of fan-fishing. Jurgens’ writing is clever and insightful. Norm Rapmund’s art is the perfect narrative companion as he steps up to the plate to take Lee Week’s place. If you’ve been enjoying this backup series, you still will. If you haven’t been, it’s just more of the same. DC Comics shouldn’t just stop here with this arc but use it as an opportunity to continuously give fans insightful stories of Jon in the past as the future continues to push forward evermore.

The second backup is a new one entitled Steelforged, and it is taking over the spot Powergirl has left behind. Writer Dorado Quick and artist Yasmin Flores Montanez have crafted an easy-to-read and well-told gateway for new readers into the world and mind of John Henry Irons. It’s very by the numbers, but it gets the job done it needed to while also being entertaining. Montanez’s art could do with more well-rounded coloring, as the pencils are solid. It is the only knock this backup has, that being the relatively flat coloring.