Action Comics #1081

Recap
It's all led to this! As the ?nal battle between Aethyr's forces and the heroes of Earth reaches its climax, the Phantom Zone is changed forever... altered from the ground up and ready for new prisoners. But who of the super family will be amongst them? It's the shocking ?nale to the Action Comics weekly, and you're going to have to read it to believe it!
Review
With the worst of the Phantom Zone prisoners under Xa-Du, the Phantom King’s rule, it’s up to the House of El to survive their prisonbreak. With the worst of the Phantom Zone prisoners still on the loose, it’s up to the House of El to capture them. Action Comics #1081 is the finale of the twelve-part weekly “Phantoms” storyline by the superstar creative team of Mark Waid, Clayton Henry, and Matt Herms. In order to save the Earth and the Phantom Zone, Superman decided to release the Zone’s prisoners on a red-sun planet. But when his plan goes awry, the prisoners end up fully powered under Earth’s yellow sun. While Superman and the Justice League were able to capture the prisoners still on Earth, the most dangerous criminals made their way off world to different planets. Now Xa-Du has escaped and ordered the prisoners to kill the House of El. Can the House of El escape their clutches before it’s too late? Find out in this epic finale full of action and the Super Family.
This weekly arc has finally come to an end and this finale felt … lackluster. This finale wasn’t as grand as I would expect for this twelve-part weekly series. This storyline has felt like it switches off between being substantial and feeling like filler. I think a lot of the ideas that Waid presents in this arc are really interesting, but they never go anywhere or are only lightly explored. For example, the first issue had incredible creature designs of Phantom Zoner prisons mashed together, but they were never seen again. Aethyr was another plot point that was interesting, but was killed off in one page. Most of the plots in this arc have gone nowhere exciting and it has left me wanting more. This issue really suffered from the break-neck speed of the plot. It’s nice to see more of the Super family but we spend such little time with them. It’s strange that the comic is simultaneously moving too fast but also dragging along. Major plot points and conflicts are resolved in just a few panels and yet the plot has barely progressed from week to week. It feels like side-quest after side-quest. This was the most action-heavy issue but the main villains seem to have been defeated in a single page. And with this rushed feeling the reveal of the main villain at the end felt anticlimactic (and I honestly forgot he existed since we spent such little time with him). The twist ending that resolves the conflict was so rushed it made it confusing too. Overall, this arc has had great concepts but they have all fallen short, making this storyline confusing and uninteresting. I hope some of the concepts introduced in this arc are picked up in later issues.
This weekly arc has had two artists sharing the page, but for the past couple of issues, they have been switching off. I prefer Clayton Henry’s art slightly more as it has a less cartoony feel to it. Henry’s art was a standout for this finale and it improved the overall reading experience. With an action-packed issue with seriously deadly foes, I’m happy that Henry’s stern art was used. The poses are dynamic, the facial expressions are emotive, and the aliens Henry thinks up fit the bill for this story. The colors in this issue by Matt Herms are incredibly vibrant and make this feel like a Superman story. Together Henry and Herms are making a fantastic book to look at, even if the break-neck speed of the story makes it confusing.
Final Thoughts
This twelve-part arc has finally ended and felt lackluster overall. Interesting concepts were introduced but fell flat on the page and the speedy pace made this story confusing and lifeless. This story might be good for new fans of Superman, but overall will read better in trade.
Action Comics #1081: Out of the Zone
- Writing - 5/105/10
- Storyline - 5/105/10
- Art - 7/107/10
- Color - 7/107/10
- Cover Art - 6/106/10
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