Action Comics #846 Review

Action Comics has been one of DC’s hottest titles. Johns and Donner are a wickedly talented team and they are crafting what has become one exciting read. The Action Comics Annual #10 teased us with all the various future plotlines for this title. Of course, the current storyline is just incredible. General Zod, Non and Ursa are excellent villains and I’m psyched to see what Donner and Johns have in store for us with Action Comics #846. Let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Geoff Johns & Richard Donner
Artists: Adam Kubert

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10.
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10.

Synopsis: We begin with Zod, Non and Ursa in the Fortress of Solitude. Zod activates the sunstone crystals and the projection of Jor-El appears. Zod asks the computer to tell him about General Zod. The computer says to do that it first must explain the Phantom Zone. It is a place where time stood still. Once inside, a person would become a living ghost. They would never grow old or hungry. They would never die. The first prisoner banished to the Phantom Zone was a scientist called Jax-Ur. Jax-Ur attempted an unsanctioned test to conquer interstellar space travel. This attempt ended up destroying Krypton’s moon and the lunar colony of Kandor vanished in the explosion.

The computer re-counts the flashback scenes of the last issue about Zod, Non and Ursa and their attempts to take over Krypton and them being banished to the Phantom Zone. Zod disagrees with the computer’s version of those events.

The three Kryptonians then tour Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. They not that Superman being sentimental will be his undoing. They pass the Phantom Zone viewer and see Mon-El trapped inside. Zod says the Phantom Zone and their son hold the keys to their victory.

We shift to Clark and Lois with their “son” Christopher entering the Daily Planet building. Clark mentions that Batman set up all the paperwork for Christopher and his adoption. Christopher asks who Batman is. Lois responds that he is someone Christopher is not meeting until he is 16. Clark then mentions that Batman did a great job with Wonder Woman’s papers that fooled the Department of Metahuman Affairs. Christopher asks who Wonder Woman is. Lois responds that she is someone Christopher is not meeting until he is 18.

We see Clark, Lois and Christopher getting off the elevator onto their floor. Perry White is yelling for Jimmy Olson. Jimmy comes running to Perry’s office. Perry demands that Jimmy get him pictures of this Kryptonian kid immediately. Jimmy walks over and says “hi” to Clark and Lois and asks who the kid is that is with them. Before Clark can answer, heat vision blasts begin tearing through the office.

Clark gets Lois and Christopher to safety and then gets into Superman mode. Non, then suddenly attacks Superman and the two of them go flying out of the building and fall onto the street below. Non and Superman begin brawling with Non getting the upper hand.

Non has Superman pinned down as Zod approaches. Superman breaks free from Non and begins fighting with Zod. We cut to Ursa approaching Lois and demanding that she give Ursa her son. Christopher clings to Lois and says that he doesn’t want to go with Ursa. Ursa calls Christopher “Lor-Zod” and says that he belongs to them and they have a use for him.

Ursa then breaks Lois’ arm and takes Lor-Zod. We cut back to General Zod and Superman fighting with each other. Zod says that he is going to take over Earth and transform it into a new Krypton. Superman retorts “You and what army?”

Zod responds with “This one.” Suddenly, we see numerous metal pods streaking down from the atmosphere and landing on the ground. Out of the pods emerge the Kryptonians who were exiled to the Phantom Zone. One of them is Jax-Ur.

Zod then uses the Phantom Zone projector and zaps Superman with it. We see Superman trapped in the Phantom Zone. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Damn! Donner and Johns do it again. Action Comics #846 was another awesome read. Just when you thought this storyline could get any more intense, Johns and Donner manage to crank it up yet another notch. Talk about dropping a huge bomb on the reader at the end of an issue! Donner and Johns not only unleash a horde of Kryptonians who had been exiled in the Phantom Zone, but they then have Superman trapped in the Phantom Zone. Now that is one hell of a hook ending that makes the reader at the edge of their seat waiting impatiently for the next issue.

Action Comics #846 was perfectly paced. It started off nice and slow and then got kicked into high gear once Clark and Lois are attacked at the Daily Planet. The storyline is nicely plotted and you can tell that Johns and Donner have a clear game plan for where they want to go with this story arc.

The dialogue was well done. I thought Lois’s comments about Batman and Wonder Woman were hilarious. Zod’s dialogue was just right. Zod has enough ego and an imperious attitude befitting of a big time villain. But, equally important is that Zod truly believes that he is a hero. That he is doing what is best for his people. In order to have a villain that is truly compelling, he has to view himself as the good guy and not as someone “evil.”

While Donner and Johns gave us well crafted dialogue and good character development, they certainly didn’t skimp on the action. We go plenty of quality action in the second half of this issue. It is important for a comic book to be nice and balanced. Too much action can be mind-numbing. Too much dialogue and character development can get plodding and boring. Johns and Donner do a great job of keeping Action Comics #846 nice and balanced.

The plotline involving Lor-Zod is intriguing. Clearly, Lor-Zod doesn’t want to go back to Ursa and Zod. Why exactly would a son be afraid of his own parents? And just what use does Lor-Zod present to General Zod? He already has an army of Kryptonians at his disposal. I’m curious to see what use Lor-Zod has for General Zod.

I dig that Donner and Johns are mixing back in parts of Superman’s storied history that were wiped out by The Crisis on Infinite Earths. We got to see Jax-Ur who was responsible for the disappearance of Kandor. I dig that the neat parts of Superman’s history like the Bottle City of Kandor, Mon-El and all the Kryptonian prisoners in the Phantom Zone are all being brought back.

I always felt that Crisis on Infinite Earths did a serious disservice to titles like Superman by wiping out so much of DC’s colorful and storied history. Having Superman the only Kryptonian left alive and stripping down his history to a bare minimum just made him such a deathly boring character.

Now, it is literally raining Kryptonians in this new DC Universe and I couldn’t be happier. It is great to see Johns and Donner bringing back more of DC’s history that was swept under the carpet by Crisis on Infinite Earths. It just makes this new DC Universe a much more exciting and fun place.

Adam Kubert’s artwork is solid. I’ve never been a huge fan of his art, but he is clearly a very talented artist. His art is a bit too inconsistent for my tastes. Some panels look decidedly average and sloppy while others look fantastic.

The Bad: Kubert’s Lois Lane is butt ugly. She looks like a mini-van driving soccer mom. I always had the impression that Lois was the fashionable metropolitan kind of woman.

Overall: Action Comics #846 was another awesome read. Donner and Johns are one impressive team. I definitely recommend Action Comics to anyone even if you have never been a big fan of Superman. I have never been a Superman fan. But, I have always loved Donner’s Superman movies. And, I almost always enjoy any title that Geoff Johns writes. So, put the two together and you get a comic book that will appeal to people beyond just your die-hard Superman fan. Give Action Comics a chance. I don’t think you will be disappointed.