Action Comics #875 Review

Action Comics #875 kicks off the new direction of this title. Greg Rucka takes over the controls of this title and Eddy Barrows will handle the art duties. I am certainly curious about this new direction for Action Comics. I am a bit skeptical about getting a Superman-less Action Comics. It just feels wrong. And I like Rucka, but he would not have been my first choice for a straight up super hero comic book like Action Comics. I prefer Rucka writing urban based street heroes rather than larger than life traditional super heroes. Still, maybe Rucka will crank out a compelling and original read. Let’s hops so and go ahead and hit this review for Action Comics #875.

Creative Team
Writer: Greg Rucka
Pencils: Eddy Barrows
Inks: Ruy Jose and Julio Ferreira

Story Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin in Sydney, Australia where we see David Carter, the CEO of Empire Communications Network, on the phone. Carter orders that his newspapers lead with the story that all of the Kryptonians are all a threat to Earth. And that includes Superman. Carter orders that they can make up the facts if necessary in order to smear Superman.

Suddenly, Nightwing busts onto the scene and punches Carter through the floor. Carter comes flying back up through the hole in the floor and blasts into Nightwing. We see that Nightwing and Flamebird are wearing suits of armor with helmets. Carter spits “Stupid humans.” Carter says that they do not know who or what Carter really is.

Carter punches Flamebird. Carter and Nightwing start brawling. Carter says that Nightwing’s armor allows him to pack a nice punch for a human. Carter rips off the power pack on the back of Nightwing’s armor thinking that it will disable Nightwing’s abilities.

Nightwing says that Carter’s real name is “Tor-An” and that they know who Carter is. Carter says that he has spent eighteen months hiding among the humans. That his cover was perfect. That there was no way Nightwing could know his identity. Tor-An asks who Nightwing really is. Nightwing says “A hero.” in Kryptonian.

Flamebird and Nightwing then team-up and take out Tor-An. Flamebird then uses some gun device to shrink and trap Tor-An inside of it. Nightwing then tends to Flamebird who is bleeding and lost her helmet during the fight. We learn that Flamebird is Thara. (The security officer for the El family that we met in Superman #681). We see two news helicopters arriving on the scene. The two heroes then fly off before the new helicopters get close up footage of them.

We cut to Metropolis where Lois Lane is watching the news video of Nightwing and Flamebird in Sydney. Lois says nothing and stares intently at the screen.

We shift to Project 7734 where General Lane is being informed about Nightwing and Flamebird’s sighting over Sydney. Lane is told that the picture quality of the still shot of Flamebird with her helmet off is not good enough for them to run through their facial recognition system. Lane orders his officers to get him all the information that they can about Nightwing and Flamebird.

We slide over to New Krypton and see Ursa suiting up for a mission. We get the narration boxes from a conversation between General Zod and Allura. Allura tells Zod that Thara Ak-Var, who was chief of security that allowed Zor-El to get murdered, has been missing for a week. Allura says that Thara is delusional and often spoke to Zor-El about dreams she was having. The dreams were about a boy in the Phantom Zone calling out for her help. Allura continues that Thara’s parents both served under Zod. Zod thanks Allura for bringing this to his attention and says that he is sure it is nothing to worry about.

We cut to Zod meeting with Ursa. Zod says that it was Thara who abducted Lor-Zod from the Phantom Zone. And if Lor-Zod told Thara about what he learned while in the Phantom Zone then Thara must now know all about General Zod’s sleepers. Zod says that the placement of the sleepers was Ursa’s job and that nothing can jeopardize the sleepers’ missions. Zod say that he will not be defeated by Earth a second time.

Ursa tells Zod that she will take care of it. Ursa tells Zod to keep his faith. Ursa asks when has she ever failed him. Zod replies “Never. But, there is always a first time.” Zod then asks Ursa if she remembers Thara Ak-Var’s parents. Ursa replies that she remembers how they died.

We shift to the Fortress of Solitude where Nightwing and Thara are hanging out. We learn that Nightwing is Lor-Zod or, as he prefers, Christopher. We see Thara imprisoning Tor-An in one of the crystals. (I think that is where he is imprisoned.) Thara mentions how their armor hides their identities and makes it appear that the armor gives them their powers. This way nobody knows that they are Kryptonian. Clearly, Chris is smitten by Thara. Chris exits the room to go change out of his damaged armor.

We see Thara turn on the Fortress’ computer and up pops the faces of Zod’s sleeper agents. There are a total of six sleeper agents. Tor-An is crossed off and that leaves five left to deal with. Suddenly, we hear Chris screaming. Thara runs into the next room and sees Chris in pain and on the floor. Thara hold Chris in her arms. We see that Chris has suddenly aged even more. Chris stammers that his aging comes in spurts and it hurts. Chris says he does not know why it is happening.

Chris then passes out in Thara’s arms. Suddenly, Ursa enters the scene. Ursa points her gun at Thara and says “You’ve saved me the trouble of making you to kneel for your execution.”

Commentary

The Good: Action Comics #875 was a terribly ordinary read. Still, there were some positive aspects to this issue. Rucka does deliver a soundly plotted and paced issue. Rucka has a clear direction in mind and unfolds the story in a straight-forward and methodical manner. The pacing is enjoyable as Rucka delivers a nice balance of action and dialogue heavy scenes and never lets the story lag.

Rucka presents to the reader a clear mission statement with the new direction of Action Comics. General Zod placed sleeper agents across the globe. Evidently, the purpose of these sleeper agents is to spread hatred of the Kryptonians, especially Superman and Supergirl, among the humans. Rucka even show a list of all the remaining sleeper agents so the reader has a clear understanding of the upcoming tasks for our heroes. And our heroes face a two-prong attack as they have Zod gunning for them on one side and General Lane gunning for them on the other side.

Action Comics #875 is a simple and straight-forward read. And, often, that is a good route to take with an issue that debuts a brand new direction for a title. Action Comics #875 is easily consumed and should be fairly new reader friendly. Rucka does his best to give the reader all the background information that is necessary to enjoy this story.

I liked the scene with Zod and Ursa. I found this to be the most interesting scene in the entire issue. Rucka delivers a pretty bad-assed Zod. I dig how Ursa comments about her having never failed Zod before and Zod coldly retorting that there is always a first time. That was a great moment. Rucka also uses this scene to set up conflict between Ak-Var and Zod by referencing how Ak-Var’s parents served under Zod. The fact that Ursa remembers how Ak-Var’s parents died suggesting that Ursa or Zod might have killed them.

Rucka ends Action Comics #875 with a solid hook ending as we witness another sudden growth spurt by Chris coupled with Ursa’s dramatic entrance. Next issue should certainly give us some exciting action.

Eddy Barrows, Ruy Jose and Julio Ferreira of a fine job with the artwork in this issue. I always enjoy Barrows’ artwork and this issue is not exception. Barrows is equally adept at drawing action scenes as he is drawing dramatic scenes.

The Bad: Action Comics #875 is an issue that gives the reader the feeling that Rucka just phoned this one in. The dialogue is decidedly average and at times it is a bit wooden. The character work is mediocre. The various characters are nothing more than your typical generic super hero characters. None of the characters ever display much of a unique or interesting personality. There is relatively no chemistry at all between the various characters. And the little chemistry that we get is forced.

Rucka wastes no time in revealing the identities of Nightwing and Flamebird. Fans of Christopher Kent will certainly be happy to see his return. Unfortunately, I have never been interested in Chris Kent at all. And, of course, we get the generic and obligatory love interest between Thara and Chris. This only adds to the predictable and uncreative feel to this issue. And this love sick puppy version of Chris that Rucka gives us in this issue does nothing to increase my interest in Chris’ character.

I also found Chris’ mysterious and dramatic growth spurts completely dull. We just dealt with this exact same dilemma with Wally West’s children going through the exact same thing over on Flash. I did not find this to be that interesting of a plot hook over in Flash and I find it even less interesting the second time around with Superman’s “kid” experiencing the same problem. I cannot believe that Rucka is already recycling this same theme so soon after getting it over on Flash. This seems to be lazy writing and just adds to the stale and uncreative feeling that the overall story on Action Comics #875 gives the reader.

The reveal that Flamebird is Thara Ak-Var did absolutely nothing for me at all. I am sure that the majority of readers greeted this revelation with the reaction of “Who?” Thara is a very minor character that probably slipped past the radar of most readers back when she was very briefly introduces during the New Krypton story arc. I am having a hard time mustering much interest in Thara’s character and Rucka did nothing in this issue to get me hooked into her character.

Action Comics #875 was a very mechanical standard issue comic book that had a paint-by-numbers feel to it. There is nothing at all unique, different or particularly interesting about this new direction for Action Comics. The reader gets the general feeling that we have seen all of this before. Rucka’s story simply lacks any soul or creativity. There is very little that gets the reader excited. Action Comics #875 is an issue that the reader can sleepwalk their way through and not miss anything.

Overall: Action Comics #875 was an unimpressive start to the new direction for this title. Having said that, this issue was incredibly new reader friendly and that is always a wise move when kicking off a brand new direction for a title. If you are a fan of Chris Kent or just love simple and straightforward super hero stories then you might want to check out Action Comics #875.

However, if you are a reader who is tired of the stale and recycled themes that we often get from Marvel and DC then I would recommend that you avoid Action Comics #875. The fact is that this title is simply far too ordinary for me to urge you to spend your hard earned money on it. There are other much more creative and interesting titles on the market that are more deserving of your money.