Action Comics #843 Review

The Revolution thought that last issue, Action Comics #842, was just average. Will Action Comics #843 be able to rebound and deliver a more interesting issue? I hope so. Even though I have never really enjoyed much of Fabian Nicieza’s work, I like Busiek and I can’t imagine he’d turn in back to back weak issues. Let’s go ahead and do this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Kurt Busiek & Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Pete Woods

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

Synopsis: This issue starts with Superman trying to shut off the dampening device robbing our heroes of their powers. Superman comes flying up the shaft and announces to the other heroes that it was all psychological. They never had physically lost their powers.

Our heroes proceed to brawl with the robots guarding the Auctioneer’s space ship. The heroes find out that the Auctioneer’s ship is actually orbiting Saturn and not Earth. Superman decides that if they do enough damage that they will get the Auctioneer’s attention. Our heroes make their way to the chamber housing Ops which is the sentient computer that runs the Auctioneer’s ship and all of his bidding programs.

Superman man captures Ops and suddenly, the Auctioneer appears inside the ship. Livewire then shorts out the computer system holding all of the other heroes in stasis. We then see all of the other heroes free from their cells and they start battling the Auctioneer’s robots.

Superman then threatens to broadcast the Auctioneer’s entire database across the galaxy. Every contract he had made. Every black market source. Every client he has cheated. The Auctioneer decides that would be bad for his business and agrees to fully restore Earth and everything he took from it in return for Superman returning Ops. The Auctioneer says that he will cross paths with Superman again one day.

We cut to Clark back home with Lois. Clark tells Lois that two things the Auctioneer told him are bothering him. One, that there was a third Kryptonian on Earth other than him and Supergirl. Second, he said Auctioneer said was that he would come because of a ship that may be carrying something of enormous value. We then see a ship heading for Earth. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Action Comics #843 is just an average read. This entire three issue story arc has been nothing but filler until Johns and Donner assume control of the writing duties for this title.

That isn’t to say that Action Comics #843 didn’t have any entertainment value. We are treated to a nicely paced issue that delivers some good action. There is plenty of brawling and lots of heroes making cameo appearances. Busiek crafts solid dialogue with plenty of humorous banter between the heroes.

The most important aspect of this three issue story arc are the two gifts that Busiek leaves behind for Johns and Donner to play with: the third Kryptonian and the mysterious space ship. I think both of these plotlines are pretty interesting and I’m very curious to see what Johns and Donner do with them.

Pete Woods’ artwork is fantastic. Woods draws an excellent Superman. Woods’ style is pleasant and creates a comic that is very pleasing to look at. I’ll miss Woods on this title.

The Bad: This wasn’t a terrible issue. It was simply filler. I found the Auctioneer to be a bit too generic for my tastes. This issue didn’t have much in the way of a compelling story. It was basically a very weak plotline bolstered by plenty of mindless action. This issue was simply nothing particularly remarkable.

Overall: Action #843 brings to an end the three issue filler story arc. Now, we get to the good stuff with Action Comics #844 Johns and Donner! I cannot wait for this new creative team to start spinning their story. I think both gentlemen are talented and should deliver some interesting plotlines. Action Comics #843 should be a great issue for new readers to jump onto this title.