Review: Action Comics #1011

By Philip Schweier
May 22, 2019 - 07:55

DC Comics and Briand Michael Bendis have been building the Leviathan storyline to the point where it has taken on a life of its own. Along the way the story has grown beyond Action Comics, and involved other characters such as the Question, Manhunter and Amanda Waller. So it’s inevitable that the next chapter of the story will take place in an entirely separate series entitled Event Leviathan.

And it’s an “event” series (says so right in the title), so the scope, like most of DC’s efforts, is not small. I have every faith DC Comics can tell big stories; they do it all the time. But "big” does not always mean “good.” We’ll see.

Frankly, I find this to be a big ol’ cheat. Readers have been lured in by several chapters in Action, only to be diverted into buying another title. The same thing happened in Batgirl a month or so back. I hope it's not indicative of DC's new marketing strategy, because from a customer perspective, it sucks.

But this chapter did provide a major clue, in the sense that despite all this destruction of those who monitor the meta-human community, there are no bodies. It suggests that people haven’t died – merely transported somewhere. And given how much the Phantom Zone has played in recent Superman stories, I can guess where.

But what does it mean for the next issue of Action Comics? Will it be an entirely different story, or will the Leviathan storyline bounce back and forth. Why should it? Despite Bendis writing both Action and Superman, neither shares a narrative; readers can enjoy one separate from the other.

I thought DC was all about continuity, but apparently not in the manner I expected. I applaud that they’ve loosened up, but perhaps they’ve gotten too loose.

Rating: 7/10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12

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