Review: Action Comics #983

DC Comics
Review: Action Comics #983
By Philip Schweier
July 12, 2017 - 04:55

DC Comics
Writer(s): Dan Jurgens
Penciller(s): Viktor Bogdanovic
Inker(s): Jonathan Glapion
Colourist(s): Mike Spicer
Letterer(s): Rob Leigh
Cover Artist(s): Clay Mann, Tomeu Morey; Mikel Janin

I said of a few issues ago issue that the cover of #982 might be better served on this one. And this one has a place elsewhere as well. Suffice to say it’s a bit of a jumbled mess, and I really can’t tell the good guys from the bad.

But it’s the battle of the Super-teams, and the Man of Steel and hism family of fellow S-wearers – including Luthor – defend the Fortress of Solitude against Cyborg Superman’s newly reconstituted Superman Revenge Squad: himself, Zod, Mongul, Metallo, the Eradicator, and Blanque. “Six of my deadliest enemies – together!” says Superman. Blanque? Really? Deadlier than Brainiac, or the Kryptonite Man? I find that highly unlikely.

Be that as it may, it’s one-on-one as each villain is assigned his own dance partner, which begs the question: Why didn’t Superman’s team do the same, and switch things up to keep the SRS off balance? Perhaps Superman is blind in more ways than one.

In my opinion, the fight is poorly executed, like a series of stills, rather than a sequence of events. I like Viktor Bogdanovic’s rendering, but his storytelling technique requires some fine tuning. If one follows the individual battles, circumstances tend to jump, like a film that’s missing several frames.

I won’t spoil the ending, though I may not need to. Anyone who follows comic books for any length of time knows you can rely on a villain to do one thing: serve himself. I just hope the next chapter isn’t so predictable.

Rating: 4/10