Review: Action Comics Special #1

DC Comics
Review: Action Comics Special #1
By Philip Schweier
May 2, 2018 - 04:35

DC Comics
Writer(s): Dan Jurgens, Mark Russell, Max Landis; Ryan Sook, Cary Nord, Steve Orlando
Artist(s): Will Conrad, Jill Thompson, Francis Manapul
Inker(s): Mick Gray, Wade Von Grawbadger
Colourist(s): Will Quintana, Romulo Fajardo Jr., FCO Plascencia
Letterer(s): Rob Leigh, Steve Wands, Carlos Mangual
Cover Artist(s): Will Conrad, Ivan Nunes, Ryan Sook

This special issue of Action Comics, coming hot on the heels of the first comic book ever to reach #1,000, is a collection of four stories. The first by regular writer Dan Jurgens, features Superman in a battle with what appears to be Lex Luthor. But if Lex is here, how can he be there? Who is stealing Lux’s mojo, and what is he prepared to do about it?

Story #2 is set at the White House Correspondents Dinner (how timely), in which speaker Lois Lane and Clark Kent get in a few jabs at various guests, including Wonder Woman, Flash and Aquaman. Somehow, I don’t buy a handful of Justice Leaguers sitting at a table, yucking it up with the press corps. They way they’re depicted, they look more like a bunch of cosplayers than super-heroes.

The thirds segment is a Christmas tale. Lois is in an auto accident, totaling the 12-year-old car she’d had since college. She’d become rather attached to it, and letting go of it over the holidays is depressing for her. But when you’re married to a man with a secret hideaway at the North Pole, Christmas takes on a whole new meaning.

The final chapter doesn’t feature Superman at all, and as such seem woefully out of place. “The Unexpected” introduces a new character, Firebrand, who seems to straddle the line between hero and villain.

Each of the stories is written and drawn by different creators, and given the holiday nature of the one story, I am wondering if they weren’t part of a slush pile somewhere, and gathered and published in a ploy to keep the Action Comics #1,000 celebration going. They’re not bad stories, mind you, but I have no idea what purpose this Special serves.

Rating: 6/10