Action Comics #1

Now, over 70 years and 900 issues later, the first volume of Action Comics has come to end with issue #904. Unfortunately, the story that ends the series is not the story fans deserved, and I can’t help be a bit disappointed with DC’s closure to a major era.

**Warning: Major Spoilers Follow**

After nearly a year of being absent from the pages of Action Comics, Superman made his dramatic return to the series in the landmark issue #900. His nemesis, Lex Luthor, had been center stage for the previous year as he sought out the god-like power of a Black Lantern ring. After finally achieving his goal, Luther and Superman collide in outer space in what could accurately be described as the ultimate showdown. Ultimately, Luthor’s arrogance and myopic hatred for the man of steel causes his own downfall, but their battle is only the half-way point of the final story.

Action #900 was actually issue 6 in a 10-issue crossover series entitled “The Reign of the Doomsdays.” The title itself is a throwback to the epic 1993 storyline “The Reign of the Supermen.” Following his death battling Doomsday, four characters — Steel, Superboy, The Eradicator, and the Cyborg Superman — laid claim to Superman’s legacy until the man himself returned months later.

Death is almost always temporary in the world of comics, so not surprisingly Doomsday returned from the dead as well and has had several “rematches” with Superman in the two decades since they originally met. But “The Reign of the Doomsdays” was different in that it featured and focused on the same characters as the original “Reign” storyline. Starting in a Steel one-shot and continuing in issues of Outsiders, Justice League of America, a Superman/Batman Annual and Superboy, the plots centers on Doomsday hunting down and battling the four characters who appeared during Superman’s absence in the 1990s. Things were noticeably different almost immediately, however, when Doomsday displayed different powers and objectives than he ever had before.

The product of Kryptonian genetic engineering, Doomsday is an ultra-powered, mindlessly raging beast who has the ability to regenerate (even after death) and evolve to adapt to whatever harms him. In his first battle with Steel, however, he shows the ability to mimic the powers of those he is fighting. After making short work of Steel and the other would-be Supermen (and Supergirl), rather than kill them as he would ave done in the past, Doomsday gathers them up and teleports them to a mysterious spaceship. At this point the story shifts back to the pages of Action Comics.

Shortly after defeating Luthor, the original Superman makes his way to Doomsday’s ship, which ends up containing a “pocket universe.” For those not familiar with pocket universes in the world of comics, they are self-contained universes that operate on their own space-time continuum. They can be as big or as small as they need to be and time can go faster/slower with zero regard for the universe in which all the other characters exist. In other words, they are a blank check for writers to do whatever they want and not worry about the logistics. The one contained inside this mysterious ship is no different. Much like the internet, the ship’s innards are a series of tubes, some that apparently go for hundreds of thousands of miles. Upon breaking into the pocket universe in Action Comics #900, Superman finds the imprisoned characters bearing his symbol and another major surprise: Doomsday is still dead from his previous defeat, and the monster the others have been fighting are actually multiple monsters, each a clone created by Luthor for the sole purpose of distracting Superman while Luthor pursued the Black Lantern ring.

It would seem Luthor’s plan was not a brilliant one, as Superman didn’t even pursue any of the Doomsdays until after defeating Luthor himself. What follows are really just the unforeseen consequence of Luthor’s original plan. The ship itself was not something Luthor created, but rather something he stumbled acroos in outer space. He simply decided to setup shop and use it as a place to keep the other “Supermen” captive.

Action Comics #904: The Doomslayer

The Doomslayer’s stated objective is to end the existence of Doomsday and all his clones, but his plan to do so involves destroying the entire planet Earth. After meeting resistance from the heroes, The Doomslayer unleashes the remaining three Doomsday clones on Earth, again as a distraction to the heroes, leaving Superman alone to face the creature and save the world yet again.

In the last issue, a final series of twists reveals the ship to be an intelligent sentient being that traveled to our world as a “probe” from another dimension. The probe was damaged after Luthor discovered it and was unable to return to its home dimension. The Doomslayer, it turns out, is just the forth Doomsday clone, the one Supergirl tossed away. Spending thousands, possibly millions of years stuck in the pocket dimension (remember, it has its own space-time continuum) this Doomsday evolved to mimic the technology and intelligence of the probe it was stuck inside of, thus becoming The Doomslayer. His new perspective of Doomsday as an “infection” needing to be purged is a likely reflection of the ship’s own view of him as he was trapped inside it.

So the final battle of Action Comics really just ends up being Superman vs Doomsday one last time, but after nine issues of build-up the confrontation itself is a big letdown. I loved the original battle between Superman and Doomsday, but this final battle is resolved so quickly I can’t help but think more was planned, but ultimately discarded after DC’s decision to reboot everything.

Instead of a massive battle, the story is resolved extremely quickly as Superman repairs the damaged ship, which then transports back to its home dimension, taking every version of Doomsday with him. The story then shifts to the following evening, with Clark Kent and Lois Lane having dinner. Lois tells Clark just how inspiring he is to others and gives quick summary of all he good that Superman does for the world. While a poignant scene, it seems like it was hastily added after it was decided this would be the final issue.

While “The Reign of the Doomsdays” is not an awful storyline, it certainly did not live up to its potential. As a crossover story, the writing and artwork are really hit-and-miss along the way, until the story hits part 6 and is produced by Paul Cornell and Axel Gimenez the rest of the way. Cornell is a great writer and still manages to produce some decent scenes, but the general lack of exposition and hasty resolution leaves a bit to be desired. The best written portions of the story actually come when the story crosses into the pages of Justice League and Superman/Batman Annual, both of which are penned by James Robinson.

A lot of different artists contribute to this story, especially in Action Comics 900, but Gimenez’s work is given the most space. I am not a huge fan of Gimenez’s artwork. He draws Superman too young for my tastes, making him look like he just celebrated his 21st birthday, and his sketchy detail work made it hard to tell The Doomslayer was actually wearing armor until I saw another artist’s variant cover artwork. It’s not bad, it’s just not great, and Action Comics really deserved something great at the end.

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Andrew DuPont is a video editor who hails from Royal Oak. His video production company can be found online at www.wordslinger-productions.com

I have been personally following the “Reign of Doomsday” story currently filling the pages of Action Comics. The story is set to end in August’s Action Comics #904, which, it turns out, is going to be the last issue of the current volume of the title. Come September, Action Comics — along with 51 other DC titles — will be starting over with issue #1.

While the renumbering suggests major new beginnings, DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio was quoted in USA Today saying, “This was a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today’s audience.” If that idea of making characters appeal to “younger” readers made you roll your eyes, you’re not the only one. Sounds like DC is trying to be “edgy” and as history has shown, people love when you mess with long-established characters to make them edgier. Remember when Warner Bros. (who happen to own DC) tried to make Looney Tunes edgy? No? Google Loonatics Unleashed and see what happens when marketing people think taking anything “to the extreme” is automatically cool.

It's happened before.

There’s nothing wrong with making changes to characters and storylines, but the new numbering is bad move. It might make a few new readers feel more comfortable starting a series with issue #1, but DC is risking alienating their current readers with the move. Some might see resetting everything back to #1 as telling current fans the time they’ve invested in current series doesn’t matter. Others, myself included, see resetting the numbers of the most famous comic titles in history for the sake of a marketing ploy as disrespectful to those who built DC’s empire. Action Comics #1 is the holy grail of comics. The comic world does not need a second volume with the same title, and the move disappoints me as fan.

Sure, DC characters have had their histories rewritten numerous times in major crossover stories such as “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and “Zero Hour,” but this one is different. Prior rewrites had genuine purpose in cleaning up sloppy continuity and bridging the gaps between the various ages of comics. This new one isn’t even trying to hide the fact that it’s nothing more than a marketing ploy.

Perhaps that’s because it is more and DC is less reluctant to talk about that. DC has not being doing all that well in a long-fought legal battle with the estates of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster over copyright issues relating to the Superman character. So what better way to eliminate some of the red tape than to revamp the character?

The new Superman costume

Even though Superman is my favorite character, I’m not one of those fans that is against changes to him in principle alone. Real people change over time so why shouldn’t the ageless superheros we read about? But the reasons for those changes do matter, and if the only reason Supes is getting a makeover is so DC execs can avoid legal problems, I’m expecting ham-fisted adjustments.

Superboy's new look. Edgy.

But at least Superman and Superboy are sticking around. I spoke with the sales clerk at a local comic shop about his thoughts on the sudden changes, and while they seemed intrigued by a few, they seemed more annoyed that instead of a reboot, several characters are simply getting the boot. We both agreed it would have been better to see these changes form an alternate universe (think Marvel Ultimate) rather than replace the existing characters. Who knows, if the new characters are not well received, DC may attempt to revert things back by doing just that.

Like I said, it’s happened before, and it will likely happen again, but only time will tell how permanent these drastic changes are to the DC Universe. As a longtime fan I am not seeing anything to be enthusiastic about, but I won’t be boycotting the new series either. At least not at first.

Me, as Supes

I was 11 years old when Superman died. I remember being at a rollerskating rink when when my mother told me. She had been reading a magazine article on the topic, and upon hearing that my favorite hero had “died” the week prior, my heart sunk in my chest. To make it worse, he was killed, beaten to death by a monster called Doomsday. Someone or something, had been strong enough to kill Superman with their bare hands. How was this possible? Of course, as a kid, I didn’t understand the marketing/scripting DC had planned for the story and that Superman would be back less than a year later. All I knew was that my favorite childhood superhero, the man I dressed up as for Halloween on numerous occasions, the man whose theme song (John Williams’ classic score) made my heart race, was gone.

I didn’t really collect comics at the time, but like many others kids my age, the story of Supes’s death had me begging my parents to take me to the nearest comic store ASAP. DC’s marketing team had certainly accomplished their goal. I did not, however, end up with a copy of Superman #75 like I wanted, and I didn’t know that Superman’s death actually came at the end of 7-issue series, most of which were selling out everywhere. These were the days before eBay, so this would have meant going to collectibles shops and paying ridiculous aftermarket prices driven up by hype. So, rather than buy me the single issue where Superman meets his end, my mother bought me the paperback collection of all seven issues later that year as a Christmas gift. The book was glued to my hands the rest of the day. Regardless of if I was at church or visiting relatives, I was really in Metropolis, hoping my hero would pull through even though the title of the book said he did not.

The series was a shock to my system. Never before had I seen so many superheroes together in one book fighting one villain. . . and losing. Doomsday, a mindless killing machine that had come out of nowhere, was tearing through the DC roster like the New England Patriots against a high school freshman squad. All my previous memories of comics villains involved complicated schemes or traps set to cause the heroes grief, but Doomsday was different. He didn’t think. He didn’t plan. He just beat the tar out of everyone, with the combined force of the Justice League and Superman barely enough to slow him down. As kid it was scary to behold.

As an adult, I still hold the series in high regard, as it was, without a doubt, the story that got me into reading comics. In hindsight it is easier to understand the criticisms some had of the series. The same things that made it appealing to me as a child made it off-putting to some older comic fans. A new villain, and a mostly one-dimensional one at that, was brought in rather than giving the victory to a long-standing rival like Lex Luthor. Comic deaths are almost always temporary, so many knew Supes would be back soon and the story was just a gimmick to sell books.

Personally, even as a adult, I don’t give much thought to such things. Even if the whole plot was devised as a way to sell books (isn’t that what DC is in the business of doing anyway?), I don’t really care. True, Doomsday was not a very deep villain, but the kid in me will always remember seeing him as the personification of pure hatred and evil, and Superman as his noble, altruistic, counter. To me, Doomsday did (and still does) represent all the raw negative traits of humanity when left unchecked. Superman is the good that we strive to be in our hearts. As a kid their battle only existed in the physical world, but as I grew I saw more to it. It is, perhaps, because of the lack the obvious complexities so many other comic characters possess that Superman vs Doomsday represents the internal struggle between the id and the super-ego so well. Their “purity” allows them to easily symbolize our primal wants and what we know is right.

Superman #75

In the second-to-last issue of the series, a bloodied and exhausted Superman defiantly declares that he will not allow Doomsday to go any further, saying “Metropolis is where I hold the line!” We all have an internal Metropolis, a line we will never cross, even if it means making huge sacrifices. While I’m sure it’s unlikely that most people use fictional characters as representatives of their internal psyche, the adult me sees the obvious metaphor. This is nothing new to comic books, and similar themes were explored in the narrative of Chris Nolan’s film The Dark Knight. But for me, Superman did it first, and even though I didn’t see it or care as a kid, my changing perspective on the story as I have aged has worked as a litmus test for my ability to look past the superficial. The Death of Superman was not only the beginning of major changes in the DC Universe, it was the beginning of a hobby I continue to this day, so it will always have a special significance to me, even if that significance has changed over the years.

I did finally buy a copy of Superman #75. As an adult I found myself able to track down and afford a copy of the rare “Platinum Edition,” of which only 10,000 copies were ever made. I now own one of only 34 known copies in near mint condition. After getting it signed by the author/artist Dan Jurgens and re-graded, it is now one of only FIVE known copies in such condition. I keep it in my home office, as motivation to be best I can be, and as a reminder to never let go of the things that, as a kid, made me think I could fly.