(DC Comics, 2013)
Review by Shawn Warner
WRITER: Andy Diggle
PENCILS: Tony S. Daniel
INKS: Batt
COLORS: Tomeu Morey
This issue is a changing of the guard as Grant Morrison is replaced by Andy Diggle. Like Morrison Diggle is best known for darker more esoteric subject matter most notably perhaps his work on Hellblazer. So for him to pick up the Superman mantle here is a very logical move for DC. For them to keep the readership that Morrison has built on this title they would have to choose a writer cut from the same cloth as Morrison. I believe they have done just that with Andy Diggle.
Action Comics #19 begins with Clark and Lois on assignment in Qurac. The two are celebrating Lois’ recent Pulitzer Prize worthy story over drinks. When Clark is called away to meet his contact Lois is left in the company of Jon Carroll from the Metro Star. Clark’s contact informs him that the Quraci regime is smuggling illegal weapons to crush the pro-democracy uprising. The weapons are hidden aboard a cargo ship in one container among thousands. However now as Superman, Clark attempts to make quick work of searching the containers until he finds they are impervious to his x-ray vision. This prompts the question, who would shield them?
At this point huge hovering war machines controlled by human pilots reveal themselves from within the rows of stacked containers. Superman, not wishing to engage the pilots in a battle that would spell certain injury to them, does his best to open a dialogue. His diplomacy is answered with a super-velocity railgun blast to the chest. He recovers from the blast and pulls the pilot from the giant mechanical beast but before he can interrogate his captive Superman is set upon by another war machine. This one he destroys employing his heat vision. Two more of the mechanized behemoths set their sights on the man of steel this time deploying infrasonic weapons knocking him from the sky into the harbor. Dazed he pulls himself from the murky water and takes flight to engage the menacing war machine. Superman handily dismantles the sinister piece of machinery but not before the pilot ejects safely from the destroyed craft. Still dizzy from the sonic assault he withstood Superman cannot believe his eyes. The pilot appears to be Jimmy Olsen. Although he knows this cannot be he also now knows that whoever sent these men does not want them talking.
Now we find Lex Luthor in what appears to be his current base of operations joined by Doctor Lagarde his captive psychoanalyst. Having treated presidents, Nobel laureates and men who have walked on the moon Doctor Lagarde is regarded as the preeminent psychoanalyst of our age. When asked for her insights Luthor is nonplussed when she informs him that although he is clearly a genius he exhibits a number of worrying symptoms such as obsessive behaviors, inability to socialize or empathize and the apparent lack of a conscience. She believes this perfect storm of factors has rendered him a sociopath, a psychotic megalomaniac and quite possibly the most dangerous man on the planet. Luthor responds by telling her he is exceptional and the truly exceptional cannot be judged by the scales of conventional thought. He then tells her to recalibrate her opinions and returns her to her cell.
At this time Luthor is informed of the apparent failure of the strike team in Qurac. This he assures was never intended as anything more than a distraction to trigger a U.S. invasion. As for Superman, Luthor reveals that the weapons used against him were tipped with a microscopic nanite probe encased in a shell of pure Kryptonite, not enough to kill just enough to penetrate Superman’s alien skin. These nanites are designed to analyze Superman’s genetic blueprint. Once the secret to his genetic structure has been revealed Luthor will be able to replicate or modify Superman’s DNA, effectively placing a tiny death machine inside his body unbeknownst to him.
Three weeks later Superman is flying over Metropolis when the replication protocol is engaged. A sudden agony grips him and he plummets to the ground the victim of an infection that has already claimed his hand turning it into a monstrous bio-mechanical claw and is rapidly spreading up his arm.
This is the kind of dark subject matter that Andy Diggle excels at. He shows us a Lex Luthor that is twisted and self-absorbed, evil for the sake of evil nothing more, a true villain. Contrasted with his Superman who is not a sticky sweet boy scout but a warrior on the side of good ready to use force when force is called for. He is not hand-cuffed by altruistic ideals that are impossible to maintain. Instead he is ready and willing to do what needs to be done for the greater good. This is good versus evil in It’s purest form. Diggle has set the stage for an epic opera of biblical proportions. He touches on a sub-plot involving Lois that is sure to implicate Clark. There is sure to be moral dilemmas and questions of character pertaining to their relationship just as it always has. I am excited by what Andy Diggle is capable of doing with these characters. He has done outstanding work with John Constantine as well as Matt Murdock in Daredevil Reborn. For those who did not follow Grant Morrison’s run on Action Comics, I say give Andy Diggle a try you won’t be disappointed.
As for the visuals, Tony S. Daniel has created something beautiful here. His pages are alive. His images tell the story as much as Diggle’s words. These two creators work together as well as some of the great teams of modern comics. There is a synergy to the work that is organic. It cannot be forced or faked it must just be.
Daniel’s Superman is the quintessential Superman. His face is expressive. He struggles. He gets hurt. It all comes across in Daniel’s work. It looks great. Tony S. Daniel is an artist at the top of his game who has yet to create his best work but boy is it looking good along the way.
I unreservedly recommend adding Action Comics to your pull list. This book is only going to get better. So until next week, see ya at the comic book store.
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Follow Shawn Warner on Twitter: @shawnwarner629
BAG & BORED 