Comic Books

> > 5
ACTION COMICS #5

As the assault from an alien threat takes a turn for the worse for Metropolis, keys facts about Superman’s past are brought to light for the first time! And how can certain elements from The Man of Steel’s future help to prevent the theft of the millennium?

Don’t miss this awesome issue from series writer Grant Morrison and the guest art team of Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang!

Written by GRANT MORRISON
Backup story written by SHOLLY FISCH
Art by ANDY KUBERT and JESSE DELPERDANG
Backup story art by CHRISCROSS
Cover by ANDY KUBERT and JOE PRADO
Variant cover by RAGS MORALES
B&W Variant cover by ANDY KUBERT

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 1.9%

Reviews

UserAddedSpoilers
gentlesatirist01/20/12NoRead Review
JoseRivera8301/05/12NoRead Review
Poopmonster01/04/12YesRead Review
TheNextChampion01/04/12NoRead Review
halik01/04/12NoRead Review
1198
Pulls
Avg Rating: 3.7
 
Users who pulled this comic:
 

Comments

  1. Avatar photo RoiVampire says:
    January 3, 2012 at 11:51 am

    ooooooooohhhhh, the new origin story

  2. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    January 3, 2012 at 12:17 pm

    I have a feeling it’s not going to be THAT new….But it’s Morrison so we’ll see.

  3. Avatar photo robbydzwonar says:
    January 3, 2012 at 12:36 pm

    Enjoyable so far, but I’m praying he goes back to doing Batman comics of some sort, and sticks with it even longer. The man was literally BORN to write Batman.

    • Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
      January 3, 2012 at 12:55 pm

      Yeah, they were so much better than this. But All-Star Superman was fantastic, too. This book is okay – and we expect a lot more from Grant.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      January 3, 2012 at 6:10 pm

      grant should write both batman and superman comics cuz he kicks ass on both characters. besides, isnt batman inc. about to start up again. so i guess he will be doing both. FUCK YEAH

  4. Avatar photo sitara119 says:
    January 3, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    i might be in a minority that loves rags’ art. i usually hate guest artists on the books i love becuz they usually suck. however, kubert is one hell of a fill in. first, lark on punisher and now this. some beautiful pencils this week

  5. edward says:
    January 3, 2012 at 2:33 pm

    This is where we find out if it was worth to relaunch all of DC just to rewrite superman’s origin. Siegel and Shuster aren’t getting a cent after that law suit

  6. Avatar photo chadwhitley says:
    January 3, 2012 at 3:30 pm

    For me, Action Comics has been a little bit like a long family road trip. For the first couple of hours, everyone’s really excited about all the things they’re going to do, and all the possibilities of activities and events in which they can share. They’re playing car games, reading books, and listening to music, and the trip seems to be going by too quickly.

    By hour four, though, fatigue has set in, and the reality that the trip has only just begun has begun to weigh on the passengers, leading to boredom, frustration, short tempers, and the ever popular chorus of “Are we there yet?” from the back seat.

    I was excited about this book at first, but I’m in hour 3.5 and fading fast. It’s not that the book is bad, necessarily–it’s hard to argue with the quality of Morrison’s writing, and the art is good, if a bit inconsistent–but I’m not fully convinced that the book is going anywhere. If it is, I can’t really get a sense of the direction it’s heading, much less the destination. I hope this issue will bring back some of the stuff I really liked in the first issue. If not, I’ll probably begin to ask, if only to myself:

    “Are we there yet?”

    • Avatar photo markish says:
      January 3, 2012 at 10:19 pm

      People say this about every Grant Morrison story at the start. He’s never let me down on taking the story somewhere. I don’t always love it, but the one thing I can’t fault him on is his long-term storytelling ability.

      Stuff is going to get crazy.

    • Avatar photo chadwhitley says:
      January 4, 2012 at 3:19 pm

      @markish: Excellent point. Morrison did the same thing with Batman, but over a period of, like, five years. Some of it was good, some not, but on the whole, I think Morrison told a pretty banging Batman story. I may have spoken too quickly about Action Comics, and I’m still on board…I’m just hoping to get a sense of direction sooner rather than later.

      But yeah–one way or another, I agree that stuff is going to get crazy. 🙂

  7. Avatar photo yyzKyle says:
    January 3, 2012 at 4:25 pm

    If I see the anything about him having an abnormally high midi-chlorians count than I expect to throw the book directly into the fire place.

  8. Avatar photo Xajoshua says:
    January 4, 2012 at 1:57 pm

    Really liked this issue. My favorite one yet. But it was primarily the back-up feature on the Kents that won me over. I’ve never been a big Superman fan before, but this issue made me care about the Kents for the first time.

    • Avatar photo sphinx69 says:
      January 4, 2012 at 5:50 pm

      I feel the same way. This is the best issue since issue #1. Can’t wait for the second part of the story. Kubert does a great job on Superman to bad he can’t keep a monthly deadline anymore.

    • Avatar photo TexasZombie99 says:
      January 7, 2012 at 9:13 pm

      That back-up story was a perfect addition to the main story, wow was it a tear jerker. Good stuff.

  9. Avatar photo thompsonlive says:
    January 4, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    K I liked the back-up issue but crazy confused about what the hell was going on with the whole Anti-Superman army thing. Is that something from previous comics, and who were all the people around superman at the end, and what the hell is a kryptonite engine? Maybe I’m just stupid but it seemed to go way out in left field about half way through this issue. Anyone care to explain all of this for the ignorant?

    • Tuff_Ghost says:
      January 4, 2012 at 5:38 pm

      I had the same problem, all of a sudden it just felt like I was reading a different comic. Hopefully someone expands on it for us 😛

    • Avatar photo sphinx69 says:
      January 4, 2012 at 5:52 pm

      The people with Superman are three found members of the Legion of Superheroes Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, and Saturn Girl though they appear to be adult versions of those characters. Not sure for the Anti-Superman Army but allow Morrison to finsih telling his story.

  10. Avatar photo AquaPimp82 says:
    January 4, 2012 at 8:06 pm

    The thing with the Legion has me intrigued.

  11. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    January 4, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    This issue was so blah. The original is everything you’ve seen already and the back up adds not a whole lot of new info….Plus the ending is just more confusing then anything else. (Typical Morrison)

    3/5

  12. Avatar photo yyzKyle says:
    January 4, 2012 at 11:38 pm

    This series isn’t bad…. but it hasn’t been all that good either. The artwork on this issue was much better than the last 2 for sure. Morrison is making this book very confusing… it may pay off in the end but I am not sure anymore.

    3.5/5

  13. Avatar photo sitara119 says:
    January 5, 2012 at 4:55 am

    with as confused as people get when reading morrison, you’d think he was the fuckn’ riddler or something.
    i find his work to be thought provoking. admittedly, i often enough re-read his works to get a clearer picture or to see if i overlooked anything profound or even just to gain more perspective by examining the art a little more closely.
    however, i do that with all the books i love. if i dont read a comic a few times, i feel like i’ve wasted my money.
    also, i like the prospect of a challenging reading experience that forces me to figure things out if need be. i’m always curious to see if the events will unfold as i have envisioned

  14. Avatar photo RoiVampire says:
    January 5, 2012 at 2:56 pm

    i thought it was pretty easy to understand. a mysterious group journeys back in time to steal some part of the ship that brought clark to earth, then Superman and those legion members discover the theft

    it’s mysterious because its a mystery

    • Avatar photo yyzKyle says:
      January 5, 2012 at 6:02 pm

      I jumped into DC for the first time ever (outside of Fables which is vertigo) with the new 52. The people with Superman on the last page are completely unknown to me. I found it confusing, it was a reveal, and I will surely be buying issue 6 to see what happens next. I am not putting down the book, nor am I campaigning for anyone else to stop reading it. I just was trying to spark discussion to see if anyone else has an opinion.

      Thank you for sharing yours. I am guessing that you have a much more extensive history with DC titles to know who was standing with Superman in the final panel. How did you rate this issue @RoiVampire?

    • Avatar photo JNewcomb says:
      January 7, 2012 at 11:45 pm

      I don’t know who was at the end of the book but I liked it. t’s an inherently interesting idea especially if you don’t know the history. Why an additional Superman? Is he a doppleganger? A time traveller? Or something else?

    • Avatar photo RoiVampire says:
      January 8, 2012 at 2:02 pm

      I had no idea who was with Superman at the end but it still grabbed me because i know two things, superman’s new friends can time travel, and whatever is happening is so crazy that superman needs help. it’s a great way to keep me interested in where this is headed

  15. Avatar photo Cameron Wolff says:
    January 5, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    I didn’t exactly love this issue. Kind of average, in my opinion. I loved the last issue, but this one was just a retelling of Superman’s origin. Although, I really liked the second story with John and Martha.

  16. Avatar photo WheelHands says:
    January 5, 2012 at 11:18 pm

    I thought this was brilliant.

    5/5

  17. Avatar photo BionicDave says:
    January 5, 2012 at 11:32 pm

    After now reading the backup story in ACTION COMICS #5, I can just see the New 52 architects sitting around the DC offices back in late 2010…

    “Okay, are we all agreed then? Have we fleshed out the most important changes?”

    “Yes. In our New 52… Barbara Gordon’s out of the chair, there’s no mention of Wally West, and Jonathan Kent has weak sperm.”

    “Exactly. His sperm are not strong at all.”

    “This really feels right, guys. Every time I read Superman as a kid, it always confused me as to why the Kents would adopt a space orphan if they could just use Pa Kent’s viable sperm to conceive a baby of their own.”

    “Omigod, me too, I totally thought the same thing!!! I mean, Charlie Chaplin’s swimmers were still good when he was 72 – and Pa Kent would’ve known that, he would have been a huge Chaplin fan.”

    “I love that! Yes. If it was never canon before, we’ll definitely insert it into the New 52 continuity: Pa Kent was a HUGE Chaplin fan… which only fueled his anguish at having weak sperm, especially in his New 52 younger self. Now we’ve got tons more drama to play with Jonathan Kent for Clark’s backstory!”

    “I’ve got goosebumps. Literally – bumps of excitement all over my body. This must be how Bill Finger felt ALL THE TIME!”

    “I cannot wait for kids to read this beat. Can. Not. WAIT! If there’s one thing children have been begging for to save DC Comics – if there’s one thing our readers NEED to know in the first few months of the New 52’s run – it’s that Pa Kent smoked too much weed as a teen, and that it affected his sperm’s movement.”

    • Avatar photo JNewcomb says:
      January 7, 2012 at 11:46 pm

      As hilarious as that comment is. It’s not the sperm which was a problem, it’s Ma Kent’s womb.

    • Avatar photo BionicDave says:
      January 9, 2012 at 3:41 am

      Actually it’s both. The Kents’ doctor said their infertility was due to “low motility” (i.e., problem with Jon Kent’s sperm movement) “and endometriosis” (i.e., problem with Martha Kent’s endometrial cells flourishing outside her uterine cavity). I only posted about the first part because I thought it was especially funny that DC Comics was suddenly talking about Pa Kent’s sperm. (!!) That just seems so weird to me. Like, now I half-expect STORMWATCH #6 to reveal that The Engineer’s been dealing with a yeast infection.

      Btw, thanks for the compliment JN 🙂

  18. Avatar photo drdeeeznutz says:
    January 6, 2012 at 2:57 am

    So that is why Superman laughed at Luthor when he mentioned the other alien. I’m still really enjoying this and I found the backup story to be thoughful and touching.

  19. Avatar photo jwt6577 (@jwt6577) says:
    January 6, 2012 at 6:16 am

    The only downside of this issue is; with the Kents being dead I know I’m not going to see a lot of this version of Jonathan and Martha in the future.

  20. Kmanifesto says:
    January 7, 2012 at 10:47 am

    To be fair, I can understand the ‘head scratching’ many experience while reading Morrison’s stories. In most cases, this run will require a double reading to fully appreciate the tale that is being woven here.

    At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

  21. Avatar photo SmoManCometh says:
    January 7, 2012 at 11:32 am

    for those confused by what happened in the second half of the main story: Superman’s rocket ship (which also will be what forms his fortress in the future) was in the containment field along with half the city being taken by the Collector. a group of new villains from the future time-traveled back to steal his rockets engine while it was venerable and were quickly chased by Superman and his legion buddies from the future as well. Basically, this was a secret story that was going behind on behind young Clark’s back during the first story arc.

  22. Avatar photo SmoManCometh says:
    January 7, 2012 at 1:42 pm

    main my spell check program does some crazy stuff.

  23. Avatar photo KeMo says:
    January 7, 2012 at 4:15 pm

    More origin retelling bullsh!t…..running out of stories, DC? $3.99 wasted again.

  24. Avatar photo Mr.Enigma (@EJsingley) says:
    January 7, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    Just like last issue, Morrison throws the reader a curveball in the last few pages of the story. Superman in his newduds and time traveling villians.
    The back up story was a nice look into the Kent’s reproductive woes. Wait, that came out all wrong!

  25. Avatar photo JNewcomb says:
    January 7, 2012 at 11:42 pm

    I have mixed feelings about this issue. I liked Grant’s script. Very smart ways of mixing up the mythology. Adding that the ship in which Kal crashed to earth has Kryptonian crystal technology was a nice touch. I’m not sure if Kubert’s pencils are a good match for Grant’s cosmic flair but they serve the story well in the quiet parts as well as the spread of Krypton exploding. It’s a dense story worth re-reading. Liked the back up too, not great, but enjoyable.

  26. Avatar photo BionicDave says:
    January 9, 2012 at 3:45 am

    I think the blue/red coloring of baby Kal-El’s ship is a sweet and subtle nod to how the ship was often colored blue/red in old Superman stories.

    • Avatar photo JNewcomb says:
      January 9, 2012 at 2:22 pm

      I noticed this too. The ship has a retro look to it. A lot of things are like that in this series. Grant is overtly calling back to the first Action Comics stories.

Leave a Comment