Hands down, one of the most talked about books entering DC’s New 52 is Grant Morrison’s “Action Comics”. I was excited yet concerned. I’ve been longing for a good Superman run for a while so I was genuinely excited when I saw Morrison and artist Rags Morales were teaming up. On the flip side I was concerned due to Morrison’s occasional self-indulgence that bleeds over into his writing. It didn’t take me long to throw my concerns aside as Morrison and Morales really nailed this issue.

Morrison’s story isn’t that layered or complex but he writes with such a structured yet exquisite style that it feels more cerebral than it really is. As with all of his work, you also get a feel of the greater story that he has in mind. He’s not flying by the seat of his pants. Instead he has a story to tell and when he’s on his game his ability to lay it out from issue to issue is second to none. He reveals so much about this new world from Superman’s perspective of what’s right to his budding relationships with Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. We learn more about the government’s perception of him and even get some fantastic scenes with Lex Luthor as his role in the New 52 begins to take form. There are some wonderful character moments throughout the book as well as some intense and jaw-dropping action. Morrison mixes them perfectly and the end result is a near perfect first issue.

Matching Morrison’s great writing is some stellar art by Rags Morales. I’ve always loved his work and was thrilled to see him onboard for this series. But even as a fan I was amazed at how strong this book looked. The character’s look amazing, the action sequences are breath-taking, and the layouts are simple but work beautifully. His pencils really capture both the intensity of the action as well as the movement and flow of the scenes. He pours an amazing amount of detail into each panel and it makes the book incredibly immersive. Rags has done a lot of great work and I don’t want to throw around “the best work of his career” to loosely but…..

My fingers were crossed for this book. I felt it would be good but as someone who isn’t the biggest Morrison fan, I was prepared for disappointment. There’s nothing disappointing about this issue. This creative team has put together something really special and have really blown my socks off. If it took a reboot to finally give us this kind of Superman story, then it was well worth it.