ACTION COMICS #21

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Avg Rating: 3.7
 
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Story by Tony S. Daniel, Andy Diggle, & Scott Lobdell
Art by Tony S. Daniel, Batt, & Norm Rapmund
Colors by Tomeu Morey
Letters by Carlos M. Mangual
Cover by Tony S. Daniel & Batt

Size: 40 pages
Price: 3.99

Well. That was…meh. Sometimes I wonder how I can stay a Superman fan when the character has decades long creative dry spells followed by a startlingly great graphic novel or mini series. That only happens sometimes though. Like now.

So in this issue, Lex gets arrested for turning all those people into monsters. How did he get the Nu52 scar? Unanswered; but that’s beside the point really. Superman could’ve just spilled coffee on him or something. What else? Some mediocre writing from Tony Daniel,some great art from Tony Daniel, a decent backup story focusing on Krypton (once again, the back up stories are what makes Action worth looking into) and…that’s it. Superman vs. monsters. I don’t even know what the hell makes Nu52 Luthor Kal’s archnemesis. Was what he did enough to constitute a prison no one can escape from? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Lobdell should have been brought in to flesh out Diggle’s plot. He made Lex’s prison, and the reason for the scar, sound cool and interesting. Man, I literally could have switched Lex out for any other mad scientist bad guy in the DCU in this issue. Lex is THAT BLAND in this issue.

I can always forgive really bad writing, because it normally means that a bad writer was trying to be a good one. What I can’t forgive is bland, mediocre writing that produces things like Action # 21. Why? Because it means that the writer just squirted this story out; which Daniel probably did. But that is little, if any, excuse for making me feel like I wasted my money and time on this story arc.

Unless you’re a completist, don’t even get the trade.

Story: 2 - Average
Art: 3 - Good

Comments

  1. Yeah, this wasn’t great. I was going to jump off after Morrison finished up but I gave this a chance, Diggles first issue was great but the it went downhill from there.

    I’m done with this title for now, especially with Lobdell writing it.

    • I thought Diggle’s first issue was mediocre so I passed on the next two issues that he sort of wrote. I’m actually enjoying what Lobdell is doing on Superman, so I may pick up this book next issue. Different strokes for different folks!

    • Yeah exactly, it’s a real shame because I wish I could love Lobdell’s superman and he’s definitely the best writer the title has had in the new 52 but its just not for me.

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