After two pointless issues we are finally back on track with this title. I’ve complained about Grant Morrison’s pacing before but now a days I try to hold back on my restraint. Cause if you know Morrison’s books they tend to take a while to fully appreciate. Of Course I don’t remember anything taking this long for me to like a book of his. The good news is though, I think this seventh issue may finally be at the quality it should have been since issue one.

What makes this issue work for me? That Morrison doesn’t go for the ‘hey let me go from set piece to set piece with no transition!’ type of writing like before. It’s a simple story here: Early Superman tries to save Metropolis from Brainiac. I particularly love the beginning of this issue because it feels so old school. Of course Sups doesn’t know how to fly fully yet so the idea of using a tow truck as a natural ramp was a great idea. The fight with the robots is typical Superman but the dialogue Brainiac spouts is pure Morrison. Of course the internet is something Brainiac thought of. (I bet he created Twitter, the bastard!) The only weak point of this entire story was the Lois Lane/Lex Luthor beats. I really don’t understand why Morrison writes these sequences so clumsy. If you read ‘All-Star Superman’ then you know how great of a Luthor Morrison writes. What has been great though are the back ups by Sholly Fisch. This one is another Steel back up and Fisch has a great voice for the character. It’s not as special as the last two back ups has been, but Fisch has been a great find for DC and a savior for this book.

With the time off to work on this issue, Rags Morales probably does his best work for the series. Only a few panels I would say look a bit funky and, surprise surprise, it involves Luthor and Lois. But you know most of these pages are great to look at. From the opening pages, where he makes a guy realistically fly from a tow truck, to the sense of scale in tiny Metropolis it all looks really great here. I think it helps that Rick Bryant and Brad Anderson (who’s a colorist here but he is an accomplished penciller in his own right) keep this issue particularly solid and consistent unlike previous issues. Again the back up by Brad Walker is very good and I love the painted feel he has to the pages. He’s no Alex Ross but it gets the job done.

So thankfully this seventh issue is a much needed improvement for the series. I won’t go far to say it’s back on track cause this is Grant Morrison we’re talking about here. This could easily go off the tracks next month. But for the time being this was a fun issue by all parties involved and I hope, hope, HOPE it stays this consistent.

(Oh and by the way, the sequence where Sups puts his Kryptonian suit on and it magically turns into Jim Lee’s costume? WEAK!)