Comics Review- Action Comics #1000

Action Comics (2016-) #1000 by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


When you hit a milestone like the 1000th issue, it's reason to celebrate. I suppose Marvel will do something similar if they ever get to issue 20. Huh? Huh? Because they are always relaunching? Get it? Ok, I will show myself out.

I am not exactly sure how you celebrate 1000 issues, so since I can't think of a better idea, then why not go with the standard 'bring a bunch of writers in and do an Annual style format". It is 80 pages and to DC's credit, no ads.

It's a Who Who of the DC roster strong on the Superman writers- Dan Jurgens, Scott Snyder, Tom King, Geoff Johns and Superman director Richard Donner,Pete Tomasi, Paul Dini, Brad Meltzer and Louis Simonson.

It is easy to pick out who's missing (many have already mentioned Grant Morrison, who had a great run on All Star Superman, but also Mark Millar wrote some great Superman stories and seems to be writing for Image these days, so not sure of his status, but more leftfield choices like Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore (just kidding, but Supreme was good) and Frank Miller (if they wanted to make it a Comedy Roast). Ok, ok, I will quit with the jokes, but Morrison's exclusion is noticeable, and one suspects that they may have left him out to leave room for the real news, that Brian Michael Bendis is headed over to DC and is writing Superman really soon.

Then again, perhaps, it's overloaded as it is. I appreciate the big names like Meltzer and Snyder onboard, but getting everyone in means that everyone's space is limited.

Which may be the problem, nothing particularly stood out to me. Jurgens's story has the big feel and the obvious plot for the kickoff. I knew it would be cloying, but even if the plot is obvious, could have been much better.

Which means everyone else gets about five pages, and if there are hints of brilliance, they are too short to be developed. Donner's story of the Car on ActionComics 1 is over before it gets developed. Dini's story is a fun Mr Mxyzptlk story that serves as a retrospective, but is a bit weird. At least, it's memorable and Dini's style sticks out. King has depth but at four pages, is only allowed so many ideas. Meltzer has five pages, but the minimal style uses much of that up. Both King and Meltzer probably would have benefited from the lack of the other and the subsequent space. Snyder's contribution is a bit of a forgettable mess, while the other contributions are expected schmaltz.

The art, meanwhile, probably benefited from the few pages, and there is some fantastic artistic contributions.

So we get Bendis to end as we got Jurgens to start. The first Superman story from Bendis is actually fairly decent. It's got a bit of a sense of humor and 21st Century awareness and Jim Lee gives it the big DC feel. It gives me some doubts that Lee was the best pairing for Bendis, but certainly, I dont think I am going to have any complaints.

What is weird, though is Bendis's story seems to be previewing his miniseries. I get that from a marketing and sales point of view. Ok, I am not going to be able to argue my way out of that one. Still, it cheapens Bendis's contribution and fails the issue. Certainly, a nice tidy ending would help gel this all up.

Overall, it was fine for what it is and I probably shouldn't expect more from it. Still, it would have been nice for this to be one of those issues that we look back at 5 or 10 years from now and speak in high praises of. I have not read any of the current Superman comics, but i am told they are very popular, and though I personally am excited for Bendis, am bummed for those who have been supporting the current comics that are coming to an end when he arrives. I am not a fan of necessarily more books on shelves just for the idea of it, but maybe they could have.




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