Action Comics 16Issue 16 of Grant Morrison’s run on Action Comics was originally supposed to be the final issue, so there was some intense confusion as to why nothing seemed to be wrapping up. Apparently issue #17 is the new final issue before Tony Daniel takes over.

Actually, “intense confusion” is probably a good way to describe Morrison’s run so far. To recap, there was a nice – if fairly standard – origin arc, which stopped halfway through to jump forward in time for a couple of issues, then went back to the origin. There was a story about Obama-Superman in another universe, a very random story about Superman getting hunted, faking his death, and then making a wish to reset reality. Then finally there was a story involving Superman fighting aliens on Mars, again, in the future. Why the overall story of these sixteen (now seventeen) issues was being told in such a way was frankly baffling. And then, with last month, it all started to make sense.

Clark had inadvertently incurred the wrath of a 5th-Dimensional entity, who is now determined to ruin his life across his entire timeline. This means killing the Kents in the past, attacking with aliens in the near future, empowering psychopaths with vendettas against Superman with Kryptonite-based abilities, and even bringing in conceptual evils from alternate realities to destroy him. We are witnessing a multi-pronged attack against the Man of Steel happening in past, present, and future. Naturally, the timeline is going to be odd. This revelation was fairly brilliant. It was interesting, it explained a lot, and it was pure Morrison.

That being said, it doesn’t make for a particularly pleasant reading experience. In this issue alone, we hear about Superman dying in the past – but we’ve never heard anything about it before. We’re about to witness the “second death of Superman,” but we’ve never seen the first! Characters are coming back from five issues ago, but how long has it been since anyone saw them in-story? Weeks? Months? Years? Lois and Jimmy are in danger, but in sixteen issues there has barely seen any real personality from them, making it hard to care what happens to them. The only character to care about is Clark, and he’s busy getting beaten up the whole issue.

Personally, I love Morrison. All-Star Superman is the definitive take on Superman, as far as I’m concerned. Final Crisis is a beautiful, meta story about the nature of fiction and its importance to reality. New X-Men is one of the most original takes on the X-Men. His stories are bizarre, high-concept, and often confusing. They play with time, the fourth wall, and all kinds of tropes. But this time – when building a whole new Superman from scratch – maybe a traditional approach might have worked better. Show a young, inexperienced Superman without all his powers yet. Show him learning how to control his anger in addition to his abilities. Show Clark falling in love with Lois. Show Clark earning his stripes as a journalist. Show him meeting the Justice League, or the Legion! Tell the stories that matter! Why tell stories about some hunter trying to kill Superman for sport? Why show Superman fighting a million angelic aliens?

Ultimately, this issue was not a favorite. That being said, I still have confidence that Morrison will stick the landing next month. I think we’re going to see all his big, random ideas come together in a fantastic way. I think it will be suitably epic. Will I remember Morrison’s Action Comics with the same fondness as Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men or Heinberg’s Young Avengers? Probably not. But only time – and next issue – will tell.

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