Review: ‘Action Comics’ #1032 Sets Superman On A Unique New Path
by Tony Thornley
Superman has faced Mongul and the Warworlders dozens of times in his history. But Action Comics #1032 is showing that this new Warworld threat is very different from any other before.
There’s a lot of answers here, but there’s just as many new questions. It’s a very fun issue from Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Daniel Sampere, Adriano Lucas and Dave Sharpe.
Clark, Lois and Kara have a lead on who the Kryptonian Warworld refugees may be, but it doesn’t bring them any closer to how these “Phaelosians” ended up on Warworld. It does give Superman enough to know that it’s time to rally the League to investigate, however. But before he can do so, the Warworld artifacts that crashed with the Phaelosians have begun to cause problems in Atlantis … GIANT problems.
Johnson is continuing to craft a story around Clark that feels grand and epic without losing sight of the characters at the center of it. This isn’t just a good Superman story either, as Johnson slows things down just enough to show the strengths of the other characters featured here — such as Lois Lane’s compassionate side, or the resolute strength of Aquaman. Through all of it, he also creates several interesting new mysteries which set up a story that’s much bigger than what anyone might have expected from the announcement a month or so back that Superman is headed to Warworld long term. This isn’t a story about Clark leading a rebellion; it’s a story about Superman investigating exactly what is happening at the heart of this new attack.
Sampere is continuing his star-making turn in this issue as he gradually moves past the DC house style and establishes his own look. He is able to show the emotional beats of Clark and Lois helping the refugee Thao-La, then move into a tense meeting with the House of El, then finally into the action scenes that close the issue, with each moment clicking into place perfectly. He demonstrates Clark’s humanity as much as Superman’s strength with just a few tics of body language. Lucas’s colors are also improving each issue as he experiments with lighting and uses different palettes for different moods and settings. It’s not as strong as DC’s best looking book — Batman — but it’s getting there fast.
With these new mysteries, I’m getting more and more excited by the new direction that we know we’ll see by summer’s end. This might be the best Action Comics has been in a very long time, and that’s good for all of us.
Action Comics #1032 is available now from DC Comics.
