Action Comics #1000… Damn.
That’s a lot of Superman.
How does a writer approach 85 years of lore, create their own spin on an established personality/backstory/universe, and still remain true to the character?
If you’re Brian Michael Bendis, apparently, you go the Steven Moffat route and call out the “I’m in charge now” clause to rewrite fundamental facts of the character’s origin story. Hooray!
But leaving the last twelve pages of the issue aside for the moment, most of what we got from this issue is an anthology of love letters to the Man of Steel. Using Superman’s own voice, the writers and artists working on this issue were able to share with readers the very things that Superman makes them love, not just about superheroes, but about humanity. No one was afraid to get cheesy, and a lot of it is honestly great.
There are of course pieces that are very referential; “parallel universes” that are actually earlier incarnations, multiple mentions of the red underwear on the outside of the uniform, cameos from various Justice League members and Rogues Gallery baddies. These are fairly expected fare from a landmark like #1000, and many are treated with tongue-in-cheek, fourth-wall cracking wryness, punchline ending included.
And those pieces have their place in what Superman has meant to comics, and to pop culture at large. But the ones that will really leave their mark on you are those that looked at Superman through a different lens.
Geoff Johns and Richard Donner’s piece, The Car, is set in Superman’s early days and is a well-paced, not overly loquacious reminder that Superman is often the embodiment of the hope that we the human race have never fallen so far that we are beyond redemption. Artist Olivier Coipel’s gorgeous illustrations are reminiscent of the stylistic realism of the time period, and the final wordless frame is a perfect ending. As with many of the stories in this issue, it chooses to focus not solely on the man with the superpowers, but on the ordinary people in the periphery choosing to be better versions of themselves.
Lex Luthor makes several appearances, both in his classic “evil genius” mode and his more modern incarnations. In Scott Snyder’s The Fifth Season, Superman and Luthor have a fairly low-key confrontation at the Smallville planetarium, where Luthor has secured two powerful artifacts that might allow him to prevent Superman from having ever existed. But strangely, he seems more interested in talking about his childhood. It’s full of tension and it’s very clear that Luthor is enjoying toying with Supes, but it’s also strangely peaceful compared to some of the more action-packed scenes in the rest of the issue. Rafael Albuquerque’s artwork is beautiful here- not only the subtlety of his characters’ expressions but the starscapes in the planetarium are amazing.
Do I actually care about Bendis new take on Krypton’s destruction? …kind of? I honestly do not have that much nerd rage about it, although I’m sure the denizens of the internet will have more than enough to spare. It honestly wasn’t the most interesting thing about the issue for me, nor is his origin the most interesting thing about Superman. I think that the small portion provided is so focused on the battle and the banter that it’s hard to tell whether it will be an engaging story, let alone whether it will be a unique take on Superman as a character.
I think Action Comics #1000 is worthwhile for the tribute it makes to a giant of the industry, and for the many different ways Superman has impacted worlds both real and fictional. The preview for Bendis’ upcoming run on The Man of Steel just doesn’t seem to fit in.
