Action Comics #8 Annotations
ACTION COMICS #8
Superman Meets The Collector of Worlds
DC Comics, January 2012, Color, 40pgs, $3.99
Written by GRANT MORRISON ; Art by RAGS MORALES, BRAD WALKER; Cover by RAGS MORALES; 1:25 Variant Cover by GREG CAPULLO
It's the epic 30-page conclusion of Grant Morrison and Rags Morales' majestic opening storyline! $3.99 gets you front row seats to the ascension of the DC Universe's first Super Hero as The Man of Steel goes toe to tentacle with the all-new Brainiac for the final fate of Metropolis!
Commentary
The concluding chapter of Morrison and Morales opening Action Comics arc arrives, providing little in the way of surprise given the whys and hows of the ending were tossed off in a throwaway line two issues ago. Thematically, Morrison does a lot more heavy lifting than he's generally been given credit for on this title - he's bridged the gap between Seigel and Shuster and Bronze Age 80's Supes in six issues - though he's hampered by some very pedestrian art from Morales and a two-issue diversion that, whilst more than worthwhile in and of itself, was clearly not intended to run where it did.
News filters down from Morrison's appearance at the Glasgow Comic Con that he most likely will wrap the run up after the originally planned 16 issues, though there's still been no official announcement. If that's the case then this issue marks the halfway point of Morrison's run and... let's just say it's not been as good so far as I'd hoped. Incredible issue coming up next though. Stay tuned for the annotations soon!
Annotations
Cover - Superman versus the robot centipede Collector/Brainiac on Morales regular cover, with a bottled Metropolis and Earth artifact backdrop. Not sure of the significance of what's in the bottle as far as the artifacts go.
Greg Capullo's variant is very good. I know he's getting a lot of good press for his Batman run of late but for me he's still the guy who Todd McFarlane got in to draw Spawn because his drawings were exactly the same as McFarlane's. Good to see that he's moved on and proved my opinion of him hoplessly outdated. Touch of the Kevin Nowlan there. Very good.
(Update: ...and of course that cover's not by Greg Capullo, it's by Gary Frank. It's still very good. Nice one Gary.)
Page 1 - Back in the bar in a shrunken Metropolis with Detective Blake, Glen Glenmorgan, Metropolis PD cops Casey and Zoft, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. When we left them last issue they were inside the bottled city of Metropolis, under attack by robot spiders, while a full-sized Superman battled The Collector outside the bottle.
I don't know any films where the characters are trapped in hell and the devil is the bartender, but there's certainly shades of something like Adrian Lyne's Jacob's Ladder in there, or even the final episode of Quantum Leap, where the barman is God (or something).
Lex tries his best to frame his double-cross of humanity as a somehow noble act. He also hints at The Collector's motives behind shrinking and preserving cities. More of that later.
Page 2-3 - The Collector and Corben seem to be fused both physically and mentally, with the spurned Corben's jealousy of Lois's love for Superman fuelling his rage.
"Nothing's faster than a speeding bullet..." Clearly science isn't Corben's strong suit.
Page 3 - Superman melts the bullet in mid-flight with his heat vision.
Page 4 - As well as naming Superman, Lois also gets to christen Brainiac in the New 52, though as we saw back in issue three they used that name on Krypton too.
Lots of people online referred to the Little Man as 'The Teetotaller' or "Teetotal" after the first issue of Morrison's Action Comics was released. Though its a pretty common phrase on this side of the Atlantic, it turns out it's not so much over there in the States. For anyone still curious it simply means someone who doesn't drink alcohol.
Glenmorgan is right, from what we've seen so far it seems the little man is the Devil, though it's a fair bet there's some fifth dimensional imp in there as well...
Page 5 - Back to the Sophie's Choice of last issue, briefly interrupted by a bit more fighting.
Even though he's not from Earth, Superman epitomises the best traits of humanity - compassion, bravery, resourcefulness, rationality - as Earth-born John Corben epitomises the worst - pettiness, bitterness, jealousy and a willingness to sacrifice what's important for personal gain. It's the simple, crusading moralist of the opening issues making the transition to the Platonic Superman as the arc draws to a close. In these eight issues Clark has gone from roughing up corrupt industrialists to duking it out with insectile computer minds from another galaxy. It;s the Superman story in minature - Who he is, and how he came to be.
Page 6 - Not sure if the colouring in the first and third panels is meant to telegraph the suit changing in the last panel. The sun on his chest is symbolic of the New 52 Superman, thanks to this battle with Metallo and The Collector, becoming the Sun God he's been represented as in Morrison's other Superman work - including All Star Superman and DC One Million. Though it originally took him twenty years or more, this new Superman has made the leap from the streets to the stars in just eight issues - six if you discount the Kubert two-parter, which increasingly looks like it was brought forward from it's intended place in the schedule to assist Morales with his deadlines.
The Collector overriding Corben's emotions (or E-Motion Surge if you'd like) backfires badly in a couple of pages.
Page 7 - Felling the alien warlord with one of man's most primal weapons - the javelin.
In what must be an art oversight, Superman's suit has returned to normal between pages.
The 'Zee Zee Zee' of Jimmy's phone is a callback to his Silver Age Signal Watch, used to summon Superman whenever his Pal was in danger. In another nod to his past, Jimmy's wearing a (untied) bowtie.
Page 8 - Inspired by Superman, Corben of course comes good in the end.
That's the truck the army loaded Superman's rocket into way back in issue three.
Page 9 - If there were any doubt that The Collector is the monstrous reflection of the CGC and its ilk, it's insistence on Superman and his ship being in "mint condition" surely puts it to bed. Morrison's positioning of Brainiac as a damning critique of the collecting mentality is an unusual one for the DC heirarchy to approve, given that this issue was published with four slightly different covers that cater exclusively for that same unhealthy completist desire. The decision to let it slide absolutely pales in comparison to the astonishing issue which follows this though.
"Your world is number 205 on the list of 333 - The Death-List of the Multitude." As we said last issue, definite echoes of the revived Doctor Who there - taking a little back from a series that owes so much to comic books by the likes of Morrison and Alan Moore. Go here for an eye-opening essay by the mysterious Teatime Brutality on the thematic parallels between Russell T. Davies' Doctor Who, UK reality show Big Brother and Morrison's Final Crisis.
The Jazuur were an alien race who were responsible for an evil duplicate of Superman over in George Perez's Superman book a couple of months before this issue. They ended up on Earth accidentaly as a result of Superman's trashing of The Collector's ship this issue. Given this would have been issue 6 had the Kubert issues followed this arc (as they probably were originally intended to) it would have been a rare bit of cross-continuity in the re-launched Superman books - a throwaway line in Action holds the key to the villain in Superman. As it is though, the throwaway line comes two months after the Jazuur story had wrapped up. Best intentions eh?
Bryak cam up last time out, the original home planet of Brainiac from his first appearance in 1958's Action Comics #242, never referred to again after Brainiac was retconned into being an android in his next appearance.
Can't find any reference for Vell'Ut or Randizullian. Any ideas internet?
Page 10 - A second aspect of The Collector, another insectile, green-brained robot - this time with three heads - does pretty much the same thing as The Collector's been doing since the beginning of last issue, rearing up at Superman in front of the bottled cities and talking to him for awhile.
Page 11 - Presumably The Collector managed to get all the rest of the Kryptonian people and artifacts trapped in the bottled city of Kandor into Micro-Stasis before they could pose a threat to it.
The first body the Collector inhabited screams "Brainiac!" as the other, larger body is overcome. As we've learnt in the issues running up to this, Brainiac was the Kryptonian equivalent to the internet - a super computer network for a planet of super people. As the Kryptonian sun-stone expands to its original size presumably The Collector is assimilated within, though those splattered green brains on the floor don't look too healthy.
Still haven't translated the Kryptonian... 'Ha-La' seems to be some sort of greeting. 'Kal-El' is of course Superman's original Kryptonian name.
Page 12 - It all gets a bit too much for Superman as the Brainiac/Collector hybrid begins to work it's magic, revitalizing him via the Kryptonian sun-stone.
Page 13 - Morrison's social-crusading 'Superman who can bleed' exits stage left - after his baptism of fire against the Collector he takes his place in the stars aboard his new Fortress of Solitude, as the benevolent guardian of humanity
Page 14 - Release the doves! It's like a John Woo movie...
McLeod's is most likely named for long time Superman artist Bob McLeod.
Metropolis is restored and Lois is reunited with her dad, General Sam Lane. Jimmy catches up with Dr. John Henry Irons who's been spearheading the clean-up on the ground and Glenmorgan is finally carted off by the cops. As Lex notes, In the new DC Universe this series of events marks the beginning of the Age of the Superheroes. Their world will be a very different place from here on out.
Page 15 - And the birds take us right to the offices of the Daily Planet and Daily Star, where editor George Taylor, who first appeared as Clark's boss way back in 1939's Superman #2, is reminiscing about his friendship with Ma and Pa Kent. Local paper The Smallville Sentinel appeared frequently in the 1980's New Adventures of Superboy title.
The nearest real-life analogue to Taylor's 'Farmer's Rebellion' that I can find is the Midwestern U.S. Farm Strike during the Great Depression, where farmer's withheld their produce in protest at the poor standard of living that market conditions were forcing them to endure. Their slogans were "Stay at Home-Buy Nothing-Sell Nothing" and "Lets call a Farmer's Holiday, a Holiday let's hold. We'll eat our wheat and ham and eggs, And let them eat their gold.".
Morrison gifting Pa Kent with a love of surreal practical jokes seems peculiar, though does tie in nicely with the disfigured goat bit a few issues ago.
Page 16 - Of course, we know it wasn't God that Glenmorgan saw in the bottle...
Page 17 - For any folks still puzzling over what happened in issue one, here you go. Lex tipped Superman off about the bomb on the train and presumably that's also how he was able to time his capture of Superman to 8 PM on the nose. Clark' "Are you... Superman?" suggests that he's well aware it's actually Lex.
Lex's choice of Icarus as an alias is probably referencing his status as a mythical pioneer, as per the Greek Air Force and NASA, rather than his representation of hubris and over-reaching ambition.
Seems Corben might remain the U.S. military's weapon against Superman even after going rogue on his first mission. The reference to his missing heart of course sets him up for a return engagement with the Man of Steel, where the hole will presumably be filled by a chunk of Kryptonite as per tradition.
Page 18 - Superman's loose grasp on his secret identity, "Clark Kent would cease to exist, that's all." both here and in later issues is in stark contrast to his post-Crisis on Infinite Earths attitudes. John Byrne, like Morrison, had Superman largely ignorant of his alien heritage until adulthood, but even after he found out Byrne framed the whole secret identity issue as Clark pretending to be Superman, not vice versa. Here Morrison seems to be harking back to Silver and Bronze Age Superman, who defiantly was Superman disguised as meek and mild Kent.
"You have a super singing voice", a sly callback to Morrison's own Final Crisis, where Superman used that singing voice to defeat Darkseid.
Francis DeVoid isn't, as far as I can tell, a reference to a past story; though with a name like that he could easily appear in a future one.
Page 19 - Brad Walker, who's drawn some backups already for Action, pinch hits for Morales in the closing pages of this extra-length issue. He's coming from a very different place to Rags Morales with pages that look much more contemporary and a Superman who looks a little older. In all honesty, of the two I think I prefer Walker.
"I guess I should find a really big door..." is a reference to Superman's original Arctic Fortress of Solitude, where a giant arrow-shaped key too heavy for anybody but Superman was kept just outside the door. Morrison also referenced this in All Star Superman, where the super-sized original was replaced by a tiny but super-dense version that weighed half a million tons.
Blake looks like he's still not altogether feeling the Superman-love.
Though you might imagine that DC are keen for Morrison to get Superman in the new armoured suit full-time, Morrison himself seems keen to keep the t-shirt-and-jeans Bruce Springsteen Superman around for a little longer.
Given that all of the superheroics going on in the new DC Universe prior to Superman's debut were costumed acrobats and daredevils, the fact that he's from another planet is presumably pretty big news. In answer to Lois' question, he has the new Fortress of course...
Page 20 - ...and Smallville, the one-horse Kansas town he grew up in and where both of his adoptive parents are buried.
Page 21 - Up, up and away. Is this, the real start of his life as a super-hero, the point where Superman learns to make the jump from leaping tall buildings to soaring above them?
Page 22 - Brainiac, now an amalgam of the Collector's formidable intellect and Krypton's advanced computer network, has built drones to maintain the Fortress that look just as the robots on Krypton did back in issue three.
Page 23 - And a great Walker splash page to finish. Presumably the upcoming collection, Supermen and The Men of Steel, will finish here rather than with the Nimrod prologue that follows?
Page 24 - New Caledonia is a French territiory in the southwest Pacific, named as such by Captain Cook in the 18th century as the coastline he landed on reminded him of Scotland. Dinosaur Island is a DC Universe island, also in the Pacifc, and, of course, inhabited by dinosaurs. It primarily appeared in the long-running 'War That Time Forgot' feature in Star-Spangled War Stories and latterly the superlative Weird War Tales, Created by Robert Kanigher, Dinosaur Island made its debut in 1960's Star Spangled War Stories #90, with art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. It's made something of a comeback in recent years, playing a large role in both the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon and, perhaps more significantly, as the antagonist of Darwyn Cooke's DC: The New Frontier.
Morales clearly loves drawing a dinosaur, and these two pages number amongst the best work he's done on the series thus far.
Nimrod, as Zarov points out, is a fierce hunter and king from The Bible. Traditionally, he's regarded as the ruler of Babel when the infamous Tower was built. Zarov as Nimrod the Hunter first appeared in issue five, though that story is still set some way in the future from here. Chronologically, this is the first time we've encountered him.
Zarov is likely named in tribute to General Zaroff from Richard Connell's short story (and many subsequent film adaptions) The Most Dangerous Game, a big-game hunter who stalks the ultimate prey - man.
Page 25 - Like Corben's assertion earlier in the issue that nothing travels faster than a bullet, Zarov's "There is no such thing as bulletproof" is patently untrue, even in a world without Superman. All adds to the drama though eh?
More next month! Comments, corrections, omissions, always welcome!
