by Lindsay Young, CMRO Contributing Writer
Action Comics
Issue #5
Written by Grant Morrison, Art by Andy Kubert
Published: March 2012
This week, we continue through the classic backstory of baby Superman, sent away from a dying planet by parents desperate to preserve their only son. The story is as effective as it’s always been, and it’s nice to finally see the fabled son leave the dying planet.
A lot of the dialogue in this issue is heavy on the exposition – for example, “we built [this machine] together, you and I!” and “I lost our baby!” are both sentences uttered that should be utterly obvious to the people being spoken to. It does give the issue a stilted feeling that the issues previous mostly avoided by piling on the action and spending only a small amount of time of dialogue and character background. It’s good that we’re finally getting into Superman’s origins, especially as it related to the invasion plot, but it’s somewhat forced.
The “describe what I’m doing” type dialogue continues in small part after the flashback fades, but thankfully the issue more than makes up for it with vibrant colouring and wonderfully detailed artwork. The pages seem to glow with eerie light, and it gets across the idea of alien technology wonderfully. The plot progresses only a little this week, but there are some decent revelations.
There’s also another mini-story, this time about the Kents’ marriage and their subsequent struggles in conceiving children. The dialogue is more natural here, with exposition being handled more cleverly, and it’s an appropriate story to tell, straight on the heels of baby Superman’s crash landing. It paints them as a sturdy, but wounded, couple, and I’m curious to see how these Kents will interact with their incredible found child as the issue goes on. It’s nothing extraordinary, but it’s effective, and a nice note to end the issue on.
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