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By Jason Bourgeois
Ah, the traditional title to any story about what's going on in Action Comics at any given moment. Which means we will be talking about something completely different! Well no, I'm simply not that clever this month. I'm following in a long tradition of that story title, and will indeed be talking about that comic. However, it is a little different, since for the first time in ages, the book is not about Superman. That hasn't been the case since the Action Comics Weekly experiment back in 1988. I may be wrong there. Oh, when Superman was dead in the 90s after Doomsday killed him., but the stories were still very much about Superman.
I'm a very odd duck, in that I've never been a huge fan of DC's big flagship characters. Batman is of almost zero interest to me since he's a regular human, not doing overly special stuff. I like watching his movies, and the TV shows on occasion, but I can get so much better spectacle in comics, he's never really grabbed me. He's a good character, just not my bag for comics.
Wonder Woman was also never of much interest to me, despite having a huge male following, for all the regular reasons. I was never one of them though, and never really read much of her adventures. I can't really say why though. However, I am reading her current series by Gail Simone, but that's purely on the strength of the creative team. Even then, I'm a little tempted to constantly drop the book.
That brings me to the last of the Trinity (Oh yeah, I'm reading all of them in that comic too, and mostly enjoying it, but that's an entire column unto itself), Superman.
He's the most interesting of the three to me, since he is able to deliver on the grand spectacle that comics are solely capable of, but still I've never read his solo adventures for very long. I jump in on occasion, for creators, or storylines, or just to see what's going on with Big Blue. Part of it is that he's too much of a Boy Scout, too perfect, and in a way he's the opposite of Batman in that he can do too much, with too few limitations. That varies by creators and editorial fiat, but generally, I feel Superman is overpowered and uninteresting in that regard, thus making it difficult for him to really feel threatened.
So when do I decide to come back to one of DC's big flagship titles? Why, when Superman's not in it, of course!
With Action Comics #875, and due to recent events in the comics, Superman has left Earth, and his two comics. Even Superman doesn't have Superman in it, which is just bizarre! Since the two titles are continuing, they need warm bodies to fill the cast (Since Blackest Night hasn't begun yet, and the undead have yet to rise), and over in Action Comics comes along two characters called Nightwing and Flamebird.
Those two names have a long history in DC Comics. They're legendary Kryptonian figures. Superman and Jimmy Olsen assumed the names in the Bottle City of Kandor. Of course, there's naturally Batman's former sidekick, Dick Grayson as Nightwing. He even has his own Flamebird in Bette Kane, whose name was first used WAY back in the day by the original Bat-Girl. The character keeps popping up, and since there's been other Batgirls, she has been named Flamebird, and has the requisite crush on Nightwing. Supergirl and Power Girl also adopted the aliases upon their own visits to Kandor, and I am positive I'm missing some more.
These new versions though, were complete unknowns. Their identities were mysteries, and even their powers were strange, and yet oddly familiar. They first appeared when the Bottle City of Kandor was restored to full size on Earth, along with their hundreds of Kryptonian inhabitants. In fact, it seems like Kandor is almost always the linking thread between the various characters, but I digress.
Eventually, they were revealed to be the stars of the new Action Comics, by Greg Rucka, of whom I've spoken at length in past reviews, and even interviewed him awhile back. Greg has a knack for making me read about characters I'm otherwise uninterested in, and will often follow him even to characters I don't want to read otherwise, and end up sticking around beyond his tenture. Not always, and sometimes I bail, but he has a good track record. Even a character with a blank slate like Batwoman I want to know more about when he writes her. Or maybe that's just the red hair. The world may never know.
Greg promptly dispelled the mystery of who the characters were, well before his first issue was even half done. This iteration of the characters were Christopher Kent, oddly more grown up than last we saw him. Chris is the son of General Zod, and taken in by Clark and Lois once he escaped from the Phantom Zone, so he could be raised right. Flamebird is another character who was friends with Supergirl, and whose name is totally escaping me at the moment. Thara Ak-Var, that's it. Of course, "friend of Supergirl" is probably more meaningful to most people.
In their first few appearances, they had some very slick, very well designed, typical superhero type costumes, and the look was strongly drawing me to the book. Sadly, once they took over Action Comics, they immediately had changed to an armoured look, covering their faces, and I personally felt they lost a little something. Instead of looking like heroes, they now looked more like armoured cyborgs, or something. The change in looks was adequately explained, by having the armour seem to be the source of their powers, since the Kryptonians are hated and feared upon Earth at the time being, but I still find the look to be a step back. Which is a shame, because the armour does look good, drawn by Eddy Barrows, but it's just somehow less.
The two new heroes are on Earth still, seeking to stop sleeper agents in service to Chris's biological father, whom he had placed among the human population some time ago, just waiting to be used for his own nefarious purposes.
The first issue set up the new characters and direction very solidly, and grabbed my attention, even with the change in looks. It's not, in my opinion, Rucka's strongest work, and I'm not quite hooked for the long run, but I'm giving it a few issues, without question. The second issue, with the two locked in brutal combat with Zod's second in command, and Chris's mother, Ursa, was a step up. The action was leaping off the page, and it is exactly what I would expect from a trio of Kryptonians crashing around in the frozen north. We're very lucky they stayed up there, as a fight in a city would be downright catastrophic.
If the quality, which is already very good, continues to improve, then I am sticking around for awhile. So far though, this book is good but not quite a keeper for me. However, someone else with somewhat different tastes, might find this to be an excellent book. It very likely is, and I'm just being picky or running into my usual wall against Kryptonian characters being overpowered and less interesting, but I'm getting there with these two. Action Comics starring Nightwing and Flamebird is certainly worth a look if you're looking for smashing Kryptonian action.
Jason M. Bourgeois
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