Action Comics #860

Part Three of the "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story arc has writer Geoff Johns moving the plot forward at a fast pace. While last issue was a bit of a setup issue, this issue propels forward with lots of action and twists and turns. We are half way through this six part story and I am completely engrossed. This LOSH stands in stark contrast to the current monthly version and I'm hoping that Johns can clear this up.

I like Gary Frank's Superman a great deal, but there are times when his character's facial expressions border on mannequinesque. I believe it is in the eyes. There are a few panels where the characters look like they are looking directly at the "camera" and not where they should be. This gives them an almost dead/inanimate look.

Given that little nitpick, this story continues to be an very good read.

Action Comics #859

The return of the Legion of Superheroes continues as Superman, trapped in the 31st century finds that his legacy has not held over time. With exception the short fight between the original three Legion members and Justice League Earth, writer Geoff Johns spends most of this issue setting up the new world order and Superman's place in it. I like his use of the rejected Legionnaires and the school scene where Earth children are shown being indoctrinated in the new world order. Penciller Gary Frank has another excellent outing. However, some of his shocked, open-eyed poses looked a bit mannequin-esque. I do like Frank's realistic depiction of the costumes that the heroes wear - wrinkles and all. He has very good layouts and keeps the story moving forward.

All in all, this issue serves the story well and sets the ground work for what I hope is an action packed climax to this story line. Both Kurt Busiek over in "Superman" and Geoff Johns here in "Action Comics" keep turning out what will be classic Superman stories. Both writers have a love for the Silver Age Superman and it shows in their work.

Action Comics #858

Spinning out of the "Justice League of America" and "Justice Society of America" crossover event "The Lightening Saga", "Action Comics" 858 begins the reintroduction of the Legions of Superheroes into the Superman mythos. I grew up reading "Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes" in the 70s and really enjoyed those adventures. During the 80s I read everything DC put out that had the Legion in it. However, after the excellent "Crisis on Infinite Earths" John Byrne was brought on to restart Superman. One of the big mistakes that he made was the elimination of Superboy from Superman's past. This totally negated any adventures that Superboy had with the Legion. Since then there have been many attempts at jump starting the Legion with varying degrees of success. With "Action Comics" #858, Geoff Johns begins his attempt to clear up this mess. I'm very excited to see both Johns' retcon of Superman's first introduction to the Legion and Jim Shooter's run on the current "Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes" monthly.

Johns has brought a couple of other changes to book as well. John Byrne set Clark Kent up as a football playing "with it" guy and Johns takes Clark back to his origins here as a somewhat goofy "mild mannered" reporter. You can see Donner's influence as Clark comes across much like the Christopher Reeve take on Superman in "Superman: the Movie". It will be interesting to see if Johns' take on Clark migrates to its sister comic "Superman".

I wasn't really impressed with penciller Gary Frank's cover and promotional art for this comic. However, after reading the book I'm excited about his run on the book. Frank captures emotion fairly well and you can see the giddiness in the Legion trio that come back to meet a young Clark. By the end, I was loving Frank's take on the icons of DC presented within.

Action Comics #856

Writers Geoff Johns and Richard Donner continue the "Escape from Bizarro World" in "Action Comics" #856. The "three months ago" beginning is a very nice homage to "Frankenstein" and I found colorist Dave Stewart's use of muted greys a good capture of Bizarro's view of our world. Bizarro's loneliness is captured in just a few pages with Bizarro building his own world. The Blue Sun affecting Bizarrow allowing him to populate his world is also a nice touch. I thought the characterizations of all of the Bizarro versions of DC mainstays - Luthor, Lois, Perry White - were all done very well. However, as my son pointed out, the Bizarro-Doomsday was a little off. Wouldn't he be nice and intelligent on this backwards world?

Eric Powell's art is the center piece here and while I don't think that his style would lend well to a traditional "Action Comics" tale, it fits quite nicely here. I laughed out loud at the arrival of the Justice League satellite and the final page reveal of the Justice League. I look forward to how Johns and Donner are going to tie this up in the next issue.