Major Spoilers
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Twitch Discord RSS
    Major Spoilers
    • Home
    • Reviews
      • Random Access Memory
      • Retro Review
      • So You Want to Read Comics
    • Podcasts
      • Critical Hit
        • Critical Hit House Rules
        • Critical Hit World Building
      • Dueling Review
      • Finally Friday
      • Geek History Lesson
      • The Legion Clubhouse
      • Major Spoilers Podcast
        • MSP TPB for 2019
        • On the Next Major Spoilers Podcast – 2013
        • On the Next Major Spoilers Podcast – 2012
        • On the Next Major Spoilers Podcast – 2011
      • Munchkin Land
      • Top Five
      • Wayne’s Comics
      • Zach on Film
    • Features
      • Casual 60
      • Comic Casting Couch
      • Comics Portal
      • Did You Hear?
      • Editorials
      • Features
      • Gamer’s Corner
      • Hero Histories
      • Let’s Get Nerdy
      • Major Spoilers Adventures
      • Random Access Memory
      • So You Want to Read Comics
    • Movies
      • Did You Hear
      • Movies
      • Television
    • Comic Previews
    • Patreon
      • Patreon
      • Store
    Major Spoilers
    DC

    REVIEW: Action Comics #6

    Stephen SchleicherBy Stephen SchleicherFebruary 5, 2012Updated:February 5, 20125 Comments3 Mins Read

    Grant Morrison has given us his interpretation of the Golden Age Superman, but what happens when he takes on the Silver Age?

    ACTION COMICS #6
    Writer: Grant Morrison
    Artist: Andy Kubert
    Inker: John Dell
    Colorist: Brad Anderson
    Letterer: Patrick Brosseru
    Editor: Matt Nelson
    Publisher: DC Comics
    Cover Price: $3.99

    Previously in Action Comics: Having seen his city shrunk by the Collector A.I., Superman has one mission on his mind – get Metropolis back. But then the time travel kicks in and we’re treated to a visit from the Legion of Super-Heroes

    TIME TRAVEL TO THE SILVER AGE

    If everything before this issue was a look at Superman from a Golden Age perspective, this issue is truly a look at Superman in the Silver Age. Not only do the Legion of Super-Heroes appear to help save young Superman, and thus old Superman from certain destruction, but giant space slugs, time travel, and a battle inside Superman’s head plays out in the way only  Grant Morrison could do it, and make it work.

    The last issue focused on the rocket that brought Kal-El to Earth, and this issue continues to ignore the Bottled City of Metropolis storyline, instead focusing on Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes from the far future coming back in time to find the rocket’s stolen Kryptonite power drive, and put a bunch of bad guys away. It’s not a huge problem that the story has diverted, though one could argue that the story is playing out in the correct order, we’re just seeing certain slices of it. Yeah, it’s time travel, one of the many tropes of the Silver Age. It’s interesting to see it all work out in the end, even if it means Superman has to have a brain hemorrhage from all the fighting and K-radiation released inside his skull.  How the events in this book will play out in the future (or is it the past) is beyond me at this point.

    FOES!

    Andy Kubert delivers up another spectacular issue when it comes to the art and layout of the page. Seeing an army of villains arguing over who is going to get a sliver of Kryptonite for their nefarious purposes, and then have a battle break out is pretty cool. Likewise, seeing both the future Legion of Super-Heroes juxtaposed with the first meeting of the LoSH and young Clark Kent gives the artist a chance to keep the characters looking alike, but aging them – something that is difficult to do for many artists.

    BOTTOM LINE: ENJOYABLE

    While I really want to see how the Bottle City of Metropolis storyline plays out, I’m okay with taking this break in the story to see more of the revised history of Superman. The story is a bit of a head trip (literally), and the art is nice to look at, but I get the feeling Morrison is beginning to venture out into deeper waters that may turn off fans of the series. Overall, Action Comics #6 is an enjoyable read and earns 4 out of 5 Stars.

    Rating: ★★★★☆

    Action Comics dc comics Grant Morrison Review Superman
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleREVIEW: The Amazing Spider-Man #679
    Next Article REVIEW: Alpha Girl #1
    Stephen Schleicher
    • Website
    • Twitter

    Stephen Schleicher began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen has freelanced for Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog, and Gizmodo. Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment. You can follow him on Twitter @MajorSpoilers and tell him your darkest secrets...

    Related Posts

    Major Spoilers Podcast #1130: Good Ol’ Major Spoilers

    Read More

    Act 4 Publishing and Skybound Entertainment announce Jim Aparo’s DC Classics Artist’s Edion

    Read More

    Munchkin Land #724: Codenames gets updated versions

    Read More

    5 Comments

    1. Brainy Pirate on February 5, 2012 4:32 pm

      Long live the Legion!

      Reply
      • Xian on February 6, 2012 9:47 am

        Sure, just not at the expense of Superman and new readers.

        If I stick my neck out and get a coworker to jump on-board with Action because of my passion for comics and because a relaunch tends to imply a good starting point, my hope is that the book will welcome them with open arms. I’m happy to celebrate comics, the Silver Age, and all the in-references I’ve accumulated in decades of fandom- for me, Adam West or DKR or Timm’s or BatB, it’s all good fun- but not to the exclusion of a person trying to get into Superman or comics. You celebrate after you establish the baseline.

        At our Superbowl party my [new to comics] coworker said of Action, “I feel like I was invited over to watch a movie I had never seen and just as I was getting into it, the host skipped a few DVD chapters ahead and turned on the commentary track.” My coworker didn’t enjoy the leap forwards because he didn’t recognize any of the characters, didn’t appreciate the references to the silver age, and couldn’t hearken back to Morrison’s All-Star work which was ripe with time travel and obscure references. He was excited about a story where a train could hurt Superman and the army was a threat, but by issue #6 he was asking if Superman could just spin the world backwards to solve his problems.

        My issues with the Legion in Superman origins are different (and covered in a forum rant) than his but the end point is the same- it doesn’t help people “get” Superman amidst a relaunch.

        Celebrating the past is great- it’s why All-Star is amazing and Batman’s BatB cartoon is fun- but when you’re reaching out for new readers (and not just cannibalizing the old) you need to overcome those baseline criticisms of Superman being unrelatable (invulnerable), unrealistic (secret ID), irrelevant (Boy Scout), unapproachable (continuity), etc. whether or not those critiques are valid or well-formed, they need to be overcome to reach audiences.

        I think it’s why DC lost the trunks- I thought it served as a lightning rod for such criticism to help other tropes get a pass, but if DC bows to popular critique there, then they should be doing it consistently in order to capture readers… at the end of the day, what hurts characterization and storytelling more- an alien opts for unstylish garb or a character has time travel and a legion of super-human allies on tap?

        The Legion, as executed here, just tends to exacerbate those criticisms of being unrelatable, unrealistic, irrelevant, unapproachable, etc. (even if you want to embrace those things as what make up your character, then it shouldn’t be in such stark contrast to the story being told in the first 4 or 5 issues; so the execution is off compared to something like Tom Strong or Atomic Robo going wacky full-tilt from the outset as a tone) and it bums me out that I have to point to stories 5-10 years old to justify Superman or act as a starting point (despite those not being relevant to continuity).

        I don’t think that Batman, for example, is inherently more resonate or relevant to people than Superman, but creators have done more seminal character-defining launch points into the Batman mythos than Superman. I think it’s great that Action #775 “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice, & The American Way” is well-written apologetics for Superman… but it’s also kind of sad that its one issue in eleven years being pointed to (and we’ve had a bunch of reboots since- Birthright, OYL, SO, New 52, etc- not to mention TV and film).

        To my coworker, Superman is still Christopher Reeve… a fairy tale hero who doesn’t really make sense because he can turn back time but doesn’t do it all the time… I was hoping the New 52 would show otherwise.

        —

        All that aside, that’s a judgment against the issue for what it should have been rather than what it was. As an issue, it’s clearly filler- which is a bit awkward having two unrelated filler issues back to back- and it’s okay filler. It’s a nice one-and-done with lots of cameos, wacky ideas, and Morrison-ishness… but both of its plots suffer from that craziness. The flashbacks lack emotional weight because they’re heavy-handed, disjointed glimpses, and surrounded by a crazy main story… and the “main” story is itself a self-admitted footnote to the real main story we left behind in issue #4 (Superman says as much that this whole episode must have occurred fine and without his knowledge because it did not disrupt his past recollection / main story action).

        Basically, it’s filler telling you it is filler and using a story conceit to isolate its impact to all other stories past, present, and future, which can be fun if it was used to tell a story you couldn’t tell otherwise (like Superman being at his Pa’s death twice over in All-Star) but here it’s actually kind of generic, despite fun with tesseracts, teleport guns, and kryptonite. From the regular on-going series not burdened with the responsibilities of a relaunch, this kind of issue would been a fun and quirky detour.

        Reply
    2. darklighter1 on February 6, 2012 3:22 am

      It lost me….I’m done with the Supes titles. Can’t complain on WW, Aquaman or GL but Batman and Superman have really sucked since the relaunch.

      Reply
    3. JoeM on February 6, 2012 8:26 am

      Well, I’m a big Legion fan. In 1999 when I moved to Mexico City and needed to sell my comic book collection the only thing that didn’t go was the Legion because I just couldn’t part with them. (well and one box of Howard the Duck and the Incredible Hulk that was in the wrong closet) So I enjoyed the heck out of this. I think my favorite bit was how much Cosmic Man kept making me think of Cosmic King by talking about controlling all the the molecules of iron in their bodies. Just made me smile.

      Reply
    4. MarkW on February 9, 2012 12:45 pm

      Fantastic story, if a bit confusing. Made me wish Grant was also writing the present day Superman series. The backup story was great too.

      I wouldn’t call the issue “filler” though, though it is more of a character piece rather than an issue that moves along the larger plotline. It’s a lot of origin story wrapped in a time travel event. We find out where kryptonite comes from, find out more about Clark prior to leaving Smallville, and see pieces of one of the defining moment of his life – his first meeting with the Legion. All without resorting to dry “secret origin” style story.

      Is the idea of kryptonite coming from the rocket’s engine new? I haven’t read much post 1970’s Superman, so I wasn’t sure if that was the post-Crisis origin for Kyptonite.

      I’m assuming this two issue Kubert “arc” was to allow Morales time to complete the rest of the Collector AI arc, as an alternative to one of the new 52’s Flagship titles falling off a monthly release schedule. Something the new DC seems to have no tolernace for.

      Reply

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    AMAZON AFFILIATE

    Support this site by making a purchase through our Amazon affiliate links

    Reviews
    6.3
    June 10, 2025

    X-Men #17 Review

    6.0
    June 9, 2025

    Power Rangers Prime #7 Review

    6.0
    June 8, 2025

    Retro Review: Detective Comics #20 (October 1938)

    8.0
    June 7, 2025

    Absolute Green Lantern #3 Review

    8.0
    June 6, 2025

    Marvel Knights: The World to Come #1

    Patreon Support
    Major Spoilers Store
    Recent Comments
    • Nathan on Wayne’s Comics Podcast #696: Interview with Creators from Concrete Arcanum
    • Austin Cowboy on FIRST LOOK: Conan the Barbarian #21
    • Frank on COMICS PORTAL: Batman Meets… Deadpool!?
    • ZackaryTobias on COMICS PORTAL: Batman Meets… Deadpool!?
    • derrigable on COMICS PORTAL: I Want More than Good Memories!
    Subscribe to the Major Spoilers E-Mail List
    Sponsor

    ComiXology Home Page

    Follow Us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Twitch
    Major Spoilers Patreon
    • About
      • Major Spoilers Terms of Use
      • Major Spoilers Frequently Asked Questions
      • Major Spoilers Privacy Policy Statement
      • Major Spoilers Podcast Gear
    • Contact
    • Cookie Policy (EU)
    Major Spoilers is copyright 2006-2025 by Major Spoilers Entertainment, LLC

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
    Cookie settingsACCEPT
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    SAVE & ACCEPT