Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Action Comics #885

By Andy Frisk
January 17, 2010 - 18:28

Mon-El, The Guardian, and the Metro Sci-Po catch Nightwing and Flamebird as they exit Star Labs after Nightwing’s rapid aging condition has been halted. Instead of fighting, the two Kryptonian heroes surrender and finally reveal to The Guardian and Mon-El what their mission on Earth is. Zod’s last sleeper agent is closer than any of them suspect though, and she tips General Lane off to Nightwing and Flamebird’s location within the Sci-Po headquarters (in order to provoke a confrontation). When Nightwing uses his “one phone call” to summon Lois for help, the inevitable confrontation between her and her father also becomes a given. The only question is: Who will The Guardian side with…Lane or Lois and her Kryptonian compatriots?

Picking up where Superman #695 left off, Action Comics #885 does plenty more to move the overall plot along. Nightwing, Flamebird, Mon-El, Lois Lane, and The Guardian begin to, as they compare notes, figure out nearly everything General Lane has been up to, and The Guardian in particular faces a choice to either side with Nightwing and Flamebird against Lane or turn them over to Lane. The Guardian is a good man as well as an intelligent one, so obviously he makes the right choice. It’s great to see The Guardian, who was once a staple in the Superman books, take a role in the overall Superman line of books, again. His regular appearances and inclusion in the cast harkens back to the last truly great string of Superman tales from the early 1990’s.

Perez’s art is fantastic as usual. He gets to take on some different characters this issue and share with us his vision of Mon-El, The Guardian, the Sci-Po, and Jax-Ur. There’s a lot of dialogue in this issue though, so there’s lots of little “head shot” panels where we see little more than a character’s head and speech balloons. When the action finally takes off later in the issue, Perez really cuts loose with some great full page spreads.

In the “Second Feature” starring Captain Atom, The Captain’s convoluted history is recounted, in piecemeal fashion, as he is attacked, consoled, and welcomed by The Justice League (the post Cry For Justice Justice League) all at the same time. It seems The Captain’s brain is a little bit scrambled after his stay in Mirabai’s magical realm and none other than The Shadowpact (the magical super group whose book was untimely cancelled) can help…um, unscramble it.

Captain Atom must be slated to play some role in the upcoming and inevitable war between Earth and New Krypton, so his inclusion in Action Comics hopefully will bear fruit worthy of the sacrifice of pages allotted to the main story. The New Krypton saga is too good to be abbreviated in the pages of Action Comics if The Captain simply joins The Justice League and gets lost amongst the teams cast. CAFU’s great art helps to make up for the inclusion of a pretty pointless “Second Feature” that detracts from the main feature.

Rating: 8 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12