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ACTION COMICS #814
"Another Day At The Office"
Neutral (3/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Chuck Austen
Pencils: Ivan Reis
Inks: Marc Campos
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Price: $2.50 US/$3.85 CAN |
I doubt it will surprise anyone who has been reading my reviews that I didn't like Chuck Austen's first issue of Action Comics. I didn't really expect to, but since some of the few Austen stories I have really liked have been on the Superman books, I held out hope that his work here might resonate better with me. Nope. Instead, Austen gives a primer on how not to write Superman, Clark Kent, Lois Lane and, as a bonus, Darkseid and some of his crew. Nobody feels in character, and worse, they're not even interesting in the way they're being portrayed out of a character. A shame, because on the art side of things, Ivan Reis and Marc Campos have really delivered, as has cover artist Art Adams and colorist Guy Major. There's really only one part of the creative team not holding up his end, but unfortunately, his end is rather crucial.
Here's the thing: I get what Austen was going for in this issue. He's trying to show that Clark Kent and Superman are two very different personalities, ala the transformation that Christopher Reeve showed off in the first movie. He's trying to show that even when things are going badly for Clark Kent, things are still great for Superman. He's trying to show that Superman is always a wise-cracking, confident superhero who loves using his powers to get away from problems at home. Basically, he's busy writing Spider-Man. And while I'm pretty flexible on Superman, perfectly willing to see him be a little more humorous or gritty or what-have-you, Austen's characterization completely misses the mark, and instead makes Superman come off as a wisecracker spouting cast-offs from Joss Whedon's writers' room. It's not just that the dialogue doesn't fit the characters, it's that it is laughably bad in anyone's mouth.
Of course, Superman comes off great compared to his other half, Clark Kent. Rather than the prize-winning journalist and novelist that he has been portrayed as for the last 20 or so years, Austen has decided to go with Clark Kent as ineffectual, untalented wimp, too stupid to even realize that he's being avoided or too spineless to do anything about it. Then there's Lois Lane, who is such a coward that she won't even tell her husband that his boss has (inexplicably, by the way) demoted him. and so heartless that she can't have dinner with her husband to ease the pain of a rough day because she's afraid the truth might slip out. And then there's the Fourth World villains Kalibak, Steppenwolf and Darkseid, all of whom come off as little more than hapless punching bags for Superman. Really, it's kind of amazing that Austen has managed to miss the characterization mark so badly on every single one of the characters in the book.
It really is a shame, because Ivan Reis and Marc Campos have turned in some pretty spectacular artwork here. They show the slight smile that plays across Superman's face as he adopts his superheroic identity, conveying the feeling of relief he gets from changing out of his milquetoast secret identity and other subtle storytelling cues, but they're at their best when they're working on something bigger. The scale of Metropolis feels just right in Reis's hands, and he gives Superman a good sense of physical power. In addition, his splash page of Kalibak and Steppenwolf invading Metropolis is quite impressive, as is his physically imposing Darkseid.
Action Comics is like your stereotypical actress/model: Very pretty, but incredibly dumb. The notion that Superman should be cracking wise throughout, spouting off dialogue that is trying so very hard to be hip and Whedonesque, sounds like a terrible proposition, and Austen quickly shows that to be the correct impression. With all the Superman books getting a revamp this month, this is not the right foot for the latest Superman revamp to start on.
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