Writers: Dan Jurgens, Peter J. Tomasi, Marv Wolfman, Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, Scott Snyder, Tom King, Brad Meltzer, Brian Michael Bendis
Artists: Dan Jurgens, Pat Gleason, Curt Swan, John Casssaday, Olivier Coipel, Rafael Albuquerque, , Clay Mann , Jim Lee
Colours: Hi-Fi, Alejandro Sanchez, Dave McCaig, Laura Martin, Alex Sinclair
Letters by: Rob Leigh, Tom Napolitano, Nick Napolitano, John Workman, Chris Eliopoulos, Cory Petit
Cover by: Jim Lee
Publisher: DC Comics
Spoilers
It’s stunning to take a look at this accomplishment and celebrate the landmark that we’re observing this week. Action Comics is the first American comics periodical to reach #1000 published issues, and it was also published on what is acknowledged as Superman’s “birthday”, marking 80 years to the day of the Man of Steel’s debut. Naturally a massive celebration was in order and that’s what we got.
The first thing that strikes you about this volume is how much of a celebration this is. It’s truly a celebration of Superman, and multiple creators who have made a significant mark on the character appear here. I mean, I can only think of two hugely important creative teams to the history of the character that aren’t represented (at least those who aren’t tied by exclusive contracts to other companies)- Siegel and Shuster, and John Byrne.
Some of the stories are standouts. My personal favorite is the all-splash page story by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, chronicling a battle between Superman and Vandal Savage that includes all of Kal-El’s publishing history. It includes career-best work from Gleason on art, and a story that is a tribute to what this creative team has done so wonderfully with the character since they took over his adventures at the beginning of the Rebirth era of DC Comics. Other favorites are Tom King and Clay Mann’s story of Superman’s last moments with his adopted homeworld as it dies in the sun, Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque’s meditation on the rivalry between Superman and Lex Luthor, Louise Simonson and Jerry Ordway’s snapshot of five minutes in the life of Clark Kent (which is much more exciting than it sounds), and Paul Dini and Jose Garcia-Lopez’s vignette about Superman’s greatest foe (even if he doesn’t realize it)- Mister Mxyzptlk.
The thing about my favorites though- none of these stories are BAD. Hell, none of them are even mediocre. There’s excellent, very good, and good. Some are a little less memorable, sure, but they’re all GOOD.
Should you pay almost $8 US to check this book out? Yes, absolutely. You should be reading this right now.
What are you waiting for? GO!
Overall: 8.5 out of 10
Tony Thornley is a Mormon geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, amateur novelist and all around awesome guy. He was born and raised in Utah and has been reading comics since age five. His first comic series was GI Joe and he was doomed from there. You can follow him on Twitter @brawl2099.
