Superman: Action Comics Vol. 1: Invisible Mafia (Review)

Action Comics is the original title in which the Man of Steel first appeared way back in June 1938. The title celebrated the publication of its 1000th issue in 2018, and, after making the jump from Marvel to DC, legendary comics writer Brian Michael Bendis took over writing duties on issue #1001. Bendis's run on the title opens with Invisible Mafia, and this volume feels very much like a first chapter.

Superman: Action Comics Vol. 1: Invisible Mafia

Bendis already made his big introduction as Superman's newest guardian with The Man of Steel miniseries, a big, bombastic story oozing classic appeal. For better or worse, Invisible Mafia brings things back down to earth. Clark Kent is back in the newsroom of the Daily Planet, working alongside newer faces like gossip columnist Trish Q and reporter Robinson Goode, as well as stalwarts like photojournalist Jimmy Olson and editor-in-chief Perry White. Noticeably absent is Lois Lane, a classic Superman character and now Clark's wife. She is accompanying their son, Jon, on his rite of passage across the stars, but to everyone at the Daily Planet, Lois and Clark are just having marriage problems and taking time apart. As those rumors swirl, fires begin breaking out across the city of Metropolis, and Superman is named as the arsonist responsible, an accusation that nobody really seems to believe. This is where Bendis's story begins.

While Superman works to get to the bottom of things, Clark uses his connections as a reporter to comb through leads. Of course, the arsons are revealed to be part of a larger scheme, a distraction to keep Superman busy while a new cabal—the titular "invisible mafia"—plots in the shadows. This volume is almost entirely narrative set-up with very little payoff, suggesting that Bendis intends to play the long game with his readers. Given all the fanfare surrounding his taking on Superman, this really comes as no surprise. Bendis will be writing Superman for a long time.

There's nothing groundbreaking about Invisible Mafia, and there doesn't have to be. Not every Superman story has to be about planets colliding or stars exploding. Yet this story feels like classic Superman, marking a return to a kind of earlier status quo wherein Superman worked to save the good citizens of Metropolis from mostly human threats. "Mostly" applies here because the most memorable villain debuting in this volume is the mysterious Red Cloud, who materializes as an ethereal crimson mist with a vaguely human face. The volume's stellar art goes a long way in making this new villain instantly iconic, and Bendis sets up the mystery of Red Cloud to be a major storyline going forward.

A couple of interesting subplots thread through the volume, from Lois's secret return to political intrigue surrounding the city's mayor. Classic villain Lex Luthor gets a brief tease that will likely have greater significance in the context of the larger narrative. But, like the main storyline, these subplots are mostly introduced with very little resolution. The real joy of reading this volume lies in seeing Bendis lend his deft touch to these classic characters. There are some really clever lines of dialogue that had me smirking because they sounded like something Superman would actually say, and the newsroom antics at the Daily Planet are fodder for some real laugh-out-loud moments, most often courtesy of Perry White, the original grouchy newspaper editor.

Invisible Mafia is not the biggest or the most magnificent Superman tale, nor does it set out to be. But in terms of establishing what the world of Superman will look like under Bendis's penmanship, the volume accomplishes what it sets out to do. In more than one way, the story is a distilled version of Superman, unplugged and stripped down for a back-to-basics storytelling approach that calls to mind the kind of Superman your grandfather might see if you asked him to close his eyes and think back to the Action Comics of his youth. With art by Ryan Sook, Patrick Gleason, and Yanick Paquette, the Man of Steel looks as iconic as ever. After all the Flashpoints and paradoxes and world-shattering events that have characterized the DC Comics universe the past several years, it's nice to see Superman back in Metropolis fighting for truth, justice, and the American way.

Superman Vol. 1: The Unity Saga: Phantom Earth (Review)

After making his introduction with The Man of Steel miniseries, Brian Michael Bendis steps fully into the role of Superman's latest curator with the first volume of The Unity Saga, titled Phantom Earth. This is a hard story to read in isolation, functioning best as a continuation of the story begun in The Man of Steel. We find Clark Kent bereft without his wife and son, as Jon has gone off to travel the stars on a rite of passage with Clark's newly-returned father, Jor-El, taking Lois along as Jon's chaperone. With such a drastic shift in responsibilities, Superman's life has changed overnight, and this new dynamic offers some nice character moments for Clark early in the volume as he faces a world without Lois and Jon.

Superman Vol. 1: The Unity Saga: Phantom Earth

But, true to comic book form, the introspection can only last so long before something goes awry—and things certainly do here, as Earth is mysteriously ripped from its orbit and transported into the dreaded Phantom Zone, an ancient and otherworldly prison that acts as home to the universe's worst threats. Bendis should be given credit for taking risks with the traditional storytelling format, as such an event would usually be reserved for the story's climax. Instead, he positions Earth's disappearance at the beginning of the story, thereby raising the stakes immensely, well before the halfway point. This move adds a level of tension that sees all of Earth's heroes working to find a way out of the Phantom Zone, a kind of ticking bomb that runs in the background that frees Bendis to focus on this story's emotional core, which is itself a doozy.

Back to settle unfinished business is Rogol Zaar, the monstrous creature introduced in The Man of Steel who claims to have destroyed Krypton and now intends to finish his Kryptonian purge by ending Superman. Zaar's origins and motivations are left shrouded in mystery here, a clear sign that Bendis intends to take his readers on a longer journey. The return of classic Superman villain Zod also brings more questions than answers, but perhaps the one answer provided in this story acts as a kind of thesis statement for what Bendis intends to do during his time with the character. As Zod, the self-righteous and self-proclaimed bearer of Krypton's future, goes up against Rogol Zaar, the monster claiming responsibility for Krypton's destruction, Superman finds himself pitted between them, and the battle that's about to unfold is for the very legacy of Krypton.

We shouldn't expect Bendis to wrap up this storyline as soon as it begins; indeed, Superman is whisked away from the Phantom Zone just as things are about to come to blows. It's a brilliant if frustrating tease, but lets us know that Bendis isn't finished with this story. Both Rogol Zaar and Zod will return, but in what capacity remains to be seen. The action in this book, like The Man of Steel miniseries, is big and loud, the scale cosmic in scope. While Superman battles to defend an entire planet trapped in the Phantom Zone, we really get a sense of how versatile and sweeping Superman stories can be. They're a kind of ultimate escapism, mythological tales that unfold on a huge canvas, with battles in which entire planets and worlds and galaxies hang in the balance.

The only trouble with stories of this scale is how easily the humanity of the characters can be lost. This is what makes stories of the "epic" genre so hard to nail when judging by modern storytelling standards. Achilles and Odysseus were great heroes, but they were legendarily flawed because of their hubris. Thus, their stories become warnings for us as much as they are entertaining, teaching us something about ourselves as a collective race of humanity as much as they delight us. Superman, on the other hand, is the paragon of truth and justice. He embodies humility, and his character is Messianic in nature. Much in the same way the humanity of Jesus, the man of sorrows, is sometimes lost in biblical interpretation, Superman can easily stumble over into a caricature of himself as the writer pens his character. Bendis wisely deals with Clark's emotional turmoil over his wife and son being gone, but when Earth goes into the Phantom Zone and the action ratchets up, a lot of this tension falls by the wayside. Part of this is done in favor of following the subplots of several Justice League members who are still on Earth while Superman battles the bad guys in space. And though these moments give us good humor, a little more focus on our titular superhero might have lent the narrative a bit more gravity, particularly when the stakes are nothing short of Kryptonian.

The art by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Oclair Albert really gives us the sense of epic scale this story requires, especially in the sequences which unfold against the darkness of space. Finding ways to make that big black void colorful and even beautiful is a continual challenge as Superman hurls the villains through asteroids. The Man of Steel is always positioned and rendered as suitably heroic, as even the smaller panels would make for good poster material. Between the writing and the art style, Superman is off to a promising start in Phantom Earth. Bendis comes charging out of the gate by hurling Earth into a colossal crisis, so I can only imagine how the stakes will be further raised going forward. The last page of Phantom Earth brings a pretty surprising twist that makes me curious to know where Bendis will take the story next.

The Man of Steel (Review)

The Man of Steel

To say that Brian Michael Bendis arrived at DC Comics with no fanfare is like saying the moon crashed into earth and nobody noticed. For years, Bendis was one of Marvel's biggest writers, but in 2018, he made the jump to DC and landed on Superman. For months, I saw the posters in comic book store windows depicting the Man of Steel himself with the words "Bendis is coming!" plastered in big print. But before Bendis was given the keys to Superman, he first crafted this miniseries titled The Man of Steel.

Acting as Bendis's introduction to the character, The Man of Steel is everything that should be expected from bringing in a superstar comic book writer and putting him on a character like Superman, the original and most iconic superhero of all. It's a big, bombastic story that both oozes classic appeal and dares to revisit established Superman mythology in new and interesting ways.

The introduction of Rogol Zaar adds a compelling wrinkle to the established mythos, and acts as the inciting event that sets the plot in motion. Superman's backstory is widely known—born Kal-El, he's the last son of the distant planet Krypton, jettisoned from the planet moments before it exploded in a last ditch effort by his parents to save their infant child's life. With alien warrior Rogol Zaar, Bendis puts front and center the creature who claims responsibility for destroying Krypton. And he's just learned that Kal-El, the last son of Krypton, is still alive and living on Earth as Superman. Rogol Zaar arrives on the planet with a singular purpose: wipe out all remaining traces of Krypton.

By introducing Zaar as the one behind Krypton's destruction, the stakes are immediately raised and Superman's fight has never been more personal. Breaking into Superman's famed Fortress of Solitude and devastating a number of the Kryptonian artifacts there, Zaar is immediately established as an incredible force to be reckoned with, attacking Superman physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Bendis should be given credit for creating an imposing villain, but he wisely doesn't reveal every little detail. He doesn't try to force certain aspects of his story into the existing Superman canon. He gives Zaar motives, but those motives aren't fully explained, leaving room for further development in later stories.

There is certainly a "dark night of the soul" element to this miniseries, with Superman having to reckon not only with the emergence of Rogol Zaar, but also with the unexpected absence of his wife, Lois, and their young son, Jon. This crisis brings Superman to an emotional tipping point, and there's a particularly powerful scene that sees him finally break down in the Fortress of Solitude. It's an emotional and very human take on the character, and it really works on a number of levels. These are the kinds of honest character moments that imbue these inherently mythic and outlandish stories with a dimension of reality. The human drama transcends the cosmic conflicts to lend the story a literary quality that gives us a glimpse at what comic books can be when they're thoughtfully written. But the drama doesn't curb the classic appeal of superhero antics. There are heroic feats aplenty to be found within the book's pages, and Superman wears his trademark smile here much more than a frown.

This is not merely Bendis's book, however, and that's also worth noting. The art team compiled for this work is something of an all-star lineup, featuring the likes of Jim Lee, Ivan Reis, and Ryan Sook among many others. Superman looks absolutely phenomenal here, especially when drawn by Ivan Reis, his character design reminiscent of that vintage Jim Lee style, depicting him as a hulk of a man. Every punch practically sends shockwaves off the page. It's a marvel that the different art styles all come together and complement the singular story told by Bendis, and this is a testament to the quality of the book and the intentionality of all those involved to deliver a worthwhile Superman story.

Perhaps the best thing I can say about Bendis's work here is that The Man of Steel is compulsively readable. This is quintessential Superman: a fun, big story with high stakes, dealing in both tragedy and hope. The literary quality is a breath of fresh air, and makes me eager to see where Bendis takes the character from here.