Bendis is hooking me again

Action Comics No. 1010
DC Comics
Creators: Brian Michael Bendis, Steve Epting, and Brad Anderson
Release date: April 2019

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Brian Michael Bendis taking over the Superman titles at DC, but I’ve enjoyed his writing in the past, be it in Avengers titles, Ultimate Spider-man, Powers or Daredevil. So I opted to give his runs a chance.

I very much like the dynamic stories he’s presenting in Superman, first taking us back to the Phantom Zone, then recounting Jon Kent’s adventures with his grandfather, Jor-El. The Ivan Reis and Joe Prado art certainly doesn’t hurt that title, either. I fell in love with these guys’ art when they helped relaunch the New 52 Aquaman title, and they are still at the top of their game.

But if I had to pick a current favorite Bendis Superman title, it would be the story arc going on in the pages of Action Comics, “Leviathan Rising.” Superman and his wife, Lois Lane, are both embroiled in an espionage tale that also involves all the clandestine groups from DC lore — A.R.G.U.S., the D.E.O., Checkmate, Spyral, Amanda Waller, Sam Lane, Mr. Bones. It’s all here, and I’m loving how Bendis is weaving it all together.

I’ve said before, here and in other forums, that Superman should be a light character. Superman represents the very best of what humanity can be. He is the shining light for which we strive. I believe Bendis gets that. And he’s wisely using the bright, shiny Superman sparingly in this story. Rather, he’s focusing on Clark Kent and Lois Lane, two investigative journalists who sometimes have to root around in the shadows to properly do their jobs and bring things to light. Take it another step darker, and even Lois and Clark are having to utilize assumed identities to go undercover. (That's them in the image above, if you didn't know.) Bendis' storytelling simply adds more and more layers to a mystery that desperately needs to be unraveled.

Getting Steve Epting for the art on this story was a great move, too. I have loved a lot of Epting’s past work, but he thrives illustrating this type of story, with shadows and subtle shifts, all the cloak and dagger stuff. He’s a brilliant choice for this arc.

It doesn’t hurt that this story is promising to explode out of Action Comics into other titles soon, either. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by that prospect, I’m looking forward to new titles like Event Leviathan and Lois’ solo title. That’s how good this story feels, and how excited I am to read each new piece of the puzzle.

I’m hooked, Mr. Bendis; please, don’t stop.

I've Been Reading A Lot Of Disappointing Books Lately

Justice League 28
DC Comics
Geoff Johns, writer
Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Scott Hanna, artists

I enjoy reading comics, so I want to talk about the ones I enjoy, not the ones that didn't live up to the potential I hoped they could have. But there have been several in the past few days that just didn't meet my expectations going in.

In the case of this issue of Justice League, continuing the "Forever Evil" crossover, the story itself was good: Cyborg got a complete makeover in the previous issue after all of his cybernetic parts split off, decided to call itself The Grid, and joined the other-dimensional Crime Syndicate that has taken over the world and imprisoned most of the League. This new, much more streamlined Cyborg 2.0 seeks out Dr. Will Magnus, creator of the Metal Men, to help him counter-attack the Syndicate, so this issue serves to introduce the New 52 versions of the Metal Men, who all act pretty much as they did before the New 52 reboot.

The problem is, the only real change I can see that the New 52 has brought to the Metal Men is that they all got a bad case of the uglies, especially Iron, Lead and Mercury.

These three, in particular, look as if they are wearing armor they should be able to remove. All six of the Metal Men — also including Gold, Tin and Platinum — look a lot more robotic than they used to. Now, I know that they technically are robots. But their respective responsometers not only give them their distinctive personalities, but each of the Metal Men also has complete control over his or her shape, allowing them to be able to shift and form tools and such from their bodies. Based on that fact alone, they should have very streamlined, fluid bodies, but especially when seen next to Cyborg's own new chassis, they look very clunky.

I've looked through the issue several times and can't find any kind of design credit. So maybe Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and/or Scott Hanna designed the new looks for the Metal Men. These guys have wowed me with their art in the past, so I would hate to think that they are responsible for this mess. Rather, almost the entire New 52 redesign came from Jim Lee, another artist whose past work I have enjoyed, but who seems to have gone overboard with the unnecessary costume details and seams and such in the New 52. These look to me like they are more of Jim Lee's bad design work for the reboot.

Here's hoping the Metal Men's appearances soften over time.