Action Comics vol. 2: Bulletproof
Grant Morrison got the chance to rebuild Superman from the ground up in the first volume to entertaining, if not spectacular, results. In the second, he digs deeper into the Man of Steel’s status quo and we get a story that takes a look at what happens when he feels that Clark Kent’s identity is compromised. Though he also writes two effective one-off stories, the rest of the volume isn’t written by him. If you thought that I’m going to say that those stories are “uneven at best” then you’d be very right.
Things start off on a real swerve though as the first story takes back to the African-American President Superman, Calvin Ellis, first seen in Morrison’s “Final Crisis.” Knowledge of that event isn’t required here as his origin is handily recapped in a two-page spread and the story dives in to how, after a fight with a Luthor who swears he isn’t racist, Superman encounters a version of Lois Lane who has crossed dimensions with her friends Clark Kent and Jimmy Olson. Together, they created a thought-version of Superman with their tech but needed additional funding in order to complete it. To say that corporate interests and focus groups ruined Superman is an understatement as an all-consuming beast barrels through the dimensions consuming everything it finds.
The story itself is a nice little done-in-one tale that works because of all the detail that it manages to cram into it. Things like Luthor’s anti-racist statement cast an interesting light on the rivalry between him and this version of Superman, while the history and nature of the threat created by Lois, Clark and Jimmy is effectively conveyed over the space of two pages. Morrison even throws in a little commentary about the perils of selling out your best idea, which is quite appropriate given the character’s history. All-in-all, the idea of an African-American President Superman may come off as gimmicky or overly idealistic, but he’s fleshed out to be more than that and a character I’d like to see more of as well. The story also boasts the strongest art in the volume which is what you get when Gene Ha draws it.
In “Bulletproof,” we move back to the Superman of the DC Universe and get to see how he’s adapting to life after saving Metropolis and joining the Justice League. There’s a nice scene which illustrates the latter as he asks them when they want to solve poverty in Somalia and winds up alienating (pun intended) the group as a result. (Batman then realizes that they’re all going to have to go after him one day. Because Batman’s like that.) Back in the city, he realizes that his identity as Clark Kent has been compromised and that someone — who is introduced to us as Nimrod the Hunter, DC’s answer to Kraven — intends to take him out. Not before Superman takes himself out of the equation and assumes a new identity that lets him save lives 24/7 now.
While the fundamentals of the story are fairly basic, it’s the deepening of plot threads established in “Superman and the Men of Steel” that make it worthwhile. Finding out that the “collector” threat is still happening and that it was once prevented by his father Jor-El is one such item. This threat also provokes the appearance of a new Captain Comet who tries to take Lois’ adorable niece with mysterious powers away in the face of the planet’s imminent doom. None are as interesting though as the reappearance of the mysterious dwarf from the first volume whose evil intentions are essentially confirmed while his ties to one of the oddest rogues from Superman’s gallery are established. There have been plenty of stories where superheroes have doubted the wisdom of maintaining a dual identity only to later realize that both of them are essential to who they are. “Bulletproof” is no different, but Morrison sells the predictable material well enough while building anticipation that the stories that spring from it will be even better.
The majority of this arc was drawn by Rags Morales who continues to provide serviceable work on the title. Brad Walker and Cafu also pitch in on the second and third parts with equally competent art even if the former’s style doesn’t quite mesh with the other two.
Morrison’s last story in the collection is the flashback “The Boy Who Stole Superman’s Cape” which is exactly what happens when a kid sees that this cape has allowed someone to survive a fall from the top of the building. He missed the blast from the grenade launcher that threw him off, but the kid grabs the cape and uses it to protect his friend and mom from her abusive husband. If you don’t like stories that skew towards the sentimental, then this may not be for you. Personally, I thought its message that Superman will always be there for us was affecting and the backstory behind his arrival and naming in Metropolis was handled pretty well too. Same goes for the art from Ben Oliver who gives the story an appropriately grounded look.
With that, the writer’s contributions to this volume end and we get Sholly Fisch’s backup stories from the issues collected here. They all detail unobtrusive bits of backstory from those issues such as the wake the members of the Daily Planet held for Clark’s death, and the story of the man who printed Superman’s t-shirts. With the exception of the first story, they really didn’t add all that much but were at least unobtrusive. The problem with the first story, which was about the Calvin Ellis Superman, was that it tried to inject a bit of moral ambiguity into a character that wasn’t meant to have any. Maybe if Fisch had more space he could’ve developed the idea better, but he doesn’t and the last panel leaves a bad taste in your mouth. At least the art from Cully Hamner for that story was pretty slick.
That slickness carries over to the main story in the annual as Hamner illustrates Max Lands’ introduction of the Kryptonite Man (or K-Man as he’s referred to here) as an abusive husband who volunteers for a secret experiment to get back at Superman for ruining his life. Meanwhile, Superman and John Henry Irons get to know each other and Luthor loses his military contract. Landis doesn’t break any new ground with this story, but there’s a quaint charm to how old-school it is. Having the hero fight someone who is made out of the substance he’s weak to. Seeing him defeat the bad guy due to some on-the-spot ingenuity and assistance. Witnessing another writer explicitly build on what has come before. These are things you don’t see a whole lot of in mainstream comics nowadays (“Nowadays?” I feel old just typing that!) and it was nice to see them again here. Landis’ other story, “Anchiale,” isn’t as successful, though it has some very nice art from Ryan Sook. Even so, the story misfires because I’m not entirely sure who the character featured in it is supposed to be. I think it’s Dr. Phosphorous, but I can’t be sure and there’s nothing more to the story than the effect of that reveal.
Morrison wrapped up his run with issue #18 of “Action Comics” and the series is now experiencing a game of musical chairs in the wake of Andy Diggle’s abrupt departure due to creative differences. On one level, Diggle lucked out because now he doesn’t have to worry about (completely) following up this take on the character. It’s not on the level of “All-Star Superman,” but it has been a fun ride so far and is shaping up to have an impressive finish.