Superman/Action Comics by Bendis vol. 3’s

These are the penultimate volumes in Bendis’ tenure on the Man of Steel.   It wasn’t supposed to play out this way, but after the massive changes at DC parent company AT&T/Time Warner, the writer might just be feeling lucky to still have a job there writing “Justice League.”  Still, it has to sting.  Especially after he got the go-ahead to have Superman reveal his secret identity to the world.  You don’t do something like that without having long-term plans for it.  (At least, that’s what I’d like to hope.)  So when it comes to reading these volumes, I’m taking them in with an eye towards how well they set up potential finales for their respective series.  On that level, both do a reasonably decent job of that.

Despite its subtitle, Superman:  Action Comics vol. 3 — Leviathan Hunt has relatively little to do with Bendis and Alex Maleev’s fizzle of an event series.  Leviathan and some of his goons do make an appearance in this story, but their presence is tangential to the actual goings-on in this volume.  Which involve Marisol Leone slowly consolidating power in Metropolis as the head of the Invisible Mafia as she gets a new drug called Apocalypse out on the streets and finally has a sit-down with Perry White to discuss the Daily Planet’s future.  Meanwhile, Thorn, the violent split-personality of mild-mannered florist Rose, has taken to the streets to cleanse them of this new drug in a very authoritative manner.  Naturally, this attracts Superman’s attention, but he’s also got his hands full dealing with Leviathan, a powered-up Red Cloud, and a visit from Naomi who crash-lands in the city after the events of her introductory miniseries.

After building up Leviathan in the previous volume, “Leviathan Hunt” is a welcome return to the street-level crime stories that drove much of what I liked about vol. 1.  It’s a real showcase for Bendis’ strengths as a writer as he gives us a lot of convincing scenes that make us feel like we’re watching real people instead of constructs which are meant to advance the plot.  Superman and Lois come off like a real couple, for one example, while Perry’s conversation with Madison about the Plan feels like one actual adults would have.  The superhero stuff is also handled pretty well, with Superman’s fight against the Red Cloud (and the bystander commentary) coming off particularly well, while Batman’s guest appearance is played for some nice subtle humor.  Szymon Kudranski illustrates the entire volume and he does a good job in making the action scenes feel appropriately large, and the conversations feel appropriately intimate.  Vol. 3 ends with the Invisible Mafia planning to drop the “Invisible” from its name, and while I would’ve liked to have maybe just one more volume like this one to build up their threat, I still get the feeling that things will wrap up well next time.

As for Superman vol. 3:  The Truth Revealed, the writer manages to conjure that same grounded feeling in stories that mostly revolve around Superman’s decision to reveal his secret identity to the world.  The first story, a “Super Sons” tale featuring art from David Lafuente, is the outlier, but a fun one that manages to smoothly transition Jon Kent’s return from space and reunion with Damien Wayne into his joining of the Legion of Super-Heroes.  Everything else deals with the big reveal, which is really abrupt.  I can understand Bendis’ desire to shake things up for the character and leave a big mark on his history.  It’s just that there was no hint he was building up to this over the previous two volumes.  That leaves the distinct feeling that this whole thing was a big stunt cooked up by the writer because he felt he could get away with it.

Does he?  Ehhhhhhhh… as well as he could within the space that he’s given himself.  There’s a nice hotel room conversation he has with Lois in the issue before, a really good silent page that details his reveal to Perry, a great speech given by the Man of Steel himself, and some great post-reveal between him Lois, and Perry about their future at the Planet.  There’s more here and it’s all quality stuff, backed up by excellent work from Kevin Maguire and Ivan Reis.  The two artists, particularly Reis, do a great job selling what the writer gives them.  We even get some nods to ongoing stories like the bad stuff being done in S.T.A.R. Labs, Zod and Family’s new residence, and Mongul’s plan to break up the new United Planets.  Which is what closes out the issues from the ongoing series collected here as he and Superman wind up throwing down over it.  It’s a nice-looking fight, to be sure.  The thing is that after all that effort to set up Superman’s reveal, we’re right back into the ongoing narrative from the previous volume.  So it was all in service of what exactly?

We’re not done yet.  The rest of the volume is taken up by two special issues, “Heroes” and “Villains” which showcase how Superman’s supporting cast, friends, and rogues’ gallery deals with this news.  Bendis, Greg Rucka, Matt Fraction, and Jody Houser are the writers on these issues and the art is from a collection of talented guys like the aforementioned Maguire, Mike Perkins, Steve Lieber, Michael Gaydos, and Bryan Hitch.  As far as anthologies go, this one has a much higher hit-to-miss ratio than most.  Some of them are just okay, others are cute, and there are a few like Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince’s conversation about Superman’s reveal are genuinely illuminating.  Then there’s the “Infected Supergirl” bit which is meant to tie into the setup to “Death Metal.”  It didn’t really do anything for me, even as it tried to set up the idea that there are going to be consequences for Superman’s actions here.

It should also be noted that the sections in “Villains” illustrated by Gaydos contain some plot points that are very relevant to the “Invisible Mafia” storyline over in “Action Comics.”  I realize that most people are likely to be reading both of these series, but this is something to bear in mind if you’re only reading that title.

So while I think these anthology issues do a mostly good job of trying to further sell the audience on the impact of Superman’s reveal, they do something else that justifies their existence regardless of this fact.  They let us spend a little more time with Fraction and Lieber’s version of the DCU from “Superman’s Pal:  Jimmy Olsen.”  Their contribution in the “Heroes” issue is subdued, a bit melancholy, and arguably conflicts with how Superman came out to Olsen in the issues from the main series.  Still, it’s a surprisingly emotional scene that really captures what it feels like when you worry that revealing something about yourself will change a friendship you have.  This is miles away from the bits in “Villains” which show us Steve Lombard’s apoplectic reaction to the news, as well as how one of Luthor’s closest friends reacts to it.  These are very short pieces, one and two pages, respectively, but they are fun enough to easily be the highlights of that issue.

I guess what I’m saying about this volume of “Superman” is that even if Superman’s reveal feels like a giant stunt, everyone involved does their level best in trying to convince the reader otherwise.  They don’t quite pull it off, but we at least get a lot of quality stories out of it.  It’s the “Invisible Mafia” storyline in “Action Comics” that has my full attention.  This is a reminder of how good Bendis can be when he’s on his A-game, and even if it’s coming to an abbreviated conclusion I’m very invested in seeing how it ends.  “Superman” too, but, you know, just not quite as much.