Superman: Action Comics — Rise of Metallo

It’s a new day in Metropolis.  Not only has Superman returned to protect the city full-time, but he’s brought his family along with him.  In addition to Lois Lane and Jon Kent, Kara “Supergirl” Zor-El, Connor “Superboy” Kent, and Kong Kenan the Chinese Superman are on hand to fend off whatever new supervillain threatens the peace of Metropolis.  Which, in this case, is a newly rebuilt John “Metallo” Corben.  While he was originally commissioned by Lex Luthor to raise some hell prior to the businessman’s incarceration, Luthor isn’t pulling his strings now.  Someone, or thing, else is telling the villain that unless he takes out this new Super-family, his sister will soon be dead.

I’m not expecting writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s current run on “Action Comics” to be on the same level of his “Superman:  The Warworld Saga” as it lacks that story’s ambition and scope.  It is, however, a perfectly decent tale of the Man of Steel that gets his character right and offers some new twists for longtime readers.  Seeing the Super-family in action is fun, moreso when they’re hanging out together and actually being a family than fighting off super-threats.  Superman also gets to display that no one does inspiration better than him in comics, as you’ll believe that saving the bad guys in the hope that they’ll do good in the future when you see him say and do it here.

That’s also down to the solid art from Rafa Sandoval and Max Raynor who do a good job conveying all the action and drama on display in the story.  I wouldn’t say they elevate things, but they were given some quality writing to begin with.  While “Rise of Metallo” isn’t something that reinvents the wheel as far as “Superman” stories go, it’s a welcome example of how to do the familiar stuff well.  Enough so for me to come back for the next (and concluding?) volume of Johnson’s run on this title.