Action Comics #1000
DC Comics
Written by: Dan Jurgens, Peter J Tomasi, Marv Wolfman, Paul Levitz, Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, Scott Snyder, Tom King, Louise Simonson, Paul Dini, Brad Meltzer, Brian Michael Bendis
Art by: Jim Lee, John Cassaday, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Jerry Ordway, Clay Mann, Rafael Albuquerque, Olivier Coipel, Neal Adams, Curt Swan, Patrick Gleason, Dan Jurgens
It’s not every day that a comic reaches issue 1000, especially since the companies keep rebooting the numbering on the titles, then getting cold feet and returning to the original numbering, however, in the case of Action Comics, it’s fair to say few other titles deserve a 1000th issue than this one. It is for many people, the comic that launched everything else. Superman appeared in Action Comics #1 back in 1938 and has been with us ever since. So on the day of hiss 80th birthday, DC has provided us with an 80 page giant featuring short stories by some top talent in the world of comics.
The release has some stunning variant covers that features Supes through the ages too. They are all lovely with my favourites being the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s versions. I’m sure fans will have one they love depending on their age and art preferences. The issue itself has 10 short adventures, with the 10th story by new writer for DC Brian bendis. His entry is a prologue to his first 6 issue series The Man of Steel, that seems to be a 6 issue mini, with a weekly release date. Bendis recently, and controversially, left Marvel for reasons unknown, so hopefully his first run is a worthwhile effort.
The other stories in the issue come from a mix of talent, but how nice was it to see stalwarts such as Curt Swan, Marv Wolfman and Louise Simonson back on the title. Of course we had entries from new kids on the block like Tom King, but what a disservice it would have been if DC hadn’t used some of the older talent that shaped the charcter, back on board for this special issue. And yes, as far as special issues go, this deserves the title.
You can flood the industry with event after event, but honestly, an issue such as this is the very thing that will bring older fans back into comic shops to buy an issue. It has been lovingly put together, and although some of the stories felt a little flat, the art is lovely all the way through and you also get a couple of pin ups in there too.
“The Car” is, incredibly, a collaboration between Richard Donner, yes you read that right and Geoff Johns with lovely art from Oliver Coipel and a highlight of the book, as is Brad Meltzer’s “Faster Than a Speeding Bullet”. However I feel some of the stories suffered from a low page count, and I must admit I would have loved something in here from Grant Morrison and frank Quitely. I also felt John Byrne should have had at least a pin up here, but I guess you can’t have everything, and let’s not be naive, there were probably lots of reasonswhy only certain creators were involved.
However, Action Comics is a must have item, get down to you LCS and pick up a few issues with variant covers, these books are a milestone for Superman and DC and this is a collectible of the future. When we are all watching old Superman Comics on our virtually immersive AI synthesized Apple retro eye visors, you can proudly produce a hard copy of the most important comic book of the 21st century. Think of the props.
