
Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Action Comics #850
Scheduled to arrive in stores: May 30, 2007Cover date: Late July 2007
Writer: Kurt Busiek, Geoff Johns, and Fabian Nicieza
Penciller: Renato Guedes
Inker: Jose Wilson Magalhaes
"Superman: Family"
Reviewed by: Nick Newman
Brainiac 5 shows Supergirl his new invention, allowing her to see into the past. The viewer jumps around a few parallel time lines before latching on to the correct history.
On Krypton, Lara goes into labor far earlier than expected. She gives birth to Kal-El and they are forced to place him in the rocket and save him from Krypton as it explodes.
Jumping forward, Martha and Jonathan care for Clark as he grows up. Jumping again, Superman saves the space plane in his public debut. Later, he calls his mother about the rescue and tells her about Lois. Further on, Superman attempts to stop a scientist from destroying the city, but she is apparently killed in the process.
Superman battles Amazo with the original Justice League. Further into the future, a married Lois and Clark discuss that they could probably never have children. They scan across the future until they find Supergirl's arrival on Earth. They see Superman take Supergirl to the Amazons for training, and later as he talks to Lois about worrying that he's too hard on her.
Further in the future, Superman and Supergirl battle Blackstar, the end result of the scientist supposedly dying years ago. As she begins to win, Supergirl has Brainiac send her mind back to the fight. Taking control of Superman's body, Supergirl knocks Blackstar out and leaves a message before returning to the 31st century. As she returns, the viewer shows a glimpse of her future in the 21st century, of a city full of Kryptonians with her parents alive.
In the present, Superman and Supergirl fly Blackstar to prison, and wonder about the message burnt into the wall, telling him that he's not in it alone.
Story - 5: Wow, issue #850. I remember when Action Comics #700 was a big deal.
It took me a little while, but I really liked this issue. At first, the idea of yet another retrospective issue just turned me off. With all of the New Earth changes, we have seen far too many of them as of late.
But something about this issue really appealed to me. First of all, I like the way they worked in Supergirl. It gave a real purpose for the flashbacks, and is one more step on the long road to fixing the Supergirl character (and wow does she need to be fixed).
Beyond that though, the selection of flashbacks worked quite well to clarify some of the lingering questions about New Earth and its affect on Superman.
The lateral timelines shown at the beginning are interesting simply because they imply that the golden age, silver age, and post-crisis Supermen all still exist on the 52 worlds in the multiverse.
No more birthing matrix. A poor decision in my opinion, but at least it got clarified.
Luthor in Smallville is another bad one, but this at least gives us an idea at how long he was there.
But saving the space plane (the Constitution if memory serves) is an excellent addition. Byrne had a lot of great concepts in Man of Steel, and it's nice to see that not all of them have been trashed in favor of Silver Age concepts. Of course, this seemed to indicate that the fantastic "they all wanted a piece of me" moment didn't happen, but I suppose that Clark could have been telling Ma about a different event, so I'm just going to believe that it still did.
The fight with Blackstar really worked for me on two levels. First, it was nice to see them take advantage of the time-skipping to tell the beginning and end of a self-contained story within this issue. Second, and more important to a geeky, long-time reader like myself, I really enjoyed the reference to Berkowitz as Mayor. Wasn't he eventually assassinated by Luthor? I wonder if that's still in continuity.
The Justice League moment was cute, but didn't really seem to matter much to Superman. Sure it underscores the fact that he's alone, but beyond that it was just kind of a waste of pages.
The rest of the book really focused on Supergirl and his feelings for her. And that was nice to see because, as previously alluded too, the Supergirl book and character is a mess and she needs all the help she can get.
Overall, this issue managed to be the standard recap anniversary issue, without falling too much into the standard clichés. Good work by all three writers.
Art - 3: I'm normally a big fan of Guedes' art, especially his work with the coloring, but something about this issue just didn't work for me. I think it started to go south with the incredibly ugly baby Kal, and it didn't really improve.
There really wasn't anything wrong with it in particular, but his work has definitely looked better.
Cover Art - 3: This is a really generic cover, especially for an anniversary issue. The 850th issue of Action Comics should have something iconic on the cover. For examples of said iconic imagery, see Adventures of Superman #505. Either of them. That gripe aside, its not a bad cover, and it does get points for maintaining a general cover design while still representing the specific story. Average, but it could have been worse.
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Mild Mannered Reviews
2007
Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.January 2007
- Action Comics #845
- Superman #658
- Superman/Batman #31
- Superman Confidential #1
- Supergirl #12
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #24
- 52: Week 26
- 52: Week 27
- 52: Week 28
- 52: Week 29
- 52: Week 30
- Justice League of America #4
- JLA Classified #29
- Justice League Unlimited #27
- Krypto The Superdog #3
- Action Comics #846
- Superman #659
- Superman/Batman #32
- Superman Confidential #2
- Supergirl #13
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25
- 52: Week 31
- 52: Week 32
- 52: Week 33
- 52: Week 34
- Justice League of America #5
- JLA Classified #30
- Infinite Holiday Special #1
- Justice #9
- Justice Society of America #1
- Justice League Unlimited #28
- Krypto The Superdog #4
- Superman #660
- Superman/Batman #33
- Superman Confidential #3
- All Star Superman #6
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #26
- 52: Week 35
- 52: Week 36
- 52: Week 37
- 52: Week 38
- 52: Week 39
- Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predators #1
- JLA Classified #31
- JLA Classified #32
- JLA Classified #33
- Justice Society of America #2
- Justice League Unlimited #29
- Krypto The Superdog #5
- Action Comics #847
- Superman #661
- Action Comics Annual #10
- Superman Confidential #4
- Supergirl #14
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #27
- 52: Week 40
- 52: Week 41
- 52: Week 42
- 52: Week 43
- Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predators #2
- Justice League of America #6
- JLA Classified #34
- JLA Classified #35
- Justice #10
- Justice Society of America #3
- Justice League Unlimited #30
- Krypto The Superdog #6
- Action Comics #848
- Superman #662
- Superman/Batman #34
- Supergirl #15
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #28
- 52: Week 44
- 52: Week 45
- 52: Week 46
- 52: Week 47
- Justice League of America #7
- JLA Classified #36
- Justice Society of America #4
- Justice League Unlimited #31
- Superman Confidential #5
- All Star Superman #7
- Supergirl #16
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #29
- 52: Week 48
- 52: Week 49
- 52: Week 50
- 52: Week 51
- World War III - Book One: A Call to Arms
- World War III - Book Two: The Valiant
- World War III - Book Three: Hell is for Heroes
- World War III - Book Four: United We Stand
- Justice League of America #8
- JLA Classified #37
- Justice #11
- Justice Society of America #5
- Justice League Unlimited #32
- Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #1
- Action Comics #849
- Action Comics #850
- Superman #663
- Superman/Batman #35
- Supergirl #17
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #30
- 52: Week 52
- Countdown 51
- Countdown 50
- Countdown 49
- Countdown 48
- Justice League of America #9
- JLA Classified #38
- Justice Society of America #6
- Justice League Unlimited #33
- Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #2
- Action Comics #851
- Superman #664
- Superman/Batman #36
- Superman/Batman #37
- All Star Superman #8
- Supergirl #18
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #31
- Countdown 47
- Countdown 46
- Countdown 45
- Countdown 44
- Justice League of America #10
- JLA Classified #39
- Justice #12
- Justice League Unlimited #34
- Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #3
- Action Comics #852
- Superman #665
- Superman/Batman #38
- Supergirl #19
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #32
- Countdown 43
- Countdown 42
- Countdown 41
- Countdown 40
- Justice League of America #11
- JLA Classified #40
- Justice Society of America #7
- Justice League Unlimited #35
- Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #4
- Action Comics #853
- Action Comics #854
- Action Comics #855
- Superman #666
- Superman/Batman #39
- Supergirl #20
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #33
- Countdown 39
- Countdown 38
- Countdown 37
- Countdown 36
- Countdown 35
- 52 Aftermath: Four Horsemen #1
- Justice League of America #12
- JLA Classified #41
- Justice Society of America #8
- Justice League Unlimited #36
- Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #5
- Action Comics #856
- Superman #667
- Superman/Batman #40
- Superman Confidential #6
- Supergirl #21
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #34
- Countdown 34
- Countdown 33
- Countdown 32
- Countdown 31
- 52 Aftermath: Four Horsemen #2
- JLA Wedding Special #1
- Justice League of America #13
- JLA Classified #42
- JLA Classified #43
- JLA/Hitman #1
- Infinity Inc. #1
- Justice Society of America #9
- Justice League Unlimited #37
- Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #6
- Action Comics #857
- Action Comics #858
- Superman #668
- Superman #669
- Superman/Batman #41
- Superman Confidential #7
- Superman Confidential #8
- All Star Superman #9
- Supergirl #22
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #35
- Teen Titans #52
- Countdown 30
- Countdown 29
- Countdown 28
- Countdown 27
- Countdown 26
- 52 Aftermath: Four Horsemen #3
- Justice League of America #14
- JLA Classified #44
- JLA Classified #45
- JLA/Hitman #2
- Infinity Inc. #2
- Justice Society of America #10
- Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Cyborg Superman #1
- Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Superman Prime #1
- Infinite Halloween Special #1
- Justice League Unlimited #38
- Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #7
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Check out the Comic Index Lists for the complete list of Superman-related comics published in 2007.