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Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Action Comics #877

Action Comics #877

Scheduled to arrive in stores: May 13, 2009

Cover date: July 2009

"The Sleepers" - Part Three

Writer: Greg Rucka
Penciller: Sidney Teles
Inker: Sidney Ribereiro
Cover: Andrew Robinson

Reviewed by: Adam Dechanel

Click to enlarge



After lying beneath the rubble while Chris and Thara escaped, Ursa has been gathering her strength. With an almighty push, the criminal is able to dig herself out of the crystal mass. Goggles destroyed, Ursa uses a piece of fabric with pinhole eye-slits to protect herself from permanent blindness.

Inside Superman's Fortress she activates a prison view screen and discovers Tor-An, the missing television producer/phantom zone escapee and he is mighty angry at being trapped.

Meanwhile Lois and her son are reunited but the joy is short lived as Thara is dying from Kryptonite poisoning. Lois calls a certain Doctor Hoshi to help save the life of the injured visitor. Hoshi is better known to the world at large as Doctor Light, a long time superhero. Using her abilities to replicate solar energy, Light is able to coax Thara's body to fend off the traces of Kryptonite and heal itself.

As it turns out 4377 is monitoring more than the Kryptonian threat, they have Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, Icon, Mon-El and Dr. Light all under surveillance. But somehow when Hoshi activated her power it disrupted their tracking of her. Sam Lane is more than a little angry that not only did they lose Light but somehow his daughter is involved and if Lois is aware the whole operation could tumble.

An observer covered in tribal tattoos over her left side and a black eyeball sits quietly watching the arguments unfold. Again Sam is unimpressed.

Thara is resting and healing very quickly and while she does so on the Kent apartment roof, Lois questions her clearly not six year old son about what's happened. Chris explains that he and Thara uncovered a plot by Zod and Ursa to hide sleeper agents on Earth. He also goes on to explain that because he was born in the Zone's Null point, Fort Roz, he aged normally inside unlike the others trapped there. Zod used Brainiac tech on his son to torture and mutate him. But outside the Zone his body began to develop new powers like tactile telekinesis and sun bursts. The double edged sword is he is aging in bursts.

Chris realizes his mistake of leaving Ursa alone in the Fortress and flies back as fast as he can - sadly he is quickly spotted by a 4377 satellite and they track his path northwards.

In the meantime they are able to catch a glimpse of Lois' rooftop and Thara. Lane orders extreme force against Chris to gather data on his abilities and then he orders the tattooed observer to undertake a mission. Using her mysterious power the observer becomes invisible.

Chris in the meantime arrives too late. Tor-An is dead, executed by Ursa lest he reveal Zod's plans. Ursa demands Chris returns to her side and New Krypton but Chris smiles. He's divorced his birth parents and Ursa has stupidly put Zod's sleeper plot at risk just by being present on a planet that knows who she is.

Ursa realizes the validity, relenting and Chris flies home. However 4377 fighter planes are waiting for him and fire a missile. It knocks Clark's step son deep into the ice and the soldiers exclaim that one missile isn't powerful enough to kill a Kryptonian... As they theorize he may not be Kryptonian in the sense they believe, Chris gets a second wind and destroys the fighter planes with his strength and a blast of heat vision.

Meanwhile on Earth in Nevada, USA, the police have arrived to prevent an armed robbery. Two robbers are able to wipe out every penny in the bank and kill all its staff.

With reckless joy and a dash of passion they reveal themselves as possible Kryptonians and kill all the police with a blast of heat vision.

They seal their victory with a passionate kiss and escape through the burning ashes of machine and flesh.

To be continued...

3Story - 3: I liked the story as it continued to push the series forward but it's beginning to get tiresome. It's taken three issues for Ursa to realize she really shouldn't have been there at all. Sam has yet another new sidekick I am at a loss to the identity of...

Sam now knows his own daughter is involved with two Kryptonian illegals and a treasonous Dr. Light still not able to figure things out...

The little things I did like is the elaborating further on Chris, without angst laden Thara around he was able to flourish a little, the tid bits though annoyingly rare do go some way to revelations. It was brilliant to see him with his mother again, a touching scene that is mirrored by his rejection of Ursa.

Still we're now at chapter twenty five of New Krypton and the story is hitting the point where its going on a little too long... I know Clark has another 8 months + on New Krypton but there is a lot of time being spent on build up of the story and not much story. I appreciate it's been an uphill struggle erasing the Busiek years but I think we can move on now...

I'm bored of Superwoman, I'm bored of Sam Lane skulking in the shadows being all menacing. I don't want this to turn into Trinity. This story has been trundling along nicely through the Super books but though it started out at a speedy pace it's suddenly hit a lull - at least for me.

Get a move on already!

4Art - 4: Nice layouts this month, Teles is delivering some great work which fortunately help to lift the lulls in the story. The first few pages featuring Ursa are some solid, beautifully crafted pages and the Bonnie and Clyde climax looks a blast (pardon the pun!)

3Cover Art - 3: An interrogation...

Makes perfect sense...

Too bad it didn't happen...

Nice art... Tor-An doesn't look too tortured though...


Mild Mannered Reviews

2009

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

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