Action Comics #1016
Superman and Naomi battle the Red Cloud in Action Comics #1016, by writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist Szymon Kudaranski, colorist Brad Anderson, and letterer Dave Sharpe. This is a fun, action-packed issue, but it still suffers from a few of Bendis’ storytelling tropes that drag it down a little bit.
Maggie Q is interviewing citizens of Metropolis about the battle between Red Cloud and Superman. They all agree that Red Cloud had the upper hand until another being came to help. The book switches perspective to the past, then, showing Naomi at the Hall Of Justice and her decision to help Superman. It then switches back to Maggie Q and her interviewees, as they describe the end of the fight, with Red Cloud leaving the scene. Superman and the League take Naomi home but leave a S.T.A.R. Labs team behind to watch her, run by Dr. Glory, who Superman had a run-in with before. Back in Metropolis, Ms. Leone finds out about the Red Cloud’s power upgrade and decides to declare war against everyone. The Invisible Mafia is no longer invisible.
Using Maggie Q interviewing people as a framing device is a novel way to tell this story, and it works very well. Bendis captures how the people of the city feel about Superman as they describe the battle between Superman and the Red Cloud. The dialogue feels real. The people of Metropolis love Superman, and this framing device captures that perfectly. Beyond that, the scenes with Batman and Naomi are great. Batman tells her not to go and help Superman, but she goes anyway, and Batman smiles. It’s a great little scene that underscores how Batman operates with young heroes. Bendis looks to be setting some fireworks with the Invisible Mafia finally, which is welcome, as he’s sort of let them get sidelined by other plots lately.
The problem with the issue is a consistent Bendis trope- his positioning of his O.C.s as better-at-everything than the title character of a book. To an extent, it’s a bit understandable. Building a character is hard, and sometimes it helps to show them as just as good as a more established character. Naomi is a very cool character, and the problem doesn’t really lie in her. She comes in, makes a save on Superman, and helps him, but the biggest recipient of Bendis’ O.C. bias is the Red Cloud. How can Superman be defeated so handly? This has been a question since she first appeared before her Luthor given upgrade. Cloud can go gaseous, but how can he be physically hurt? Does she have other powers, like super strength? Luthor upgraded her, but what exactly do those upgrades entail? There are so many unanswered questions about her and what she can do. Seeing her consistently mop the floor with Superman every time they fight is getting to be a bit much. The character needs to be better defined. It’s tough to get a new character to work, but readers know so little about her beyond who she is and that she can beat Superman that it just feels like she’s being given special treatment because Bendis created her.
Kudaranski’s art is excellent. He uses a lot of speed lines, giving the fight a kinetic feel. He draws a great Batman, as well. Brad Anderson’s colors really help with sell Kudaranski’s Batman. He keeps the lighting dark around the character, giving him the otherworldly aura that Bruce cultivates… until he smiles as Naomi leaves, humanizing him that little bit.
Action Comics #1016 is an entertaining comic. The framing device gives readers a feel for how people look at their champion in a way that hasn’t been done very much. The fight itself is exhilarating and well-drawn. Bendis’ dialogue works very well with the interviewees. The only drawback to the issue is his tendency to write his original characters as being all-powerful, but it’s a minor issue because of how good the rest of the book is. Kudaranski and Anderson’s art makes the whole thing sing. It will be nice to see Bendis focus on the Invisible Mafia in the coming issues, as they are the most exciting concept he’s brought to the Superman books. As an introduction to Naomi, this issue and the one preceding it present her a fun character and even give readers a hook to go and check out her book. There’s a lot to like in this one, and it outweighs any problem the book has.
