Superman saves Mongul’s life in Superman #21, by writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist Ivan Reis, inkers Joe Prado and Oclair Albert, colorist Alex Williams, and letterer Dave Sharpe. This chapter is action-packed and a lot of fun.

Superman tells Mongul to back down because he saved his life. Fourteen minutes before, the forces of the United Planets attack Mongul and Superman makes the decision to save Mongul… by fighting him. At Lois Lane’s hotel room, Bethany Snow ambushes with the tape that the Daily Star was sent. Lois denies that Superman ever said he was the king of Earth, and the two verbally spar for a bit. Mongul reveals to Superman that his mission is complete- he killed most of the UP leadership, and their forces were battling each other as they spoke. Mongul escapes, and Superman goes up and faces down all the UP forces, getting them to stop. He calls in the Justice League to help with the cleanup, and they tell him to go home to Earth. When he makes his way back, he finds Mongul and Warworld waiting for him. Back on Earth, Lois is talking to her lawyer when she’s confronted by F.B.I. Agent Cameron Chase, who is looking for Superman.

Bendis begins the story in media res. This has been a common thing that he’s been doing in both of his Superman books. It’s a little old hat by now, a kind of a cheezy way to build up dramatic tension. That’s pretty much the only drawback of the issue. Bendis keeps the plot moving by not doing too much of his signature talking heads stuff, putting a lot of focus on the battle between Mongul and Superman, while relegating all of his signature drama to the Lois Lane sections of the book.

Mongul’s plan to shatter the UP in its infancy is a very Mongul thing to do. Superman saving him from the UP and then back down their rampaging forces with a look is also very much in character for Superman. One of Bendis’ biggest deficiencies as a writer while at Marvel was getting characterization wrong, and while his DC run has occasionally been guilty of that, it’s not nearly as egregious. Mongul would hate the idea of the UP and work to destroy it. He also knows that the chaos he caused there would be something that Superman would try to mitigate after the fight, leaving Earth wide open for him.

There are a lot of fight scenes in this book, and that means Ivan Reis’ art is perfect for this issue. It feels like Bendis wrote this issue, especially for him. There are a lot of double-page spreads of the action, whether it be alien ships trying to kill Mongul, Superman fighting Mongul, or alien ships fighting each other. Reis excels at stuff like this.

Superman #21 is a tour de force. While the beginning is a Bendis cliche, the rest of the issue makes up for it. Bendis uses his page space efficiently, focusing on the action in the sections of the story with Superman and the drama on Earth in the Lois Lane parts. Reis makes the whole thing look great. The ending sets up the next issue expertly, as well. This issue is a lot of fun and an exemplar of what a good issue of Superman should be.

Grade: A