COMIC BOOK REVIEW - Action Comics: Superman And The Men of Steel

By The Masked Medic

In 1938, Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster created the world’s first superhero. ‘Action Comics’ was the iconic comic that created a world so intriguing, it’s no wonder that it’s still going. I thought it was time that I read a novel about the iconic character.

‘Superman and the Men of Steel’ starts at the very beginning of Superman’s career as a superhero, before Metropolis knows who he is. It also doesn’t know who Clark Kent is and therefore the novel does an excellent job of establishing both. He finds himself having to save his city from a creature that collects cities, who we obviously know will become Brainiac. However, the second half of the novel contains a number of one-shots including the introduction of Steel, as well as a couple of flashback issues to Clark’s childhood as well some scenes with his real parents on Krypton.

If it was just the first half of this novel, I’d say this was a really good read. It was so interesting to see a Superman who doesn’t really know what he’s doing and doesn’t have the support of the city behind him. Also the introduction of Lex Luthor and their rivalry, I thought was done well. The second half of this novel, however, was extremely confusing and I was genuinely so lost.

The artwork was good in certain parts and very awkward in other parts. The covers, on the other hand, were really good, and this Jim Lee variant was my favourite; he’s the greatest. Overall it was good, but also lots of room for improvement.

Favourite Panel:

Sorry. Is this Batman?

Favourite Character:

Superman. His growth in this novel was awesome!

Rating:

• Story Arc: ★★★

• Character Development: ★★★½

• Artwork: ★★★

• Enjoyability: ★★★

• Re-readability: ★★★

Level: Intermediate