Comic Book Review: Action Comics #882

Written by Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann
Co-feature written by James Robinson and Greg Rucka
Art by Pere Pérez
Co-feature art by CAFU
Cover by CAFU

Plot
Nightwing and Flamebird come out to the public at long last as Earth’s newest super heroes, and it could not have been at a worse time. Earth almost completely supports General Lane and his anti-Kryptonian campaign. Lois Lane also must deal with the fact that her father, the general, is not actually dead and constantly listening to his public hatred towards Superman. Elsewhere, Jax-Ur makes his first public appearance in the most brutal way possible.

My Thoughts
Well, I think I enjoyed it…but not really sure about it. It was great to see Flamebird and Nightwing making their presence known with a new set of threads and saving people from crashing airplanes. I wonder how long this little flirtatious romance between Thara and Chris will continue until one of them starts making hints of settling down. But after the fun subsides in this issue, the relationship turmoil makes its debut when Chris tells Thara that he isn’t sure he is the re-incarnation of the Kryptonian God, Nightwing. How traumatizing for Thara to discover after all they have been through, Chris still has a sense of uncertainty in the prophecy. We all know for sure that Thara is Flamebird, but no clear evidence has been shown that Chris is THE Nightwing. Hopefully the incident of his random growth spurt will help answer some questions for us.

Jax-Ur is a very interesting character in his twisted and psychotic ways. I don’t think I would ever have guess that a lobotomy could be successful by way of shooting a beam of heat vision right through a person eye socket, puncturing a hole in the back of the skull. And what’s worse, he doesn’t actually kill his victims, but does enough damage to leave them in a catatonic state, rendering them helpless. WOW! Greg Rucka, you are an evil genius aren’t you! It’s sad to see that Chris is being put into the hands of this mad man at the end isn’t it?

The art, like always, is good. Not Ed Benes or Jim Lee of course, but still top notch. I only wish it could be a little more visually epic.

Overall
I can say this issue is good and entertaining. But I cannot say as to how it should be ranked for the month of November. It is nice to see Rucka going back to the beginnings of the Nightwing and Flamebird story which has been more interesting than the New Krypton arc in my opinion

2.5 out of 5 stars

Next Issue Coming December 9, 2009

When Lois tries to run the story that will clear Flamebird and Nightwing once and for all, she finds herself blocked at every turn. With the world's anti-Kryptonian sentiment escalating to a near-frenzy, not even being General Lane's daughter will keep her safe!

Plus, to the shock and horror of Flamebird, the problems with Nightwing's uncontrolled aging reach a critical juncture!

And in part 6 of the new co-feature, Captain Atom squares off against his old adversary Major Force just as some troubling memories start to resurface – one word: Monarch!