Comic Book Review: Actions Comics #885

Book Information

Written by Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann

Art by Pere Perez

Plot

Earth and New Krypton’s relationship is dangled in front of us in an enormous spread of storylines and plot devices.  Nightwing and Flamebird go on the hunt for Zod’s sleeper agents, but run into trouble when the Science Police, accompanied by Mon-El, corner them.  Can the two so-called mythological heroes of New Krypton convince the Guardian and Mon-El about the oncoming danger that within Metropolis?  And will General Lane finally be put in his place by the one closest to him?

My Thoughts

Rucka, overall, has done a great job with Nightwing and Flamebird; things seem to actually be coming to a successful resolution and tie-in with the New Krypton story.  In this particular issue we are given a few minor plot deviations along with the main one which involves our two headline heroes searching for the sleeper agents of Zods.  How interesting to find out that at least two of those agents have been in our heroes sights the whole time.  I figured it out with Doctor Pillings; however officer Romundi was a complete twist for me.  I commend Rucka for providing a pleasant surprise as most of the plot twists and turns in this arc have been fairly predictable, but not annoyingly so.

I did find myself in a suspended state when Lois Lane decides to confront her father to show him the error of his ways.  It was very short and only consisted of five panels on one page, but it’s still a very powerful moment.  To address one’s parents in a moment of corrective teaching is not the easiest thing in the world to do for a son or daughter.  But, as we all know, Lois Lane is no push over, and neither is her father.  It was a short, yet powerfully moving.

A lesser aspect of the story was the sudden change in loyalty portrayed by the Guardian.  He goes from thinking Nightwing and Flamebird are untrustworthy enemies of Earth, (displayed in his response to Flamebird’s promise to not fight back, “Your word, whatever that’s worth) to trusting them 100% and fighting against General Lane and his band of soldiers.  I’m not sure I entirely buy into the sudden side change, but it was minor flaw that didn’t detract me from the story very much.

I did enjoy the fact that there were only two one paged ads in this book.  This installment is literally jam packed with dialogue and story; very unorthodox for your contemporary comic book these days, a nice little refreshing change.  Maybe this trend will catch on in DC Comics sooner rather than later.

The art has very little flaws.  Perez does an amazing job with the pencils, but his colorists could improve on the color scheme of the book.  Its light tinted tone leaves very little to look at and creates a boring and wooden feel in every page turn.

Overall

Not too shabby of an issue.  Overall, the plot is great; it really pushes the story forward which will help the issue with New Krypton.  However, the art and a few tiny story defects have some effect on the enjoyability of the issue in its entirety.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10 stars

Next Issue Coming February 10^th, 2010

Nightwing and Flamebird race the clock to capture Jax-Ur, the most dangerous of Zod's sleeper agents. 

And in the Captain Atom co-feature, our hero explores the horrors of his past with the help of Mon-El and Starfire!