Action Comics #816

Superman vs. Gog Part 2: Behold I am Against Thee

Chuck Austen Writer
Ivan Reis Penciller
Marc Campos Inker
Guy Major Colors
Comicraft Letters
Tom Palmer Jr. Associate Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster

This month's cover by ... Arthur Adams, color by Guy Major. This cover shows Gog stabbing Superman with his trident, which is exactly what happened at the end of last issue. I'd usually be upset with a cover showing something that already happened, but I like it in this case. We basically just get a different angle of that last panel, which serves to show us exactly where the fight picks up in this issue without spoiling anything. It also helps that this is a striking image with an effective color palette.

Our story picks up just half a second after Superman being stabbed by Gog. Superboy swiftly responds by finally punching the villain and engaging him in a brawl, although he's severely outmatched. Superman pulls Gog's trident out of his stomach and discovers that it injected him with liquified kryptonite. But he does manage to return to the fight, which becomes more complicated once Gog starts teleporting around.

Meanwhile, Kid Flash has triple-checked the surrounding area and has confirmed that all civilians have been taken to safety. He asks Wonder Girl what they should do now, and she considers joining the fight against Gog. Whether they meant to join it or not, the fight makes its way to them, as Superman and Superboy are both blasted right past Kid Flash and Wonder Girl. Cassie gets her lasso around Gog and begins electrocuting him until he teleports away.

Kid Flash helps up Superman, and offers to take him to a doctor. But Superman refuses, saying he believes Gog will be back soon, and he needs to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else. In the meantime, he orders the three teens to contact the JLA and Teen Titans, while he heads to the abandoned military base to try to find some weapons to use against Gog.

Awestruck by Superman's resolve in the face of death, Bart calls him the coolest and vows to never call him a hick again. Unfortunately, Bart was too caught up in the moment and he forgot to tell Superman that he took a lot of the bystanders to the military base for safety. Annoyed by this, Superboy takes off after Superman, telling Bart and Cassie to stick to their mission to recruit more heroes. Bart shouts out to Superboy directions to the base, realizing that he could have run over there and evacuated all the bystanders with the time it took to say all this. Gog suddenly appears next to Kid Flash and Wonder Girl, telling them to save themselves and if they bring in more heroes, he'll kill them, as well.

And that's the end of Bart's involvement in this tale. Apparently he heeded Gog's advice and ran away home. Or maybe he brought in some more heroes, I don't know. This issue ends with Gog knocking Superman unconscious and Superboy cradling his body in his arms, believing his father figure to be dead.



This issue was another huge fight sequence with explosive, glass-shattering, ground-smashing art. We still don't know who Gog is or what his motivations are, but I assume that'll be answered in later issues without Kid Flash. Unfortunately, Kid Flash became an even worse cheerleader in this issue. Superboy and Wonder Girl actually got in a few hits this time, but Bart just stood around, tongue-tied because Superman was "so cool." Watching people courageously fight on even though they're wounded shouldn't be a new phenomenon for Bart. He has been involved in some pretty intense battles before. And the bit with the people at the military base was very frustrating. Bart should have just run over there and rescued the people instead of standing around talking about it.

DC in Demand actually has a couple of items that interest this blog.

Identity Crisis #1 (of 7): Comics' biggest event of the decade! DC's greatest heroes have a secret, on they're willing to sacrifice themselves for. But this issue's sacrifice may be too much for them to bear.

Teen Titans #12: The thrilling conclusion of the 4-part "Raven Rising," featuring the final confrontation among the Teen Titans, Brother Blood and Raven! The new Teen Titans discover a horrifying truth about Raven — she may be a bigger threat than Brother Blood.

Now for the new ads:

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Next time, we'll take a very quick look at the beginning of DC's big event for 2004, Identity Crisis #1.