Action Comics #892

A Look at Things to Come in ... Superboy

Jeff Lemire – Writer
Pier Gallo – Artist
Jamie Grant – Colorist
Rob Leigh – Letterer
Wil Moss – Asst. Editor
Matt Idelson – Editor

Our cover by David Finch shows Lex Luthor battling Deathstroke. Yeah ... Action Comics has kind of become Luthor's book for the time being. Anyway, it's a decent enough cover, but we only care about the little note at the bottom teasing the Superboy Second Feature.

We also have a variant cover by Ivan Reis to commemorate DC's 75th anniversary. This is an update of Carmine Infantino's famous Flash vs. Superman race from 1967. Ironically, though, that cover wasn't from Action Comics, but Superman #199. It's a nice homage, although it has nothing to do with the main story or backup story in this issue.

Our backup story is actually just a preview of the upcoming Superboy series. You'd think such a preview would be placed in Adventure Comics, which was his home for the past year, but I guess once he got kicked out, he was never allowed back. Anyway, this story drops us right in the middle of the action, showing events that won't actually happen for a few issues in Superboy's new series.

We open on Smallville being attacked by a bunch of large mud monsters. Joining Superboy are Beast Boy, Raven (guess she will be rescued from the Wyld), Kid Flash and a couple of new heroes from Conner's high school class. Our heroes struggle with the monsters, as they appear impervious to pain and constantly reform whenever broken apart. Bart's mission was to find Lori Luthor (Lex's niece), but he's come up empty, even after searching the whole town three times. Eventually, Superboy loses his patience and smashes every mud monster in about two seconds flat, ending with a heroic landing.

Bart calls that stunt "awesome," but Conner's friend, Simon, points out that the monsters still will be able to reform. While they try to come up with a plan, Raven makes a shocking discovery. Superboy's attack opened up a secret tunnel, revealing Lori tied up next to another boy and surrounded by grotesque pig monsters. Lori calls for help, but before anyone can react, the Phantom Stranger suddenly appears and says that if Superboy goes into that tunnel then Smallville will die.




Mud monsters, pig creatures and the Phantom Stranger? It doesn't get more wild than that. I'm not a fan of this art style, but otherwise this was an exciting preview for a new series. And I appreciate the ingenuity of not merely showing the first few pages of the first issue, but taking us right to a shocking, exciting scene halfway through the opening arc.

Next time, we'll return to the unbearable Wyld story in Teen Titans #86.