Some thoughts about Action Comics #1051

Is a brand new era for the Superman family.

Clark has decided to present his new partners to Metropolis but he wasn't expecting Lex Luthor to bring back an old enemy to destroy it all.

I decided to go back to Action Comics for a bit because I have been enjoying what I read from Phillip Kennedy Johnson's work and while what we have here has potential, is a much shorter set-up than I was expecting.

First of all, the story opens with the Johnson bringing the new status quo of the series with Kal-El back and creating a literal Superman family which might be the biggest he ever had (even during Geoff Johns' New Krypton arc). The story progresses at a nice pace with strong characterization in many segments and definitely serves its purpose at making this new era interesting enough.

That's not without its problems though and a few of them are not Johnson's fault. The biggest one is that I still hate that DC insists on keeping Jon as an older teenager instead of bringing him back to his kid self everyone preferred. Worst of all is that this creates confusion with all the other characters, this might be because of Rafa Sandoval's work who is a good artist but makes Jon, Conner and Kenan too similar (and is especially weird since Kenan is chinese) and so it can be too hard to tell who is doing what at times. Also, the story stops a little too soon when things are getting interesting.

Dan Jurgens also has a part and surprisingly he goes back to his pre-Rebirth Lois and Clark work when Jon was still a child (thank goodness) and his parents were hiding from the world. It offers an interesting new story in the kind of classic way that Jurgens can provide but at times a little too "classic" since some of the narration like Jon talking to himself can seem a little dated. Lee Weeks, who also was part of the Lois and Clark book, returns as well thankfully and his style is just as on-point as ever thanks to his great storytelling.

Power Girl having a section was a pleasent surprise since I love good old Peegee but Leah Williams doesn't do a particularly great job at selling the premise. It might be because she focuses too heavily on the changes brought by Lazarus Planet (from a tie-in I didn't bother with) but I don't find the changes in power too interesting. Not to mention that the execution seems overwritten and ends abruptly although there are a few fun moments like Power Girl defending her choice in costume. Marguerite Sauvage's artwork is vibrant and beautiful.

Overall, a decent beginning but I hope next issues offers more.