Action Comics #961 REVIEW - The plot finally starts to thicken

It's been something of a slow play with Action Comics' current arc right now, "Path of Doom" AKA "Death of Superman Revisited," but after four issues of somewhat drawn out setup, we finally start to get to the meat of the story being told. 

Up to this point, Superman has been acting as though Doomsday has just shown up at the wrong place at the wrong time, and for three issues he fought his greatest enemy with only the intent of saving Metropolis in the process, disregarding the original reason he appeared in Action Comics #957, which was the presence of the "new" Superman, Lex Luthor, who has been in the middle of this battle with Doomsday the entire time. 

In #960 Superman and Doomsday had left Metropolis and headed for his house where Lois Lane and their son Jon were at, leaving the city in major disarray from Doomsday's oddly calculated carnage. This leaves Lex and Wonder Woman, who also appeared on the scene in #960 to pick up the pieces of Metropolis and help save those who were in need after the battle ended. They get a little help from another superhero who coincidentally had her Rebirth series start with a hell of a bang in the same week, which is a great tease to toss readers to her story as well. 

Meanwhile, Superman does what he can to keep Doomsday from killing his son who also possesses Kryptonian DNA that makes him a target for the monster that once killed the Man of Steel. All the while, the mysterious "Mr. Oz" continues to observe it all and by the time the book is over, will have made his move, and it's interesting to say the least. 

I've been reading all of the Rebirth series' and this one is likely the slowest developing in terms of plot, but now that we are finally outside of Metropolis and no longer focusing on just one battle, "Path of Doom" does feel like it's starting to get some legs under it, which is none too soon considering that there's one issue left in the current six-issue story arc. With "Mr. Oz" having made his move at the end of this book, Action Comics #962 should feature the revelation behind it and the conclusion of this "Doomsday Revisited" tale. 

As slow as the issues may have been with this series, it does feel like a return to past glory for Superman as he is cathartically able to face the instrument of his own death once before with fresh hindsight and new emotions to get him through it this time. The family nature of the story has really been a huge sticking point for this series continuing to be solid, as we still have a number of questions to answer regarding Doomsday's random appearance, the identity of "Mr. Oz" and last but not least, the existence of a separate Clark Kent, who we have seen since #958 when this arc began. 

If you've been reading this Action Comics arc to this point, then you are definitely in it for the long haul and hopefully we all get the resolution we are looking for in the next issue, the sixth and final chapter of the "Path to Doom" arc. 

4 out of 5 stars - DC UNIVERSE REBIRTH - Action Comics #961

This series runs twice a month, next issue due out August 24. 

Action Comics #960 REVIEW - Diana joins the fight against Doomsday

After a few issues of really hoping for some answers on just what the hell is going on in Metropolis, we finally start to move the story forward in Action Comics #960. 

Superman has been locked in another epic battle with Doomsday, this time in a multiverse that is unaware of the events of "The Death of Superman," so there's a great deal of dramatic irony within this series not just for the reader but also for Clark, Lois and their son Jon as well. After fighting the baddie with Lex Luthor's Superman helping out, Wonder Woman joins the fray in this issue, just as confused as to how Superman is fighting a beastly villain with the help of Lex Luthor while Clark Kent reports on it for the Daily Planet. 

At first I thought this series was going pretty slow, and to be fair it still is as we have many questions that still remain unanswered after four issues, but in this issue I realized that similar to what's going on in the Superman series of DC Rebirth, there is a family theme within this book right now as it pertains to Clark, Lois and Jon. It's not nearly as intimate as the Superman series is at the moment, but throughout the fight with Doomsday we are brought back to Lois and Jon watching from afar, Jon convinced that his dad is going to win and Lois fighting back the horrible memories from having lived The Death of Superman arc before. 

In many ways, this Action Comics arc is currently serving as a Death of Superman Revisited story, especially in this issue as Superman explains Doomsday's origins and intent to both Diana and Lex. This battle is going very differently from the first battle of course, thanks to Clark's prior knowledge of the situation and his level of expectation for how this fight is going to go. There are times when he's not sure about the outcome so far, which is to be expected from him given what happened the last time he fought Doomsday. Whatever worries he may have about it, Lois certainly shares them. 

Speaking of Lois, she has arguably the toughest emotional job of this story arc, which consists of "lie to my son about whether or not he can really beat Doomsday again while trying my best not to freak out over the situation because Clark COULD die AGAIN and I don't want to deal with it." The torture that she is going through so far in this series is completely off of Jon's radar as she desperately tries not to watch the news of the battle and deal with the possibility that one of the darkest days in history could happen again with the death of her husband. 

The battle takes an intriguing turn at the end of this book and it will be interesting to see where it goes from here. Now that it might be picking up pace a little bit and advancing the story, we will see just where it all goes this time around as opposed to the last time this all seemingly happened. 

4 out of 5 stars - DC UNIVERSE REBIRTH: Action Comics #960

This series is biweekly, next issue due out August 10th.