REVIEW: Action Comics #1090

The cool thing about Action Comics #1090 is that any reader can pick it up, despite how far into the story we are –writing that as a reader who is just picking this issue up for review. With that being said, how far does it move this story of Superboy forward beyond the revelation that Clark’s teacher is Captain Comet? This issue keeps us entertained in the meantime with all the tropes of young Superman stories that make them so great.

Ryan Sook’s regular cover shows that Superboy will indeed be continuing his battle against the telekinetic supervillain Raze and his gang. The reflection is just everything as it looks like Clark once again loses his cool against him. This is the time when he’ still figuring out his powers, so it’s not a time when he should be going crazy –that was the message of the first issue in this arc.

Ricardo Lopez Ortiz’s variant cover gives us another piece of manga-inspired Superman media. Keen fans may recognize the One Piece inspiration behind Superboy’s dynamic pose and wing effects. Lopez Ortiz had also given us the Dragon Ball-inspired covers with My Adventures With Superman a year ago. It’s great he’s keeping it up.

Current series artist Skylar Patridge’s variant cover should be the regular one since it more accurately encompasses what the issue is actually all about. The main setting of the Kent farm and Smallville high with characters like younger Ma and Pa Kent and Lana Lang reminds that Clark isn’t just younger here, but the DC Universe is too. Her art offers a warm twist on what is modern comic art which fits the family thematic setting of Smallville.

Other variants available are from Gerald Parel and Dan Mora.

It’s been a couple of weeks since Clark found out his history teacher, Mr. Blake, is Captain Comet. The older hero came to the Kent farm to offer his guidance to Superboy. However, it appears that he may have something planned with General Sam Lane at the Pentagon. However, Clark has more important plans…finally asking Lana out! Their date has everything with the idyllic Smallville milkshake dinner, but Lana reveals that she actually likes Superboy. Clark is jealous of his alter ego, here. He then gets a telepathic call from Captain Comet, urging him to head to New York. As it would happen, Raze is back and raiding Dr. Magnus’ robotics laboratory for valuable metals. It’s round two against Raze, but this time he has a squad of prototype Metal Men at his disposal against Superboy.

Mark Waid shows how dialogue can carry a comic book. Comparable to Ultimate Spider-Man, the story of Clark Kent as Superboy is completely unchanged with recurring elements like a distrustful Sam Lane, relationship with Lana Lang, and Clark not having fully figured himself out yet . It’s just told differently. And, that’s the key word, “told.” Ma and Pa Kent tell Clark how he is improving with his powers and Clark literally tells the audience and lets us to how he feels about Lana. It feels as though we’re revisiting an already known story from a new angle. While Superboy vs. Raze and the Metal Men is a great action sequence of a budding Superman, these moments had me hooked more. Letters are by Steve Wands.

Skylar Partridge, with colors by Ivan Plascencia and Matt Herms, could illustrate a young adult graphic novel focused on Clark as Superboy at Smallville High. There’s so much slice-of-life panels here of Superman’s human upbringing that has finally become his mainstream appeal. The proto-Metal Men have a Golden Age evil robot feel that does compliment what Superboy’s costume was going for. Raze and his Avalon gang have some cool armor designs but seem really otherworldly for what is supposed to be an Earth-based terror group.

(9/10) Action Comics #1090 revisits everything that makes Superboy and Superman origin stories and even offer new lenses to see them out of. While there’s only two panels worth of new developments, the spike in entertainment this series has gotten since Summer of Superman began is still fresh.