Action Comics #9 Review

Action Comics #9

writer- Grant Morrison

artist- Gene Ha

A door from an alternate reality opens on Earth 23.  Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Clark Kent come through, chased by a monster of their own creation.  What is Superdoom, and can President Superman stop it?

Stories set in alternate Earth always make me nervous.  DC has a habit of letting alternate realities get away from them.  They've done it before where they've found themselves with too many Supermen and too many Batmen and then had to wrap it up by destroying all of the realities in some sort of CRISIS.  In the back of my mind, that's what I was thinking when I saw the cover of this issue.  Still, I like to give everything a fighting chance and writer Grant Morrison doesn't let me down very often.

Besides the main idea of this story, Morrison is trying to tell us something.  He brings up the issue of racism within the first two pages, but just enough that it doesn't dominate the story.  He shows us an alternate Earth where Superman's big red “S” has become more of a corporate sigil and the idea of Superman reflects a Big Brother type of presence. By making Earth 23's Superman the ideal President, Morrison says to us, “This is what Superman is supposed to be... a man for the people of the world.”

Over the years I've become a fan of artist, Gene Ha.  His specialty is in the execution of facial expression.  Ha has the ability to transfer what his characters are feeling, right into the reader.  Sometimes, the best detail can be seen in some of the simplest renderings.  Gene Ha has that figured out.  Still, there are some panels in this issue that disappoint me.  I feet that those panels ended up a little flat.  Overall though, the art really works.  I've kind of missed Rags Morales' art this month, but I really hope Ha is in it for a while.  I want to see more.

Action Comics #9 has to be my favorite issue of the series, so far.  I'm looking forward to the next issue and I want Morrison and Ha give us another look at Earth 23.

There's also a back story featuring President Superman in this issue.  Sholly Fisch writes and Cully Hamner does the art for “Executive Action.” The story is ok, but I find it unnecessary.  They tell a tale of the President being President while being a superhero at the same time.  It's an interesting aspect to explore, but it just wasn't interesting enough.  All in all, the main story in Action Comics #9 makes the book well worth buying.