It’s the final issue of “Action Comics”! With 52 issues under its belt, the title is wrapping up before DC’s big Rebirth event, which will relaunch it with the original numbering and a brand new Superman. But before we get to that, we still need to get through the ‘Final Days Of Superman’ story line, which hits its sixth chapter this issue.
Read on for our full review below of “Action Comics” #52, but be warned: there might be some spoilers ahead!
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Illustrated by Dale Eaglesham & Scot Eaton
“The Final Days of Superman” continues as two Supermen meet at last: pre-New 52 Superman meets the current Kal-El. But solar Superman wants to be the only Man of Steel left standing. And divided they may fall as one Clark Kent must choose the safety of his family before either version of himself.
If you heard me one on of the last episodes of the DC3Cast, you head me talk about “Action Comics” in the New 52 and how it had some of the highest highs and the lowest lows of the line. After Grant Morrison and Rags Morales kicked off the series with a great start, making the most of messy editorial decisions about the Superman character, the series languished until Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder turned it around as one of the must-read DC titles. That period was, to me, pretty short lived before the series became increasingly bogged down by having to tie in with every other “Superman” title. This issue is no different, in my opinion, and it neuters what could have been a great send off to the series.
All in all, this is a pretty enjoyable chapter of a pretty enjoyable Superman story, a far more enjoyable Superman story than we’ve seen in years, but it’s yet another middle chapter of a line-wide crossover that forces you to be reading four different series to understand the story. That, on top of the fact that this is the final issue of “Action Comics” in the New 52 and it’s stuck in the second act of a crossover has meant that the series is going out with a whimper more than a bang.
Final Verdict: 5.5 – As much as I want to like ‘Final Days Of Superman’, this was not the send off that “Action Comics” of the New 52 deserved.
