Action Comics #979 Review and *SPOILERS*

The Borg is Back!

Written By: Dan Jurgens

Art By: Patrick Zircher, Hi-Fi, Rob Leigh

Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: May 10, 2017

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Hank Henshaws' getting himself a little Superman Revenge Squad together and I couldn't be happier.  Whenever villains get together to take out their rival, it brings a smile to my face and with the exception of Blanque, I'm all about this team coming together.  In our previous issue we saw the continued use of the Crystal Font so that Superman could find out what was wrong in his life that he couldn't quite put his finger on and while he didn't come up with any answers, fans of Superman totally saw a revised timeline that had elements of both the Pre-Flashpoint Superman the the New 52 Superman........... and yeah, New 52 Superman's history kind of got the shaft in the merger between Supermen, it was still there and for the most part, Clark Kent's history made sense for everything we've seen over the past six years.  Let's jump into this issue and see how his life will change now that some of his worst villains are out for revenge.  Let's check it out.

Explain It!:

Our issue begins with us seeing that Mongul is still killing Superman over and over again in his Black Mercy prison until Eradicator finds where he's all wrapped up in the weeds and releases him so that he will join the rest of the villains in destroying Superman.  Before all the death of the Man of Steel can occur though, Blanque, Mongul and Eradicator have a little errand to run first over at Superman's Fortress in the Himalayas.  It's there that they find their prize in the form of the Oblivion Stone, which we saw featured in the Superman: Lois and Clark book at the end of the New 52...... well, they find a half of it and we find out in this issue that once someone combines the two halves, they're able to recreate an aspect of themselves........ once.  Yeah, it's really odd that it's once and that it has to be spelled out here, but I'm guessing Dan Jurgens just wants to make sure that you know there's no coming back from what goes down with the Oblivion Stone.  

While our villains find the Oblivion Stone, they also find the former inhabitants of the Fortress, who Superman was keeping there because they couldn't survive in Earth's atmosphere........ which is odd because they've been surviving in rubble for a few days now, but ultimately there killed and Superman will have himself a little revenge of his own when he find their killers.  Before all that though, Clark and Lois are in Metropolis looking at apartments because they plan on moving back into the city and from the dialog going on here, this is happening before shit got all crazy in Hamilton County in the Superman book because they're thinking of Hamilton County like it was the best place in the world and the only reason they're moving is because the commute to the Daily Planet has become hell......... Thankfully, when the Black Dawn arc is over in the Superman book, our Superman Family will have somewhere else to go because they decide that the apartment they're looking for is perfect.  Too bad that Superman is alerted to a trespasser at his Fortress and his day is ruined when he finds his alien friends dead inside.

In the end, Blanque, Mongul and Eradicator teleport back to their base, which was the former Batcave on the moon, where Mongul starts going ape shit about following an insignificant human, but all that changes when Hank Henshaw combines this new half of the Oblivion Stone with his own and he transforms back into the Cyborg Superman.......... which I wish we knew how he became human in the first place because that little detail is a big road bump to me to the new Superman timeline being smooth.  As our issue closes, Cyborg Superman beats Mongul into submission and declares that before they can go and fulfill their revenge against the Man of Steel, they must first get one more member............ General Zod.

That's it for this issue of Action Comics and besides for me not understanding how Hank Henshaw could be human, but have all of his previous memories of his days as Cyborg Superman, I love all the stuff we get with the Superman Revenge Squad.  Like I said in my opening paragraph, I love whenever villains get together to team up and this team is excellent and they're not even fully formed yet.  Now as for the parts with Superman, well....... they were okay, not exactly boring, but not that interesting either, even though we need to establish a new residence for our Kent Family.  Also, it's been spelled out for awhile and even here that the aliens in Superman's Fortress can't survive in Earth's atmosphere, but here they are surviving until the Revenge Squad took them out.  I just don't get it and their inclusion here just seemed forced to fill up some pages and to get a bigger reaction out of Superman when he discovered their bodies.  So yeah, we have some ups and downs, but the art in this book was amazing as always and I still find myself digging this arc, even with my problems.

Bits and Pieces:

Action Comics continues to delight, especially in the villain category.  That's right, we're getting bigger and badder villains with each issue and even the proper debut of one of my favorites of all time.  Yeah, it doesn't always make sense, but I'll go with it because I'm having a good time and having excellent art the whole way though doesn't hurt either.  

7.8/10