Action Comics #1023 Review

Invisible War

Written By: Brian Michael Bendis

Art By: John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Brad Anderson, Dave Sharpe

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: July 21, 2020

We've got Leviathans, Lex Luthors and Invisible Mafias plaguing the City of Tomorrow, Metropolis and now we've got a Conner Kent from the Pre-Flashpoint timeline making his presence known to our Man of Steel and the idea that maybe, just maybe they'll be able to do something with that...... I have no idea what the plan could be, but the greatest minds in the DCU are looking at Conner like they might solve some problem that's not a problem.  Let's jump into this issue as we see Red Cloud going after Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane and find out if Superman and the two Superboys can take down this threat once and for all.  Let's check it out.

We discover in this issue that after all the stuff we've been dealing with Robinson Goode and her smokey alter-ego Red Cloud that now that Clark Kent has revealed himself to the world that she's realized that Leviathan was right.  The reason that Metropolis is always in danger is because of Superman and using this new-found knowledge and working with Leone and her Invisible Mafia once again, Red Cloud decides that she wants Superman and his entire family off the planet and she's willing to........... Well, it seems she's only willing to kill Jimmy Olsen to get her point across.  

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This is a weird-ass issue that jumps to some wild conclusions to get its information out there like Jimmy Olsen just declaring that Red Cloud is Robinson Goode and then later on when Superman wants to make a point, he uses Brainiac shrinking technology to shrink a building in Metropolis that Leone controlled, while Lois declares that Conner Kent looks like if Superman and Lex Luthor had a baby together........ some weird, weird shit here that feels so out of place and does little to move our story forward.

All in all, the art in this issue looks awful in my mind.  Not a fan of JR JR at all and he does nothing but depict these characters in the weirdest way possible.  As for the story...... Well, it's our heroes confronting Red Cloud, who has a new idea about what she wants going forward and just some strange ass leaps to get our story into some sort of forward motion that uses the least amount of actual story-telling possible to do it.  Nothing really feels right about this and at the end of the day, the only takeaway that I can have here that is any kind of positive is that I like having Superman and the two Superboys together.  Now if I could only have that with a writer who is capable and knows something about these characters....... that would be the best.

Bits and Pieces:

Red Cloud is pissed and now it's an all-out war between the Superman Family and the Invisible Mafia, but who knows what that actually means since we really know nothing about the Invisible Mafia still and with Bendis writing terrible versions of our heroes.  The art in this issue was........ something I hope to never see in DC Comics again and the story was just so ridiculous that it felt more like a fever dream than an actual progression in a story.

3/10