Action Comics #1026 Review

 

This Sucks Like Parasite

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Brad Anderson and Dave Sharpe

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: October 28, 2020

It's part five of the House of Kent story, and December can't come quick enough.  I was never a massive fan of Bendis' Superman stuff, but at least he seemed to be trying when he first arrived at DC and grabbed both Superman and Action Comics for his own.  So, how is this latest issue of Action?  Let's get into it...

We open with Brainiac 5, giving us a whole page of recap, which is to be expected with Bendis because...that's his thing.  If you don't believe me, look at this week's Legion of Super-Heroes, which opens with an almost identical page with the Karate Kid!  It's bad enough that Bendis can't trust the reader to remember anything from issue-to-issue, but the recap then turns into narration boxes giving a running play-by-play of everything for the next five pages!!!  Some information seems like it's from out of nowhere, while other bits get repeated on a loop.  I would argue that Bendis should let the art tell some of the story, but this art is awful!  I know John Romita Jr. is capable of so much better than this... or is he anymore?

Tell us what you really think, Brainiac 5!

What we get here is a two-pronged story.  While Superman and the House of Kent fight the Parasite of another dimension, Leone claims she is a victim of the evil invader, Lois Lane.  The latter part comes down to Leone yelling louder than everyone else and the FBI ditching the job at hand...you know, the one that they have evidence and warrants for, for some gossip by the criminal they are supposed to be arresting!

Meanwhile, the badass multiversal threat becomes a joke out of nowhere so that Superman can stop wasting time and fight Red Cloud.  It is so apparent that Bendis took way too long to set up this nothing of a story and now needs to force an exit strategy on his characters, but it's the readers who ultimately suffer.  I always tell people to stick with a book until the end, but I don't see the next two issues making this mess any better.

This issue stinks!  The story, dialogue, and art all come together to make a turd sandwich that should go right into the garbage.  It is as severely overwritten as it is ridiculous and as ridiculous as it is ugly.  It's a 100% stinker!

Bits and Pieces:

This issue is just plain bad.  Bad Story.  Bad Art.  Bad Dialogue.  December can't come soon enough!

2.5/10