Written by: John Ridley
Art by: Inaki Miranda
Colors by: Eva de la Cruz
Letters by: Dave Sharpe
Cover art by: Gleb Melnikov (cover A)
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: January 15, 2025
Action Comics #1082, by DC Comics on 1/15/25, finds Clark Kent reflecting on what makes a villain who tries to go straight return to being a villain.
Is Action Comics #1082 Good?
Plot Synopsis
Action Comics #1082 begins with a typical day in Metropolis when a section of the city is rocked by an unnatural tremor. Superman rushes in to save the day, but he arrives too late to save one citizen from dying under an avalanche of rubble. Who could be behind this heinous act? Major Disaster has given up on his life as a reformed villain for a quick bank robbery to replenish his empty bank account, accidentally killing the citizen in the destruction.
Instead of attacking Superman with all he's got, Major Disaster immediately surrenders to Superman, demoralized over the accidental death of a bystander.
What follows is a series of scenes where Clark Kent interviews Major Disaster in prison, his known (reformed) associates, and the police to find some reason for Disaster's fall from supervillain recovery. Ultimately, Kent hears the same story repeated - Disaster wanted to do right, but he couldn't hack it.
The issue ends with Clark Kent getting jumped in an alley by an assailant with a baton, sustaining a lot more damage than he should.
First Impressions
Meh. Writer John Ridley has a controversial history with the Man of Steel, with good reason, so when DC passed the announcement that Ridley would step in for the next round of Action Comics, the reactions were mixed, and that's being generous. Does John Ridley give Superman the prison bitch treatment... again? No, but Ridley's penchant for using superhero comics as a heavy-handed platform for pontificating about social ills is front and center, which may be a positive or negative, depending on your tastes.
How’s the Art?
Inaki Miranda steps in for art duties with a thankless task. Except for the brief opener, there isn't a bit of superhero action to be found past the prologue. The entire issue centers on Clark Kent talking, thinking, and talking some more as he wrestles with the eternal question of what makes someone use their power to do evil instead of good. To Miranda's credit, the visuals are engaging enough to hold your attention, so that's as good as you could ask for.
What’s great about Action Comics #1082?
If you had to throw John Ridley a bone, his dialog and thought process in researching what makes a villain trying to go straight fall off is thoughtful. Clark doesn't find an easy answer, which gives the reader the option of deciding for themself. The story isn't done, but there's a potentially interesting philosophical question at the heart of the issue.
What’s not great about Action Comics #1082?
If you're not into answering one of the great philosophical questions of life, this issue is an absolute snooze fest. DC and Marvel have both demonstrated that superhero, action/adventure comics without superheroes or action/adventure are a losing proposition.
The burden is on Ridley to pay off this issue in the next, but if past performance is an indication of future performance, the chances of Ridley pulling off a banger in #1083 are pretty slim. If your immediate reaction to hearing John Ridley writing Superman again was "Oh, no," this issue may signal your concerns are warranted.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
Action Comics #1082 digs deep into the weighty philosophical question of what makes a superpowered person choose to be a villain over a hero. John Ridley's thoughtful exploration of that question through Clark Kent's reporting research is interesting fodder for philosophy students, but it's an utter snooze fest for somebody wanting to read a Superman comic with action. It's John Ridley. Are you really surprised?
5/10
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I feel like given the bad history with this writer (and believe me I have read his stuff before and his superman story was especially horrible and not cause of what he decided to write about but because of how he wrote it), this review is a bit harsh about this issue. For now and only this issue alone, the premise and writing is good and the ending had an interesting hook with how it was set up. It's definitely an improvement over the horrible phantom zone arc we had been getting before this as that was nothing but mindless action without any thought which brings me to my disagreement with this review: I don't think fans mind getting to read some thoughtful storytelling and dilemmas that don't have action in it every issue, how many times can you write this fight that without it getting repetitive if you don't have an interesting story underlining it? (A problem I feel like some DC titles are suffering right now. Caring about 'fight scenes' over substance. )
ReplyDeleteHOWEVER the problem comes to the substance bit which sadly most comics that attempt it fail at. They either turn to slice of life boring fanfics or terrible out of character propaganda. And that is I think where this new run might go very wrong. It certainly has the potential to get baffling and immoral the way only some modern day writings can get. Hopefully that doesn't happen and for this issue alone, I cannot in good conscience fault it for anything since I like Superman pondering this stuff and taking care of how he approaches his opponents given his vast power and responsibility IF they don't turn into guilt trips and nihilism. 7 out of 10