As I've said before, apparently Superman, and sometimes Action, is a place to showcase new artistic talent. Peter Vale is this artist for this issue, and last. And his stuff really looks sharp. But, you can tell that he's a new talent because of his consistency. Most of the book looks really good, but, there's a few pages in the middle that just look . . . rushed . . . I guess is the best word for it. Granted they are some rather large scenes . . it shows Superman flying through this Queen's hive on the moon, and I think it's purpose is to show the size or intensity of it. But the panels come across a little weak. But really, other than that, this guy really shows a lot of promise. He does character drawing . . faces, poses, etc., very well. Of course we still have Kurt Busiek on the scripts, so you know the stories are going to be well thought out. This one is about an alien insect Queen that has come from god knows where, to find our planet and deem that the inhabitants would make good drones. She started out working with Lex, because when she first got here she was weak. And actually it was a win-win situation for both of them. I'm sure Lex saw a chance to study an alien race and maybe get some ideas . . . military applications . . from it. Anyways, she became stronger, and realizing that she wouldn't be able to set up her base of operations . . hive . . anywhere on Earth without detection, she opted for the moon. And, since Lex already had a base there, it presented the perfect vantage point for her to create her army for her assault. Apparently Lex had been supplying her with proteins and other things he needed to grow his army. But, since he's away right now . . . see Salvation Run . . . he wasn't around to help. So things, again, fell upon the shoulders of the new CEO, Lana Lang. But the Queen saw this as rescinding on their agreement, so she took Lana as a hostage for an afront on her trust. Then, for some reason, once on the moon, she decided to use Lana's appearance as her own, and started incorporating her looks and genes. That part's not really clear, but I assume it's to assimilate in to the human race better. Well, with this issue, Superman finally goes to the moon and gets to the bottom of what's going on. Unfortunately even he seems susceptible to this alien Queen's powers. The issue ends with him apparantly falling under her control, and Lana, who has broke free of her bonds, finding a resistance movement hiding itself deep within the bowels of the complex. Oh yeah, also, Chris seems to be changing, or morphing, or something. Lois thought he was down with a bug, but apparently it's affecting him much more than she thought. Overall, I thought it was a very good issue. Other than the complaint about those few panels of art . . it really was quite good.
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