Action Comics #872 - DC

Geoff Johns has done it again. He's taken Action Comics . . . which, while I'm a huge Superman fan, I have to admit was only mediocre at best . . and turned it into a must read month after month. The thing I like about Geoff's writing . . besides the great character development, the spot-on interaction and dialogue, his fantastic story-telling abilities, and his unique perspective on the whole 'super-hero' genre . . besides all of that . . I like the way he writes these 4 to 6 issue story-arcs. They seem to reach a conclusion and be self-contained, but . . then when the next story-arc occurs . . everything that happened in the last, or even the one before that, has an effect on the current one. I guess it would be more accurate to call the 4 to 6 issues stories as chapters in the overall canvas that he's creating. But you don't really see the big picture until he's a couple of story-arcs down the line. Right now Superman is dealing with New Krypton. Last issue the citizens of Kandor, lead by Alura, Kara's mom, decided that they were going to help out Superman by gathering up all of the villains that he regularly fights and send them all to the Phantom Zone. There's a couple of problems with that. First of all, in their zeal, they killed 7 guards at Stryker's Island, while apprehending the Parasite. Secondly, they've put all these criminals in the Phantom Zone . . without a trial or sentencing . . with General Zod, Mon-el and Chris. Superman isn't very happy about that. Now they're trying to figure out a way to free all of the other cities that Brainiac has captured and bottled . . . thousands of cities. Also in all of the various world's he's been to . . he collected people also. His collection is a huge menagerie that Alura is calling his 'memory hive'. He also has some humans there, specifically the Creature Commandos. Meanwhile Luthor is working with General Lane to try to figure out a way to stop this Kryptonian invasion. They're also trying to figure out how to access and obtain information from Brainiac. This issue a plan is implemented. They have Reactron and Corben, in disguise, tearing up Metropolis, knowing that some errant Kandorians are going to come along and scoop them up. When they take them to Kandor, Reactron reveals himself and that he's powered by Gold Kryptonite. It removes a Kryptonians power for 15 seconds. Which is more than enough for them to start blowing their heads off. Which appears to include Zor . . Kara's dad. Meanwhile we get a glimpse of Nightwing and Flamebird getting ready to patrol Gotham. And the Guardian . . remember from Cadmus? . . is trying to assemble his own strike force to do something about Kandor. While I appreciate what the Kandorians are trying to do . . save the people in the cities and the memory hive . . I really don't think the Earth is big enough for their goals. I'm thinking that they're going to have to find another planet, or planets, to take mission of mercy to. And what about all of these villains? I almost feel sorry for them. First they spend all that time on the planet that was trying to kill them in Salvation Run. And now? Now they're all locked up in a different dimension where they're intangible and have no hope of escape. They really haven't been able to catch a break. And Superman and Supergirl? They're caught up in the middle of everything. I really think that Geoff and Pete Woods outdid themselves with this issue. It was a fantastic read and I really can't wait for the next part of the story in Supergirl #36.