Action Comics #15

            Reviewing a Grant Morrison book feels like a cruel trick, sometimes. It’s sort of like shooting fish in a barrel if shooting fish in a barrel was really hard and confusing. But I like Grant Morrison and I really like his Action Comics run, so we’re going to hold hands and hope that everybody makes it out alive. Cool? Cool.

            In the 16 issues that Morrison has gone through on The New 52 Action Comics run, he’s taken readers all over the place, with seemingly little cohesion between chronological issues, which is, for anyone uninformed, pretty typical Morrison. I’ll add that he’s an absolute visionary, and by that I mean he literally has a vision for this book further than any reader could imagine, and it will eventually all together in some grandiose mindfuck of a way.

            But, because he’s does like to jerk everyone around a bit, it’s easiest to look at each issues as a relatively randomized, single piece of work. And doing so really benefits #15. Contained within itself, it was nuanced, complex but clear and also built around pieces that had been laid before it (I know I said I’d contain, but I make the rules, not anybody else, because I’m an adult and it’s three in the morning).

            He seamlessly runs multiple plots parallel to each other, which is deliberately confusing at the beginning and ties up nicely as the story progresses. This is not, by any means, or in any way, shape or form an easy thing to do, and it’s always so damn impressive when Morrison pulls it off.

            It’s also worth noting that this is about as good as it gets for Superman, especially in The New 52, with Scott Lobdell writing the self-titled book. (If you’ve skipped my other reviews, I hate Lobdell. He’s ruining everything I’ve ever loved. And by that, I mean Teen Titans and Red Hood & The Outlaws).

            In the end, this is not, and no Morrison book ever will be, an easy read. He’s going to force his readers to sit back and think about what’s happening. He won’t spoon feed anything to anyone (he’s not Christopher Nolan), but if you take the time, it’s worth it.